Author: somethingforyourmallorcaweekend

I've lived and worked in Mallorca since 1990. I've worked at Pirates Adventure & Radio One Mallorca. I now work at Wave Mallorca Radio and have my own Concierge service called Prioritymallorca.com. This blog will give you my news, views and my life on our island in the sun.

The Devil is in the Detail!

I hope the person in charge of PR for the Balearic Islands has been working this weekend. The press and social media has been dominated by headlines such as “Booze You Lose” and “A kick in the Balearics for Boozy Brits”

It was reported that sales of alcohol would be banned from 9.30pm until 8am, but they didn’t explain where. Prompting the pile-on from the press and the keyboard warriors. All headlines have to be put into context and the devil is in the detail, as most of them are either clickbait, old news or fake news. Any excuse to sell a newspaper or get more likes on social media. But the more serious side of this is the effect it has on the holiday industry and, more importantly, the businesses that rely so much on it. I’ve lost count of the amount of people who’ve been asking me has Magalluf banned alcohol? That’s people looking to come away on holiday and, more importantly, concerned business owners.

So let’s put this utter rubbish to bed. Remember that this isn’t anything new. In fact, it’s old news rewritten with the authorities looking to put it back into the public eye, with what they say are stricter rules. Which is where the PR comes into it, do these people not talk to each other? Yes, put out the statement, but at least control how it is presented. 

In January 2020, the Balearic government passed a decree law “against tourism of excesses and for the improvement of quality in tourist zones”. This, however, got lost in the two years of the pandemic. But since the resorts reopened in 2022 and 2023 the rules have been applied. 

It is important to point out that the decree applies to only four resorts in the Balearics but not to the whole of these resorts – Arenal (Llucmajor), Magalluf, Playa de Palma and Sant Antoni de Portmany. Which, in my opinion, is where this is wrong. I’m all for the measures but for all, not by a map that has been drawn to favour certain businesses. There’s a great saying in Spanish which says ‘todos Moros o todos Cristianos’ which basically means everyone should receive the same or be held by the same. 

The part of the decree that created all the fuss over the weekend, which for clarity has been part of it since it was created in 2020, was the following. 

“Displays of alcoholic drinks outside shops or in shop windows are prohibited, and alcohol cannot be sold by shops between 9.30pm and 8am.”

Meaning this has nothing to do with all the restaurants, cafés, bars and clubs, who have certain other rules they have to apply to, but it’s not a total ban as the headlines appeared to state.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Magaluf has one of the best beaches on the island. All the beach clubs, shows, restaurants, cafés, bars, clubs and hotels have invested huge amounts of money to upgrade their premises and turn the resort around. Having lived and worked here for over 30 years, I think I’m entitled to comment, and I don’t think I’ve seen it looking so good. 

So let’s be positive,  drive this negativity away and look forward to a busy summer. 

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the island’s number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos. Subscribe to receive his blogs at http://www.dadtaximallorca.com

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi, or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

Brexit, Was It Worth It?

The 23rd of June 2016 was a day when the older generation in the UK totally changed the landscape for the younger generation. It was the day that Brexit became a reality and unfortunately, just over half of the population believed the spin of vote leave campaign more than vote remain. One of the driving forces for vote leave was immigration, and by taking away the freedom of movement they said the UK would get their borders back. Well that went well didn’t it!

On the one hand, all it has done is to drive the people to take much riskier ways of getting to the UK. And on the other hand, it has denied the younger generation in the UK, the freedom to travel and work abroad. 

I can take this back even further, when the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition took away the opportunity for parents to take their children out of school during term time for a holiday. A subject I’ve talked about before. Seeing new countries, experiencing new cultures, hearing new languages and tasting different cuisines should be part of their education in my opinion. And it should be in the hands of the parents and teachers to decide if a child could take some time away, not a Government Minister.

Why is the UK Government so obsessed with denying people the freedom to travel? It seems they and those who voted for Brexit forgot they were young once and decided it is best that they deny the same opportunities to younger people.

