Welcome to…Haro

A century-old club at a tripoint of La Rioja, Castile and León, and the Basque Country

The provinces of Burgos (Castile and León), Álava/Araba (Basque Country), and La Rioja are separated by the Ebro River and the Obarenes Mountains. Just south of the point where the three provinces meet, we find Haro, one of the bigger Riojan cities. Haro is known for its wine, even though it also has an exciting history of football. Welcome to…Haro.

The fanbase of Haro. © Club Haro Deportivo.

The fourth-biggest city in La Rioja

As explained before, Haro lies in the north of La Rioja and is a crucial city in that zone. La Rioja is, of course, known for its wine, and the same goes for Haro. Outside of the city, many wine ranks form the local panorama; inside the city, Haro tries to attract tourists through its many bodegas. Finally, Haro yearly welcomes many visitors to its picturesque historical center, which goes back to the 16th century.

Haro and its vineyards. © Getty.

The origins of football in Haro

Club Haro Deportivo was founded in 1921 and has been the town’s representative team from the beginning. However, it were difficult decades for modest clubs to survive, and only in 1950 would the Haro that we know today be organized. In the 1960s, the harenses played their first games in the Tercera División, but without much success.

The Estadio Municipal de Deportes El Mazo, named after the old El Mazo stadium. This was more of a standard stadium, especially compared to the big arch under which the only stands of the current El Mazo lie. The arch is 110 meters high, and this stadium design is not present anywhere else in Spain. © España Estadios.

By the end of the 1980s, Haro often participated in the Tercera División, but usually only to fight relegation. This changed after Haro’s first promotion to the Segunda División B in 2004. Even though the blanquinegros suffered an immediate return to the Tercera, the dynamic would change.

The crest evolution of Haro. The essence has always remained: the coat of arms of the city of Haro together with the club’s colors and initials. © lafutbolteca.com

From 2005-06 onwards, Haro made it to the promotion playoffs in order to return to the third division. From 2005 to 2016, Haro qualified eleven of the possible eleven times (twice as champion), but lost every time and continued in the fourth level. The only season after 2005 in which Haro did not qualify for the playoffs, to which clubs had access when ending in the top four, was 2016-17 – even though the jarreros ended on the same amount of points as the second-placed team.

Haro’s players after a goal in 2019. This year’s kit contained diagonal stripes, contrary to the tradition of vertical stripes. Nevertheless, the club did not deviate from the colors. © Fernando Díaz.

However, Haro broke the curse in 2019 and returned to the Segunda B after 14 years. In the 2019-20 season, the black-and-whites were the best team of La Rioja after UD Logroñés, which was a very notable achievement. They finished the season 10th but got relegated one year later, after which the club entered a crisis.

The jarreros celebrate a goal in 2021. The nickname jarreros is not only a nickname for the players but also for the inhabitants of Haro. It derived from the word ‘jarro’, meaning ‘jug’ or ‘pitcher’. In previous centuries, people from Haro walked with jugs of wine from the fields to the bodegas in the city. © Donézar Fotógrafos.

Concerning the results on the field, it was clear that something was wrong. After more than a decade of strong football, Haro ended 10th and 9th in 2022 and 2023, respectively, fighting relegation until the last matchday in the latter season. These poor results were caused by high debts, limiting the club’s development and causing uncertainty in the long term.

Even though Haro Deportivo has not had great footballers, the city of Haro has produced one famous person in the footballing world: Luis de la Fuente, coaching Spain’s national team since 2022. He won the Nations League in 2023, of which the people from Haro were very proud.

Centenary or not?

Apart from the debts, there has been more controversy in Haro during the last few years. In 2014, Haro celebrated its 100th anniversary by organizing a match of its veterans against those of FC Barcelona, a special song, a commemorative crest, and other festivities. However, Fernando de la Fuente, a local historian, had proven that Haro was founded in 1921 a year before the celebrations. More research by CIHEFE, the principal institution on the history of Spanish football, agreed with De la Fuente. Still, the club decided to organize all festivities in 2014.

Haro’s and Barcelona’s veterans posing together after the match. © Radio Haro.

The future

The last years might have been problematic, but the fans of Haro prefer to think in positives. Its first team is still competing and its youth teams are performing very well. The future of Haro seems to be able to go well or badly, even though its participation in the next season of the Tercera Federación is certain. There might be other strong teams in Haro’s group, like Arnedo, Alfaro, or UD Logroñés B, but at El Mazo, they trust in their own team’s capacities. This was…Haro.

Some of the over 500 supporters of Haro who accompanied their team to Borja, an Aragonese town. The most impressive part is that this is just one of the examples of the loyalty of Haro’s fanbase. © Haro Digital.

Sources

• https://www.cihefe.es/cuadernosdefutbol/2019/04/titulo-el-no-centenario-del-haro-deportivo/
• http://lafutbolteca.com/club-haro-deportivo/
• https://espanaestadios.com/2019/06/04/haro-estadio-el-mazo/
• Borchers, L. (2021). GOLAZO. Self-published.
• Borchers, L. (2022). CARA O CRUZ. Self-published.