By Bill Cranfield

In times gone by, Valencia was a serious power in the world of the bulls. Only Madrid and Barcelona staged more “festejos” and in terms of prestige, a success here outranked one in plazas with the “solera” of Bilbao, Pamplona or Salamanca. The Feria de Julio was the high-spot of the calendar, with at least a week of full-houses for all the “figuras” (superstars) of the day. Fallas consisted of no more than four or five corridas, essentially a curtain-raiser to the season, which would see corridas or novilladas staged every Sunday in Monleon’s now 160-year-old bullring in the Calle Xativa.

Legendary rivalries such as those between El Litri and Aparicio and Antonio Ordoñez and Luis Miguel Dominguin were nurtured here, with the Big Three of the 1960s — Paco Camino, Diego Puerta and El Viti — being frequent visitors.

A series of greedy or incompetent promoters, plus changing leisure patterns brought about by increased prosperity, led to a dwindling of interest in the centrepiece Feria de Julio, nor could the regular Sunday attractions compete with the newly acquired car and chalet. Almost without noticing, Valencia was left with only a few days of the Fallas feria — those between the “planta” and San José — when a respectable attendance could be guaranteed.

The “fiesta nacional” in the regional capital has been on life-support for a number of years now — kept breathing by the diehard “abonados” (season-ticket holders), who commit to going to everything that is served up to them in return for a 20 percent discount and not having to queue round the block for tickets to those rare afternoons when a José Tomas or an Enrique Ponce has attracted the interest of the rest of the population.

I know at least half-a-dozen aficionados, all ex-abonados, who never set foot in the plaza these days because they grew so tired of being fobbed off with mediocre matadors and invalid bulls. And such fare is hardly likely to appeal to a younger generation who, for a fraction of the price, can enjoy a night out at the cinema or disco.

Belatedly, the city authorities seem to have woken up to this sad state of affairs, to which they have themselves contributed by charging an ever more outrageous rental to promoters willing to risk their shirts on a three-five-year lease (the consequent need to balance their books accounting for the poor standard of spectacle offered). The last encumbent, an entity called Serolo, thought they had the system beaten: they happily coughed up the one million euros a year demanded — in return for the right to exploit the plaza for any activity they could entice into utilising it.

And so we saw this historic edifice turned into a venue for circuses, pop concerts, kick-knack stalls, medieval markets, motor-cycle extravaganzas, property exhibitions, restaurants … anything, in fact, but what it was intended for. The Deputy for Taurine Affairs, Isidro Prieto, himself an aficionado (which has not always been the case in the past), was visibly affronted by this state of affairs. When Serolo applied for a “prorroga”, or extension, to its contract, it was told that it wasn’t possible — because the Diputacion had decided to invest nine million euros in renovating the plaza (including a retractable roof), which would have to be closed for a year, apart from staging the ferias, to allow the work to be carried out and thus depriving Serolo of its additional sources of revenue.      

But following the success of such high-profile international events as the Americas Cup yacht races and Formula One motor-racing, it was known that the “Dipu” yearned to have the corridas of the Fallas feria televised by Digital Plus (which presently airs the ferias of Seville, Madrid, Pamplona, Bilbao and Zaragoza). With up to eight hours of coverage a day, including documentaries, mini-sightseeing tours and interviews with local worthies, this would be a priceless publicity coup and serve to put Valencia back on the taurine map, thus increasing both domestic and international visitor-arrival figures.

A “pliego” (effectively, an auction with a series of conditions attached apart from the purely pecuniary) was held, from which most of the major promoters stayed away in the belief that they wouldn’t be able to make any (or enough) money from the deal, even though the rental ceiling was reduced five-fold. To Serolo’s fury, it was won by a Frenchman, the ex-matador, manager and impresario (of Nimes and Alicante among other plazas), Simon Casas.

He had applied the last time it came up for grabs to be the promoter of Madrid’s Las Ventas ring and it was widely believed that he was finagled out of that by back-stage skullduggery at a high political level. A Frenchman running the world’s No. 1 plaza de toros? Madre mia! Unthinkable. But in the intervening years, this voluble character has managed to impress many in the bull world that he really is something of an idealist — an aficionado first, a promoter second — and that he is prepared to cut his profit margins to put on spectacles that will further the cause of “el toreo” as the unique art-form he believes it to be.