In the last few weeks I’ve highlighted the slowness at passport controls now and   that employing people from the UK is virtually impossible here in Mallorca. So imagine my surprise and anger when I heard this. Rishi Sunak has rejected an EU offer to strike a post-Brexit deal to allow young Britons to live, study or work in the bloc for up to four years.

The prime minister declined the European Commission’s surprise proposal of a youth mobility scheme for people aged between 18 and 30.

The current UK Government are on borrowed time, but even the Labour Party who are tipped to get into power have rejected this. Saying, “Labour has no plans for a youth mobility scheme. We have already suggested some tangible ways that we would look to improve the relationship and deliver for British businesses and consumers.”

In fact the only ones who support this are the Liberal Democrats, their leader Ed Davey says “Expanding our existing youth mobility visas to cover European countries on a reciprocal basis would be a win-win. 

“It would be a much-needed boost to our economy, especially hospitality and tourism; it would offer great new opportunities to young British people to work abroad; and it would be a crucial step towards fixing our broken relationship with Europe.” Unfortunately, the Lib/Dems have as much chance of winning the election as Tottenham Hotspur do of winning a trophy. 

Anand Menon, a professor of European politics and foreign affairs at King’s College London and director of UK in a Changing Europe, said: “Clearly there is a debate to be had about the costs and the benefits of a youth mobility scheme, but I find it utterly depressing that both of the major political parties, one of which will form a government after the next election, do not know the difference between free movement and a limited youth mobility scheme which involves visas.”

It is true that a youth mobility scheme would not be a return to freedom of movement and would, if agreed, require a YMS visa, evidence of sufficient funds to sustain a living and health insurance. There is speculation that the UK will try and do individual deals with certain countries rather than the whole Bloc. If that is the case, then I sincerely hope that Spain is top of that list. 

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the island’s number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos. Subscribe to receive his blogs at http://www.dadtaximallorca.com

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi, or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

Who is Brad Robertson?

Brad Robertson is the sort of bloke you want to go and have a beer with and listen to not only what he is doing in his work life, but also what he’s done in his past. I’ve interviewed him on the radio a couple of times, and I have to be honest and say he was my inspiration to start recycling more and more. So much so now that I even pull things out of our bins at home I f they’ve not been recycled properly. My niece Florence is working for a company called the Blue Marine Foundation in the UK, a charity dedicated to restoring the ocean to health by addressing overfishing, one of the world’s biggest environmental problems. She was my inspiration to contact Brad again. So after chasing him for a chat for ages, due to us both being so busy, we finally sat down together a couple of weeks ago. 

So who is Brad Robertson?

He was born in Australia and spent most of his time on the East coast diving around the Great Barrier Reef. Which is where his love for marine life and conservation first started. He arrived in Mallorca 13 years ago from Australia with no contacts and began a land and sea business called Ondine Escape, showing people the beauty of Mallorca. As part of his business, he set up Asociación Ondine which was his way of helping the ecosystems that he was making money from. That was all fine, but it became apparent that he didn’t have the resources to cope with both. So he had the choice of keeping diving and chasing money, or following his heart and having no money! Much to his bank accounts dismay but to Mallorca’s gain, he chose the latter and concentrated on the Asociación. Eventually though, the Asociación outgrew itself and became a foundation with a new name and Save the Med was born. 

At the heart of Save the Med are four main areas of concentration, marine regeneration, scientific research, education programmes and plastic pollution reduction. 

In 2012 Sa Dragonera became the main focus for a marine protected area and after a lot of work they presented the dossier to the local government and the mainland government. In 2016 the local government recognised Sa Dragonera as a marine protected area and in 2020 it was also recognised by the Madrid government. Which was a tremendous achievement for a foundation with hardly any funding, no traction, and no reputation. The building of relationships with local and national governments is definitely key for them in the work they do.

There are many more marine protected areas, but one of the main things Brad found hard to understand was that fishing was still allowed in these areas. But what it did was make him realise that the fishermen cared just as much about the areas as he did. It led to him embracing their community to find out more about them. He then realised that they were fundamental to his ideas for marine protected areas, as they were in fact the guardians of the projects. 

