What happened last Sunday in the bullring of Seville – opening of the season, no tickets sign, a radiant afternoon, a fervent public, a contaminated presidency, bullfighting bulls, no demands, trophies from the town’s raffle, but all very fun and well washed down with gin and tonics with ice and at an abusive price (“a day is a day, compadre…”) – should attract the attention of the bullfighters, If there is still someone who is concerned about the course of this bullfighting festival (the Toro de Lidia Foundation, no, it does not enter into professional matters…) and its future.
The Easter Sunday bullfight in La Maestranza was a success with the public and at the box office. A success for the new businessman, José María Garzón, who has managed to make Morante de la Puebla forget about his retirement and give meaning and color to the Seville Fair. A success for the Real Maestranza de Caballería, owner of the arena, which has received, at least, 22% of the gross turnover at the box office; and another laurel for the Andalusian political rulers, who say they support the festival and feel like fish in water in the burladero of the Sevillian alley. And all of this decorated with the cherry on top of the emeritus king, who received the groups after the celebration, as already happened in the Madrid Charity bullfights during his years of reign.
But the Easter Sunday bullfight in La Maestranza, one of the iconic celebrations of the year, has been an unmitigated failure for bullfighting; has thrown the prestigious history of the Sevillian plaza to the ground, has confirmed that the traditional Sevillian fans, as wise and demanding as they are generous, have passed away, and that the unbridled effervescence of the party in this city may be the prelude to an inevitable precipice.
La Maestranza has been unknown for years, but this Sunday it seemed like a strange, surprising and decadent square. Why those bulls so poorly presented, twisted, lacking strength and breed, starved, crippled, projected to be corpses? Why such a generalized and conformist silence? Why so many meaningless ovations? Why so many olés at the wrong time? And those inappropriate trophies?
There are those who think, and perhaps they are right, that all this is the result of the politicization that has contaminated bullfighting for some time.
The left has made a flag of no to bulls. The extreme hates them. The other doesn’t know if she likes them or not. Current political polarization and animalism have made anti-bullfighting what is politically correct and progressive. And the right is now more fond of bulls than the bulls themselves, and their politicians talk as if they were lifelong bullfighters when, in general, they have no idea what they are talking about. Some and others consider the bulls an electoral prey.
And all this has a deep social reflection. If the Minister of Labor denies bread and salt to the bullfighters due to the pandemic, and the Minister of Culture suppresses the National Bullfighting Award, let’s go to the bulls to annoy them. And there will be no shortage of support from the Popular Party: for the first time in history, RTVA will broadcast seven runs of the April Fair this year, and Telemadrid will offer the entire San Isidro Fair live for the second consecutive season.
It doesn’t matter that this new audience does not know the basic principles of the show. You will learn… Furthermore, this new batch of spectators has encountered an earthly God and has elevated him to the altars: Morante de la Puebla, a genius, one of the great bullfighters in history, who at the end of his professional life receives unanimous recognition, and he himself will feel surprised at how any gesture of his becomes an event. The bullfighter also adds fuel to the fire with his toasts and hugs to representatives of the right and extreme right.
Have fun… Have fun… Go to the bulls…!
And the presidents of the squares, elected by the politicians, receive a message: do not cause problems, comply with the regulations, of course, but do not be picky, and be generous with the trophies, that people come to have fun and not to have a bad time… And the presidents know that if they do not comply with what is ordered, they are fired, And they comply, of course they do.
The final result is the bullfight on Sunday in Seville, a shameful spectacle, inappropriate for this square, in which the demand is annulled, everything is applauded and ears are distributed like candy at Easter.
The day that this reveling public gets tired, the bullfighting festival will be alone and on the brink of disappearance. Then, politicians will no longer find political benefit and will abandon it. There is still time to avoid the debacle. There is still time to return to authenticity, integrity and purity, which have been and will be the foundations of its survival.