A Temporada Like No Other (2020 Season Review - Pt1)

There’s never been a European season like the one we’ve experienced this year - and aficionados all over the world will be hoping there’s never one like it again. Bullfighting was shut down for months on end from March, and the mundillo never properly recovered. The numbers of complete ferias held could almost be counted on the fingers of one hand - and the same could be said for the appearances of many top matadors and novilleros.

The global pandemic of influenza from 1918-20 (mistakenly known as ‘Spanish flu’ because, unlike in other countries where the illness was thought to originate, Spanish newspapers were not affected by World War I censorship and so were the first to report the virus) killed some 10% of Spain’s population. Although it was first diagnosed in the country in May 1918, no measures were taken to contain it until October, and then only in high-incidence areas, so the season’s bullfighting was practically unaffected. Madrid’s temporada ended prematurely on October 10 - a corrida which marked the (short-lived) despedida of Rafael Gómez El Gallo and in which his younger brother, José Gallito, cut the first tail ever to be awarded in the capital. Zaragoza’s Feria del Pilar, including its bullfights, was suspended, and Jaén and Valencia also suffered cancellations. In Barcelona, however, they were still watching los toros in Las Arenas on October 27. In all, 237 corridas were held in Spain that year, just 35 less than in 1917; Don Ventura, in his season summary, pointed out that the pandemic had caused some cancellations, but added that, if those corridas had been celebrated, “the total figure would still not have reached that of last year”. The illness was still present in Spain in 1919, but that year’s temporada proceeded regardless.

Last year in Spain, 793 festejos mayores (corridas, novilladas con picadores and festejos de rejones) were held. In 2020, that number dropped to a mere 77 - a reduction of 90%. Sixty-three of these events were corridas de toros, compared with 399 in 2019.

Thirteen of these took place before Spain’s first coronavirus estado de alarma in March, including the ferias of Valdemorillo and Olivenza. With corridas curtailed on the eve of Las Fallas and Castellón’s Feria de la Magdalena, it was not until July that restrictions eased and they were able to start up again. In most cases, these were one-off events (often supported by television), with only Huelva, Mérida and Jaén holding ferias, albeit reduced ones. Apart from Córdoba, which held a corrida in October, none of Spain’s 1st class plazas opened their doors all year.

After much talk, it was not until the end of September that la Fundación del Toro de Lidia’s Gira de Reconstrucción got underway - 15 corridas, three festejos de rejones and three novilladas con picadores, each featuring four bulls and taking place with the assistance of ANOET, la Unión de Toreros and Movistar’s Canal Toros in mainly minor plazas. With the emergence of a second coronavirus spike, some juggling of venues had to take place and two events had to be postponed until 2021.

The aim of the series was announced as raising funds “to maintain and recover festejos in 3rd and 4th category bullrings from 2021” (since 2008, some 400 places in Spain have stopped holding bullfights). The Fundación came under some criticism for attempting to work with a PSOE/Podemos Government that has no perceptible enthusiasm for la Fiesta and is apparently content to see taurine professionals receive little or no financial help whilst the pandemic affects their ability to earn a living, but, as the season drew to a close, there was some indication that the Government might be prepared to dip its hand in its pocket to help fund the renovation of such bullrings, doubtless viewing this as a useful employment project (with no guarantee that the buildings will return to their former use, particularly if the economic difficulties of mounting festejos are not tackled).

Novilladas con picadores were the worst-hit type of festejo - only 14 such novilladas took place all season, compared to 234 in 2019 - a fall of 94%. Uneconomic to put on before coronavirus came along, they were pretty much non-starters with the reduced numbers of spectators that were permitted once festejos could be held. On the other hand, the least affected taurine sector this year was that of novilladas sin picadores, probably because they are relatively cheap to put on, have never drawn big crowds anyway and are favoured by television companies.

In France, 15 festejos mayores were held in 2020 compared to 105 in 2019, a drop of 86%, with only the September ferias of Arles and Nîmes taking place as normal, albeit with limited attendance.

Will 2021 be any better?

It’s clear that this year’s circumstances will continue to be felt next year and possibly longer. Although positive news about vaccines to combat Covid-19 has now emerged, mass vaccination programmes in European countries are unlikely to be concluded until well into 2021; there could well be a third wave of coronavirus this winter to follow on the one currently being experienced, and local spikes in the illness could occur after that. A number of traditional ferias may be postponed until later in the year - there is already talk of Sevilla’s Feria de Abril corridas being put back until September and I would not be surprised if it takes until then before empresas can be confident their plazas de toros can be fully occupied once more. Unless contracts are renegotiated before then, that may be too late in any case for empresas of those plazas that hold events across the year, a concern being voiced in 2020 that rents for the whole year would come into play once a bullring had hosted a single festejo. Another year without corridas in Valencia, Sevilla, Madrid, Zaragoza, Bilbao and Albacete does not bear thinking about, particularly as, the more people get out of the habit of attending corridas, the harder it will be, later on, to get them back….

Spare a particular thought, too, for ganaderos of toros de lidia, many of whom only continue to breed fighting bulls because of their afición in any case. In 2019, some 4,722 animals ended their lives in the bullring: in 2020, just 479 animals were fought (10.5% compared to the year before). On these figures, we can assume that at least 4,000 animals destined for the arena - and quite likely more - were instead sent to the slaughterhouse, the ganaderos receiving a fraction of the income from them that they had expected. Last Spring, toros en canal were selling for 500 euros after having cost the breeders up to 1,000 euros a year to rear. If you were a significant breeder of toros bravos, having experienced 2020 and judging the prospects for 2021, surely you’d want to cut your losses straight away and markedly reduce the number of animals you’d hope to sell to bullrings next season?

That might open the door a little more to smaller ganaderías and the minority encastes, but how many of these will continue in the toro bravo market given the ruinous 2020? Victorino Martín is reported to have said earlier this year that 50% of ganaderías were likely to disappear (El Ventorrillo has already been one notable departure).

With luck, 2021 will see a more or less full temporada in France, while I suspect Spain’s will get off to a stumbling start but hopefully grow stronger as the year progresses. But there will be fewer festejos than pre-pandemic (possibly limited too by the availability of suitable animals). And that will mean fewer opportunities for individuals to make their mark, whether as matadores de toros or as novilleros.