Michael Coy
MAYBE you find bullfighting offensive. Perhaps you’re intrigued by its pomp and colour. Most likely of all, you’re utterly indifferent to it. If so, you’re in line with most Spaniards.
Hemingway put it best nearly a century ago: the fascination of the bullfight, compared with say baseball, is that death hovers over the arena. For the bull, it’s inevitable. For the man, it’s always possible.
There’s something in Spanish culture that applauds death. To die well matters.
Several of the great matadors Hemingway knew personally were killed after being gored. Today, it almost never happens. Thanks to penicillin, most bullrings now even boast statues to Alexander Fleming, the man who discovered it.
But not every wound can be treated.
Francisco Rivera Perez was one such case. Known to all as Paquirri, he was considered the most handsome man in Andalucia. On September 26, 1984, in the Cordoba town of Pozoblanco, a bull named Avispero (‘the sly one’) gored him fatally.
He was just 36. His two sons, both still of nursery age, were left fatherless. They would grow up to be bullfighters themselves – film-star handsome, heirs to Ronda’s legendary Ordonez bullfighting dynasty. But did Paquirri need to die?
The obvious answer is no. That’s not to say he should have been a bus driver instead. Foreigners often misunderstand the bullfight, calling it a sport. Wrong. A sport is a game where both sides have an equal chance.
The corrida de toros is more like drama – a ritual tragedy. The bull is condemned to die. If you went to see ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and they refused to drink the poison and ran off to Gretna Green, you’d feel cheated. That’s not how it’s written.
It’s also a metaphor. The bull represents brute instinct, while the torero represents intelligence, control and mastery. Enlightenment triumphs over base nature.
So what went wrong in Pozoblanco?
By the 1980s, deaths in the ring were almost unheard of. But Paquirri was always unlucky. On his alternativa – his Barcelona debut in 1966 – he was badly gored. He was gravely injured again in 1972 and 1978.
By rights, his 1984 season was already over. September was usually left to lesser-known fighters. Yet he was persuaded to take one more booking in Pozoblanco.
The bullfighters usually draw lots for their animals on the morning of the fight. For reasons never fully explained, the draw was changed. Paquirri should not have faced Avispero.
To make matters worse, Pozoblanco’s medical facilities were inadequate for such a star event. After the goring, he was bleeding heavily. He was rushed towards Cordoba, but went into cardiac arrest en route. The ambulance diverted to a closer military hospital.
It was too late. Paquirri was dead.
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