San Isidro, May 21: Not enough to continue as before

Paco Ureña on the day of his Madrid encerrona

The story of Paco Ureña’s recent history and his circumstances this year is well known. In September 2018, the lorquino lost an eye in a goring at Albacete. Many suspected his career might be over, but in 2019 he had triumphs in many plazas, including the first class rings of Valencia, Madrid (where he won five ears and an exit through the Puerta Grande), Bilbao (where he was awarded four ears in one afternoon - something that hadn’t been seen there for 55 years) and Nîmes. At the end of the season, he ended his management arrangement with the Madrid empresa Simon Casas and signed instead with José María Garzón; 2020 promised to be an important temporada de consolidación on the main feria circuit, with contracts signed for appearances in Valencia and Sevilla and three afternoons in Madrid.

The Covid pandemic put paid to that, and when bullfighting resumed, the figuras claimed the bulk of the reduced number of places available. When Garzón failed to put Paco on in the first feria he himself organised, the relationship was terminated. The Lozanos took on Ureña, but things were not quite as before. Then, last October, Paco suffered a major injury to his spine in a cogida at Abarán (Murcia). His recovery involved him lying immobilised for two months. During this time, he learned the Lozanos were dropping him, and shortly after that his cuadrilla began drifting away. As 2022 began, now under the wing of ex-matador Juan Diego, it became clear that there was no place for Paco (not even discussions) in the ferias of Valencia, Sevilla and Madrid. In Sevilla’s Feria de Abril, he eventually appeared as a substitute for Emilio de Justo (and was the only torero that afternoon to be the subject of a petition for an ear), but the only way the triunfador of the previous Feria de San Isidro could enter this year’s carteles was for him to offer to kill six bulls en solitario.

This was regarded as a hazardous enterprise. Ureña was effectively gambling his career on one afternoon in the most challenging plaza in the world, and the bulls for the rest of San Isidro, i.e. those that met the standards of the plaza and were considered most likely to do well, had already been chosen. What’s more, Paco is a torero corto - one with a limited repertoire - perhaps not best placed to sustain a six-bull afternoon on his own. Some aficionados prophesised disaster and said they would prefer not to attend. I decided my week in San Isidro would end with this corrida because I wanted to support Paco (whom I first saw at Azpeitia when he was struggling to gain contracts and the feria up in the Basque hills was his only appearance all year) in his risky venture and because I think he has been treated shabbily by the empresas of late despite the purity of his toreo when he is on song.

Paco in a natural

Alas, the afternoon - apart from the substantial numbers of spectators and his short but intense faena with the fifth bull - was the disappointment that many had foreseen. The main cause of this was the bulls - the opening animal from La Ventana del Puerto tired early; the adolfo that came out third proved impossible; the closing victoriano was disinterested in the lure - but some of the fault lay with Paco too. There were high hopes for his second bull, from Domingo Hernández. But after an excellent quite de chicuelinas and a brindis to the public, Paco went on too long, pegging single passes and losing the enthusiasm of the crowd that had earlier been generated by linked series, pases mirando al tendido and muletazos de frente. A half sword killing was met with a collective groan.

After that, Paco seemed deflated. There was nothing to be done with the adolfo apart from killing it - that took two attempts with the estoque and almost a dozen descabellos. The caping of the José Vázquez bull in fourth was left to others, and in the faena we had more single rather than linked passes and the feeling that this was an animal with which some other matadors might have succeeded.

Starting the faena to his fifth bull

Come the fifth bull, a Conde de Mayalde substitute for a juanpedro returned to the corrales, the weather changed - the wind got up, large raindrops began to fall, and then a torment fell as Paco began his faena. At this point, like most spectators not expecting rain, I headed for cover and so missed all but one derechazo in three series that brought things alive. When Ureña killed with a solid estocada hasta la bola, an ear was finally his.

Now, when the last bull came out (the weather improved), the possibility of a successful afternoon for Ureña still glimmered if he could only win an ear or two from this animal. Paco tried his hardest, ordering the picador where to position his horse for las varas and attempting to link muletazos with a bull that had no enthusiasm for the cloth, but it was not to be. The lidia ended with a pinchazo and bajonazo, Paco taking saludos before leaving the plaza to an ovation (Paco has, after all, been a ‘torero de Madrid’), while some disappointed spectators preferred to throw their cushions onto the sand.

Paco had failed in his efforts to maintain a place on the main feria circuit. After this, he will have to start again, appearing mainly in the minor rings and rebuilding his reputation in the hope that those glory days that once beckoned will come again.