In the early hours of this election Sunday came the bad news of the death of Antonio Gala, a transcendental figure of Spanish letters and a character who transcended his work. Gala had a conflictive relationship with bullfighting (as a child he went with his father and the bullfighter Machaquito to the Córdoba bullring) but he always defended her from those who attacked her. In 2007, in a public act together with Morante de la Puebla, he said: “There is a great contradiction in me because I carry bullfighting in the mass of my blood at the same time that there are thirteen societies of friends of animals that bear my name” and He added “it irritates me that they identify the Fiesta with cruelty. It is part of our culture.”
Worth this preamble as a tribute to Gala and vindication of the cultural dimension of bullfighting, so questioned and attacked.
The bullfight began, as usual, with the darkblue-almost-black Madrid sky and it was to start the paseÃllo and unload the downpour.
Bulls of Adolfo MartÃn were announced, iron that enjoys the favor of the conspicuous fans for the seriousness of its bulls, outside and inside. A seriousness that at least morphologically would be corroborated, to a greater or lesser extent as they went out through the pigsty door.
Before them Fernando Robleño, Román and José Garrido.
Robleño is a veteran bullfighter, an expert in “hard” cattle, a reductionist description that does not always correspond to reality, among other things because it denies such a condition to other irons. At first he was faced with a bull of imposing seriousness and the crutch fight started well, with a couple of round rounds that Adolfo’s took with humiliation and length but then everything went downhill, also when he tried natural bullfighting.
Román cut off an ear on his first isidril afternoon and the fans awaited him with the best omens. He went to the media to offer the task but the bull would show that he was not up for parties and barely allowed him anything other than willingness.
And the third came out, which went down in presentation with respect to the previous ones but it turned out to be a garment. He already warned when José Garrido slipped into the receiving veronicas and after little punishment in rods he showed reserve when he reached the third of banderillas. Garrido wanted to take him to the media and the bull disarmed him when he could. He looked at the bull at the bullfighter when he presented him with the crutch that followed without any delivery. In one of those, he seized Garrido by the right thigh, lifted him into the air and the fall on his head was terrible. He viciously searched for it in the arena but the misdeed was already done and when the bullfighter, battered and helped by his companions, was able to get up, the blood began to flow from the hole in the satchel caused by the python when making meat on the thigh . And in the arms of the assistance they took him to the infirmary from which he would no longer leave (he did it by ambulance after being operated on by the extraordinary medical team of the bullring, from a 15 cm goring) The Robleño bull stabbed, leaving the bullfight in the hand by hand between him and Roman.
Altered the order of fighting, it was this one who took charge of the one that came out in fourth place, which was the one that by lottery corresponded to him as second of his turn and then he did it with the sixth, which must have been the wounded bullfighter. And that quarter, which was used on the horse, did not give him a chance to reach the last third, even though Román tried hard, but, you know, what I can’t know I can’t know and also impossible.
The sixth, with spectacular horns, jumped into the alley after a first failed attempt in which his terrifying head appeared on the boards of the alley. Proof of meekness to which was added manifest disability, perhaps caused by said circumstance and green handkerchief singing. Florito and his oxen came on stage and, when they managed to tuck the bull in on its return to the pigsties, the audience’s ovation -some of them stood up- was one of those reserved for big occasions. Finally, true things.
From the iron of Pallarés was the hat that had neither chicha nor lemon and only gave for Román to try hard.
Robleño was faced with the fifth, which was the fourth that showed a lack of strength. Like most of the previous ones, the fight in sticks belied his presumed bravery. Fernando Sánchez raised clamors in a sovereign pair of banderillas and, from Fernando to Fernando, those clamors were repeated when Robleño threw his crutch to the left and drew two long, deep series of naturals, which the bull took with humiliation delivered. In the round he followed the tuning fork up and there was a change of hand pure bullfighting. A mistimed disarmament cooled things off and the puncture prior to the lunge subtracted the prize, which was left in a highly applauded return to the ring. So much so that they forced him to a second round of the ring. Madrid and his stuff.