The Rayo Vallecano faces this Thursday its first home match of the season in a scenario that concentrates several conflicts. The match against Deportivo Alavés, corresponding to the second round of LaLiga, takes place at 21:00 hours in Butarque, far from Vallecas and amid crossed reproaches from the institutions, the fans, and the management of both clubs.
The Community of Madrid has suspended the concession of the Vallecano stadium due to its security problems, LaLiga has rejected postponing the match, and several Rayo fan clubs have called for not attending the Leganés field as a protest against the management of Raúl Martín Presa.
To this situation is added another front: Alavés accuses Rayo of preventing its fans from attending the match. Its management has announced that it will also not occupy the box at Butarque.
Why Rayo cannot play in Vallecas
The origin of the conflict lies in the state of the Vallecas stadium, owned by the Community of Madrid. An audit detected deficiencies related to safety, health, and maintenance of the facilities, which led the regional administration to keep the concession of the venue suspended.
Rayo argued that it could play the match in its stadium and requested that the precautionary measures be lifted. However, the negative response came at the last minute on August 17, as the entity explained in its official statement.
The club claims that it had submitted the required documentation and worked to ensure that the stadium could host the match. The Community of Madrid, on the contrary, considers that the current conditions do not allow for its use while technical checks continue.
The disagreement has directly pitted the entity led by Martín Presa against the regional government. The president of Rayo has defended that the stadium meets sufficient conditions to hold matches, although he previously acknowledged a "human error" in the response to an administrative request.
LaLiga rejects postponing Rayo-Alavés
After learning that they could not play in Vallecas, Rayo formally requested the postponement of the match from LaLiga. The club argued that moving the match to another stadium would cause a "serious detriment" to the entity and its supporters. The request was rejected when LaLiga responded that there is no regulatory cause of force majeure that prevents the match from being played on the scheduled date, since the club has an alternative facility.
The solution has been to activate the agreement reached with Leganés to use the Butarque stadium, an option that had already served as an alternative in a previous match against Atlético de Madrid. In recent weeks, the possibility of playing in El Plantío, the stadium of Burgos, was also considered, although ultimately the option of Leganés prevailed due to its greater proximity.
The fan clubs ask not to go to Butarque
The move has caused a new rift between Martín Presa and part of the organized fanbase. The Federation of Fan Clubs, the ADRV Platform, and Bukaneros have called for not attending the match to protest the situation of the club and the deterioration of the stadium. These groups hold the management responsible for the crisis and also question the actions of the institutions. They believe that the problems in Vallecas did not appear suddenly and demand explanations about the maintenance of the venue.
The fan clubs also request that the proportional refund of the amount of the season tickets corresponding to the matches that the team must play outside its usual stadium be studied. Not all fans share the same response. Some have decided to withdraw their tickets to accompany the team in Leganés, while others support the call to leave the stands empty as a protest.
Rayo has informed that its season ticket holders can obtain one free ticket of a similar category to that of their season ticket. To access the stadium, they must present both the season ticket and the corresponding ticket. Tickets for those who are not season ticket holders have been put on sale for 25 euros.
Alavés accuses Rayo of preventing access for its fans
The organization of the match has also confronted the two clubs over the absence of tickets allocated for the visiting fans. Rayo claims that the delay in the confirmation of the stadium left an insufficient margin to process these tickets. According to their version, the staff sent to Butarque did not complete the generation of tickets until 7:00 PM on August 18.
The entity argues that the visiting accesses had to be nominative and that the identity of their holders had to be communicated to the authorities with a notice of between 48 and 72 hours. That deadline, the club asserts, made it impossible to distribute the tickets to the Alavés supporters. The Vitorian team rejects that explanation. In their official statement, they deny that Rayo had shown the necessary collaboration to facilitate the movement of their fans.
According to Alavés, they made arrangements in the days prior, but did not receive a definitive response until Wednesday morning, when they were informed that there would be no tickets available for the visiting stand.
As a sign of protest, the Alavés board has decided to not attend the presidential box at Butarque.
Two teams with opposite beginnings
The institutional and organizational conflict has partially shifted the attention from the sporting event. Rayo arrives after losing 2-1 against Sevilla in their league debut, while Alavés started the season with a victory 3-0 against Getafe. Forward Mariano Díaz was one of the protagonists of that Alavés triumph, with one goal and two assists.
For the team led by Beñat San José, the match represents the possibility of adding their first points despite playing away from Vallecas. The team of Quique Sánchez Flores, for its part, aims to maintain its good start to the season.
The next commitment for Rayo at home is scheduled for September 5 against Racing de Santander. For now, there is no definitive confirmation on whether it can be played in Vallecas or if the team will have to look for an alternative stadium again.