“There is only one way for minority sports to make ourselves heard”

BarcelonaNot even a month has passed since the white-and-blue flares were lit in the capital of Vallès Oriental to celebrate a feat that will remain in the collective memory for years. The men’s Balonmano Granollers reached the quarter-finals of the European League after a comeback to remember against the Danish side Aarhus. “We always go all out, even if we are a club with fewer resources,” the team captain, Antonio García, told this newspaper after the tie. Who would have told them that day that they would arrive at the final four of the competition, after knocking out Flensburg in the quarter-finals, taking the club to the European semi-finals for the second time in their history. However, the joy did not end there. Last weekend, the first women’s team reached the final of the Copa de la Reina, a milestone that had not been achieved in many years. He lost it against the Basque side Bera Bera (31-25).

“We are a city that lives handball, this makes us different”, remarks Alfred Serra, president of the entity. He took up the position just over a year ago, with new ideas to boost the club. “We set out to create a solid base for the growth of the entity, as well as to grow the social mass”, he points out. The Infern Granollerí, an animation group that accompanies the team to the matches at the Palau d’Esports, has ignited the flame of a passion that is experienced throughout the city, responded to by record attendances that have been seen during this year, with more than 4,000 people filling the stands.

This passion is transmitted to the youngest, some with the illusion of reaching the first team in the future. “We cannot achieve economic power like that of Barça, but we can take care of the social mass that we have and that makes us different”, says the president. The club boasts one of the best squads in all of Catalonia and also in the whole State, always present in the most renowned championships. “It is our pride. At the moment, we cannot keep players who have to leave because they need to grow, which we understand. But if we can promote new players from below, it is our essence,” he reasons. However, competing in sport is becoming more and more difficult against clubs with more financial muscle. “The uniqueness of handball is not recognized anywhere. At the local level, the City Council supports us and we appreciate it, but outside of here we have no other help. We need it to be able to grow”, he says.

The only club with male and female discipline competing in the elite

“We are a different club, we have the men’s and the women’s competing in the elite and that means an effort,” remembers Serra. Following the financial complication of maintaining two teams at the highest level, Granollers are asking for more help, a request to which the players of the first team are added. The captain, Ona Vegué, still has her head in Malaga, where they managed to reach the Copa de la Reina final. “We have shown that we can give success to the club,” he says. Despite not taking home the trophy, he recognizes that the triumph has been getting there. “We have to achieve things like this to engage people and teach them that we too can do great things,” he explains.

Although it is a fact to be valued, from the first women’s team they insist that it is not enough to compare with the boys. “It’s a good starting point to compare our situations, both teams are in the first state category. But from here we have to look for equality, it’s not enough to just say look good, both teams are up “, points out Vegué. There are aspects such as salary where female players are still paid two or three times less, according to the captain. “It is true that things are improving, but there is still this jump between the two teams that is very hard for us.”

All in all, the structure of the club, according to the players, is one of the best in the whole state. “Displacements, trips or facilities, all this is great. There are missing financial details where the club does not reach due to a lack of external aid”, remarks Nicole Wiggins, the team’s starting goalkeeper who will leave at the end of the season, after five years old “I’ve improved a lot here, but there’s a moment when you can’t go any further. I’m a goalkeeper in the national team and at the European Championship they threw shots at me that I’d never seen before,” she says. Destined for Nice, he leaves the team that has seen him grow. “I’d love to go back when, in a few years, there are better conditions, but for that you have to get results, it’s the only way we have for minority sports to make ourselves heard,” he says in the NOW

Nicole will leave the capital of Vallès Oriental, where she explains that they even encouraged her in the street. “People ask you, they get excited with you, they experience the passion of this sport with us,” he explains. Her place will be filled by some player, who knows whether younger or older, who will experience her same situation. The same will happen with the other players who compete in the elite, but who cannot enjoy a fully professionalized sport. But in Granollers they don’t give up. Handball is still very much alive.