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La perspectiva de Reus Deportiu - with Andreu Rauet (31st July, 2017)

Yes, Reus Deportiu. 

You can follow Andrew on Twitter here, on Instagram here and on YouTube here.

A bit about yourself and your background

My name is Andreu, I'm 17 years old and I live in a village near Reus. All of my family lives in Reus. I love practicing sports, especially football, and I also like literature and music. I've actually played the piano since I was 8 years old. When I was 7 years old I started playing football at the local team, one year later I discovered a football team called F.C. Barcelona. I started following them, basically because all my family were Barcelona supporters. But also because I realized being a Barça fan was something special...

How long have you been a fan of Reus and what made you support them in the first place?

....However, when I was 10, my grandmother and her sister showed me a football team called C.F. Reus Deportiu. They brought me to the pitch a couple of times, so I realized that C.F. Reus Deportiu was a very special team that was located very near to us. Actually, my grandma and her sister are Reus Deportiu partners since 1970, more or less. Therefore I became a Reus fan because of my grandma, her sister, my grandma's son and my cousin - I come from generations of Reus Deportiu fans, and so I was the next piece of that generation.

Describe your first experience of watching Reus play?

I actually don't remember exactly the first time, I only remember that they brought me to the stadium in special matches, like when we played against important teams such as Real Betis Balompié, Villarreal, etc...it was then when I started going more and more often to the stadium. I even started going with the Reus Group to some events and matches that Reus played as an away team.

To an outsider - how would you describe Reus's playing style, what it means to be a fan of the club, and what it means to be a player of the club?


Well, Reus's style is very characteristic. It is very similar to Barça's style. Everything starts in our half, we build the goals by doing as much passing as is possible, so in our team the midfield is extremely important. Being a Reus fan means being humble, we never think of the future. Our main goal is continuity in the League, so we try to avoid relegation. Luckily, that style has given us very good results. We have a strong belief in Reus: if a Reus player doesn't feel the colors of the team, he must leave.

Describe the importance and significance of a game against a rival such as Gimnàstic? What do you think would be the key differences between a Reus fan and a fan of those clubs?

The rivalry between Reus and Nàstic is very important in Catalonia, and it has increased during the last year, because this has been the first season that Reus and Nàstic have coincided at LaLiga 1|2|3. In my opinion there are two kinds of rivalry between Reus and Nàstic. The first type is the strong rivalry, every season, when Reus and Nàstic play the derby, there are always quarrels between some violent fans of both teams. However, there is an other type of rivalry, I call it the half-friendly rivalry: for example, as I said before I am a Reus fan, but my best friend is a Nàstic supporter. We always argue about our rivalry but we never fight, we're just friends. As well as that, my English teacher is a Nàstic suporter, so we're always joking around about the Reus and Nàstic rivalry!

There was a time when Reus was a lower league mainstay. However, in the past few years it has risen up the ranks. How would you describe the last few seasons for Reus fans?

The last few years have been incredible for the Reus suporters. Everything began at the last match of the season 2014/15. We went to Cornellà, and we had to win our match and Villarreal B had to tie or lost against Espanyol B. Two buses filled with Reus suporters (including me, my grandma, her sister and my uncle, of course!) went to Cornellà. We arrived at the second half because of a traffic jam, but it was amazing. When we arrived at the stadium, the match had already started, and our players realized that we had arrived to the stadium because we started encouraging and cheering them. 10 minutes later they scored the goal, Villarreal B tied and we won the League. A few weeks later we went to Santander to play the promotion decider, Reus won 0-3, and we also won the second match at our stadium (1-0). And thus began our first season in our history in LaLiga 1|2|3.

What is your opinion on the utilization of the youth teams? How would you rate the opportunities that youth players get in the first team?


Here at Spain, especially in Catalonia, the majority of the clubs give very importance to the youth teams. Luckily, C.F. Reus recruits young players of all the province, which means that all the kids have the opportunity to become part of this incredible experience.

List some things you appreciate and some things you can’t stand about the club management.

In my opinion the best thing that Reus administration has done is signing very good players. As well as that they have also bought a Chinese team to train players that can sign with Reus in the future. However, this season the prince of the season pass is very expensive (actually they have removed the discounts that they had for the old people and for the Groups. As well as that, they have doubled the prices).

The most famous ultra group at Reus is the Troopers Reus. How would you describe them and their political affiliations? What is the feeling of fans of Reus and of other clubs towards them? How would you characterize the Reus board's support to them?


I'm afraid I don't know anything about the Troopers. In my opinion the most important ultra group at Reus is the "RedBlacks". In my opinion they are very important for the club, and probably the administration doesn't treat them very well. They are very disregarded by the club, however as I said before they are essential for the club. Every match they sing and encourage our players, even in the matches that Reus play away from home.

Any other notable ultras or fan groups that are worth mentioning?

I could also talk about the "Penya Baix Camp". They are a Reus fan group (which my grandma is a member of), that has suffered the consequences of the changes at the season pass. As I said before, Reus has removed the discounts for Groups, so being part of that group has no benefit with the new season pass politics. Actually the "Penya Baix Camp" lost 60% of their members in 2 days after the new prices were announced. It is heartbreaking...

How would you contrast the "Reus fan experience" under Xavier Llastarri?

I think they are working good, even thought that they have done a horrible mistake with the new season pass politics. I think they have created a very good and exciting project.

Is there something that the media doesn't (or maybe doesn't want to) talk about Reus that you think is worth mentioning?

No, in my opinion the press has talked about everything they were able to talk. That's all 😂

Your thoughts on the season ahead?

Even though we've lost Ramón Folch (the captain), Alberto Benito and Ángel Martínez (3 essential players), as well as other players that were loan, I think that the Reus leadership has done a very good job signing very good players, such as Àlex Carbonell, Gus Ledes, Pablo Íñiguez... However, it is important to know that we also lost our coach, Natxo González, and we have replaced him with Aritz López Garai, who was actually a Reus player last season. I'm not sure if this change is going to work, only time will tell...

Anything I haven't covered and you'd like me to put in?

Thank you for giving me the chance to share all my feelings about Reus.

Not a problem! Huge thanks to Andreu for his time.



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