Back
Nick Puñal receives the FCPE Commemorative Medal
The first ever Official Intercontinental Supporters Club Federation event held in Sydney, Australia was a resounding success!
Nick Puñal, President of the "PERICOZ" RCD Espanyol Supporters Club (Australia) receives the FCPE Commemorative Medal by the Federation's Communications Director, Josep M. Garcia Planas, in the first ever Official Intercontinental event celebrated in Sydney, Australia.
RCD Espanyol supporters and sympathisers met at "La Sangria Tapas" Restaurant in Balmain, whose owner Kilian Diaz is a life-long Perico, in what is currently the Australian Supporters Club's 9th year since its foundation.
Among those in attendance, apart from Nick Puñal and Kilian Diaz, was Didac Moreno brother of RCD Espanyol first team player Gerard Moreno, Jonathan Tidor and Joan Navarro, including their respective families and Perico sympathisers from Mallorca and Poland currently residing in Sydney. There were also a number of absences due to work and family commitments.
The event was a resounding success and full of surprises, starting with the FCPE Medal presentation, followed soon after with a Skype call to Ignacio, Rosanna and Yago Ortega, a very Perico family living in Cairns (tropical North Queensland). The 'Parakeet' and 'Pull your Tongue out' (Treu la Llengua) stickers - very kindly donated and sent to Australia by Susana Fenoll Badia in Lloret de Mar - were handed out. Nick Puñal then presented Josep Maria and his wife Dolores with the official PERICOZ lapel PIN and gave them some typical iconic Australian gifts to take back to the FCPE Board of Directors.
The festive-like atmosphere that was in the air set the scene for some great stories and conversation such as what it's like to be an overseas Perico supporter especially in a faraway country, the future of the Club and the new RCD Espanyol President Chen Yangshen, the proposed tour of China and the great opportunity that a first team tour of Australia could bring to grow supporter numbers Down Under, plus the globalisation of the Club including strategies to nurture and grow Supporters Clubs both in Spain and internationally.
Towards the end Estrella Damm beer bottles were raised and toasts were made to Kilian Diaz and the visit of the FCPE. After almost four hours of 'Espanyolismo' everyone made their way home with a huge smile on their face and already thinking of the next catch-up!