Happy October 9th! (a Valencian holiday)

October 9th (9 d’Octubre) is a holiday in the Valencian Community, sometimes called Valencian Community Day. It celebrates the anniversary of the capture of the city of Valencia from the Moors by Jaume I, King of Aragon, in 1238. (as an aside, the bat as a symbol of Valencia dates from an incident when Jaume was leading his forces and a bat landed on something-or-another; also, he is supposed to have been given something to drink by a local girl, he commented “es in or, chata”, and hence we have ... horchata!).

Anyway, it is also St. Dinoysius’s day so hence a sort of Valencian St. Valentine’s Day, I guess. But, more to the point, Villarreal have used it to launch a new twitter account—in Valencian. This is something people have been asking for on twitter for awhile, so it’s nice it has come to pass.

And yes, you’re right, news is a bit short during an international break.

I did want to mention we had a couple of U-19 players in the Spain side that defeated Lithuania 2-0; Álex Baena and Iván Morante both featured and played 90 minutes. And if you would like to learn more about Iván, and can read Spanish (or figure out what Google Translate is trying to tell you), check out this article, from a regional paper in León, where he’s from. He played as a kid (pre-benjamin through alevin) in Ejido, and Villarreal scouts saw him at a territorial youth tournament, where he was part of the Castile and León side.

He came to Vila-real but was homesick and the team arranged for him to be loaned back to a club in León (Cultural Leonesa) for a year, and then he returned to Villarreal’s setup. He was part of our Juvenil A club that did so well last season; so far this year, he’s made his debut for Villarreal B, coming on as a sub against Llagostera, and also was part of our under-23 team that played Dinamo Zagreb.

Enjoy the day! Have a happy 9th of October!