The unique story of Castellón's first stadium
How Sequiol played host to an incident in 1933 that changed the club's history
Although Castellón was founded in 1922, celebrating its centenary this year, Castalia hasn't always been the club’s home. The Campo del Sequiol was Castellón’s stadium for the first 23 years of its existence, and was host to one of the most defining incidents in the club’s history that led to the club disbanding, reforming, and then rebecoming the CD Castellón we know today.
Sequiol was located at the end of the Calle Herrero in modern day Castellón, and named after a branch of the Acequia Mayor de Castellón1. With a capacity of 6,000 spectators, it was inaugurated on 3 November 1923, when Castellón played host to Espanyol, the latter captained by legendary Spanish goalkeeper Ricardo Zamora. The team from Barcelona won 3-2, and you can actually read the match report in the Mundo Deportivo archive. Castellón never reached the first division while playing in the stadium, obtaining promotion from the Third Division in 1929 and playing in the Second Division until the incident in 1933, which changed the history of the club.
The game against Oviedo
It was supposed to be an innocuous game against Oviedo CF on 29 January 1933, with Castellón at the bottom of the league, and Oviedo in second place. The game took place in poor conditions on a waterlogged pitch, and after the team from Asturias opened the scoring, the home fans were not in the best mood. Ostalé, the referee, made things worse by calling an “imaginary offside”, enraging the crowd further. Things escalated even more when Oviedo got a second, and Ostalé continued to make poor decisions, leading to players losing their discipline. It was when the referee decided to suspend the match that things reached boiling point, however. Here is how Diario ABC described the incident at the time:
As Ostalé attempted to retreat to the dugout, a number of Castellón fans attempted to assault him, and he responded with kicks and punches, getting lightly injured to the head. The police protected him, as the fans continued to remind him and complain about his bad decisions.
Once in the dugout/changing room, Ostalé refused to continue, claiming he couldn’t in his current state. The referee was later detained and forced to pay a fine of 500 pesetas for causing a breach of the peace.
The cause of all this was the deplorable performance of the referee, which started when he blew for Angelillo’s absurd offside, that probably would have been a goal.
[…]
The referee later said that he was retiring from football, and was released from custody late in the evening.
On February 4, the RFEF announced that Sequiol would be closed until the end of the season as a result of the incident. They also stated that Castellón would have to play their remaining home games that at Mestalla (Valencia’s stadium). Naturally, this did not sit well with the Albinegres, as it would mean travelling to Valencia, and so not being able to play in their own city.
They refused, which led to all their games being awarded as losses, and their relegation from the second division. Combined with their mounting financial problems, CD Castellón were eventually excluded from the federation altogether, and their disappearance as a club followed soon after.
Sport Club de La Plana
In response, the fans, refusing to be left without any competitive football at all, founded Sport Club de La Plana on 26 August 1933. The new club took up residence and Sequiol, and played in the same colours as CD Castellón.
Starting out in the regional leagues, the club were too good for their division, with a squad made of the ex-Castellón players and a number of others from the other local teams at the time. In 1934/35, the RFEF restructured and expanded the divisions, which eventually allowed Sport Club de La Plana to play in a tournament for promotion to the Second Division. Playing alongside teams like Gimnastico F.C., Elche and Cartagena, Sport Club de La Plana finished second behind Gimnastico to earn promotion by a single point. As you might imagine, this didn't amuse the head of the RFEF, especially as the former CD Castellón still had debts, but because Sport Club de La Plana was a separate entity, nothing could be done.
However, things soon went downhill for Sport Club de la Plana, as the gulf in class in the higher division was too great, and they finished rock bottom. Their only win all season came against Granada, and combined with low attendances and the high costs of away games, it was the beginning of the end for SCLP. Although they played one more season in the regional divisions, the lack of fans in the stadium and poor management led to the disappearance of the team at the end of the season.
CD Castellón 2.0
The club had to wait until the end of the Spanish Civil War to refound and return to Sequiol in 1939. The 1940/41 season was one of the greatest in the club’s history as the club were promoted to the First Division, and started the golden era. Six consecutive seasons in the First Division, including almost winning the title in 1942/1943.
In the meantime, despite having been expanded to a capacity of 8,000, Sequiol was deemed to small for a First Division club, and the construction of Castalia was started in 1943. It was finally inaugurated in 1945, although Sequiol continued to host the occasional game until 1946/47. It was finally demolished to make away for Castellón’s teaching school/university.
The legacy lives on
The stadium might be gone, however its legacy lives on in the lyrics of the club’s current anthem, composed in 1972.
Y al desplegarse sus banderas, con tus colores bajo el sol.
A la memoria, llega la gloria, del viejo Campo del Sequiol.And when you unfold your flags, with your colours under the sun.
The glory of the old Campo del Sequiol returns to your mind.
Although there aren’t many still around who can remember the stadium in person, the name Sequiol remains hugely important for Castellón fans today, and will never be forgotten.
If you would like more info about how the club’s anthem came to be composed, and the origin of “Pam, Pam, Orellut!”, there’s a post about that here.