The Dragones Way

Francisco Javier Ventosa, Spain

Francisco Javier Ventosa, 37, works in communications, media, and production. He documented C.D.E Dragones de Lavapiés, a football club founded in 2014 as a neighbourhood initiative in Madrid that now represents over 50 nationalities across 21 teams.

Can you introduce yourself and tell us about your football journey?

My name is Francisco Javier Ventosa. I am 37 years old, I am from Madrid, and I currently live in the city of Vigo in Galicia. I currently work in the communications, marketing, and audiovisual production sector.

I started playing football at a very young age. In my adolescence I became part of established teams in semi-professional football in Madrid. But little by little, due to various factors such as the lack of talent to reach elite football and my other interests in life such as the arts or sciences, I disengaged from semi-professional football and competitive sports entities. 

I reached an age where my relationship with football and sport was as an amateur and without any kind of pressure or commitment, and I have remained that way. Currently, I am part of local clubs formed by neighbours and friends from my community. We play matches without pressure and just for fun in the district leagues and tournaments. I play at least twice a week with local teams in my area.

I also occasionally collaborate with small local football teams and clubs with their communications, marketing or audiovisual work, and I also help them with their organisation and coordination.

What did you try to show with the photos? Was there any wider meaning with the photos?

The football team in my photos is called C.D.E Dragones de Lavapiés. The club was born from a neighbourhood initiative in 2014, was formed in a multicultural environment, and currently has representation from more than 50 different nationalities, spread across 21 teams with a total of more than 500 players. Its programs are based on integration, equality, and respect through sport.

I tried to show, above all, the diversity of cultures, beliefs and nationalities united through sport - and how this can be a strong tool of social influence to unite people, break down all kinds of barriers and prejudices and, above all, teach good values.

I wanted to document these values and the strong influence football has on society through integration, solidarity, diversity and unity, which can be found in organisations such as Dragones Lavapiés. One of my main goals was to support the cause of Dragones Lavapiés, which, through its mission and vision, seeks to improve our social environment.

Without a doubt, throughout its ten years of existence, Dragones Lavapiés has had a notable and positive social impact on the community. The work of the club and the organisation for integrity, equality, the fight against racism and respect in sport has been recognised and highlighted in various national and international media.

Are there any stories connected with one person you photographed?

I took a photo of one of the players of the Senior team at a training camp during a sunset. His name is Mohamed and he is from Guinea. I learned about the difficult story behind his life, how complicated his childhood was until he arrived in Spain, and also the difficult situation and experiences he had to face before he arrived here in a boat.

When you realise how difficult and unfair life is for certain people, you appreciate much more what you have and you see everything with different eyes. So that light of the sunset together with his gaze in that solitary space in the countryside represents, for me, the lights and shadows of life, the glow and hope after silence and loneliness.

I look at him and see the injustice of life in his eyes but I also think about progress and hope for the future that awaits him.

What impact has football had on you?

For me, football means health, well-being, fun, unity, passion, feeling and commitment, and a way of life. In general, playing has always been positive for me, as it is a healthy habit that I share with friends. I use football to improve my physical and mental health and also to have fun and disconnect from everything else.

As a spectator, I have stopped being interested and excited in the same way I was when I was a child. Now I usually go as a spectator to local or neighborhood football matches, as I am also interested in interacting with the people and the environment during these events. I hardly watch professional or televised football anymore.

I see football as having a strong social influence around the world, especially among young people and children. Therefore, I try to be part of using football as a tool to improve our society and its values. I try to support those who use it for the same purpose, whether they are clubs, sponsors, organisations or athletes.

Through sport we can help each other and improve our community significantly by promoting equality, as well as breaking down discriminatory and racist barriers.

What is the future for football in your community and Spain? What would you like to change?

I believe that the sports sector, and especially football, is changing and evolving towards a business model based on new technologies in order to not stagnate - and at the same time be able to satisfy the needs of people who use digital media as their main consumption tool.

This is a sign that football is evolving at the same time as the world, towards a technological and digital environment. If this step towards a new digital and technological era in sport is carried out correctly, this will mean an evolution and notable improvement for the industry and for fans.

At the same time, I think that the sports and football sector seems to be increasingly dominated by the external economy coming from companies, investors and multinationals. These organisations and people often distance themselves from the ideals of the institutions, from the values of sport and even from the philosophy of the clubs in which they invest, and acquire dominant roles. This, without a doubt, endangers competitions, teams and above all has a negative influence on the football sector in general.

Therefore, I think that these types of things should be controlled and regulated since the teams become economically unequal and this affects the competitiveness of the leagues. Above all, it is negative for the fans, who, like in my case, see an increasingly capitalised industry and leagues so economically unbalanced. We become disenchanted and lose interest. That is when we turn to amateur and neighborhood football to feel the true magic of football again, the closeness of the team with the fan, and the romanticism of feeling part of something.

In a way, I think that this more ordinary and everyday part of football, which has not yet been supplanted by the superficial monopoly that governs elite football, is the true beauty of this sport.