A TRIBUTE TO FORMER PLAYER VLADI WHO HAS RETIRED AGED 41

On Saturday afternoon 5^th August the Peña Trifulka (supporters club) organised a tribute to one of the islands best ever and most liked players Oscar Vladimir Ramos Afonso (Vladi).

Vladi was completely unaware of what was in store for him when he arrived at the Sociedad (community centre) in Mozaga. As he entered the room he was greeted with enormous applause from past team mates, managers, family and friends.

The ex midfielder was part of the glory years of the late 90s and early 2000´s and he was the player that scored the equalizing goal against the Mighty Real Madrid on the 28^th November 2001 to take his side into the break level 1-1 with the Galacticos.

Another remarkable achievement from Vladi was returning to his childhood club Haría CF in 2017 and somehow dragging his side to promotion to the Tercera Division for the first and only time in their history to play alongside UD Lanzarote.

On a superbly organised afternoon by Fran and his fellow supporters from the Peña Trifulka many video tributes were played to him, including a special message from UD Lanzarote´s ex manager José Luis Mendilibar who has recently won the UEFA Cup after beating Manchester Untied and Jose Mourinho´s Roma last season.

The most beautiful and emotional part of the afternoon was when the family of his late friend and former team mate Maykel Padrón spoke of their tribute to Vladi. Maykel had passed away after a short illness on the 8^th October 2018 at just 34 years of age and it is simply impossible to describe the moment when the Padrón family greeted Vladi.

Whether this is fate, destiny or simply coincidence I first met Vladi when I worked as a tour guide around 25 years ago and we used to take holidaymakers to lunch at his parents restaurant in the village of Punta Mujeres where he and I both lived.

Vladi was playing for Lanzarote´s under 16s and a couple of years later made his debut for the first team. As we both loved football we developed a friendship. I mentioned to him with the permission from my wife who was four months pregnant that if he scored against Real Madrid and we had a boy that we would call him Oscar. Vladi scored and five months later saw the arrival of our son Oscar now 21 years of age.

Once again huge thanks to the Peña Trifulka for this special homage to one of Lanzarote´s favourite sons and if this is a sign of their committed support to UD Lanzarote for the forthcoming campaign then a special season awaits us.