Image via betshoot.
To date, social networking and football has proved to be little more than a disaster.
Players sharing team information prior to match days, calling fans, critics and each other offensive names and posting pictures of themselves in various states of undress are favoured forms of technological buffoonery, and while we don’t for one minute expect a single good news story to mitigate your loss of faith in young men being able to conduct themselves with any kind of decorum, it might restore the balance a bit.
Juan Mata & Santi Cazorla. Fairly important in the grand scheme of things. Image Denis Doyle/Getty Images Europe.
Real Oviedo currently play in the 3rd tier of Spanish football, yet their impact on international and even Premier League football today is immense. Oviedo cantera (youth academy) boasts Chelsea’s Juan Mata, Swansea City’s Michu and Arsenal’s Santi Cazorla as alumni and prior to relegation in 2001, they had been bothering the top flight for a pretty solid thirteen years.
Due to various mismanagement and financial issues too complex to delve into here (especially when others have already done it properly) Real Oviedo faces closure on November 17th. In a last ditch attempt to prevent this from happening, club shares went on general sale on November 3rd. If Real Oviedo could raise just under €2 million, no mean feat considering Spain is up to it’s neck in austerity measures, there was a chance this disastrous outcome could be averted.
To date, €1.8m has been raised. According to board member Juan Ramon, approximately €274,000 of this total has been donated by people who became aware of the campaign via Twitter. With the deadline looming, you too have the opportunity to not only own shares in a football club whose history and contribution to Spanish and global football is incalculable, but to save the damn thing from extinction and prove that football and social networking does not always have to end in an FA charge.
What are you staring at? Get buying, loyal lovelies!
One Real Oviedo share costs €10.75 (about £8.65, $13.70) and you can buy as few or as many as you want via this website. When you’ve made your purchase, spread the word via Twitter, using the hashtag #saverealoviedo.
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