I was initially heartened when I heard the news that la Fundación del Toro de Lidia (FTL) was to use proceeds from the 2020/21 Gira de Reconstrucción to launch a nationwide Novilleros League in Spain. Novilladas have needed a new impetus for some time, and here was a way of encouraging local talent, providing more opportunities to torear, and increasing the promotion of young bullfighters, all within the context of a novel competitive framework.

The League will be made up of at least five ‘circuits’ - los circuitos del Norte, Mediterráneo, Comunidad de Madrid, Castilla y León and Andalucía - each of which will hold a number of novilladas picadas for nine novilleros from that region. Local ganaderías will also feature wherever possible. Each series apparently still involves a degree of public subsidy, which has so far stymied attempts to create a further circuit covering La Mancha and Murcia.

It was stated from the outset that these novilladas would not be put on as part of larger ferias. Since then, La Liga has come under attack from members of el Foro de Defensa de las Novilladas, the forum that represents over 60 town councils that have traditionally held novilladas, including the ferias of Arnedo, Villaseca de la Sagra, Arganda del Rey, Algemesí, Villa del Prado, and Cadalso de los Vidrios.

Formed in 2018, el Foro produced a number of pretty radical proposals last June aimed at improving the conditions and viability of novilladas with and without picadors taking place in 3rd and 4th class plazas:

• A reduction in IVA costs to 4% for the events themselves and from 21% to either 10% or 4% in relation to the novillos.

• A revision of social security costs.

• Reglamentary and administrative liberalisation of the sector.

• Veterinary and ambulance costs to be borne by the respective Comunidad Autónoma, together with the costs involved in obtaining authorisation for a festejo.

• A 50% reduction in the minimum salaries of banderilleros, picadores, mozos de espada and ayudas.

• Where novilladas are televised locally or nationally, a 25:75% split in image rights between banderilleros, picadores, mozos de espada and ayudas on the one hand, and novilleros, ganaderos and the organiser on the other.

• Recognition of non-professional status for novilleros with or without picadors.

In return for these measures, el Foro said it was prepared to set a maximum ticket price of 15-20 euros for six-bull novilladas picadas and offer discounts to young people and pensioners, the unemployed and retired. A quality kitemark was also suggested “to erradicate current fraudulent practices […] and favour the correct celebration of festejos,” including payment of earnings in advance.

Unsurprisingly, there was no apparent response to these proposals and now el Foro is unhappy that the FTL’s initiative ignores the Foro’s activities and acts as a localised sticking-plaster to the fundamental difficulties involved in putting on novilladas.

Javier García, mayor of Arnedo and el Foro’s vice-president, commented, “We Foro [members] put a lot of public money into maintaining these festejos and we don’t understand, with the FTL knowing that we’ve spent three years fighting to keep novilladas going, that the Federation plans to restructure novilladas without taking the novillada world itself into account. If the most important ferias, currently suffering, are not promoted now, then the number of events this year will have to be reduced and future editions will end up being virtual testimonials.

“The novillada world has been in crisis for many years. These festejos don’t make business sense, which is why the empresas aren’t involved. We end up doing the same old thing - in Arnedo’s case, subsidising between 90,000 and 120,000 euros’ deficit incurred by el Zapato de Oro and el Zapato de Plata.

“I don’t want the FTL to subsidise the Zapato de Oro feria 100%, but, if there’s going to be a Novilleros’ League, why not call us at least? Perhaps it would involve no additional funding for Arnedo, but simply an advertising campaign that brings people to the bullring.”

With novilladas sin caballos costing 25,000 euros to put on and novilladas con picadores 45,000, García added: “We need to reduce costs by 50% and then we’d be happy. I don’t envisage making a profit with el Zapato de Oro - I’m prepared to make the same level of investment as we do for concerts - but to lose 100,000 euros in five festejos is an economic imbalance that worries us.”

With most of these novillada ferias taking place in September, perhaps the FTL is thinking of their events being put on beforehand, so that the feria organisers can then draw on the triunfadores as crowd-pullers for their events. But we’re already heading towards the end of April with no actual festejos announced. The old (and short-lived) Encuentro Mundial de Novilleros made more sense, with events held early in the temporada when there was little else on, garnering publicity and setting up those participants who did well nicely for the rest of the season.

In any event, at present the FTL’s La Liga de Novilleros does not appear to be a sustainable model for the future of novilladas. Perhaps it is as Ramón Valencia said when asked if the FTL had been of assistance in his frustrated efforts to put on corridas in La Maestranza this month: “La Fundación didn’t help. I believe the FTL was created for this, to support and stand by toreo and defend tauromaquia, [but] it has converted into a big empresa.”

Just as I was about to publish this blog, another initiative aimed at novilladas was announced - la Fundación Deluces. Ex-matador Toñete and the journalist David Casas are two of the backers of this venture, which aims to develop its own circuit of novilleros; modernise the novillada; ensure free entry for spectators but still remunerate all the participants, particularly the ganaderías; and bring the aficionado closer to the world of the novillero. Time will tell whether or not this is more than a well-dressed management initiative, but, just like La Liga, it seems doubtful that the announced framework will be sufficient to sustain novilladas into the future.