Athletics legend steps in to save minimum deal during volleyball crisis | Relief

agreement as a last resort save something, even if it’s a little. Here’s how you can identify an ad that Valladolid will maintain the organization of the Spanish Volleyball Cup in youth and junior categories. from 27 to 30 December, following confirmation that the “jewel in the crown”, the cadet competition, heads to Almeria and is separated from the other two categories for the first time.

As Relevo reported just a few days ago, the Spanish Volleyball Federation (RFEVB), which is currently led by a board during the election period, was forced to look for alternatives to the city of Pucelana after the boycott caused by Agustin Martin Santos. The one who has been president of the RFEVB since 2000 decided to disrupt the celebration of this event, feeling betrayed during the drawing up of the lists of members of the assembly, who was supposed to be his successor as head of national volleyball, his vice-president Felipe Pascual. After winning the elections to the Legislative Assembly Martin Santos decided to raise economic claims organize an event and try to deliver the first strong blow to the new leadership.

Faced with this situation, the RFEVB has taken steps to find alternatives and, given the deteriorating situation, a few days ago decided to split the competition, which until now was held in three categories – cadet, youth and junior – and accept cadet teams, the largest category in terms of the number of teams (219 teams in 2023), which has the greatest economic impact as it attracts the largest number of families to the city of Almeria.. Heavy blow for Valladolid.

Intervention of the Valladolid City Council

The decision caused barrage of criticism about the situation. Despite the fact that it was not officially designated, the entire volleyball world and Valladolid itself took for granted the celebration of the Copa del Rey in the city for another year on such special dates. Political attacks due to economic losses, hoteliers witnessing the disappearance of thousands of customers and, more seriously, many teams lost large sums of money. upon booking with a non-refundable deposit. All because of the feud between two great leaders of their sport. Moreover, the duel was noted in the message of the RFEVB itself to the clubs: “Unfortunately, we cannot confirm the celebration of the youth or junior category in Valladolid as we would like.“.

Leaving the smallest part of the cake, the youth categories (145 teams in 2023) and junior (49 teams in 2023), the city council of Valladolid with its sports department headed by a legend of Spanish athletics Maite Martinez They decided to roll up their sleeves to find a solution and at least keep the stones for themselves. The federation itself acknowledges this in its statement, in which it states that “The Valladolid City Council is still mediating with both institutions (Spanish and Castilian-Leonese federation) to keep things moving forward.“.

Of course, there will be changes from previous editions, in addition to the lack of cadets. In his boycott movement, Martin Santos even asked increase the registration fee from 150 euros in 2023 to 400 euros in 2024. An unsustainable situation that the Spanish Federation itself refused to accept. Finally, as Relevo learned, after successful negotiations with the City Council, the figure will be intermediate – about 240 euros. We’ll have to see how this all impacts the number of teams that register, but at least it won’t have to be suspended as was the worst case scenario.

With the decision to adjudicate on short-term events, It remains to be seen what will happen in national volleyball. with the current relationship of Agustin Martin Santos and Felipe Pascual. Will this affect the presidential vote scheduled for November 24? What about the distribution of the future headquarters? And, perhaps more importantly, in the trials that are investigating them both for two crimes during the previous elections in which they ran?