Alicante, end of March 1939. Barbarism and terror reigned in the Costa Blanca capital for several days. And not so much – a few days after the last one – or because of the fall of the Republic government. Rather, because the people of Alicante know that the worst is yet to come. The arrival of Franco’s army was imminent, and before that, more than twenty thousand people crowded around the docks of the port. They had received word/promise that in the next few hours several ships imitating Stanbrook would send them into exile. But the wait was endless. As the hours passed, despair came to the fore, the agony grew, and the first suicides began to take place, to the sad music of the screams of hundreds of hungry children. Rescue ships that had never arrived were supposed to arrive, more than three days had passed, and their respective nights…
And indeed, the worst was yet to come: in the early hours of March 31st to April 1st, it was Francoist troops that finally arrived. From then on the situation became tragic and the port of Alicante experienced Dantesque scenes, with hundreds of people desperately throwing themselves overboard from being captured and transferred to a concentration camp and/or later shot. Alicante had experienced the darkest possible end to something as frightening as the Civil War. But life had to go on… and so did football.
MARVEL TEAM DATES (39-40)
It was the end of summer 1939 when the post-war civilian version 1.0 of Hercules was released. Or the closest thing to it, because after Suárez was killed he didn’t even have a coach and until the League started, Eladio Pérez (president) and Luis Surroca (former player) were sitting on the bench of the blue and white club. . And it wasn’t bad at all. While Goyeneche, Rosalén, Morera, Blázquez or Mendizábal were not deceased, but with Pérez, Maciá, Aparicio, Salas, Tatono or Salvador, Hercules continued his activities by winning the Murcian Regional Championship. An unexpected success, especially considering that the Alicante club remained unknown due to the numerous casualties caused after the start of the war. The team looked ready for the start of the league.
The league championship began on 3 December 1939 with a 3-1 win over Racing de Santander at Bardín. Tormo and Vilanova scored twice for Herculaneums. Just this latest player from Valencia, with Conde, the very young Alicante winger Adrover (17 years old) and defenders Pardo and Del Pino made the list of contracts for the Alicante team. Patxi Gamborena came first, then José Quirante, to fill the space left by the legendary Suárez on the bench – never without a vacuum. The games that followed his convincing opening win against the Cantabrians showed that Hercules still has the Wonder Team DNA: He was the leader on three different days of the First DivisionMany wins, such as double wins against Real Madrid (0-1) in Chamartín, or against Athletic Aviación, which was the league champion that year, or against Athletic Bilbao (1-0 in the first final) in Bardín. historical victory. 5-2) in the league and the newly released Copa del Generalísimo. Finally, Sixth in the league, quarter-finalist in the Cup. The perfect campaign for Hercules, which documents Alicante having great times at football and terrible times at everything else, in all that really matters…
RED OR BLUE-WHITE? (1940-1942)
The following two campaigns were marked by the gradual loss of potential and, above all, the extreme difficulty of winning away from home. The first is easily understandable: players were being lost every year, those who came – with some exceptions – could not keep up with those who left, and those who remained became more and more veterans. Second, the explanation for not winning outside Alicante is not that simple. And the thing is, while it’s clearly strongly related to the gradual decline in the roster’s potential, there’s a very dark nuance in it: Hercules, the team of the last bastion of the Republic, was met with greater hostility than any other visitor in the fields of Franco’s Spain.. Even arbitrations whose property was administered by Francoist authorities were clearly affected by this phenomenon. Even so, despite everything against them, the people of Alicante are a honorable ninth place In the 40-41 campaign. However, in the following season, under the name Club Unión Deportiva Alicante (motivated by a deal with Alicante CF to join forces and cut costs), the Blue and Whites failed to defend the category, and seven years later, they hit their Bones again in the second inning.
After relegation and unsuccessful merger with Alicante CF, the formation that Chepa – again originally called – was preparing to face the 1942-1943 campaign. A season imposed by the Federation, marked by the reorganization in which the Second Division League will move from a group of three groups to a single group. This “brutal reform” meant that by the end of the course, ten teams would go down to Third Place. However, fighting to avoid hypothetically relegated to the bronze category was not in the plans from the beginning for a Herculaneum team that had only bet on getting back to the First Division on the first try. And there were good mats to achieve that. Young Pina’s sum, periche and Corona plus veterans Maciá, Salas, Tatono or Blázquez—which was already in decline—there were plenty of numbers that would yield the desired result. Nothing could be further from the truth. Hercules finished fourth, one step away from playing for promotion, their irregularities and above all the black hole where away games continue (they only managed one away win all year).