Yes, well. Proof of the pudding and all that. But the bills he has produced for next month’s Fallas feria are certainly, on paper, the best for many a long year — and good enough to have convinced Digital Plus TV that it can sell them on pay-per-view. To be able to afford all these figuras, even with the television money, he has had to bend somewhat to the populist wind with the inclusion of a handful of “mediatico” performers that the purists could have done without. But the climactic corrida with six fellow superstars facing one bull each in homage to Ponce, generally regarded as the greatest matador of his generation, who is this year celebrating the 20^th anniversay of his “alternativa”, is a masterstroke.

Enrique Ponce has been allotted an unprecedented three afternoons in the ring where he has been carried out shoulder-high in triumph through the “Big Door” a record 36 times. For my money, one can never have a surfeit of Ponce, especially now that he is in his plenitude, and these three corridas alone will justify my abono. And Monsieur Casas has promised to do everything in his power to sign up the enigmatic José Tomas, who eschews TV cameras, for the Feria de Julio.

Will all this induce my disillusioned aficionado friends back to the Calle Xativa? And perhaps some of the younger generation to come see what all the fuss is about? And aficionados from the rest of Spain and abroad to make the trip to Valencia? Could this be the start of a mini-renaissance? And all engineered by a passionate Frenchman! Mon Dieu, what is le monde coming to?

FERIA DE FALLAS, 2010

Thursday, March 11: Novillada w. Alejandro Esplá (son of the recently retired Luis Francisco Espla, quite promising and owing little, stylistically, to his dad), Luis Miguel Casares (last season’s leading novillero in contract terms) and José Arévalo (a brave but somewhat showy local lad). (Bulls: Torres Gallego — a relatively recent ganaderia, less than 20 years old, with primarily Nuñez blood.)

Friday 12: El Califa (local perfomer who never had much but raw courage to offer, now on the slide), José Luis Moreno (excellent Cordoban matador emerging from years in the wildnerness) and José Calvo (by far the best Valencian performer, bar Ponce of course, but has never managed to make the big breakthrough).  (Bulls: bred by Adolfo Martín, cousin of the fabled Victorino, and out of the same fiery mould — not really appropriate for “artistic” toreros such as Moreno and Calvo.)

Saturday 13: Juan Bautista (inconsistent Frenchman, capable of the most sublime, relaxed toreo you’ll ever see, but he has to be “up for it”), Arturo Macías (much raved-about young Mexican who’s been cutting ears and tails in Mexico City and will be making his Spanish debut) and Miguel Tendero (youngster from Albacete who made a big impact last year — too early to judge whether he has what it takes to stay the course). (Bulls: Valdefresno, well-favoured by the “figuras”, or super-stars.)

Sunday 14 (midday): Novillada without picadors, entrance probably free, w. Román, Jesús Duque and Borja Álvarez (don’t know any of them, probably all students from the local taurine academy or others in the region; one for the talent-spotters.) (Calves: Nazario Ibáñez, excellent local breed.)

Afternoon: Jesulín de Ubrique (“mediatico” torero who came to fame with a Paco Ojeda-inspired up-close style, but hasn’t taken a serious risk for over a decade; he only retired a couple of years ago, but is back because he needs the money for a new mansion he is building; staple of the gossip columns and therefore a big box-office draw), El Cordobés (claims to be the son of the Cordobes, who furiously denies paternity; a crowd-pleaser who chose to go the “tremendismo” route because as an orthodox performer, he was always going to be run-of-the-mill), and El Fandi (the country’s No. 1 box-office attraction on the strength of his spectacular way with the banderillas, but unremittingly mediocre with the muleta). (Bulls: La Palmosilla. I haven’t liked the last few examples of them that I’ve seen, but with these guys, who cares what the bulls are like? I shall probably try to flog my ticket for this one.)

Monday 15: César Jiménez (several times “triunfador” of ferias in Valencia, once looked certain to make the big-time but seems to have burned out early), Matías Tejela (an eternal promise never quite fulfilled) and Luis Bolívar (Colombian candidate to fill the enormous slippers of the great César Rincon, he is very much coming up the hard way, including nearly being killed in this ring several years ago; under the wing of Victorino Martin for several years, so he knows all about tough bulls; I have always had faith that he will one day become a figura). (Bulls: Fuente Ymbro, inconsistent but probably the next most interesting breed in Spain after the Victorinos.)

