In 1995, when there were still eight years to go before Enrique Cerezo assumed the presidency of Atlético de Madrid, the oldest red and white rock in the province of León was born. It was in La Bañeza, a town with 10,068 inhabitants (INE census in 2021), just over 50 kilometers from the capital of León. Nicolás Cebada, José Luis Lombo, Antonio Moratinos and Constantino Rodríguez put her on her feet. Five years ago its board of directors changed. Nino Pérez became its president, after the assembly. A man with a smile and overwhelming desire who only knows how to do things in a big way. It happened in 2019 just before COVID stopped the world as it was known: the 24th anniversary of the Un Sentimiento supporters club was a day that brought together football, talks, dinner and meetings between members (more than 250) and supporters from other places . The pandemic postponed the 25th anniversary. In this 2022, when there are already 26 candles on your cake, Nino goes further: two days of celebrations with the presence of Enrique Cerezo, the longest-serving president in red and white history, more than 1,000 games in charge, since 2003, and José Antonio García Calvo. And they will not be the only ones.
Everything will start tomorrow, at 8:00 p.m., with Enrique Cerezo in the assembly hall of the Hotel Bedunia, center of the anniversary acts of the red-and-white supporters club La Bañeza Un Sentimiento. Later, the gala dinner with two special guests. In the first place, José Antonio García Calvo, in second place, the LaLiga cup. Nino has spent days filling the room with red and white, with photos, scarves, memories, together with Indalecio or Paco, from the board of directors. Coordinator of the northern supporters clubs of the International Union of Supporters Clubs will open its doors for many ‘friends’because there will be many and from many different places present on this birthday, which are two: the Maragata Athletic Club (Astorga), the Never Stop Believing Club (León), the Furia Leonesa Club (León), the Benaventana Atlético Aviación Club (Benavente ), the Lucus Augusti supporters’ club (Lugo), the Noroeste Coruña supporters’ club (A Coruña), the Lucense supporters’ club (Lugo), the Palencia athletic supporters’ supporters’ club, the Belmonte de Campos supporters’ supporters’ club, the Indios Cantábrico supporters’ supporters’ club (Torrelavega), the Medinense supporters’ club (Medina del Campo), the Peña de Valladolid, the Peña Gamonal (Burgos), the Peña Fernando Torres (Irún), the Peña Las Palmas de La Bañeza, in addition to the president of the supporters club Diego Godín, Eduardo, who also chairs the Union of Supporters Clubs.
With Juanes, author of ‘Recuerdos del Doblete’
For many it will not only be celebrating Atleti. For many this meeting will be the first time of a meeting like those of before, like those of life in 2019, which comes days after the end of indoor masks. Between his tables, another illustrious, a man who tells what being Atleti is like few others: Juanes, author of the biographies of Arda, Koke and ‘Recuerdos del Doblete’. Because the Double will be the protagonist on Saturday. Because after the gala dinner, the presence of Cerezo, La Bañeza will continue to breathe red and white on Saturday, with a match between members and supporters, a Spanish wine at Bar Keops, the club’s headquarters, food at Bedunia and screening of the Doublet documentary, with a colloquium talk before closing, a dinner with the aroma of a point followed, because when it arrives, and even if he doesn’t say it, Nino will already be thinking about the next thing, at 27 years old. Anniversary to anniversary.