Dos manos (two hands) is a 10-year-old education programme aimed at teaching children about the single use plastics industry. They teach through different methods, mainly about the harm the use of single plastics can be. I took my kids years ago to a beach clean up in Colonia de Sant Jordi organised by Brad, and it was an eye-opening experience to see what actually gets dumped. 

I asked if the foundation had ever received any money from the tourist tax? Remember, the tax was introduced to help inject funds into conserving the environment and to make tourism more sustainable for the island’s ever-increasing population in the high-season. Brad breaks off and shouts to a colleague, “Jaime, have we ever received any money from the tourist tax?” Jaime sniggers and shakes his head. Not that we’ve asked for it, says Brad, but surely these are the sort of people that should be receiving money? 

Our chat turns to single use plastics, and you can tell it’s a subject that Brad is passionate about. The textile industry and clothing in particular is a massive user of single use plastics. Brad calls it “the sleeping giant of plastic pollution”. Plastic made clothing, which is normally “poly” something, when you put them into a washing machine they let off micro fibres, which go into the water system and into the sewage and then out to sea. And so the cycle continues. 

He would love to see Real Mallorca football club have one set of their entire kit made in natural fibre. This would start a big conversation in the industries that are super saturated in money, super saturated in the urge to earn more money, and super saturated in the ability to change their behaviour. 

The message he and the foundation want to get out there is that single – use plastics do not get recycled, it’s impossible and a fact. But it still happens, and when it does get recycled it comes back as a lower quality plastic. He doesn’t know how many times it gets “recycled” but eventually it becomes useless, and then what do you do with it? In Brads words, this recycling and circular economy with plastic is complete bullshit! (Sorry for the expletive, but he says it as it is). One of the biggest lies we’ve ever been told is that single use plastic is recyclable. It isn’t and yet it is still being peddled by the recycling and rubbish management companies. The Foundation is currently focusing more on promoting reuse methods and circularity. Despite recycling being mainstream, only about 10% of plastics have been successfully recycled over the years, so there’s clearly a gap somewhere.

What message would you like us to finish on? “Before making a purchase, please consider the impact. Reuse whenever possible, and continue to support the local environmental groups in our shared mission.”

Brad is such an inspirational character and if you ever have the chance to have a beer with him, sit down and listen as it will be a complete education.

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the island’s number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos. Subscribe to receive his blogs at http://www.dadtaximallorca.com

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi, or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

Football Travel And The Brexit Effect

Any football aficionado will tell you that a supporter that follows his or her club home and particularly away is a true supporter. Now I’m not putting myself in that bracket, but over the last few weeks I have been lucky enough to go to two of the biggest games my two clubs have played in the last few years. Two clubs? How can you support two clubs, I hear you say. Well, I’ve been an Arsenal supporter all my life, however when I moved to Mallorca I missed the opportunity to go and watch live football. I travel back for a game in London when I can, but Real Mallorca have become my adopted club. I said the other week that following them to Sevilla was a great experience, even though they lost. It was the same for me and my two boys last week when we travelled to Munich to see Arsenal play in the Champions League quarter-finals. Finding tickets was not easy, and this is when a good network of friends comes in handy. Thank you to Debbie at Inspire Sport who managed to get them for us. 

My Wife said to all of us before we went, aren’t you going to take a coat? We had looked at the weather forecast, which didn’t look great, but none of us felt we needed one. Which in truth was a schoolboy error. As soon as we arrived in Munich, it was raining, which also turned to hail and sleet!  We managed to find the bar that many of the Arsenal fans were in, which was right in the centre of the city. It was an Irish bar that was right opposite a huge German beer hall, so you can imagine that everyone was enjoying the German hospitality. We decided to get to the ground early as I remembered how difficult it was to get there the last time I went, and also the boys were excited to see it. The Allianz Arena is situated in the north of Munich and is one of Europe’s most striking grounds. It certainly is impressive, and the atmosphere was amazing with a crowd of 75,000. One thing I’ve noticed in European games is within the Ultra fans there always seems to a “conductor” who starts all the songs. In Munich, there were two of them orchestrating everything. It’s not something you see so much in the UK, as it’s normally someone randomly starting each chant. 

