CÁDIZ “Our life is to fight to go up or not to go down”

The Silver Cup has gone back to wearing yellow if it had ever stopped being so. A soccer city used to suffering, but without losing faith in its team. Since the 1977-78 season shook hands with the First Division for the first time, Cádiz had never been away from it for so long. The streak of 14 seasons walking between Second and Second B (2006-2020) surpassed the previous twelve-year period between 1993-2005.

Now nobody wants to remember the journey of the past. You live in the present and you dream that the future does not bring another immediate descent. To feel the Cadista sentiment, there is nothing better than to approach the men who have written and write their history. The appointment is at Carranza. Three yellow legends: Pepe Mejías, the Iniesta of the province; Carmelo, also known as the Beckenbauer de la Bahía and Hugo Vaca, the Argentine who arrived as a player in 1978 and stayed forever after passing through the sports management. To complete the picture, the captain of the present, José Mari Martín Bejarano-Serrano.

They sit in a half circle trying to maintain a safe distance and quickly go to work. Questions, memories, emotions do not fall to the ground.

What does the return to Primera mean for the city and for cadismo?

Pepe Mejías. The most. It is the reward for suffering, in our style, our way of living the yellow of our club. For too many years we have not been where we should be most often.

Jose Mari. For my age I remember the promotion to Second in Chapín in 2015. I am from Rota and Cadismo is lived there with as much intensity as here. The fact that now I have lived it as a protagonist and on top of that the promotion has been to First is the greatest thing that has happened to me as a footballer and as a fan. Because I have not stopped being a follower for being a professional.

Hugo cow. It is a prize and a joy only tarnished by the lack of public. We were lucky to celebrate promotions with our fans next to us and now they have missed us. The affection of our fans is unique. I hope that the permanence can be celebrated with the Carranza full and the people in the streets, which is what we are used to.

Carmelo. The natural state of the city and the province is to be in First. It has nothing to do with being in the silver division, not to look further down. Everything changes in Primera and is palpable wherever you go.

From the outside, the feeling is that the feeling is above the category where the team is …

Jose Mari. The cadista loves his club, even if he is in Second B. I have no doubts, but I also see that we have always had the ambition within us to see the club as high as possible. Now what we have to do is take care of what we have achieved. And with work and sacrifice it can be achieved.

Hugo Vaca. It is true that one is from Cádiz beyond the category. The fan never leaves his team. When he is in Second B he thinks he is in a well so he thinks he has to help more if possible. The Second is the most natural division in history. And the First is an award to be enjoyed. In the 12 seasons that the club has been in the First Division, it was always thought that the first candidate for relegation was Cádiz. Not even when we were eight years in a row in First did we stop being the strongest candidate to go down.

Pepe Mejías. I was born and raised here and we are all aware of how far Cádiz can go. We have always known the difficulties we were going to have regardless of the division in which we played. The fans and the Cadista player have always dreamed of the miracle at the end of the season. Now we have the slogan of 'the fight is not negotiated', but we have historically fought. It was our fate. Fight and fight to go up or not go down. We have not been a club that has never had it easy.

The four of you have in common that you have played in other clubs, not only here. What does Cádiz have that others don't?

Carmelo. Cádiz has always been a family. He has always fed on people from here, from the province, from kids who feel like the club. That being of the house served so that those who came from outside were integrated quickly because they came to a family. Of the other clubs I've been to, I have the best of memories, but they have absolutely nothing to do with this one.

Hugo Vaca. When I arrived they welcomed me as one of them. They invited me to their homes. I joined before as a Cadiz than as a player. He lived with them. We all identify ourselves. We were kids. It was a neighborhood team playing at a professional level. That spirit was maintained until the Second B stage in which foreign players came who identified little, but then that feeling of those who came from abroad was recovered and he returned to the family that Carmelo spoke of, although we are no longer a neighborhood team but professional in every way. Cádiz had some principles and now they have recovered.

José Mari was born in 1987, who was then his idol, his reference, who wanted to be when he grew up?

