2023-08-05 06:30:58
“I think that the tournament will bring prestige to our city”, he asserted forcefully, Narcís Codinathe president of Girona the summer of 1970. It referred to the Costa Brava Trophywhich tomorrow reaches its 46th edition under a luxury poster: the white-and-red team, installed in the highest category of state football, receives the Laziorunner-up ofItaly. Over time, the tournament, which often served to introduce the team to fans, has seen many ups and downs. But in recent years it has regained notoriety, with rivals such asOlympic MarseilleManchester City or the Tottenham. In that first edition, organized more than five decades ago the day after the inauguration of Montilivi, prestige was sought far from home: the participants were the Saint Lawrence of Almagro Argentine, the Borussia from Neunkirchen German, theEspanyol and the Valencia. Then the Girona malvivi a Third, looking for a return to professional football. Currently, it is hogging all the lights. Prestige is at home. With Míchel Sánchez, Arnau Martínez or Cristhian Stuani. And with Artem Dovbykthe last star of Girona, which, if nothing goes wrong, will be one of the main attractions.
Nothing overshadowed, however, the true protagonist of that August, marked in red by the opening of a stadium that, with some changes, still hosts the team’s matches. Girona spared no effort to turn Montilivi into the center of attention, scheduling three consecutive days of football on the 14th, 15th and 16th. The first, of course, with prominence for the team then trained by Martin Venceswho lost 1-3 against Barça in an unforgettable night for many members who were still crying Good views. It was a traumatic change, that one, because part of the essence that made the club special was lost. But it was a necessary change, thinking about the future, thanks to the personal involvement of the Magnificent Seven: Narcís Codina, Benjamin Colomer, Joan Vidal, Joseph Garrido, Joaquim Ribas, Joseph Ribera i Jaume Grabuleda. The stadium, which cost around 30 million pesetas, was full that night: the chronicles of the time say a figure of 18,000 people. “As we already feared, the serious problem was the parking of all the cars and coaches that came to Montilivi. Sign in for Calvo Sotelo (Avenida Montilivi) turned out to be quite easy. The hard part was leaving after the game. At four in the morning there were still difficulties in evacuating the surroundings of Montilivi”, added the newspaper The places. The match had started at 10.30pm.
Three and a half million pesetas
Years later, Benjamí Colomer, ex-president and one of those who scratched his pockets for Montilivi to go ahead, would confess that the initial idea was for the first Costa Brava Trophy to be contested by Girona and Barça, and not for the duel between the two only current Catalan clubs a First was the friendly of the day before. The Blaugrana team, however, had unaffordable financial fees for Girona – the bad tongues say that they charged 150,000 pesetas – and the idea was discarded, settling, which is no small thing, with a friendly to give the shot exit to the new life of the club. And that Girona invested an approximate budget of 3.5 million pesetas in the Costa Brava. To put it in context, the club’s budget for that season was less than 7 million.
Codina explained that “it has been considered, thought about, discussed and considered again. It is a closed box, perhaps for some an adventure; however, all factors have been considered, I repeat the word; arrangements have been made with travel agencies located on the Costa Brava and Barcelona, the tourist market has been studied, the interest that the Catalan teams can arouse has been taken into account and while it is true that the human reactions and their behavior cannot be predicted or embodied in mathematical forms, although they can be studied very closely, and when making the decision to organize the Tournament, they took into account the results of studies that seem favorable.” In order to make the Costa Brava Trophy a reality, Girona requested and obtained the collaboration of the Deputationof the’town hall and other entities. In addition, he carried out a propaganda campaign, subsidized by an insurance entity called County Insurance Union. Jose Maria Hernandezvocals by Public relations of the club at the time, stated that “2,000 large murals in four colors and 40,000 hand-written programs, written in Spanish, French, English and German, have been distributed along the coast. And we have a strong press promotion». Asked about the high organizational financial disbursement, he commented that “things are either done well or they are not done”. No more words were needed.
Contract with the participants
The chosen teams, San Lorenzo de Almagro, Borussia de Neunkirchen, Espanyol and Valencia, had to sign a contract to participate in the Costa Brava. Among other things, Girona, for example, took care of the hotel reservations, but not the accommodation costs. Borussia stayed at theHotel Costabella; San Lorenzo, al’Ribot Hotel, near the airfield; Espanyol, inHotel del Rolls; and Valencia, al Fornells Park. Barça didn’t make the night, the day before.
Curiously, the culer team had a cup, as the winner of Girona-Barça was given a commemorative trophy. There was also a strong investment in cups. In fact, the one given to San Lorenzo de Almagro, the first winner of the Costa Brava Trophy, who beat Borussia de Neunkirchen 5-0 (Espanyol came third, beating a Valencia coached by Di Stefano, who would end up being the league champion that year), some sources placed it at a value of 300,000 pesetas. It was given by the Provincial Council during the draw for the semi-final pairings – yes, there was an official draw – and it was one meter high by sixty centimeters wide, on the pedestal of which there were four golden balls that they held the silver cup, with the engraved shields of the participants, that of the Provincial Council and an inscription. It was manufactured by jewelers from Córdobathe same authors of the cup of Carranza Trophy.
Dovbyk could be red-and-white before this week is over
For the second and third place there were also cups, offered by the City Council and the Atlantic Bank. Smaller ones, yes. For the fourth, there was the consolation of a silver tray, delivered by Banc de Bilbao. The one that Barça took home, donated by Unión Condal de Seguros, was silver.
And the prices? Very high, according to the newspaper archive. The club planned several options, such as a three-day pass (five matches), which reached 1,000 pesetas in the covered tribune area, 150 pesetas for the general and 300 for the covered tribune, or 125 pesetas per day for the general and 250 in the stands for the Costa Brava. Season ticket holders in the locality had a price reduction, yes, as long as they took the full season ticket; if they didn’t have to accept the price of individual tickets. 15,000 people made the Trophy magical forever more. A Trophy that today is the second oldest of Catalonia.
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