You probably don’t need me to tell you the score, but two defeats in two away trips for my two teams certainly wasn’t great. But spending time with my boys and enjoying the atmosphere of the two different cities meant the results were soon forgotten about. We all agreed that going to away fixtures was actually more fun than going to home games, and it’s something that we will look to do more of in the future. 

Travelling away from the island has been interesting these past few weeks. We’re lucky to get the residents discount on flights and ferries travelling interisland and to the mainland. Although it does sometimes seem that companies take advantage of this by putting up their prices. But one of the main things is how easy it is to pass through customs travelling within Europe. Apart from showing our TIE identity cards at the check-in, we would just walk through at the other end. I can’t help feeling that Brexit has ruined that form of travel for us Brits and all the hanging around we have to do now. I’ve talked before about the difficulties in employing Brits now with the freedom of movement taken away. Which then begs the question, has Brexit actually been worth it? If anyone can give me a positive, then I’m willing to listen. 

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the island’s number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos. Subscribe to receive his blogs at http://www.dadtaximallorca.com

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

Mallorca Too Expensive?

I see a lot of comments on social media about how expensive Mallorca has become. Being an island that has to import most of its produce, unfortunately means we are hit harder than most. But most of the complaints seem to be about the cost of holidays, flights and hotels. Once again, being an island doesn’t help, as it limits the ways people can get to us. 

Possibly we have become victims of our own success and popularity means more, and more people are choosing to come here. If Tour Operators, hoteliers and airlines see that demand and load factors are high, then why would they drop their prices? I’m not saying it’s right, but it makes business sense and let’s face it, they are not in it to lose money. A change I have seen is that the Brits do not seem to dominate the market as much as they used to. In the resort of Magalluf which has been a predominantly British resort for years, we are now seeing Germans, French, Italians, Spanish, Scandinavians and Americans. At Pirates, particularly in our family Adventure show, we have seen a huge shift. Years ago, our market would have been 90% British, but that has now slipped to just over 50% with all the other markets filling the space. 

Mallorca hoteliers who own Iberostar and Melia hotels International hit the headlines when they were announced on Forbes billionaire list. Then came the usual pile on from the keyboard warriors about reducing their hotel prices in Mallorca. Let’s remember that although these businesses are based here, they have hotels and other businesses all over the World. So their fortune is not just built here. When I was in Seville in February, I booked a room for one night at the Eurostars Torre Sevilla for 3 of us, and it cost me €150. The weekend that Real Mallorca played there in the Copa del Rey final, the same hotel was €599 for one night! It’s a trend copied by tour operators, hoteliers and airlines worldwide and if you want to go somewhere that’s popular, I’m afraid you’re going to have to pay for it. 

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the island’s number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos. Subscribe to receive his blogs at http://www.dadtaximallorca.com

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

A Cautionary Tale

The photo above is of all the kids that are currently playing for Real Mallorca at youth level and all the coaches that are looking after them. The hashtag basically reads “our future”. In one way it’s an inspiring photo, if you look closely at their faces they are all smiling and dreaming of becoming a professional footballer. The truth however is somewhat different. Only 1 or possibly 2 of all those players will actually make it as a top player. The ones that fall by the wayside will be replaced by more aspiring players and the same thing will happen again and again. In my opinion more must be done to help these youngsters cope with rejection. Remember this is just one club, there are many more that will feed players into Mallorca meaning that many more will fall by the wayside. 

