Valencian sport was frozen on the now sadly famous October 30, the day the flood devastated numerous municipalities in the province in a catastrophe that everyone already knows. Sport, in theory a reason for celebration, a party, ceased to have meaning when the population searched for the missing under the cars thrown everywhere and the dead were counted in fives. Professional teams, mainly from the capital, asked for the postponement of their next games. No more balls rolled since then. Until this Wednesday, when Valencia Basket has not been able to postpone its Eurocup match in Thessaloniki (Greece) and has become the first team to return to action since Dana.
It was not an easy afternoon at Nick Gallis Hall. Valencia Basket traveled with grief on its back. Before the match, their sixth consecutive victory in the competition (59-63), Aris Salonica organized an act of brotherhood with their rival to show their affection towards the Valencian people, in addition to a minute of silence for their victims, in the that the consul of Spain in Greece, Sam Nachmias, participated; the president of Aris, Haris Papageorgiou, and one of Pedro Martínez’s assistants, Xavi Albert, who has been one of the eight Valencians who have left their homeland in pain. The Greek club also distributed warm-up t-shirts among the players with two supportive phrases.
The Catalan coach was very clear before the initial whistle. “We are professionals. We are representing all our people from Valencia. “We want to play good basketball and dedicate it to them at the end of the game.” On the bench, where a senyeraleaning on a chair, there was a cardboard with words of encouragement: “Fuerza Valencia. Pray for Valencia”.
After the victory, a long-suffering victory, Pedro Martínez thanked Aris for the affectionate presentation he gave his team and reminded the Valencians that they are going through such a hard time. “They have been suffering a lot for a week,” he said before remembering that the consequences of the damage are not something that can be solved in a few days, that society cannot forget about Valencia and continue supporting the affected municipalities for many more weeks. .
Valencia Basket is a club that has thrown itself into this catastrophe. First, it welcomed hundreds of people who were rescued in the hours after the flood into its facilities, in l’Alqueria del Basket. When it was empty, it became the base of operations for the Army’s external military units. His last solidarity action has been to forgive the subscribers taronja affected by the damage the payment of 50% of their payments.
Those that do not return are the two main soccer teams in the city. Competition announced this Wednesday that it was postponing both Espanyol-Valencia, from matchday 13 of LaLiga, and Tenerife-Levante, from matchday 14 of LaLiga Hypermotion. It is the second meeting that has been suspended. Since the first day, both clubs have been collecting food and different products to help the victims.
