Everyone with their thumbs up for respect in Sports. The Kirolean Errespetuz campaign, promoted by El Diario Vasco, arrived yesterday at the handball courts of Gipuzkoa. With the complicity of the Pulpo Eskubaloi Kluba of Zumaia, the DV initiative sneaked into the promotion phase to First National Men’s Championship at the Lubaki sports center to send a message of sportsmanship on and off the field. Seniors and players from different grassroots categories of Pulpo came together in a photograph in the middle of the field to show handball’s support for this campaign, which has the collaboration of the Department of Culture, Cooperation, Youth and Sports of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa and the Donostia City Council as main collaborators.
The Pulpo Eskubaloia Kluba also joins this campaign. «It seems to us that it was something that was needed to try to end the violence. Together we must make people aware that violence leads nowhere, it must be eliminated. There is talk of other sports such as football, where unfortunately it is more common. But it also happens in handball, even if it is sporadic. People should not forget that handball is also a sport. There is contact, it is true, but we are all people and we cannot make that mistake,” says Ruth Ibarbia, vice president of the club, founded in 1974, which celebrates its golden anniversary this year.
“In clubs like ours we are all volunteers, we dedicate many hours and everything cannot go overboard in a few minutes due to a violent act,” adds Ibarbia, convinced. «Sometimes we have witnessed attempts at fighting between two players, but it is all due to the heat of the moment. They are asked for peace of mind, and everything is resolved. There has also been a member of the public, the father of a player, shouting in the stands, and they have been asked to leave the facility. It has happened once or twice throughout the season. Specific situations, nothing more,” says the vice president of this club, one of the historic Gipuzkoan handball clubs along with Eibar, Bidasoa and Zarautz, which has 28 teams, from the junior to senior categories, both men and women. He currently has about 400 chips.
“Sometimes we have witnessed attempts at fighting between players, but it is all due to the heat of the moment”
And these days they have the honor of hosting the promotion phase to First National Men’s Championship. The Zumaiarra team began the competition on Friday by winning 27-24 against Tenerife’s Tacoronte at the Lubaki sports center, yesterday they faced Galician Redondela and today they play against Cantabrian Colindres. At the conclusion of this match, a meal will take place between players and management in recognition of the work done over the last few months. The Zumaiarra club does not want “the players to lose focus. We are going to fight to ascend. If we achieve it, we will celebrate it. And if not, too.
He recognizes that “we face this promotion phase with enthusiasm and great desire. Let’s see if we are able to put on a show. The first thing is to compete. If we achieve promotion, it would be great. We have hope and we are going to fight for it. “It’s not going to stay out of desire.”
Playing this promotion phase at home, with the support of their fans, means “an extra for the players, it is something special. Many kids, people from the town and all the club members, who are about 130, are going to come to the games. The objective is to enjoy and if you can put the icing on the cake, all the better. We want people to encourage the kids. In Zumaia there is a lot of love for handball and this promotion phase is going to be lived with great enthusiasm. As champions of Euskadi, we had the option of hosting the final phase and they granted it to us. It is the first time that a promotion phase in the senior category has been organized in Zumaia. Nine years ago a Spanish Youth Championship was also held in Zumaia and Pulpo was runner-up. Kauldi Odriozola, Mikel Martínes and Ander Torrico played on that team.
«Campaigns like Kirolean Errespetuz’s are necessary, it was something that was needed to try to end the violence»
«In senior team games the stands are usually full. There are 300 spectators, all seated. In special matches we put extra stands near the track – he adds –. In total between 600 and 650 people enter. On Wednesday we released a ticket for the three days of competition at 20 euros and we sold all of them the same day we put them on sale. “They sold out in two hours.”
Final stretch of the campaign
With yesterday’s event in Lubaki Kiroldegia, the Kirolean Errespetuz campaign enters its final stretch, with the support of clubs and federations in the territory. For a year, every week DV has published reports related to respect and good practices in sport.
In December, at the Harane field in Usurbil, the campaign reached the soccer fields through a family photo in which a hundred boys and girls dressed in Kirolean Errespetuz campaign t-shirts took part.
Previously, in November, the DV Gunea space of this newspaper was the scene of the presentation of the Kirolean Errespetuz campaign. More than 200 guests attended in order to sensitize all players in Gipuzkoa sports about respect.
2024-05-12 00:00:00
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