25,000 euros in infrastructure, almost 200 troops to guarantee security and 2,496 fans who vibrated for the Cup. The anecdote, the ‘itinerant’ vendors in the stands. This is how a game is organized and lived, from within, against a first division team in a municipality of 13,000 inhabitants.
The Saint Augustine of Guadalix hosted this Thursday the match of Copa del Rey versus Osasuna. EFE He spoke with the president of the club, the mayor of the municipality and the security councilor to discuss what it means to organize such an event. Modest football also builds muscle.
Saint Augustine of Guadalix lived his particular ‘Welcome, Mr. Marshall‘. The town, located in the Sierra de Madrid, welcomed the Osasuna. The challenge, in capital letters, was a challenge at the infrastructure level.
Juan Manuel Garcia, president of the club for 17 years, assured that since they played the tie with the It must, from Castilla la Mancha, they entered “a little labyrinth of preparation and organization.”
Garcia, the week of the crash, he attended EFE to unravel a comparable event, at the local level, with the arrival of a rock star in the city: “It is something that has never been seen and we may not have much better chance of it happening.”
“From the Spanish Football Federation They came to see the stadium and the lighting ”, said the president, and then added:“ Later, they sent us a series of things that had to be added. From that moment the City Council got down to work ”. The club had already changed the grass two seasons ago and, last season, the lighting for one LED, commented the president, proud, during the visit to the facilities.
“The town and the neighbors are very happy,” he warned. The excitement of receiving a historic appointment, the main engine of the organizers to host the match. The club, founded in 1987, has as its greatest sporting milestone a promotion to the third division. “We are enjoying it like everyone else, although we are enjoying our work. We will try to make an unforgettable event for San Agustin”, He assured.
A whole party for humble football. ”The people are very excited. Very plugged in and expectant with the game, “he warned Roberto round, Mayor of Saint Augustine of Guadalix. However, the illusion has a price: “Approximately 25,000 euros, is the figure we have on the table,” he explained. Ronda on what it means, materially, to host the confrontation.
“Once you get to this round of the Copa del Rey the requirements of the Federation they are important and especially if you want to put more spectators than the ones that usually fit in the installation ”, he warned Ronda.
The expenses, despite the fact that the facilities are public, are borne by both the city council that “assumes an important part”, and the club that “will make a small effort” with a fraction of what was harvested in the previous round, around a few 25,000 euros, amount stipulated in the initiative ‘Impulso 23’ approved by the Royal Spanish Federation in 2019.
“It is an event that affects not only the team but the entire town, I think it is a historical thing that I do not think we will live again in San Agustin and we have to be there, “said the mayor.
Mariano Baonza, councilor for security, industry and rural areas, detailed how was the security device and the work to expand the capacity. 80 civil guards, 18 municipal police, 30 members of private security, 32 civil protection workers, two ambulances, a mobile ICU and eight members of health personnel were part of the device, said this week to EFE. The city council also launched an aerial surveillance unit with drones.
Regarding the capacity, two tiers of 1,312 and another two of 404 were mounted, which were added to the almost 400 fixed locations. One of the anecdotes of the tie, the way in which they got the extra stands.
“On the day of the draw there were already companies at the Federation’s door, which, as they evidently knew that there were places -such as our municipality- that did not have stands, they gave cards there,” he confessed. Baonza.
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