Half a century of a longed-for cup, which was stolen

Granollers"I thought I would start crying and fall. I was afraid of falling and seeing the Cup on the floor," recalls Miquel Prat, historic captain of BM Granollers. 50 years ago, the club from Valles became the first Catalan club and the first in the entire state to win a continental title, the Recopa, by defeating German team Dankersen 26-24 in extra time in the final at the old municipal sports pavilion, the popular Parquet. A historic feat achieved by a group of local players who were not even professionals. A golden generation, an era of tight shirts, long beards, and dreams of freedom, with Catalan flags in the stands and a city devoted to a team that paved the way.

These days, Granollers remembers that historic achievement, which took place on April 10th. The City Council, the club, and the BM Granollers Foundation have organized a series of events to commemorate the triumph, such as an exhibition at the Municipal Archive with images that are now part of Catalan sports history, like the one where Prat, watched by club president Francesc Ventura, lifts the Cup. The fans who had invaded the court lifted him off the ground "even though I weighed about 100 kg," recalls Puig, a Granollers native born in Plaça de l'Oli. At that time, German teams seemed unbeatable, but Granollers managed to win the title in one of those memorable days that last for years. All those who were at the pavilion, packed to the brim with more spectators than officially allowed, remember the final minutes of the match, when in the last second, goalkeeper Pagoaga prevented Dankersen's winning goal. Trying to score the winning goal, Granollers lost the ball, and the Germans had one last attack. The Basque goalkeeper, however, prevented disaster, and ecstasy arrived in extra time.

An era still remembered with black and white photographs, like those taken by Joan Mas García, who followed the team for the local press, images that belong to the Revista del Vallès archive; but also others taken by spectators whose authorship is not remembered. As if the author of those images was the entire population of Granollers, who also played their final, since El Parquet was a pavilion that could scare rivals "when everyone banged against the railings, making a lot of noise", recalls Prat. A pavilion where handball is still played and where this Saturday a gala dinner was held with the protagonists of that feat. On the same court where they sweated profusely to lift the title. Yesterday, a round table was also held, moderated by the journalist Eloi Vila, with players from different eras of the club. Today, the institutional reception of the champion team was held at the City Council and a tribute before the match against Recoletas Atlético Valladolid. All coinciding with the women's match on Saturday, and the men's match on Sunday, because if anything has changed in this half-century, it has been the impact of women's handball in the city.

Founded in 1944, Granollers quickly became a benchmark for a sport, handball, that was very different back then. For decades it was played with 11 players, like football, on outdoor courts. For example, the opponent in the 1976 final, Dankersen, had been outdoor European handball champion three times with 11 players. It wasn't until the 1960s that a move began towards handball with six field players and a goalkeeper, until this format became established at the 1972 Olympic Games. Granollers had been among the pioneers in adopting the new format in Spain, and in the 1970s, it competed with Club Balonmano Calpisa from Alicante and Atlètic de Madrid to dominate the league, which the Granollers team won thirteen times, the last time in 1974. "You had your job, back then, you couldn't be a professional," admits Prat, the player with the most titles in the club's history.

In 1975, Calpisa achieved a double: League and Cup, defeating the Granollers team in the final in Martorell. It was the year the Recopa was born, a continental tournament between the Cup winners of each League. And as runner-up, Granollers had the right to participate. If in 1959 BM Granollers had been the first Spanish club to play in a continental competition, in 1976 it debuted in the Recopa under the name Granollers-Camp, as it received sponsorship from this soap brand. And it would win it with a team with many local players, but also others from outside, such as the Valencian Vicent Calabuig, the Basque goalkeeper Patxi Pagoaga, who died of cancer in 1995, or the Andalusians Joaquín Borrego and Eugenio Castellví.

The new competition was played with a home and away knockout. And Granollers made its way by overcoming Västra Frölunda from Gothenburg in the round of 16, AHC'31 from Amsterdam in the quarterfinals, and Oppsal Handball from Oslo, Norway in the semifinals. They won all matches, except for a draw against the Norwegians. "The semifinal was sensational, as no one had won on the Norwegians' court and we did," says Prat. The final would be against the powerful Gruen-Weiss Dankersen, a team that came from a very small town of just 6,000 inhabitants, but which had a lot of titles, international players, and was the favorite. And the final began to be won before stepping onto the court, as President Ventura managed to have it played in Granollers, paying an economic sum for the final. "Playing at home helped, the pavilion felt very tight," says the captain of the time. The box seats were full of authorities, such as Juan Antonio Samaranch, who was already campaigning to be elected president of the Olympic Committee. "By winning the title, I think we put Spanish handball on the map; until then, we weren't favorites," explains Prat, who retired just after winning the Cup Winners' Cup.

From suffering, they moved on to celebration, which included a reception in Madrid with King Juan Carlos I, proof of the importance of the feat achieved by the Granollers team. And this reception allowed Granollers to cheat to keep the cup permanently. Officially, they had to return it to the authorities, as only the team that managed to win the tournament three times would keep it. But Miquel Prat had an idea: he secretly took the trophy home, and when the Federation asked, the club said it "had remained in the king's hands due to an error." "It was a prank," admits the captain. But they wanted the cup so much that they preferred to lie to keep the trophy.

A success in the final changed many things. Spanish handball became more professionalized, and players left the club for rivals such as Barça, Atlético de Madrid, or Calpisa. Granollers would take a long time to win titles, which they wouldn't do until the 90s, in the new Olympic pavilion, the venue for the 1992 Games.