By Andrew Warshaw
January 31 – In one of the starkest examples of the financial crisis enveloping Spanish football below elite level, the Copa del Rey quarterfinal between Racing Santander and Real Sociedad was abandoned when the Santander players went on strike because of unpaid wages.
The third-tier side had announced they would boycott the game unless club president Angel Lavin and the board resigned.
Immediately after the start of Thursday’s game, they stood arm in arm on the edge of the centre circle and refused to challenge for the ball before the referee consulted the captain and called the game off.
In bizarre scenes, rival players and coaching staff embraced on the pitch as the Santander fans chanted their support. Real Sociedad had won the first leg 3-1 and will play Barcelona in the semi-finals.
“Right now we have mixed feelings of sadness and a kind of joy but it is a shame it had to come to this,” said Santander midfielder Javi Soria. “We hope things get sorted out because we just want to get back to playing and try to make Racing the best it can be.”
Racing’s players say they have not been paid for several months. “We hope there are no legal consequences because we have done this for the good of football, for the good of a city and for the whole of Spain because there are lots of similar cases and we wanted to set an example,” added Soria.
Lavin was apparently at the stadium but showed no sign of bowing to the players’ demands. As recently as 2008 Racing finished sixth in the Primera Division standings. They were taken over in January 2011 by an Indian businessman but in the last two seasons have suffered back-to-back relegations.
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