The Deportivo Cuenca of 1971 where you can see some figures that are remembered to this day.
Since my adolescence, soccer has been my passion. At the end of the 60s I went to Guayaquil to watch games where Barcelona and Emelec were performing. In the stands of the Modelo Stadium I asked myself, when will we have professional football in Cuenca?
What great satisfaction, to witness the birth of Deportivo Cuenca on March 4, 1971.
A true event that awakened citizens from different social strata. As an advantage, Dr. Alejandro Serrano Aguilar and several of his friends had the great initiative to form a soccer team.
They began negotiations with the National Football Commission which, at that time, was the body that governed this sport in the country. Upon obtaining an affirmative answer, the boom of the beautiful sport began.
The old El Ejido stadium with capacity for 6,000 people. The grandstand with wooden stands, covered with zinc, supported by old posts. The general one, what is the preference today, with exposed brick.
In a few days, the city team became a true idol. In the first games they caused a sensation with home and away victories. The most famous victory was against the powerful América at the Atahualpa stadium.
When the players returned by air, the ship could not land given the incredible presence of fans on the airport runway, so it had to travel to Guayaquil and the boys spent the night in the Main Port.
How to forget that November 3rd. Cuenca, with goals from ‘Araña’ Martínez and Juan “Maravilla” Tenorio, defeated Universidad Católica, which had a notable squad. A civic-military parade was taking place on Bolívar Street.
The public, in large numbers on the sidewalks, from time to time shouted the goals when listening to the radio broadcasts.
The dictator Guillermo Rodríguez Lara was alarmed without knowing what was happening. Immediately his aide-de-camp told him: people shout for the goals of the Cuenca team.
Given this circumstance, the ‘bombita general’ ordered an FAE plane to transport the players from the capital city.
So many anecdotes. The ladies and gentlemen who came to the stadium had no idea about this sport. One afternoon, at a card game there was a group of ‘haired ladies’.
One of them said: I know what the corner is, the off-side, the goal, but I don’t know what Laterza is. Another lady explained to him with a laugh, “it’s not a rule or a game, it’s about the Paraguayan suquito Gerardo Laterza.”
I don’t know for sure if it’s true. One day of football, a priest surprised by the low influx of parishioners at midday mass asked from the pulpit, what is missing in the house of God that people do not come like before? A blessed woman appeared there and shouted, “goals, father, goals.”
I can’t forget when Deportivo Cuenca and Barcelona played. The line judge raised the flag, determining an advanced position for Cuenca and the central referee annulled the conquest.
Enraged, goalkeeper Rodolfo Piazza ran towards the lineman, threw him to the ground and unleashed a barrage of blows on him. The general fans, instead of supporting the poor referee, shouted at the top of their lungs: “Piazza, Piazza, Piazza.”
There are hundreds of memories over time. This space is not enough to remember those moments and the joy that Deportivo Cuenca provided to its fans. For all the above, I will limit myself to saying: thank you Dr. Alejo, thank you to those who accompanied you.
Of the characters who contributed to the birth of the Club, perhaps very few remain, among them ‘El Pájaro’ César Martínez Iglesias. Distinguished citizens have gone ahead of us, they have traveled towards infinity.
If there is some place after death, perhaps from there they will be watching what is happening today, stating: we sow on fertile land, we have not plowed in the sea.