Jose Mari. I started in La Roteña and I only thought about being a footballer. My dream was to play for Cádiz. I wanted to be anyone who wore the Cádiz shirt. Not one especially. I identified with working and humble people. Every year I asked for the shirt for Reyes and unfortunately I was only able to have one in all my childhood, but with that I was fixing myself. And now I wear it every weekend and also as a captain. There is no greater happiness than being in First with your home team.

Carmelo, you arrive in Cádiz at the age of 28, did you not have the opportunity to come before?

Carmelo. When I faced Cádiz in the juniors I had a healthy envy. I saw them arrive and said what a good team … son! I used to play on land in the Port. I wouldn't have minded coming earlier, of course. But as I always say, I have been very lucky in my life and in football more. In the end I arrived in Cádiz at the best time in its history. Before with Portuense, in 1977, we traveled by plane because we played against the Balearic teams. We played at the Nou Camp against Barcelona Atlético. With Betis I played UEFA. With Salamanca in First. I caught the best times of all the teams I have played for. Here I enjoyed myself like a dwarf.

Pepe, Zaragoza paid 40 million for you in 86… Star price.

Pepe Mejias. At that time a little money. Sporting offered 35, but he wanted to go to Zaragoza because he was playing the Recopa and wanted something new, not always fighting for a relegation or promotion. There were more or less because the same day that I left, President Irigoyen offered me the same contract that Zaragoza gave me. I told him no. He had been at Cádiz for nine seasons and was 27 years old. I had the illusion of having new experiences. I wanted to demonstrate my football with other demands. Cádiz kept up to 15 percent of the transfer that corresponded to me. If not, he wouldn't let me go. I bet on Irigoyen. Either he let me go or he quit football. The change was huge. Later I enjoyed the other clubs I played for, but of course I continued to suffer with my Cádiz in the distance.

Hugo Vaca. Yes, but at Carnival he was always injured and would come home. It was like Neymar with his sister's birthday.

Mejías. I came to Cádiz every time I got injured … The coaches got angry with me and I sang them por soleares. But it was not to live the carnival in the street. Some little exit was made, of course. Even in costumes, people knew us.

You with the great president Irigoyen had them of all colors.

Pepe Mejías. It was to have them. One Monday he tells me, next Monday, without fail, you have to get married. Why am I in such a hurry? And it was so that I didn't have to go outside of Cádiz to do my military service. If I got married, I could stay in the province. Don't worry, he told me, the club fixes everything. I spoke with my wife, a minor, with my late mother. They tell me that we have to go to the bishopric to ask for the three warnings. Everyone told her she was crazy. I play against Deportivo, I scored 2-1 and on Monday, married. It was May 14. In July I am going to camp in Cáceres and they swear that they will send me to Cádiz later. When I finish … they send me to Madrid. To Cibeles.

Carmelo. In other words, the recommendation was worthless and you were married.

Pepe Mejías. We were rented in Madrid. Don't worry, don't worry… they told me. Total, that in February, as a last resort, Irigoyen and the club's legal office sent a letter to the Commandery saying that my wife was pregnant and that she had to go home. Thanks to that I get back. As I arrive I am going to train and I have not finished when they send me two military police to look for me in the locker room. They take me to the barracks and the commander tells me that it was the first and last time I did that. He told me, first you come here, you put my coffee and then you go to train.

Jose Mari. Waiter and footballer.

Pepe Mejías. Seven months to be able to come back and play and the first game I play in Huelva, I come off the bench and in five minutes they show me two yellow cards and to hell. Don't see how the Press put me. So much waiting, so much waiting and the one that the kid has set us up, they said

Carmelo and Mejías play two years together.

