Four decades have passed since the last Ensidesa, which said goodbye with a historic promotion

2023-06-19 04:05:00

“Run out”. This is how Raúl González answers when asked what he was doing exactly 40 years ago today, at 1:20 p.m., after being promoted to Segunda B in Aranjuez in what was the last game for Ensidesa, a team that had previously agreed to merge with Real Aviles. That promotion allowed the new Real Avilés Industrial to begin its journey in a category that, at that time, was the third in Spanish football and, like the First Federation now, was made up of only two groups. In fact, the Third Division of that 1982-83 season, in which Ensidesa and Real Avilés played, was Asturcántabra and teams like Gimnástica de Torrelavega or Laredo played in it.

The reason why Raúl González had to run away was the hostile environment they found in Aranjuez, where the referee was attacked, and that match made the front pages of national sports newspapers: “They were very serious incidents, I never saw anything like this in my career as a coach and I was in many places, the field was full, the spectators two meters from the field of play, the referee was attacked during the game and after getting promoted we had to run because people jumped onto the field and the atmosphere was very hostile”, explains the coach from Aviles, who recalls how they had to wait to arrive at the hotel where they were staying, located between the Madrid towns of Pinto and Valdemoro, to celebrate their promotion. That day, says Raúl, “500 people from Avilés came, the vote had already been taken for the merger and it was everyone’s team.”

Ensidesa’s last season was a success, winning the Third League by eight points difference (the victories then added two) to Langreo. In the promotion phase, they first faced Levante, a team that on Saturday did not go up to the First Division due to a penalty goal in extra time discount. They beat the Valencian team 2-0 at the current Muro de Zaro, in Llaranes, and in the second leg they lost 1-0. Against Aranjuez it was something similar: they won 3-1 in Llaranes and in the second leg, in the Aranjuez game, they lost 2-1, thus consummating promotion.

“It was a huge joy”, explains Raúl González, who describes the Ensidesa that he led that season as “a team of 19 players, almost all of them from Asturias, a youth team, with an average age of 21, with many players who later went to Sporting, with a majority of players who had been at Ensidesa since they were juniors, we were a benchmark for the quarry”. The youth academy is precisely one of the things that stands out the most about what Ensidesa was: “We mainly contributed a youth academy method to the merger, we had a great youth policy,” he insists.

The merger was, explains Raúl, “necessary” and was endorsed by everyone after a vote in which “the majority agreed that it was the best.” Also times in which a young Raúl González, aged 29, had a spectacular future on the bench, being right now the coach who has directed the most games in Segunda B. “That promotion was very satisfying because I came from working with the lower categories, some came with me since childhood”, he explains.

Many things have happened since then, but, as in that Muro de Zaro, full to see the rise of Ensidesa, now the city has once again hooked up with Real Avilés, who filled the Suárez Puerta in the match they lost 0- 2 against Recreativo de Granada, in which he was left without promotion to the First Federation. “I am pleased that the people have returned to the field, Avilés has a great football tradition, I hope next year they have better luck, I wish Real Avilés the best.”