Professional Clubs the World over will hoover up the best talent and promise them the World, and sometimes it isn’t the best choice for the player. At such a young age, kids just want to and should be able to just play. If you’re good enough, you will be spotted and possibly asked if you’d like to move to a so-called better team. It happened to both of my boys, who started playing for a local team, CD Calvia and were scouted by CD San Francisco in Palma. At that point you have to make a decision whether it’s not only right for your child but right for you as a parent. Now I’m not called “Dad Taxi” for nothing, driving to Calvia village twice or three times a week is very different from driving to Palma, sometimes five times a week. In the case of my youngest, Jude, he has goalkeeper practice twice a week and then training with his team three times a week plus a game over the weekend. It’s a big undertaking and not a decision that should be taken lightly. I get asked by quite a lot by parents, what do I think is best for their child who’s been asked to move to another club. I will give my advice as I see it, but at the end of the day, it’s down to the parents and the child to make the final decision. As I said above, the most important thing is that they are playing regularly and not part of a big squad getting the odd appearance every now and again. Another big part of all this is to encourage them to work hard at school. I know a lot of clubs encourage this, which is good, but it does need to be reiterated by the parents too. Even if a child is rejected, they should be encouraged to look for another club, go back into further education, or if they are old enough to get into the job market. That doesn’t necessarily mean the end of their football dream, there are many examples of players that have been rejected and still made it as a professional. 

Probably one of the best players Real Mallorca has produced is Marco Asensio. He started at a local club, Plates de Calvia, followed by Real Mallorca. He then moved to Real Madrid and is now plying his trade at Paris Saint Germain. 

I think the feel good factor from Real Mallorca’s journey in the Copa del Rey will be positive for youth football here on the island. I’ve said lots of times that a successful Real Mallorca football team will not only be good for tourism but good for youth football here too. It is important that they remain a La Liga team and with seven games to go they are currently six points clear of relegation. 

I lost count last week the amount of people that asked me where to buy Real Mallorca v Real Madrid tickets. I’ve also said it before, buy a season ticket, as the Real Madrid and Barcelona games alone will pretty much cover the cost of the whole season. Whilst Mallorca lost to Madrid, a record crowd of 23,244 were at the Son Moix stadium, which was good to see. Hopefully a similar crowd will be at their next home game against Atlético Madrid on Saturday, May 4th and by that time they will have avoided relegation. 

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the island’s number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos. Subscribe to receive his blogs at http://www.dadtaximallorca.com

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

“I hope that it’s not another 20 years before we do son!”

You might be surprised when I say that Sevilla didn’t disappoint. Yes, of course it would have been amazing for Real Mallorca to win the Copa Del Rey, but the whole experience was a joy from start to finish. 

On the Friday, I talked to Hawksbee and Jacob’s on Talksport radio in the UK about how well Real Mallorca had done to actually get to the final. My youngest son Jude and I also visited the club shop at the stadium. Which, as you can imagine, was doing a roaring trade. Credit to the club’s owners, who have built a much larger one when the stadium was being converted. I’m not sure the old one, which was like a broom cupboard, would have coped. I talked about Nike last week, and it’s no surprise that with American owners, Mallorca swapped their shirt sponsor from Umbro to Nike in July 2021. Now they don’t make football shirts like they used to, and the more fashionable tighter fit means a fat git like me struggles to get into one. So I bought a much more flattering and cheaper t-shirt. My son bought the goalkeeper jersey and even though we got a 10% discount as season ticket holders, it was still an eye-watering €76.50.

Saturday morning we set off for Sevilla. We flew to Valencia and after a short stop we boarded the same plane for the trip to Seville. We arrived at three in the afternoon and asked the taxi driver to take us to as close to the Cathedral he could. As we got out of the taxi, all we could see was red and white Athletic Club shirts. Stories say there were 20,000 with tickets (which we’ll talk about soon) and another 50,000 made the trip without tickets. We found our way to our favourite tapas bar called “Pelayo”. It was a bar recommended to us by a friend, which we visit every time we go to Seville. It is very noticeable that when you’re eating out on the mainland, you can see that Mallorca is much more expensive. On leaving the restaurant, we found the square that quite a few of the Real Mallorca fans were congregating in. There was a great fun atmosphere with lots of singing and drinking. We bumped into quite a few friends, and then we all made our way to the ground. Up to that point, our day had gone really well. The checking of bags by the police just to get into the fan zone outside the ground was to me a bit excessive. But the same bag search happened again as you made your way into the grounds of the stadium. 

