Feria de Nîmes: the confirmation of Fernando Adrian’s alternative, the end of an injustice ?

Depuis ses débuts comme novillero en 2011, Fernando Adrian n'a pas toujours eu un le destin qu'il méritait. Midi Libre – SAMUEL DUPLAIX

Le torero de Madrid fera sa présentation à Nîmes comme matador de toros et réalisera sa confirmation d’alternative avec Juan Leal et Solalito face aux toros de Virgen Maria.

Despite its two big gates in Madrid in 2023 and its twenty consecutive triumphs, it has been boycotted by most ferias for a year. He has been the great victim and symbol of the current bullfighting system for a year. An injustice where the doors are closed to a bullfighter who won the right to appear in all the ferias by opening the main gate of Madrid twice last June.

A very promising start

Becoming a bullfighter on June 15, 2013 at the age of 21 in a luxury cartel in Avila after having fought a good fifty novilladas, Fernando Adrian fought little until 2020 with three seasons white and a maximum of three paseos in the best years. With a thick fog over its future, salvation came from Covid and the creation of the Copa Chenel to keep bullfighting alive during the shutdown caused by health measures. Winner of the first edition in 2021, he won his place in Madrid to confirm his alternative and landed nine contracts the following time.

His career will really explode on May 31, 2023 when he cuts off one ear of his two Santiago Domecq bulls to open the big gate of Las Ventas in the middle of the Feria de la San Isidro and justifies his rehearsal for the Beneficiencia on May 17 ;June. During the most prestigious bullfight of the year, Fernando Adrian repeats his performance and cuts off two ears of a Juan Pedro Domecq and becomes the only bullfighter with two "puerta grande"  in Madrid in 2023. A Cesar Rincon-style itinerary was promised to him because no modest bullfighter had triumphed twice at Las Ventas in a few weeks for ages.

Ignored by the big Ferias

Changing apoderado the day after these successes (for Maximino Perez), the bullfighting world imagined seeing him in all the upcoming Ferias of Northern Spain (Pamplona, ​​Bilbao, Zaragoza) and recovering all the replacements of injured bullfighters. But the big Ferias ignored him and he did not get any replacement despite the injuries to Roca Rey, Luque or Morante de la Puebla. The day after his grand opening in Madrid, he did not wear lights for more than two months. Unthinkable! When the doors finally opened ajar on August 27, he did not miss his chance and finished the temporada with 46 ears and 4 tails in 15 paseos and an exceptional current series of 20 consecutive big doors.

The injustice seems to continue in 2024 since he only competed in three bullfights and was excluded from most of the first Ferias such as Valencia, Seville, San Isidro and Arles. To date, his schedule is limited to Nîmes for the closing bullfight, Madrid for the Beneficiencia and Saint-Sever. This situation is all the more incomprehensible since the other revelation of the season, Borja Jimenez, is at all the ferias in 2024 even though he has only won one triumph in the capital of the toreo.

The discovery of the cartel

This situation highlights the excesses of the current bullfighting market where merit and success no longer seem to be the primary criteria and generate sclerotic cartels. A phenomenon which is repeated for others since Juan Leal, his cartel companion of the day with Solalito, will be absent from Bayonne in 2024 after having cut off three ears last year. For Virgen Maria's return to Nîmes, the three bullfighters will be overmotivated because they have a lot to gain for the future. Fernando Adrian will confirm his alternative and will be the discovery of this cartel even though he performed twice in the amphitheater as a novillero in 2011 and 2012.