THE SECOND CHAPTER WAS NEVER GOOD (1943-1944)
The next football season came with a “yes this year” sign (does that sound familiar to us?) Hercules was tenth. And the truth is, on paper, the team led by Manolo Maciá, who started player-coach status, should have been among the favourites. In the blue-and-white squad, defender Corona—six goals in the previous season—was missing, the only goal scorer to sign for Real Madrid. However, to make up for this loss, the transfer of future international Clemente was secured by the merengues, and likewise, Pina and Periche, still young, were expected to take a step forward, still taking the bat of the legendary players. they continued at the club (like Salas, Tatono, Blázquez or Maciá himself). As if that wasn’t enough, the Santapolera legend had an ace on his sleeve, which he took out a few days before the start of the championship: The return of historic goalkeeper José Pérez. But not with these. Suffering from serious vision problems, Canarian was nothing more than a shadow of his former self, scoring 11 goals in 4 games and spending almost the entire season replacing Betancor. You see, it’s true that sometimes the second episodes are never good…
MACIA HERCULES (1944-1945)
The emotional factor blew up, without Pérez (with a very undeserved farewell through the back door) and again just one player, Maciá, already the Wonder Team’s only surviving player on the roster, faced off against Hércules de Alicante, League 44. – 45 without the primary goal of promotion, but with the intention of being as high as possible. An experienced coach, legendary former player Francisco Pagazaurtundúa, took the helm. paganone of the silver heroes Antwerp, it was clear to me: the roster needed to be rejuvenated by giving it new airs. And so he did. With Periche and Pina, now yes finally as leaders, with Lahuerta (signed from Elche) seventeen goals and only one eleven where Maciá is over 25, Hercules has reached the last day due to himself to ascend. Despite the encouragement behind them by Celta, Real Sociedad and Xerez, Pagaza’s men would be back in the top spot if they beat an already relegated Barakaldo at Alicante.
Bardín, 20 May 1945. Hercules faced Barakaldo in the last match of the Second Division. The atmosphere in the little box of chocolates were great occasions. There was no needle. The trio of referees and both teams were on the field and the lineups were announced over the loudspeaker. After the nets of both goals were checked by the line judges and a coin flip, the fields were drawn, everything was ready for the skirmish to begin. And Bardín roared at the first whistle.
The first minutes already gave us a very rough reading of what the accident would be like. Risking his life, Hercules tried to corner some of the visitors who “only” put their honor on the table (something that was already too much in amateur times). Abeijón’s arrival followed one after the other, but good defensive work and the success of the Basque goalkeeper interrupted the Blue and Whites’ attacks one after the other. But the scenario—predictable until then— took an unexpected turn with Miranda’s first away goal. With him, disbelief, disappointment and restlessness among Alicante players and fans… But they weren’t moments of regret. That day there was no time for anything but to make history.. With a score of 0-1, coach Pagaza ordered his men to increase the pressure. He knew the only way back was to suffocate the Biscayans to the point of destroying their ball circulation and be much sharper at the front. Believing and persistence was key. And the result was the equalizer, which was the work of midfielder Lafuente shortly before the break. One by one and start over.
The second half also retained the mood of the first: unsuccessful local dominance and uncompromising defense of the visitors. Minutes passed, luck followed in the Basque region (including the shot on the far left Periche post), but 1-1 on the rudimentary scoreboard of the stadium remained unmoved. The faces of the players in blue and white were discouraged, and the lack of ideas increased as the hour went on. But already in the last quarter of an hour, When Herculanos started to give up on promotion, Manolo Maciá appeared. Santapolero went to the bench – he definitely remembers his time as a player/manager – and told Pagaza that left-handed Periche could have been much more dangerous if he switched positions with Lafuente and moved to the right wing. This was so usual today, unusual in primitive football. Even if, The blue and white coach listened to Maciá and ordered Periche to position himself as a right winger.. As soon as the change was made, there were two open positions to make 2-1, but it was written that Herculism must suffer until the last breath. Exactly 88 minutes, when a ball hit Periche from the right, he cut his double, entered the field and beat Abeijón to score the second goal for Alicante team, creating joy in the stands. The blue-white star that emerged two minutes later scored again and finished the last match 3-1. Goal accomplished: Three years later, Hercules de Maciá and Periche are once again a First Division team…