06/27/2024 1:17 p.m.
Although the noise is being generated by the National Team, this Thursday the noise was caused by an unexpected and painful slam of the door that hurts the most important competition in the local environment. UPCNthe club that was champion of the most times Argentine Volleyball League (LVA), decided to quit the tournament.
The team who won the title nine times, has the coach’s record of victories in national volleyballstarred in a classic ignition with the Bolívar by Marcelo Tinelli (he dropped in 2020 after achieving eight titles) and they have just done so against Facundo Conte’s Ciudad, being the current runner-up, he is withdrawing from the competition, which will obviously be lame.
With the signature of José Villa, general secretary of the UPCN San Juan unionand also president of the volleyball club that finances the union, and with the title “Centralism, business or volleyball”, the Cóndors sent a statement announcing his resignation after 17 years of life in volleyball and explaining the reasons.
Fabián Armoa, the person responsible for the 9 UPCN titles, the most winning coach in League volleyball.
UPCN points to tour competition system (seven stages are played in different venues, there are no more home and away games), “which goes against what we want for the tournament and for the discipline… it does not allow the clubs to play in front of their fans every two weeks, but only a handful of times. And also because “it is economically unfavorable due to the travel and hotel expenses of the clubs in the interior provinces.”
Conte figures from Ciudad, which won the last two finals against UPCN.
“Besides, It directly hits Ciudad Vóleythe current two-time champion, who, he mentions, was “favored even in the fixture.”
“We did everything possible to once again have a federal and competitive championship, but it was not enough. Business, it seems, for some was more important than volleyball,” he complains.
The UPCN statement announcing that it is resigning from the Argentine Volleyball League
With enormous sadness, but with the certainty that there was no other path for UPCN San Juan Vóley, I announce that we will not continue participating in the Argentine Volleyball League.
With nine titles we managed to be the most winning club in the history of the Argentine League, we sought new horizons and we managed to win the South American Club Championship twice, also historic. We went further and obtained two bronze medals in the World Club Championship, unprecedented for Argentine volleyball.
We always seek to be better and for the volleyball of San Juan and Argentina to be well represented. After 17 years of this unconditional love that we had for the sport, we can say that we achieved that goal: UPCN Volleyball is the winningest club in the history of the country and will continue to be so for a long time.
However, our fight was not enough to defeat the centralism of the clubs in the City of Buenos Aires and surrounding areas and the competition system pursued by the Association of Argentine Volleyball League Clubs (ACLAV), which goes against what we we want for the tournament and for the discipline.
The Tour format does not allow clubs to play in front of their fans every two weeks, but only a handful of times (and only if they qualify for the semi-finals, which also has a dispute criterion that I do not support) in an entire season. This competition system is also economically unfavourable due to the travel and hotel costs of clubs from the interior provinces, which travel all over the country to be able to play. To give you an idea: of the seven Tours of the regular phase and the eighth, for the quarter-finals, five were in Buenos Aires, two in Tucumán and one in Formosa.
The UPCN field, always packed.
The Ciudad Vóley club, favored even in the fixture (never faced the organizers of each Tour last season) due to the management of Roberto Zalcman and with the endorsement of the president of ACLAV, Jorge Vivas, who in turn is a counselor of Ciudad Vóley , is the promoter of this type of Argentine League.
We did everything possible to once again have a federal and competitive championship, but it was not enough. Business, it seems, for some was more important than volleyball.
In turn, we raised the situation with the Argentine Volleyball Federation, but we only received silence in response.
We have struggled in recent years to play as we have always done and as national tournaments are played around the world, proving with data, statistics and figures that the Tour format damages the finances of clubs, drives the public away from the fields, weakens the bond with fans and impacts the level of competition, among other aspects.
However, the majority of the clubs that make up ACLAV opt for a contest that only benefits the clubs of the City of Buenos Aires and surrounding areas, choosing to have an Argentine League of which only the name remains because it is nothing more than a Metropolitan Tournament with a couple of guests.
ACLAV has managed to get highly professional clubs to play on week-long days in the middle of the morning, in empty stadiums and in cities far from institutions and their followers. Those standards of mediocrity to which ACLAV aspires today are at the antipodes of the gene that runs through and distinguishes UPCN San Juan Vóley. That is why we made the decision not to participate in the Argentine Volleyball League.
On behalf of UPCN San Juan Vóley I want to thank all the players, members of the coaching staff, collaborators, leaders and fundamentally each of our followers for all these years of joy, achievements and unconditional support.
I would like to say that we will be back soon, but I don’t know. Yes, I am sure that it was a beautiful path traveled. See you always!
José A. Villa, President of UPCN San Juan Volleyball.
