How many subalternos are needed for a corrida de toros?
September seems to have overtaken August as the busiest month for festejos con toros in Spain and this year, on September 9, the matadors Joselillo, Jairo Miguel and Francisco Montero, contracted to torear six bulls of Prieto de la Cal at Sotillo de la Adrada (Ávila), had real difficulties drumming up enough subalternos for the corrida given the number of events on elsewhere.
In the end, the corrida went ahead with just two subalternos - Francisco Javier Tornay and Ángel Otero - available to conduct the brega and place banderillas. The empresa made it clear this wasn’t because of any actions on his part and thanked the toreros involved for agreeing to go ahead with the corrida on this basis.
At one stage, the corrida was almost down to one subalterno as Tornay slipped and fell exiting from placing a pair of banderillas and only a timely quite from Joselillo prevented the bull from catching him.
The event gave rise to some debate as to how many subalternos a corrida really needs - a question that may become a more pressing concern as the costs of putting on festejos increase and the numbers of people looking to make a career as peones fall, something that looks like a given based on the current numbers of corridas that take place over the course of a season.
It seems to me that two is the minimum number - one to carry out the brega in the second tercio and the other to place banderillas. Similarly, two picadors would be the minimum requirement for a festejo, this number allowing for one of them being injured during the course of the event.
One wonders to what extent the current cuadrilla of three banderilleros and two picadors per matador has a future…. Costs could be cut if each matador had just one or two banderilleros and one picador in their team and if the peones shared their duties more between them across cuadrillas over the three tercios. Empresas could assist this development by employing a puntillero, for instance - possibly, picadors too.
But I would imagine the concept of a team of toreros built around each matador is pretty non-negotiable - people the individual can rely upon to give their best in helping him succeed, who accept his authority, and who can share in the highs and lows of a temporada. La lidia is a team effort, after all. Also, a matador’s solitude - the moments when all the worries and responsibility of an afternoon rest upon him - is bad enough already without adding to it even more.