I wanted to follow up on something I wrote in February about the great strides Real Mallorca had made with their stadium and particularly in the their corporate offerings. I was positively critical if that’s grammatically correct as I didn’t want them to forget the true supporters who’d been with them through thick and thin. I am pleased to say I got a reply from the club the other day from Joan Serra who is the Commercial Director.
“I appreciate the points that you raise in your piece. It is evident that there are still some things missing to finish the project and among those that are missing are those that you mention in your email. We do not stop working on improving all aspects that make up a match day. Rest assured that we are working on it and in the near future you will notice these new features and improvements.”
I’ve done a bit of digging and found out that there will be in the North end of the stadium a high-performance sports clinic, a fitness center with spa, a coworking space and a two-story Sports Bar.
Without doubt when it is finished Real Mallorca will have one of the most impressive stadiums in La Liga. Saying that it is important that they remain in the league. There are 11 games to go and with Mallorca on 27 points, the target has to be 40 points to survive. If only they could replicate their Copa Del Rey form into La Liga as last week they won an incredible semi-final second leg against Real Sociedad on penalties to reach the Copa Del Rey final. No one gave them a hope after drawing the first leg 0-0 but a 1-1 draw in Sociedad meant they went to penalties. Dominic Grief their reserve keeper was the hero saving a first half penalty and one in the shootout giving them a 5-4 win. Every player who took a penalty buried it, meaning they go to their first final in 21 years. It’s an amazing achievement for a club that got relegated to the Segunda B(3rd division) in the 2016/17 season.
They have reached the final three times in their history. Runners up in 1990/91 and 1997/98 and they won it in 2002/03 beating Recreativo Huelva 3-0 with 2 goals from Samuel Eto’o. That was 21 years ago, meaning that neither of my sons have seen Mallorca win a trophy. It’s just like being a fan of the other team from North London(Tottenham to the rest of you.) We were at Son Moix the night they beat Deportivo La Coruña 3-2 in the play-off final to get back into La Liga. If they could win the final against Athletic Club de Bilbao it would be probably their finest achievement.
The problem for us fans here in Mallorca is how to get there. As soon as the winning penalty went in at 12.30 in the morning, I started to look at flights but stupidly went to bed without reserving any. The next morning they had all gone. I frantically looked and managed to find a flight with Iberia which wasn’t direct to Sevilla but with our island discount the price wasn’t too bad. The price of hotels was ridiculous and that was before Bilbao had got to the final. Since then I know many fans who are struggling to find either a flight or a ferry to get there, never mind a hotel. Surely the airlines should be putting on more flights and at regulated prices? Now none of us have actually got a ticket yet as the details haven’t been released. But I’ve been told that each club should get an allocation of 20,000 seats and as we have that number of season ticket holders that should be enough as not everyone will want to or be able to go.
With that in mind I’m calling on the FFIB (Federation of football in the Balearics) to call off all of the youth football games that weekend of the 5th, 6th and 7th of April. To give all parents and their children a chance to go to Seville. This has been a wait of 21 years and the island and its football team needs all the support it can get.
As you probably know I have two boys playing in the youth football system and there’s nothing better than seeing our professional team doing well. As it gives all our youngsters something to aim for. In fact the club pictured this week four players from its first team squad that were born here in Mallorca. Abdon Prats and Sergi Darder both born in Arta, Antonio Sánchez born in Palma, Javi Llabres born in Binnisalem. It’s great to see locally born players doing so well and long may that continue. I do hope they do the island proud on April 6th.
Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos. Subscribe to receive his blogs at http://www.dadtaximallorca.com
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Dad Taxi Mallorca 
Not sure FFIB have the balls to call off youth football for the weekend. What about Juvenil Nacional that has teams from the 4 islands, do Ibiza, Menorca & Formentera have a weekend off while their bitter rivals lord it up at the final. As usual the Mallorquins overly focus on themselves without a thought for the rest.
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