LEGANÉS
Leganés roll out the red carpet for loyal, 102-year-old fan
Ahead of Saturday's visit from Sevilla, Leganés will pay tribute to their oldest season ticket holder who celebrates his 102nd birthday this weekend.
Oldest living Leganés fan
On Saturday, Leganés will pay tribute to Salustiano Toribio, the club's oldest season ticket holder who turns 102 on Sunday. 'Salus', as everyone knows him in the San Nicasio neighbourhood of Leganés where he lives, will take the honorary kick-off before the Pepineros league meeting with Sevilla (13:00 CEST).
And that isn't the only tribute - Madrid brewers Mahou have commissioned a video documenting Salustiano's life and how his family moved to Leganés when it was a small town of around 4,000 inhabitants on the outskirts of Madrid, some 15 kilometres from the capital.
As Salus says himself in the video: “I’m from the generation which was born when the Spanish league started – what more can you ask for?!"
Four generations of Leganés fans
He was just a 14-year-old teenager when 'The 11 Lions' ('Los Once Leones') formally became known as CD Leganés. He has accompanied the club throughout its 88 years of existence and says proudly: "I have five great grandchildren - and all of them club members at Leganés".
Salustiano recalls Lega's first grounds - Jardín Santa Ana, then the Rodríguez Luis Miguel ground but hasn't been to Burtarque much recently because of health problems but says he never misses a game on television. Leganés, he says, are a proper club "with solid fans, we're a decent bunch".
Cucumbers fit for a King
And he gives an explanation of how Leganés became known as the Pepineros (Cucumber growers): "The King had a maid who served him cucumbers; he really liked them and asked where they were from. The maid replied that they were grown in allotments in Leganés and that’s where the name comes from, since then, we have been known as the ‘Pepineros’".