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Today, we are taking a Fall break trip to Vallecas, a working class neighborhood in the Spanish capital Madrid. La Liga - the Spanish first league - holds global appeal chiefly due to its two dominators and their massive global following. However, there are wonderful and many layered stories of politics, local pride, past glories and regional conflict below that shiny surface. Rayo Vallecano, the Lightining Bolt of Vallecas, represent a particularly interesting one. Currently a very good 8th in La Liga, the club normally yo-yos between 1st and 2nd and sometimes the 3rd league, but has been the inspiration for more than a few good Ska and punk songs from their neighborhood. In other words, there are no really great on the field moments here, but plenty off the field. And Paul Reidy is the perfect person to explain - to English speakers - the appeal of this strange 3rd club in Madrid that doesn’t really want to be a club for the whole city.

HELPFUL LINKS FOPR TODAY'S EPISODE:

Paul on X/twitter

Playlist of Rayo fan chants on Deezer

Ska-P - “Como un Rayo” (Youtube video of a live performance)

Ska-P - “Rayo Vallecano” (Youtube video)

“This is Rayo Vallecano,” 9 minutes documentary from COPA90

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Artwork for The Assistant Professor of Football is by Saige Lind

Instrumental music for this podcast, including the introduction track, is by the artist Ketsa and used under a Creative Commons license through Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/