La Copa Chenel declares a winner and heads for the courts
Francisco de Manuel
22-year-old Francisco de Manuel, who took the alternativa in his home ring of Colmenar Viejo in 2021, has been declared the winner of this year’s Copa Chenel competition.
The certamen, in its second year of existence, followed a similar format to 2021, except that, this time, two finals were featured, the first involving three matadors and the second - a ‘gran final’ - a mano a mano between the last two toreros left standing after performances in the first final had been scored.
The first final took place at Valdilecha on July 9 and featured three madrileños - Ángel Sánchez, Amor Rodríguez and de Manuel, the youngest entrant in this year’s competition. Perhaps the most surprising finalist, however, was Rodríguez, 29 years old from Torrejón de Ardoz, who took the alternativa there in 2019 and who hadn’t fought since until entered for this year’s Copa Chenel. He impressed with a sober, artistic performance, exhibiting temple, and cut an ear from a bull of Araúz de Robles in his initial round at El Álamo on April 2, then earned a vuelta after facing tricky bulls from El Estoque and Partido de Resina in the June 18 semi-final at Cadalso de los Vidrios.
Natural from Amor Rodríguez at Valdilecha (from www.copachenel.com)
Although Rodríguez cut an ear in the Valdilecha final, Sánchez and de Manuel (who was also awarded an ear) were the two toreros amassing sufficient points with the Copa Chenel jury to go through to the ‘gran final’ at Valdetorres de Jarama on July 16. Here, Ángel Sánchez produced the best faena, cutting two ears from a bull of Ángel Luis Peña to end up with a total of three ears from the afternoon, but consistency won the day when Francisco de Manuel won an ear from each of his bulls, including two anaromeros. Sánchez’s sole bull from Ana Romero - the one on which he failed to cut an ear - was awarded a vuelta en arrastre.
Part of the Copa Chenel award last year was an afternoon in San Isidro for its triunfador, Fernando Adrián. This year, because the contract for Las Ventas was up for grabs mid-season, no such promise could be given to the competition’s winner, but, given that it has been retained by Plaza 1, it is to be hoped that de Manuel, who did appear in the capital’s bullring in May during this year’s Feria de la Comunidad, will be given similar treatment.
Heading for the courts
Meanwhile, the organisers of the Copa Chenel, la Fundación del Toro de Lidia (FTL) and la Comunidad de Madrid (CAM), are heading for the courts as the result of another legal action mounted by the private empresa, José Montes.
This action would seem to stand a reasonable chance of success and effectively attacks the method by which the FTL operates as an empresa.
Since bullfights have taken place against the backdrop of Covid, the FTL has entered into arrangements with regional authorities in which, in return for the authorities’ financial support, la Fundación puts on series of bullfights, predominantly as ‘Circuitos de Novilladas’, in which local toreros and often local ganaderías are featured. These events, it is argued, assist local employment and provide economic support to the toreros and ganaderos featured, as well as to the localities in which the festejos take place. They also foment local afición. The Copa Chenel, based on corridas de toros, is the most high-profile of these promotions: the CAM has provided the FTL with approaching 1 million euros to put on this and the Madrid Circuitos de Novilladas.
The argument that Montes makes against this arrangement is a simple one - that, by law, the use of public monies to subsidise an activity should be aligned with open, competitive tenders to provide the services involved; agreements such as that reached between the CAM and FTL are consequently illegal and should be outlawed. The future structuring of la Copa Chenel may well depend on the outcome of this legal case.