Raise your hand who has not ever heard or said that
"has (s) more moral than Alcoyano
.
"
The phrase has been part of the colloquial language from a distant and unknown time.
So
far away
that no initiation date is given, and so
unknown
that neither its cause nor its author are known.
In other words, it is an arcane with signs of never revealing itself, because the years pass and the resounding phrase strengthens with the passage of time.
The years solidify the enigmas as they allow
remain intact until they become impenetrable.
Alcoyano
, in case someone still ignores him, he is not a real or fictional character with such a name from the Alicante city of Alcoy, famous for its
Moors and Christians festivities
, for hosting a certain well-known packaging company
olives stuffed with anchovies
and for being the cradle of
Camilo Sesto
.
No. Alcoyano is a football team of a certain pedigree, which, in the second half of the 1940s, played for four seasons in
First division
.
It fell in three of them, but in 47-48 it was even
tenth ahead of Madrid
that, eleventh, was two points from the decline.
The whites were short of money for the construction of what would be
the Bernabéu
.
It was a Madrid prior to
Di Stefano
, which is as much as saying before himself. The fact is that Alcoyano is distinguished, from the orphan mythology, by a faith in his possibilities that exceeds all logic and calls for a futile struggle, between heroism and pathos.
Al Alcoyano, a name phonetically more propitious than others to build on it a feat condemned to gallant failure,
he is admired and pitied in equal measure
.
Well, he is admired more.
Much more.
But for no historical reason, because there is no personal manifestation or journalistic documentation that clarifies the genesis of the myth and its permanence in the habitual chatter of the people.
THE MORAL TEAM
The club itself, whose website says the currency
"The morale team"
, is the first to ignore the origin of that phrase that he has internalized and made him famous throughout Spain.
He vaguely attributes it to the traditionally indomitable spirit of the squad, which never resigns itself to defeat or becomes discouraged.
Virtues, on the other hand, can be extended to many other teams that, however, do not enjoy a permanent place in the popular imagination.
two main theories
, which is more unlikely, to explain that tripartite mixture of axiom, saying and slogan.
They would be said to be the work of a fan with an inordinate sense of epic love for their colors or of a
hyperbolic humorist
.
One would correspond to a League match
Third division
.
Alcoyano was losing
13-0
and his players exchanged cheers of encouragement.
If this happened, it would surely be to avoid sinking altogether instead of trying to go back.
But the later narrative embellished, enlarging it, the gesture. The other would refer, in the season
1943-44
, to a meeting between Alcoyano and
Spanish (with eñe then)
promotion to First.
The Spanish was winning
7-1
.
The referee, so as not to prolong the agony of the Alicante people, whistled the end of the set when there was still a minute left for its conclusion.
The Alcoyano players jumped on him
, protesting a chronometric cut that prevented them from continuing to pursue the feat.
In the search for the source, and in the timid hypothesis of who subscribes these lines, the phrase in question may have to do with the greatest success in the long history of the club, founded in 1928. In the
1946 Cup
eliminated in the second round
Athletic Bilbao
, who had won it in the preceding three years.
He tied (3-3) at San Mamés and won (2-0) at Collao.
You had to have morals to see ahead
Iriondo, Venancio, Zarra, Panizo and Gaínza
, and not collapse. Be that as it may, the mystery of Alcoyano remains intact.
Better this way.
Mysteries, like loves, win wrapped in veils.
They should not be exposed to light.
Nor impoverish the stories.
Nor deny the legends.
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