The international referee from Lanzarote, Alejandro Hernández, will be the first bearer of the XXII Torch of Concord. The initiative, which is included in the XXV Tagoror International Clinic of Football and Futsal Referees, has the motto 'For Fair Play'. The event is organized by the Technical Committee of Referees of the Inter-Island Football Federation of Las Palmas, with the collaboration of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, and framed in the 'XXV Tagoror International Clinic of Football and Futsal Referees, Esteban Hernández Galván Memorial' and has been presented this Wednesday at the island institution.
It was the president of the Technical Committee of Referees of the Inter-Island Football Federation of Las Palmas, Pedro Díaz, who announced that Hernández would start the chain and also that it will be the vice president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, Juan Padrón, who will be in charge of lighting the torch. It will be at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, April 20, in the Islote de Hilario de las Montañas de Fuego, in the municipality of Yaiza.
After crossing, through multiple relays mainly carried out by members of the arbitration group and athletes, the municipalities of Tinajo, Teguise, San Bartolomé, Tías and Arrecife, the torch is scheduled to enter the Lanzarote Sports City at approximately 6:30 p.m., where its first stage will end. The next day, it will be transferred to Fuerteventura and on Friday, April 22, its journey will culminate in Gran Canaria, where the International Clinic of referees will also end, of which two days were already held in Lanzarote on March 29 and 30.
Remembering Esteban Hernández, promoter of this "so genuine" initiative
The president of the Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés, dedicated some emotional words during the presentation of both events to the referee Esteban Hernández, who died shortly after the last edition was held, as promoter "of this unique and genuine initiative as he himself was, genius and figure, and whom we are all going to miss".
San Ginés expressed his "deepest recognition to the arbitration group and to Esteban Hernández, whose objective, and he transmitted it with all his heart, was to instill in the youngest respect for fair play and their fight for the injustices that are committed against those who have the most difficult job, that of administering justice on the field of play, such as referees".
In this sense, Pedro Díaz, after showing his gratitude to the Cabildo of Lanzarote for "the facilities it has always provided to this Committee" and to the referees, "because they are the ones who make this Committee and this group great", described Esteban Hernández "as a visionary", when devising these events that seek to eradicate the vision of the referee as "the bad guy in the movie to value him instead as another athlete", he added.
The torch will approach schools, clubs and football fields
For her part, the Minister of Sports of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Patricia Pérez, thanked "the great work carried out" by the arbitration group, which she congratulated "for this initiative that I trust will continue to develop for a long time and for which they will continue to have the collaboration of this Corporation".
Also present at the event was the delegate of the Lanzarote Referees Committee, Gerardo Hernández, who explained that during its transfer from the Montañas del Fuego to Arrecife, the XXII Torch of Concord will approach "schools, club headquarters and football fields". Another of those present was the delegate in Lanzarote of the Inter-Island Football Federation of Las Palmas, José Valido.
The Cabildo points out, as an anecdotal fact, that among the numerous football and futsal referees who attended the presentation of both events held this Wednesday was the councilor of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Marcos Bergaz, who is also a futsal referee. At the end of the event, Bergaz expressed his "pride in belonging to this group" and expressed his desire that "the fair play" that is pursued with the celebration of the Torch of Concord "be transmitted to the field of politics".