Tuesday 16: Mano a mano between Enrique Ponce and El Juli (ex-child prodigy, now Ponce’s nearest rival as a technician). (Bulls: Zalduendo, one of the better “easy” breeds.)

Wednesday 17: El Cid (I spotted him as a future figura the first year I came to live here; he had his first relatively poor season last year, but is bound to bounce back; possessor of a very pure Sevillano style), Daniel Luque (last year’s big sensation, also from Seville; he’s certainly well worth watching, but I remain to be convinced of his “profundity”) and Rubén Pinar (the season’s second-biggest sensation, managed by local ex-matador Santiago Lopez who was José Tomas’s first manager but has the reputation of being such a genuinely nice guy, i.e. not ruthless enough, that all his great finds end up leaving him; Pinar is a kind of junior version of El Juli and, again, “profundity” could be his problem; but hey, what 19-year-old artist has much to say that is worth saying?). (Bulls: Alcurrucén, very popular among the figuras and often quite good, with all the usual provisos about size and predictability.)

Thursday 18: Julio Aparicio (son of the Julio Aparicio, he has built a very fragile career on the strength of one never-forgotten afternoon in Madrid; outstanding when he can conquer his innate lack of nerve), Morante de la Puebla (today’s leading “artistic” torero, absolutely unique and always worth watching, even if he often decides to do a Curro Romero and go home early) and Cayetano (Fran Rivera’s more talented and honest older brother, son of Paquirri and grandson of Antonio Ordoñez, a tremendous talent in the making if he can avoid the natural pitfalls that go with having been born into fame and money). (Bulls: Juan Pedro Domecq, the breed on which almost all contemporary breeds are based — small, inoffensive and often fall over, but charge like robots.) On paper, the ganado apart, this is the best bill of the feria. Fingers very tightly crossed.

Friday 19 (midday): This is the big day of the feria, San José, and usually marks its climax; a packed house is guaranteed. Corrida of rejoneadores with A. Domecq, Rui Fernandes, Galán, Montes, Leonardo and Manuel Lupi. (Bulls: Capea, as in Niño de la.) I always give the rejones a miss, they bore me to tears, but with six horsemen there should be slightly more variety than usual.  

Afternoon: Enrique Ponce, José Maria Manzanares (son of the great ’70s-’80s matador of the same name and, although stylistically quite different, an unusual example of a son becoming as big a figura as his dad — and for all the right reasons) and Sebastián Castella (the fearless Frenchman who has now added profundity and enormous “temple” to his unquestioned courage and was unanimously acclaimed “Matador of the Year” in 2009). (Bulls: Nuñez del Cuvillo, José Tomas’s favourite breed, and as close as you can get to a guarantee that the ganado will charge, even if, with their light weight and inwardly curving horns, any sensation of potential danger is invariably absent.)

Saturday 20, (midday): Novillada w. Juan del Álamo (the great white hope of Salamanca — I quite liked what little I saw of him last year), Juan Pablo Sánchez (another Mexican with a fast-rising reputation) and Juan Cervera (still at the local taurine school; a clone of Ponce — and what’s wrong with that, we’ll need another one when the maestro finally hangs up his sword). (Bulls: Fuente Ymbro, see above.)

Afternoon: Another “mediatico” bill designed to pull in the non-aficionado punters, with Rivera Ordóñez (Cayetano’s brother and a scandalous example of squandering talent and resting on extra-curricular laurels), El Fandi again (yawn) and Miguel Ángel Perera (the biggest star to emerge in the last couple of years, very similar to Sebastian Castella in style, always gives 150 percent). (Bulls: Jandilla, another branch of the Domeq breed, to which all the same comments apply.)

Sunday 21: The Grand Finale, a concerted tribute to the great man’s 20^th anniversary as a full matador. Paying homage to Enrique Ponce, who will, of course, be topping the bill, are Morante de la Puebla, El Juli, Sebastián Castella, José María Manzanares, Miguel Ángel Perera and Cayetano, each taking one bull apiece. (Bulls: a combination of different breeds, as yet unannounced.)

With the exception of José Tomas, all the big names are there, and most of the minor ones have been chosen with care and “buen gusto”, rather than the compadrismo and regional chauvinism that so often prevail. There are bound to be some historic “faenas” — only problem is, it’s impossible to predict who will execute them. As the old saying goes, “El hombre propone, el toro dispone”.