44 years of the premiere of the new Vallecas Stadium

“And Vallecas, like a newborn child, was given a pat on the back and his lung began to breathe amid general joy”. This is how the chronicle of the inauguration of the New Vallecas Stadium began in the newspaper ABC, as if it were a birth. Reason was not lacking. More than three years of remodeling works – from October 72 to June 76 – and the exile in Vallehermoso had made waiting a difficult pregnancy. The inaugural act, carried out on Saturday, June 5, 1976, was attended by the civil governor, García Siso; the national delegate for Physical Education and Sports, Tomás Pelayo Ros; and the national secretary, Antonio Navarro. The most notable absence being that of the Movement's Secretary General, Adolfo Suárez, due to scheduling problems.

The then president of Rayo, Marcelino Gil, was the host of this event. At the stroke of noon (11:45 to be exact) he showed the political and sports representatives – from the Spanish Federation Gregorio Paunero attended – the stands and the box to end the visit on the green, where Santiago Coca made a prayer. “This is the new temple of men in a very dear neighborhood”, he announced, while Pelayo Ros slipped his wish: “The stadium is magnificent and I take advantage of this inauguration to wish his promotion to First, now that a new stage begins“He was not misguided, since it was achieved in the season that started just a few months later (76-77).

The neighborhood was boiling, expectant. Hence, in just five days, more than 15,000 curious people will come to the stadium to see it before the re-release. The opening match would face Rayo and Valladolid (Sunday, June 6, at 8:30 p.m., day 38) and was going to be his first full of this new journey. The field was built on the site of the old – demolished – and on a series of figures: it had a capacity of 17,000 locations (14,500 seat), 10,000 precast pieces (some of three tons of weight), three changing rooms with heating and hot water, artificial lighting, natural grass, drainage, protective railings … and it was signed by the architects Jacinto Pazos and Francisco Riesgo.

All that illusion was not reflected in the Rayo-Valladolid scoreboard. Meeting of which today is 44 years and whose kick of honor was carried out by the famous boxer José Durán. The redheads fell 0-1, in a duel where they deserved more. The lack of effectiveness in front of the goal condemned the locals in such a special appointment. From the beginning, Benito and Potele were elusive and slipped through the bands, endangering the goal defended by Campos. Valladolid, for its part, relied more on the cons and the stands were betting on the Vallecano triumph after the break. However, the superiority of the madrileños vanished and the forward Manolo Álvarez transformed into a goal a perfect shot by Vicente at 55 '.

Felines commanded the reaction, but the luck of the goal turned his back. The opening of the facilities turned out to be bitter and people showed their frustration by throwing pads. It was the beginning of the New Vallecas Stadium and the last day of that 75-76 campaign. The penultimate of Rayo in Second, since just a year later, in this same scenario, the first ascent to First was lived.