La Cartuja Stadium was built in the mid-nineties, as Sevilla fancied itself as an Olympic host city and set about building a stadium to the exacting standards laid down by the International Olympic Committee. Three years and 120 million euros later, it had a 60,000 capacity stadium, but no Olympic Games as Sevilla didn’t even make the ballot process for the 2004 or the 2008 games. They offered it to both the cities football clubs, but neither Real Betis nor Sevilla wanted an athletics track and to be tenants. So, since then it has hosted some Spain games, the Copa Del Rey, UEFA finals and music concerts. 

Once inside, it was clear that we were going to be outnumbered by the Athletic fans. They seemed to be everywhere. Each club was supposed to receive 20,000 tickets and the other 20,000 was supposed to go to dignitaries, sponsors and families of the players. But it looked to me that most had been got by the Athletic fans. Some had even got into the Mallorca end, and I think that Mallorca and the RFEF (Royal Spanish Football Federation) should look into that. Nevertheless, we out sang their fans, creating an unbelievable atmosphere and most of our fans were in way before the start. Ironic that it’s called the Copa del Rey (King’s Cup) and yet all the Athletic Club fans booed & whistled at the Spanish National Anthem and the King when put onto the big screen!  I’m sure most of you have heard the result by now, so I don’t need to go into any detail. Suffice to say that when we scored it was absolute bedlam, and unfortunately we couldn’t hang on. 

Grown men, women and children were crying around me, but in truth the best team won. If you could win on heart and passion, the cup would have been ours. Athletic Club’s annual budget is €261.60 compared to Mallorca’s €87.10 and in Nico Williams (man of the match) they have a player arguably worth more than the whole of the Mallorca squad. 

It is something I will look back on fondly, when 20,000 islanders went to Seville via plane or ferry to the mainland and then car, train, bus, coach, and we showed the World what a passionate football club we are. My Son said “do you think we’ll ever create that atmosphere again Dad?” 

My reply, “I hope that it’s not another 20 years before we do son!”

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the island’s number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos. Subscribe to receive his blogs at http://www.dadtaximallorca.com

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

The Nike Controversy

Last week I received a text that said “I predict you writing something on the new Nike England kit and flag.” Which made me smile, and in truth it would be amiss of me not to talk about it, as it created such a furore. If you’ve not seen it, Nike have produced an England football shirt with a purple, blue, black and red cross on the back of the neck. Changing the colour of the flag of St George was seen by most people as something you shouldn’t touch, and the public outcry is still running today. 

Firstly, for me, is it Nike (pronounced like the name Mike) or is it Nike (pronounced like the name Mikey). Well, it’s Nikey if you look it up. Founded in 1964, they have become the World’s leading apparel brand, worth $142.39 billion. The Nike tick and the slogan “Just do it” have become synonymous around the World.

Nike first signed a six-year deal with the English Football Association back in 2012, marking the end of Umbro’s sixty-year association with the National team. Umbro had been England’s official kit supplier since the 1950s, apart from an eight-year stretch from 1974-82 when Admiral took over. That was extended in 2018 to a twelve-year deal until 2030, said to be worth £400 million. 

I asked my two boys what they thought of the kit, and both were unimpressed and said why did they change the flag? Two boys who are 18 and 14 respectively and haven’t really been brought up with the flag of St George being part of our lives. In fact, both prefer the retro kits that England used to wear. 

High street retailer JD Sports has revealed that, for the first time ever, England’s away kit is selling better than the home kit. So, in my opinion, this is a great marketing ploy by Nike. Still sell the same amount of shirts but more away ones than home ones and next year produce a different one. And these shirts don’t come cheap, by the way, £124.99 in adult sizes and £119.99 for kids. With a deal lasting until 2030, what have they got to lose?

Remember that this is the same brand that didn’t want to produce a Mary Earps England goalkeeper jersey. They faced a widespread backlash and after mounting pressure, they relented and released Earp’s green long-sleeved Lionesses shirt for sale, with the product selling out twice in a matter of minutes. They’re not daft in the Nike marketing department, are they! 

