A welcome return!

A warm welcome back to Pucela Escocia! It has been over three months since Real Valladolid last kicked in a ball in competitive league action and the world outside football has changed beyond comprehension in that time.

I would like to begin by expressing my sincere condolences to everyone who has been affected by the loss of a loved one during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In addition, I would like to use this platform to extend my thanks to those involved in the fight against it; from frontline workers such as emergency services and healthcare staff (of which I am honoured to call myself one) to those who provide the day-to-day services required to keep some semblance of normality in our world. The shop workers, delivery drivers and postal workers are among those whose efforts have ensured that goods and services remain available to us to fuel our response to the outbreak. Their contribution should be as widely recognised as anyone’s.

As a parent, I am grateful for the lengths teaching staff have gone to in order to provide engaging, fun, relevant work for my children at home to ensure their education has not been affected any more than is reasonable to expect. Their support has been invaluable.

It has been a trying time, fraught with emotions for so many people. I agree with the sentiment that football, in its most basic form, is a game. However, it is more than that too. It is a community and a way of life. So many people around the world share in the love for it. We debate it. It brings us joy. At times we despise it. However, at all times, we live it and it is part of who we are. Football’s return is perhaps perceived by many to be too early, a risk and not a priority. I would offer the opinion that football brings us some sort of normality, an escape from the stresses of a global lockdown and a return to routine of kind. Managed correctly, the return of football brings us closer to a return to what life was like earlier this year and is another tentative step towards getting back to something akin to normality.

There is more to life than football, but football is also part of life for a huge number of people around the world; their passion, their employment and their way of connecting with other people. The latter is of utmost importance in the current climate.

With that being said, thank you for visiting Pucela Escocia and I wish you the very best of health as we continue through these testing times together.

Marti