Alser Puerto Sagunto bid farewell to Asobal amid uncertainty about the future

Alser BM Puerto de Sagunto visit the As Travesas Municipal Sports Centre this Saturday, 2 June, from 6.00 pm to conclude the 2011–2012 Asobal league campaign against Academia Octavio. A journey that will turn the Valencian team bus into a hotel on wheels, where they will spend the night before arriving in Vigo on Saturday morning. A display of the club’s austerity and financial discipline right to the end; despite no longer being bottom of the table, it has navigated the turbulent waters of Spanish handball with great dignity. That dignity has not been enough to preserve their status, nor does it guarantee the club’s viability as an elite side next season. Following the announcement by their sponsor, Alser, that it will withdraw its sponsorship unless “reinforcements” arrive, and after the remarkable support campaign that collected 8,000 signatures from local residents and secured a majority-approved motion at the Municipal Plenary, everything now depends on the sensitivity of the city’s major companies and supra-municipal institutions, such as Valencia Provincial Council, which contributes not a single euro to the BM Puerto Sagunto project.

 As for the match, its lack of sporting significance and the financial uncertainties affecting sporting planning mean that little is being said about it in the city. However, Alberto Estornell and his men want to finish a season to forget on a positive note. Many of the key players expected to keep the team up have fallen short, while a wave of injuries in a small squad has brought to an end this two-year spell in Asobal for the dean of handball in the Valencian Community.

 The question remains whether they will return this summer or have to wait another forty years to return to Spain’s elite.

Translation produced using artificial intelligence.