Interestingly, England aren’t the only ones with kit problems. 

Germany has released a pink away kit, said to represent the diversity in Germany, but as you can imagine this has caused a bit of a rumpus. But the colour of the shirt was not the major talking point as far as the Germans were concerned. Last week, it was announced that the decades-long kit supply tie-up between German soccer’s DFB governing body and German sportswear giant Adidas, one of the most renowned technical deals in sport, will come to an end after the 2026 World Cup. And guess who’s taking over? Yes, you guessed it, our friends from Nike. Reports suggested that the Americans offered in the region of €100 million, almost double what their German counterparts at Adidas apparently offered. 

Even Spain has been caught up in a kit gate saga, although this dated back to 2017. German sportswear brand Adidas faced fury after critics claimed the colours of Spain’s national team’s shirt were too similar to the flag of Spain’s Second Republic – instead of its national flag.

Spain’s Second Republic spanned eight years from 1931 to 1939 and officially ended following the victory of nationalist leader Francisco Franco at the end of the devastating Spanish Civil War.

The republic’s flag featured a purple strip at the bottom of Spain’s red and yellow bands – and critics of the national team shirt drew comparisons due to the inclusion of a splash of purple down the shirt. 

Of the current top 10 in the FIFA football rankings, Nike produces the kits for France, England, Brazil, Netherlands, Portugal and Croatia. With Adidas producing the rest for Argentina, Spain, Belgium and Italy.

I find all this criticism of the shirt funny as we don’t really celebrate St George’s Day on April the 23rd, in fact English people celebrate St Patrick’s Day more. But you may have read earlier in the week that, due to a new initiative by the Calvia Town Hall, there are four days of St George’s celebrations this year in Palma Nova, which is great to see. Details can be found in the Majorca Daily Bulletin and at the Town Hall. We at Pirates are offering 50% off of our Main Deck seating that week on Wednesday 24th of April and Friday 26th of April. 

As for Nike, it seems to me they will keep on pushing the barriers and creating controversy, as it doesn’t seem to be affecting them. 

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the island’s number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos. Subscribe to receive his blogs at http://www.dadtaximallorca.com

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

Real Mallorca Brings Tourism – Fact

Last week I mentioned the importance of Mallorca having a successful football team from a tourism point of view. This week we learned that the Balearic government and the Council of Mallorca will pay 2.6 million euros to the club, a new tourism promotion sponsorship agreement. It was an agreement that was made under the previous PSOE government but dropped because of their coalition partners Més and Podemos being so anti-tourism. 

Reacting to the new agreement, the Més spokesperson at the Council of Mallorca, Jaume Alzamora, says that it is one thing is help and support sport and a very different thing to provide funds for something that will lead to more tourism “massification”.

He is critical of the use of public money for an organisation that is only motivated by financial interests. It is money for a company that does not have Mallorcan capital, has few local players but ones who earn “very high salaries”.

Luckily, these people are no longer in power, but they still speak utter rubbish in the press. Does Señor Alzamora realise that the majority of the football season is played in the low season, away from the really busy months? What business isn’t motivated by financial interests? It is run by an American company, that is true, but let’s face it, it hadn’t been run properly for years in the hands of Spanish owners. There are four Mallorcan born players in the current first team squad, which I consider to be a good number when you look at the size of the island. And who is he to question the salaries they earn?

Not only that, it’s a huge boost for all of our youngsters on the island wanting to become professional footballers. I highlighted last week that Real Mallorca’s youth team won the Copa del Rey, which is an unbelievable achievement. 

And one last fact for our friend from Més (that’s the party he represents by the way, make up your own gags!)

The president of the Mallorca Hotel Federation (FEHM), María Frontera, has said that the tourism sector is responsible for 7 out of every 10 jobs created in the Balearics.

