It has been a tough first season for the Peńa JAVEAMIGOS, the first international supporters club for CD Jávea, the premier football club in the region.Whilst the membership of the peńa has continued to grow slowly towards the magical 100-mark, the team’s performances on the pitch were disappointing. A decent start saw the rojiblancos jostle for position at the top of the Regional Preferente but an awful run of defeats during December and January saw Jávea drop like a stone into the bottom half of the table. However the club’s future started to look a little brighter after the arrival of a new coach in the form of Alberto Araujo and he lifted the club to finish 7th.
Mike Smith formed the international peńa in the spring of 2005, acknowledging that there was a potential for supporters to be drawn from all the communities of Jávea. Almost a year later the Peńa JAVEAMIGOS can boast members from not only the UK but also Spain Germany, Holland, France and even Australia. “We’ve never intended or wanted to be a ‘Brits-only’ supporters club,” stressed Mike. “Our membership is drawn from just about every major community in the town and we come together on match-day for a common purpose: to cheer on our local side!”
The peńa arranged transport to just about every away game last season as an increasingly-passionate core of fans travels the length and breadth of the province to support the team. “I think the lads were quite shocked when they ran out at far-flung places like Enguera and Benigánim and found our little crowd cheering them from the sidelines,” laughed Mike. “The noise generated by the travelling army of fans has often made an away game seem like a home one and I’m sure it’s helped Jávea produce the best away form in the league. The football may not be of the sort of quality one might be used to but the camaraderie in fantastic; being part of the peńa has been more than just about football. And I know that my own language skills have improved in leaps and bounds as I’m integrating much more with the local community of Jávea.”
The peńa website, which can be found at www.javeamigos.com has proved to be a font of all knowledge on CD Jávea and has been a great success in keeping fans up-to-date on the progress of CD Jávea. “The website grows from strength-to-strength with almost 200,000 hits at the moment and I hear it’s popular with the players as well,” said Mike. “We provide the match reports for all the English language newspapers as well so we’re raising the profile of both the football club and the town across the Costa Blanca region and even beyond to many places around the world.”
If you want more information about CD Jávea or would like to get involved with the Peńa JAVEAMIGOS then please visit the website www.javeamigos.com or ring Mike on 600-215-808.
