DC Final venue has been announced ...

... and its Seville.

Now here's the thing. After our superb experience in Cordoba and although we knew we couldn't really afford it, Rafan and I were pretty resigned to throwing caution to the wind and doing our best to get to the final. After all, this was to be our year for the DC and we couldn't miss out on the opportunity to be at a final, could we?

Now during the debacle that ensued when the semi-final location was being organised, it was widely reported that Valencia had pulled out because they were hoping to get the final. And so much had been reported subsequently about Valencia that it all but seemed a done deal that the city would get it. Not so. Over on VB, one of their Spanish members reported last time, that there's someone high up in RFET in who is Andalucian and hell bent on bringing an event such as this to that region. Hence the Cordoba decision AFTER it had been announced that Santiago had got it. And whilst everyone has been expecting Valencia, the decision on giving the announcement was put back by a week and surprise, surprise, the Andalucian capital, Seville, was awarded it.

Now it was only this morning that I was coming to my senses thinking ... "what do you think you're doing, spending all this money to go out to Spain ... again" ... but to be honest, the announcement of Seville has made my decision much easier. And we're not going.

For my part, I don't have a direct flight to Seville which means extra cost. But the thing is, it was only 3 weeks ago that we were there ... so we've seen its highlights, but more to the point ... we've seen its low lights, and the awful industrial park across the river that I described in my report is where the stadium is based and its ugly, soul-less, a faff to get to ... and just not very nice. At all.

I feel strangely comfortable with this decision. Sad that I will potentially miss out on seeing a final victory ... but what warms my heart is the memory of Cordoba. The bullring, the players entering through the Matadors' gate, the heat, the colour, the fans, the noise, being outdoors and clay playing as it should do. And I don't believe that following that, Seville will quite cut it.