Morante de la Puebla will make his fifth appearance in Seville this year, on September 27th at the San Miguel Fair. This was announced by the company Lances de Futuro, which had left a free spot on that day’s lineup pending the decision of the Sevillian bullfighter.
Read more A 53-year-old man dies after a fight in Barcelona
Morante has not even waited until the end of the April Fair, and forty-eight hours after his resounding triumph last Thursday, he has been included in the lineup scheduled for the end of September: bulls from Garcigrande, the same ranching iron as last Easter Sunday, alongside bullfighters Daniel Luque and Borja Jiménez.
The Sevillian bullfighter reappeared on Easter Sunday in Seville after his frustrated retirement on October 12th in Las Ventas. He returned on Thursday, and will make another appearance tomorrow, Monday, April 20th, and on June 4th, Corpus Christi day, thus fulfilling the four commitments signed with businessman José María Garzón, and now adds the September event.
This is an unequivocal sign of the bullfighter’s good spirits, who has already signed a good number of events for this season and has hastily committed to closing the season at La Maestranza, hoping that he could finally be included in Madrid for the bullfight on October 12th.
By the way, the controversy —and also the confusion— about his frustrated exit on shoulders through the Puerta del Príncipe after his triumph, described as historic against a bull from Álvaro Núñez, to which he could not cut the maximum trophies due to failing with the sword, still lingers.
After the last bull was dragged away, a large group of young fans carried the bullfighter aloft with the intention of taking him out through the glorious gate from which the Guadalquivir river can be seen, but the National Police prevented them from leaving the bullring that way during a struggle that lasted no less than five minutes.
What happened during that time? Why was the exit prevented and who gave the order not to open the gate?
It should be noted that, with the Andalusian Bullfighting Regulations in hand, it was not possible to grant the wish of the excited fans carrying their idol.
Article 56 is clear on the matter: “The exit on shoulders through the main or most important gate of the bullring will only be allowed when the bullfighter or rejoneador has obtained at least two ears in the fight of one or two bulls, unless the custom of the bullring imposes greater requirements. However, in first-category bullrings, two ears must be cut from the same bull to allow the bullfighter or rejoneador to exit on shoulders through the main or principal gate.”
Read more You to the provinces, I to the wide world
No one would have been surprised if Morante had exited through the Puerta del Príncipe, as he had elevated the grandeur of the fiesta to its highest
Morante had not cut any ears in a bullring that, moreover, has the custom of requiring three ears to be paraded to exit through the Puerta del Príncipe. Of course, it is no less true that it was a special situation, a historic performance, as has been written, an anthology in the history of bullfighting, a bullfighting upheaval that has shaken the foundations of tauromachy.
Given the circumstances, no one would have been surprised if Morante had received the highest honors, as he had elevated the grandeur of the fiesta to its highest. But it was not to be. Someone prevented such a historic event from happening.
The only person who could make such a decision was the president of the event, Macarena de Pablo Romero, the highest authority at that moment, who declared in an interview on Canal Sur, the Andalusian regional television, that no one had consulted her on such an extreme, when it was she, without any consultation, who should have imposed order.
Apparently, during the tense struggle between the fans and public order forces, Morante’s agent, Pedro Jorge Marques, approached the delegate of the Government of the Junta de Andalucía in Seville and bullfighting official in the province, Ricardo Sánchez, present in the alleyway, and asked him if there was any objection to his bullfighter exiting through the Puerta del Príncipe, and Sánchez replied that there was none. Time passes and the gate does not open, and when the entourage gives up and heads towards the cuadrillas’ gate, Marques reproaches Sánchez for his inaction with harsh words.
But who ultimately made the decision? It was neither the Real Maestranza nor the National Police, who lack any competence in this regard; everything seems to indicate that it was Sánchez himself, advised by the other two presidents of the Sevillian bullring, Gabriel Fernández Rey and José Luque Teruel, also present in the alleyway, and in the absence of Macarena de Pablo Romero, who had already left the box.
In the end, Morante de la Puebla, on the shoulders of his unconditional supporters, exited on shoulders through the so-called main gate, through which bullfighters enter and exit La Maestranza.
The exit through the Puerta del Príncipe would have been contrary to the regional Regulations, but what happened in the bullring was also contrary to all human endeavor. With all certainty, despite his failures with the sword, Morante had earned the right to see the Guadalquivir on shoulders.
Read more Ignacio Isusi, actor: “I’m a posh boy who has gone off the rails”
