UD Las Palmas v CD Tenerife

Me gustaría que en Gran Canaria nos hicieran el pasillo

I would like to have the guard of honour done at the game in Gran Canaria.

- Miguel Concepción (23/Jul/2010)

Las Palmas v Tenerife is more than a game in this region of the world. Its the Real Madrid Barcelona of the Canary Islands. Its the clash of yellow vs white and blues.The game matches the two most important islands that form the Canary Islands.

Las Palmas historically have been the better side in football. Having achieved a runners up medal in the Spanish league and the Spanish cup. The yellows sides achievements historically are far greater than those of CD Tenerife. However Tenerife have been the better side in the last years. Having been a Primera Division side last year.

On June 4th 2011, yesterday, I had the satisfaction to attend the biggest match of the year in the Estadio de Gran Canaria. It was the season finale, and it was a Las Palmas v Tenerife. Unfortunately the game had nothing but pride to play for.

Tenerife having had the most dreadful season in years, invested money to bounce back to Primera Division. Their preseason slogan was something like "Back in Primera before you know it." Very Ironic some would say now.

Las Palmas had a dream start, having declared at the beginning that there was no money left and the team would have to rely entirely on their youth players. The team seemed to be the best of the league in the first few games. However the team soon proved to be a relegation fighting team and managed to save themselves with 2 games to spare.

Therefore the match on Saturday meant nothing to any of the two teams, in terms of the league.

The stadium had 22000 fans gathered inside the stadium and maybe 30 made the trip from Tenerife to get laughed at. The game was a yellow party more than ever. The sensation of being in the stadium watching live spanish football was breathtaking. I loved every minute of it. The chants, the excitement, the mockery... It was beyond belief, and to add to it. My team, Las Palmas beat Tenerife 1-0, to rub salt into their wound.

Now Miguel Concepcion, is the CD Tenerife Chairman. At the beginning of the season, and after knowing that the last match of the season would be in Gran Canaria, the "clown" went on to say that he would have a guard of honour done for his team at this game, implying that his side would be champions of the league.

He did however still get a guard of honour from the fans for this game. It was the guard of honour one receives at their funeral. As on Saturday I was one of the 22000 fans that celebrated the funeral of Club Deportivo Tenerife from the Segunda division.

Farewell, God knows when we shall meet again.

Rishi...