CD Malacitano 1940-41
CD Malacitano went in to the 1940-41 campaign under the presidency of Eugenio Sánchez and coached by José Quirante Pineda, his second season at the helm of the albinegro outfit (white shirt and black shorts).
The team, competing in the Second Division, debuted a new format that season (two groups of 12 teams), and ended in 5th place, staying in the mid-top part of the table throughout the competition. Fuentes, with 12 goals, was the league’s top scorer.
Once the league competition had finished, CD Malacitano took part in the Spanish Championship - Copa de Su Excelencia el Generalísimo. In the first-round draw, the rival was Xerez FC, the rival who Malacitano defeated 7-0 that league season at the Baños del Carmen and drew (0-0) in Jerez.
In the first leg Cup game, at the Domecq Stadium in Jerez de la Frontera on 23rd March 1941, Xerez FC defeated Malacitano by 1-0 with a goal from Rufo.
The last match
On 30th March 1941, the return leg took place between CD Malacitano and Xerez FC. Malacitano presented the following line-up: Mendaro, Junco, Montoro, Chales, Tomasín, Mesa, Salazar, Chacho, Ferrández, Fuentes and Meri. Meanwhile, Xerez FC had Malagueño and future Malaguista player, Antonio García Segura as player-coach. Sevilla-born referee Rafael Eguino Oller was officiating.
Thirteen minutes into the match, Manuel Fuentes scored the 1-0, with the score remaining the same at half-time. No sooner had the second half got underway, Meri made it 2-0. Rufo, from the visitors, who in the 41-42 season played for CD Málaga, scored the 2-1 in 56’. Tomasín, in 75’, netted the definitive 3-1. CD Malacitano turned the tie around and went through to the next stage.
The large crowd present for this match had unknowingly witnessed the last official football match to be played at the Baños del Carmen.
Ferroviaria
For the following tie, the draw revealed the rival to be Madrid-based outfit, AD Ferroviaria. The Malacitanista directive requested the order of the matches to be changed. The first leg, which was due to be held on 6th April 1941 in Málaga, was eventually held in Madrid.
Malacitano defeated Ferroviaria by 1-4 in Chamartín – owned by Real Madrid – with goals from Tomasín, Ferrández and Fuentes (2). Mosquera scored for the rival. The return leg should have been at Baños del Carmen on 13th April 1941, but this ground never got to host this game, nor any other further games for CD Malacitano.
The storm that destroyed the ground
On the night of Wednesday 9th to Thursday 10th April 1941, a strong easterly storm caused significant destruction of the Malagueño coastline, and people lost their lives. In the case of the Baños del Carmen ground, the waves destroyed the wall situated behind the goal on the south of the field, causing the sea water to reach the middle of the pitch.
With little time to react, the CD Malacitano directive attempted to hold the match against AD Ferroviaria at the SEU ground (old ‘Tabaco’ ground), located next to the ‘Tabacalera,’, but it did not meet the dimensions to hold a Cup match. As such, the duel against Ferroviaria was held at La Rosaleda, a stadium that was not yet complete.
End of the cycle
On 13th April, at the official inauguration of La Rosaleda, CD Malacitano defeated AD Ferroviaria by 6-0 with a stellar performance from Fuentes who scored five goals.
The Baños del Carmen ground was inaugurated on 23rd August 1922 with a match Málaga FC won by 11-1 against Real España de Granada, with dimensions of 98 x 64 metres and capacity for 5,000 spectators. It was the first football pitch of a certain entity in the city of Málaga, and it came to an end after 20 years.
The venue that had hosted hundreds of football matches later had other sporting uses, such as a horse-riding field, but as time went on nature and the sea in perfect union made any trace of the football pitch disappear.
(*) Photograph: Aerial image of the Baños del Carmen pitch in the 1930s
