In glorious times, the Sports Union was the symbol and reference of Canarian football abroad. I remember that, when I was seven or ten years old, I used to go to the kiosk in the Plaza de Los Llanos de Aridane, where the men would gather to listen to the adventures of Tonono, Guedes and Germán, among other heroes in those days when footballers hardly changed teams. . It was a radio that required laying an antenna on rooftops to be able to listen to Radio Club Tenerife, which entered the Aridane valley with difficulties because it was such a rugged island. For a long time, UD was the only Canarian team in the First Division, and it remained 19 years in a row in the top flight of Spanish football.
Things in this sport have evolved so much that that UD model can no longer exist today. And football is becoming less a sport and more of a show. In those 60s or 70s, the teams had the possibility of retaining their best figures, ignoring the powerful. Neither the English league nor the powerful of Spain could take Tonono, Guedes and Germán. They were the property of the club, which was based on a policy youth teams, many from Gran Canaria, as well as several from Tenerife and other islands, with some opportune reinforcement, preferably from Argentina, due to the similarities of the game model.
Today, when Sports Limited Companies, Arab sheikhs, Chinese and the Premier exist, there are many Canarian players who do not play in the teams here, since their skilful representatives took them to other places. Soccer has become a global sport, which moves many millions thanks to television, advertising, sponsorships, and so on. But still, in our case, the yellow team is a reflection of the desire for identity, of the sense of belonging to a territory, of the little local history. With his deeds and his disappointments, he has a courageous fan base.
It will be difficult for the two Canarian teams to settle in the First Division, because times have changed so much. Little remains of that UD that was runner-up in the League and the Cup. Of course: an idea of the technical game is maintained, with possession and skill. And there are excellent players from the academy, from different islands. CD Tenerife has always been more in favor of a spirited game, let’s say that one of the teams tries to imitate Barcelona and the other instead wants to resemble Real Madrid, from which they took two league titles during Valdano’s great time as coach, and Javier Pérez as president.
The big cities have an easier time keeping their teams, although there are many examples of small cities that have recently had clubs in the First Division. For example Elche, Girona, Eibar, Villarreal, Pamplona, Almería, Mallorca, Cádiz, Getafe, Leganés and many more.
Hopefully you will stay in the top flight for a long time, and hopefully you will coincide with CD Tenerife because of the rivalry. Although the last case in which the two lived together was disastrous, since they joined hands to descend together. In any case, it is better to be together because that way there will be less island fighting.
Proportionally to its population, the island of The Palm It is being very competitive at the national level, since in the new category of 2nd Ref there are two teams from there: the historic Mensajero and Atlético Paso. And important figures for top-level teams have also emerged from that small island, especially for the Atletico Madrid. Today the respective fans enthusiastically support these two modest clubs, and it has been proven time and time again that they are capable of promotion if they lose the category. Mensajero and Tenisca maintain a total rivalry, they represent the derby of the smaller islands.
