One of the classics of Cantabrian football
The Cayón Valley in the north of Spain disposes of a historic team with more than one hundred years of history. Regionally known for its characteristic shirt with gold and black stripes, this team has only recently reached the heights it had been fighting for for over a century. Welcome to…Cayón.
The valley
Cayón is located in Sarón, a district of the town of Santa María de Cayón. The place lies in the center of Cantabria, a small green region in northern Spain with many pastures, hills, and much rainfall. This is also how a panorama of Santa María de Cayón would look like, even though its economy is based on something different: a Nestlé factory.
The football club of Santa María de Cayón
Factory workers at this Nestlé branch decided to create a football club for their children in 1915: Club Deportivo Cayón. Curiously, the team’s colors would also be related to the factory, as black would symbolize the fume leaving the plant and gold the prosperity generated by Nestlé. The color combination has led to cleverly-found nicknames, such as ‘wasps of Cayón’ or ‘Dortmund of the north’.
The first decades of Cayón’s life were not as prosperous as hoped, as the club did not even participate in any competition from 1931 to 1945. However, the club that has existed since the refoundation would be more successful, and the cayoneses played in the Tercera División by the 70s. In the following decades, Cayón would establish itself in this division and become a ‘classic’ in the Cantabrian group of the Tercera.
It would only be in the 10s of the current century that Cayón would dream of promotion. Actually, the gualdinegros played more playoffs for promotion during this decade than they missed out on, even though they would not reach the Segunda División B. That dream was only fulfilled in 2020-21, a moment for which many cayoneses had waited for years. The debut in the third tier would result in relegation, but this deception was quickly erased by their return to this division in 2023.
Local rivalries
When two neighboring villages have their own football teams, they tend to hold a rivalry. This is no different in central Cantabria. In the beginning, Cayón had a fierce rivalry with Independiente FC, whose confrontations would always end in fights.
Also the rivalry with Santoña CF was serious:
‘Back in the day, there was a special rivalry with Santoña. […] The matches were lived with high intensity as, on one occasion, a fan of Cayón insulted a defender of Santoña, after which the latter left the match halfway to chase the fan, who ran through the village. In the end, the fan had to hide in a bar. It are anecdotes of another era. It’s clear that they would be impossible in today’s football.’
Nene Acebo, who played for Cayón in the 50s.
As of today, Cayón still has this rivalry, even though Santoña tends to participate in the Regional Preferente.
The future
The future of Cayón looks more promising than ever. Cayón has transformed from an amateurish club to a professionalized and centenary institution while maintaining its modest essence. The number of members is growing, and the promotion to the fourth tier in 2023 has shown that Cayón is ready to develop even more. This was…Cayón.
Sources
- Borchers, L. (2021). GOLAZO. Self-published.
- Borchers, L. (2022). CARA O CRUZ. Self-published.
- https://santamariadecayon.es/noticias-cayon/nuestro-valle/172-noticiasdelvalle/2812-2015-03-17-13-25-59
- https://www.eldiariomontanes.es/region/trasmiera/cayon-siglo-futbol-20180806183403-ntvo.html
- https://www.federacioncantabradefutbol.com/pnfg/NNws_ShwNewDup?codigo=15491&cod_primaria=5000289&cod_secundaria=5000289
Modest Spanish Football 
Leave a comment