Pepe Mejías. But we had known each other since we were 17 years old when we played with the Cadiz team that was champion of Andalusia. Our football was very normal. One came out and another came in. Now when I hear that we don't have a team for First, I say that football is the same in Second as in First. The concepts are the same. That upstairs you have to have a little more experience because the rivals have players who make a difference, well, but Cádiz has always been as it is now. We have never had money to pay outside players. Here the group, the fight, the camaraderie have always been valued, more than having a great signing. Some special player, but the rest all from here. The set prevailed over individualities.

Carmelo. The people who came out of the quarry and with level was an incredible thing. And they performed in First or where they played.

Hugo Vaca. The values ​​of Cádiz have always been those and were not negotiated. We have talked about the slogan of the struggle, then it was not said, but it was done. Cádiz gave birth to many quality players.

To José Mari, who puts Cádiz in vein?

Jose Mari. My own people. Rota is a Cadista. We have the Peña Camaleón that centers all the events of the club. I have spoken before the ascent of Jerez because I see myself running all over town with the yellow flag of the Camaleón. There were players born in Rota who played for Cádiz. There 95 percent of those who like football are from Cádiz and now children are seen much more in the street with the shirt, that magic of the club is recovered in the province. The children are first from Cádiz and then they can be from another. But everyone wants to play here.

Would they be able to make an eleven of the history of Cádiz among the four?

Hugo Vaca. Very difficult, complicated … There are so many. Goalkeeper Szendrei …

Carmelo. I didn't see Santamaría, but they told me he was very good.

Jose Mari. I leave it for those who know more …

Pepe Mejías. There are endless, they are 110 years of history. It is that four or five teams would come out. Andrés, Miguelí, Juan José, Baena, Linares …

Hugo Vaca. I differentiate the categories. It is not the same to be a champion in Second B than to play in First. Carmelo for example is basic because he was always in the First Division, Pepe is the most important player in his entire history. For quality, for games, for goals, for being from Cádiz …

Carmelo. The Magician has to be there, Kiko, Mané, Andrés, Botubot… And Quino, Paco Baena, Carvallo, Ibáñez… They weren't good kids…! And then, for example, Chico Linares, who should be thanked for not going to Milan … Don't you know that one? In a preseason game they put a banner on Carranza: “Boy, don't go to Milan.” You have to have art to put up that banner.

Much like Michael Robinson who nicknamed him the “Beckenbauer of the Bay.”

Carmelo. And people keep calling me it. As the saying goes, “something would have done well”. Enchanted with life.

Tell José Mari something about Mágico that has never been told before.

Mejías. A coach, Benito Joanet, as the captain was, told him to always be with me as a partner… so I could train a little more and after ten minutes he kicked us both out of training. I was carrying his guilt and I told the coach to go to hell that I no longer got on with the Magician. I called her Lola, because like Lola Flores she was unique. All he wanted was the ball. I kept running. He saw a ball, he started kicking it and it was already packed.

Jose Mari. I did not know Mágico and when he came last year it was my turn as captain to be in an act with the shirts. I was very excited to meet him and everyone told us that he was very late. We even delayed training to give him time to get there. We stayed there waiting for him. It did not appear. He was tired, they told us. The next day again. We didn't see him either. It was two days and I was left with the desire.

Pepe Mejías. Do you want a good, good anecdote of the Magician? Imagine our masseur, the late Rovira. Every day he put a basket of those bread in the middle of the locker room so that we could leave our training clothes. Until one day he tells me “compadre I don't know who the hell is leaving me some women's panties in the basket every day.” One day, another, another, Pepe, he would tell me everything serious. And of course I knew who it was. Every day he went to look for the Magician at his house to wake him up and take him to training and every day he was with an increasingly beautiful lady. And what he did is that he took the panties, he trained with them and with the pants and when he finished he threw them into the basket and took some clean underwear. I used to say to my compadre, who do you think it could be …

Hugo Vaca. When he stayed to sleep at my house he put on my clothes and when Luque's went, the same. And it wasn't for not spending, because they spent a lot of money on clothes, it was because as they slept in one place every day, they changed where they woke up.

An hour has passed and there I leave you, with your Magico, your Irigoyen … and your Cádiz del alma.