Amadeo Salvo: "We will support Sant Rafel in order for it to grow on a social and sporting level"
"There is no-one in Balearic football who doesn't speak highly of Sant Rafel". These were the opening words of Amadeo Salvo to start a press conference aimed at presenting the collaboration agreement reached a few weeks ago between the team from Sant Rafel and Unión Deportiva Ibiza. For the upcoming season, Sant Rafel will be the affiliate team of Ibiza and will count on ten footballers (the majority being under 23s) to strengthen the squad trained by Vicente Román, competing in Group 5 of the Third Division.
"We are very grateful to Ibiza. It's a real honour that they chose to focus on a humble club like Sant Rafel as their affiliate team. We will focus all of our efforts on being a reliable partner of yours in this project and to grow alongside you", said Paco Bonet during the exchange of the two club presidents which ended in a shirt swapping act.
Salvo then detailed the advantages that the Sant Rafel members, coaches and footballers will enjoy as far as being able to attend and enjoy the Second Division B matches of Pablo Alfaro's men at Can Misses. "We are the ones that need to thank Sant Rafel. Representing a small village in the Third Division for so many years has a lot of merit. When we thought about how we could grow and develop, we knew that we needed an affiliate team to attract young talent. Now, we will support this club so that it grows both socially and from a sporting perspective. We will encourage our members to come here and attend matches of Sant Rafel", said the president of Ibiza.
Two entities, one philosophy
Attending today's event were directors, members and veterans of Club de Fútbol Sant Rafel. Footballers Luis Verdú and Juan Carlos Ortiz –who will play for the affiliate– also were present. Making sure not to miss the press conference was José Ramón Martín, councilman for Sport of the Sant Antoni de Portmany City Council, the municipality to which Sant Rafel belongs, a small village of roughly two-thousand inhabitants. Thanks to the agreement reached with Ibiza, Sant Rafel will be able to continue its quest of maintaining good results in a national division. "We are two entities, each with its own DNA, but we will act as one in terms of the promotion of football so that the general public will identify itself both with Sant Rafel and Ibiza", Salvo concluded.