The start of the season is upon us. With Easter falling so early, it’s been a bit of a conundrum for businesses here on the island whether they open or wait until the start of May. According to reports this week, 90% of Hotels in the Calvia region in the south of the island will be open, which is refreshing to hear. What I’m hearing and seeing is there doesn’t seem to be too much of a lull after Easter, which is always the problem when it falls so early. No business wants to be stuck with a load of employees on contract with nothing to do. At Pirates, we opened our Adventure show on Wednesday the 27th of March, with extra shows over Easter. That’s followed by Gringos on Saturday the 30th of March and Reloaded on Friday April the 19th. We have not seen such levels of bookings since the pandemic and speaking to all the tour operators, agencies and hotels, the feeling is a good one for the season. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, it’s important that we can look after these people to ensure that they come back year after year. 

May I take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy Easter. 

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the island’s number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos. Subscribe to receive his blogs at http://www.dadtaximallorca.com

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

Benjamin William White – Discuss

Benjamin William White might not be a name recognisable to all of you out there, but he hit the headlines this past week as he has refused to play for the England football team. Now, as someone who loved to play football and loves watching football, I would have given my right arm to have been given the chance to play for England. So why did White turn down the chance when there is a general assumption amongst most football fans that players must love the game as much as we do? I actually have some sympathy for him. Some of you might say, well you would being an Arsenal fan, but it has nothing to do with that. 

He is a player at the peak of his form, helping Arsenal to the top of the league and to the quarter-finals of the Champions League. But it might surprise you to know that he actually doesn’t enjoy watching football. Yes, he’s passionate and very good at what he does, but he sees it as a job and nothing else. He is, by his teammates’ admission, a complex character, and he doesn’t enjoy being away from his family. He always wants to be first choice, which is a good trait, but with England he obviously has greater competition. Added to that is an alleged row with England assistant coach Steve Holland over his attitude. All of that combined led to his decision. Now, he is not alone in being a player that doesn’t actually like watching football. Liverpool player Konstantinos Tsimikas is another example, and looking back in history there are more. Gareth Bale, Carlos Tevez, Gabriel Batistuta and Marc-Andre der Stegen to name just a few who saw football as a job and nothing else. 

Harry Redknapp was scathing in his reaction this week on Talksport. “I think Gareth Southgate said the door’s still open, didn’t he? The door should be slammed right in his mush,” Redknapp told talkSPORT.(charming!) “He doesn’t want to play for his country, he goes to the World Cup then comes home because he’s not getting in the team. I’m sorry, you’ve had your opportunity. You don’t want to play for England? You tell the Bobby Moores of this world who’s got 100-odd caps. The Shiltons, the Beckhams, the Rooneys those people, go and tell the Billy Bonds of this world who didn’t get a cap and should have done, and all those great players that you don’t want to play for your country. I think it’s disgusting, I can’t have it.” 

This is not military service, Harry, you have a choice. Maybe it’s the Spurs, Arsenal rivalry that wound Harry up, as he forgot to mention that he played with the great Jimmy Greaves at West Ham. He said, “He was a genius. He was on another level. His best days were behind him when he joined us at West Ham, but he was still a great player, and we couldn’t wait to be with him on his first day.” The part he failed to mention about Jimmy was that he retired from international football early after telling Sir Alf Ramsey that he had no intention of becoming a bit-part player in the England squad. 

So, in the world of football, White is not on his own. In the World of sport, he is not on his own either. Former world tennis number one Andre Agassi once said I play tennis for a living even though I hate tennis, hate it with a dark and secret passion and always have. 

Ronnie O’Sullivan, probably the greatest snooker player ever to grace the green baize, has had his demons on and off of the table. He once famously refused to play in the World Championships.

Even in the world of Showbiz, he is not on his own. The actor Johnny Depp from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies said “ I don’t have much further need for Hollywood, myself,” It’s a strange, funny time when everybody would love to be able to be themselves, but they can’t. They must fall in line with the person in front of them. If you want to live that life, I wish you the best.”

We live in a different world now and with the advent of social media, we can all voice our own opinions. We all have choices that some will agree with and others won’t, but it is up to us to make our own decisions and if that makes you happy, then in my opinion, that’s fine.

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the island’s number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos. Subscribe to receive his blogs at http://www.dadtaximallorca.com

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com