Captain Jake

Lots of good feedback from last weeks blog especially about Rafa Nadal being an Ambassador for the Island, always good to hear your thoughts.

Last Friday night Real Mallorca played Athletico Bilbao in La Liga. We made our usual way to the ground about an hour before Kick-off. On a good day I can leave my house, park and be in my seat within half an hour. Well last Friday wasn’t one of those good days. Somebody in their wisdom had decided that Palma Futsal who play directly next to Mallorca’s stadium should be playing at the time when all the Mallorca and Bilbao fans were arriving for the game. You might ask how many people were actually watching the Futsal game, 2-300? I asked the same question, although I thought more, judging by the traffic and the distinct lack of parking. There were actually 3,000 people there! On top of the 16,591 fans making their way to the Son Moix there was total gridlock. I’ve never seen the car park outside the stadium so full but they were still letting cars in which was nuts and not very helpful. We left the house at 19.45 and sat in our seats at 21.10 missing the first 10 minutes and judging by what I saw we weren’t the only ones. Maybe the powers that be might need to think again if there are any fixture clashes in the future. The game itself only really sprang to life in the last 10 minutes. Mallorca had a couple of golden chances to win with shots from Lago Junior and Salva Sevilla before that but to be honest I was disappointed with Bilbao who at that the time were in second place. Mallorca were awarded a penalty in the 83rd minute with some great trickery from the new boy on loan from Real Madrid, Take. Up stepped local hero Abdon Prats who’d only just come on, only he failed to even hit the target. I said a couple of weeks ago after our loss to Real Sociedad, if you’re not going to win a game don’t lose it. In the 92nd minute Bilbao were awarded a penalty after the referee, who was rubbish all game decided via VAR that a Mallorca player had handled in the area. One of the big problems with VAR both here and in the UK is none of the spectators know what’s going on. All you can see is the Ref with his finger in his ear, holding play up. They need to put the decisions on the big screens so everyone can see. If it’s clear cut it’s fine but I think they’re more scared of the marginal decisions and what atmosphere it could create.

Mallorca are away this weekend at Getafe, a game that they could at least draw. Atlético Baleares got back to winning ways by beating Sanse last weekend 3-2 to move into 4th place. They’re away this weekend at Pontevedra on Sunday.

Keeping on the football theme my eldest Jacob begins his season today playing for San Francisco Cadete’s. It’s been a long pre season and the boys are ready to get going. Last week the team and coaches voted on who should be the team Captains. I say Captains as they have more than one elected just in case the nominated one is on the bench, injured or away. I am really proud to say that Jacob was given the number one captaincy meaning if he’s on the pitch he’s Captain. He’s worked really hard in the summer and in pre-season on his strength and fitness and it’s paying off. Naturally he was overjoyed to tell us the news as we were to hear it.

We think we have problems in the UK with Brexit. Our Spanish friends I hear are weary of voting in what will be their fourth election in 4 years. The last one was April 28th and since then rival parties can’t come to any agreements to form a Government. Good luck at the next one. If you didn’t know, we can’t vote here and I can’t vote in the UK. Bonkers isn’t it. Then again so is most politics.

A lot of people I know use TripAdvisor as a way of substantiating where they are looking to visit. I don’t like it to be honest as you’re never sure whether what they are saying is true. They have produced their own transparency report and of the 66 million reviews submitted in 2018, one million were fake reviews. It makes you wonder how many false ones actually got through?

Enjoy your weekend!

Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at www.radioonemallorca.comon mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. . If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance!

Feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com