10.20
The fact – ‘It is popular for motorsport in Spain’.
Hello! My name is Eri Ito, a Japanese motorsport journalist.
I mainly cover MotoGP, MotoE which is the electric two-wheel road racing championship.
This blog is all about Eri Ito’s personal experiences of visiting different countries to cover the MotoGP.
Please click: ABOUT for more details.
I stayed at a small guesthouse in Madrid for about a week after finishing my coverage of the Spanish MotoGP.
One day, when I returned to the hotel, two staff at the reception looked at me. I smiled and said ‘¡Hola!’.
One of them is a man in his 20s sitting at the reception and the other one is a woman also in her 20s.
Both of them are familiar faces to me who is there for a long stay.
“Could I ask you a question?”
I said as I approached them.
“The MotoGP is popular in Spain, isn’t it?”
The man looks dazed.
‘Excuse me?’ – He said.
Oh?
– I wondered if my pronunciation was bad.
– Okay, let’s try to make it sound more like proper English.
“Well, ‘MotoGP’. I heard it’s very popular in Spain.”
“???”
Then the lady staff who was nearby helped me.
“You mean the motorbike races, right?”
“Yeah, yes!”
“It depends on the person, I suppose.”
“Are you sure?”
He responded, “I’ve never seen it before.”
– What? No way!
– No way, ……but he should at least know this great and popular Spanish champion……
“Do you know Marc Marquez?”
“…… I don’t know.”
He started talking to his colleague in Spanish as if he was in trouble. I don’t understand Spanish at all, but his face expressed more eloquently than anything else: “What is this Japanese on about?”
I certainly thought I would get more enthusiasm like: “Oh, MotoGP! Marc Marquez, right? Of course, I know of him well!”
I was shocked. I was really astonished.
She smiled awkwardly as she saw me freeze up.
“It depends on the person.”
“Madrid is popular for football.”
“Because the stadium is very close by.”
They said.
For sure, that guesthouse was located very close to Real Madrid’s home stadium. Real Madrid is such a famous team that even I – with my meagre knowledge of football – know about it ……. Yes, I know that. I know that, but still…….
“Football is very popular.”
I thought the motorsport was extremely popular in Spain.
In fact, in Jerez ( where Spanish MotoGP was held ) before I came to that hotel, I was overwhelmed by the impressive scene with audience’s heroic shouts. The MotoGP news was on the TV at the hotel near the circuit where I was staying for the coverage.
So I was convinced that everyone’s reaction when they hear the word “MotoGP” would be passionate and enthusiastic in Spain.
For sure, it was only these two people that I asked about it.
If I had asked other people, I might have had a response that I would have expected.
Especially as at least one of them knew about the MotoGP…
It is a common understanding that MotoGP is popular in Spain but I realized I overgeneralized. “Spain” does not mean all Spanish people…
In an attempt to confirm the popularity of the MotoGP in Spain, I unveiled a surprising fact…or just the reality.
A few days later.
I stumbled upon a first-hand experience of the popularity of football in Madrid.
On the metro back to my hotel after sightseeing, I noticed that a lot of people were getting off at the station closest to my guesthouse who were making a lot of noise.
“What’s going on?” I looked around and realized.
They were all wearing football uniforms.
I gathered they were on the way to the stadium to watch a football match.
I was surprised not only by the size of the crowd but also by their energy and excitement even before the match started.
Someone walking behind me shouted something, then someone before me shouted back in response. It was as if they were saying to each other, “We’re going to watch football!”
The station platform was filled with a sense of their togetherness and enthusiasm, it drew me to feel as if I was part of the crowd, and I found myself getting excited even though I wasn’t going to see the match with them.
FYI： This blog is all about Eri Ito’s personal experiences from visiting different countries to cover the MotoGP.
Please click: ‘About this blog‘ for more details.
Photo Gallery in Madrid.
