Juan Carlos Unzué will launch the Txupinazo de Sanfermin 2022

The Pamplona City Council has announced that Juan Carlos Unzué will launch the Chupinazo for the upcoming Sanfermin festivities. This news means one more step in the arguments that make us think that next July our beloved party will be celebrated. Juan Carlos Unzué is a former soccer player and former coach and, as the Pamplona City Council indicates in a press release, “since he made it public in 2020 that he suffered from ALS, he has become a benchmark in the fight against this disease, leading campaigns, talks, documentaries and books in which he recounts in the first person his coexistence with this ailment”.

When Enrique Maya communicated the decision, he pointed out that “with this appointment, Pamplona joins the visibility of this disease, the support for those who suffer from it and their families and the way in which Juan Carlos Unzué is facing ALS as a lesson of life, in addition to also recognizing the professional career of one of the best Navarrese football goalkeepers.”

According to the data provided by the Pamplona City Council, Juan Carlos Unzué Labiano (Orkoien, 1967) accumulated more than 300 games in the First Division. He made his debut in goal for Osasuna in the First Division in the 1986-1987 season. It was the start of a professional career that also led him to play for FC Barcelona, ??Sevilla FC, CD Tenerife and Real Oviedo. As a footballer, he has a European Cup Winners’ Cup and a Copa del Rey to his name, won with FC Barcelona in 1989 and 1990, respectively.

Already on the bench, he trained CD Numancia and Racing de Santander. Between 2013 and 2017 he formed a tandem with Luis Enrique and was second coach with him at RC Celta de Vigo and FC Barcelona, ??achieving a Champions League, two Leagues, three Copas del Rey, a Club World Cup or a European Super Cup with the Blaugrana . After that stage, already as head coach, he managed RC Celta de Vigo and Girona FC.

Work is being done on the celebration of Sanfermin 2022

In the same statement, the Pamplona City Council has transmitted that “it continues to work on the celebration of Sanfermines convinced that, in view of the current evolution of the health situation, it will be possible to celebrate the festivities, after two years of suspension.”  There have been people who, reading this sentence in an official statement, have burst into tears.

Remember that if you dare to come to Pamplona in 2022, living the txupinazo among the crowd is a highly recommended but somewhat powerful experience: from 11.00 or so the crowding is terrible and you cannot move a finger. It’s infernally hot, whatever the weather: from the mass rises a mist mixed with sweat, champagne and various liquids that fall on you from everywhere (there are those who even make some really disgusting mixtures: ketchup, cola cao, mustard, flour, shaving foam, etc.).

From the balconies they throw buckets of water at people to relieve suffocation. The pushes spread through the crowd like a wave. In some of these, large pieces of human mess go to the ground, and there is a general commotion not to trample on them. One last. After being in the square, people seem to come out of an old washing machine. Every year the medical services treat many bruised, fainted and suffocated, but usually there are no serious injuries.

Keep reading our tips to attend the Chupinazo de Sanfermin 2022.

 

 

No

El chupinazo de 2020  no existió, pero las personas que cabían pudieron asistir a una ceremonia que consistió en desplegar un gran pañuelo con el mensaje #LosViviremos2021. Las personas que asistieron siguieron la normas establecidas por un fuerte dispositivo policial y muchos cumplieron con la tradición irrefrenable de cumplir con el inicio de esta No fiesta.

 

 

Running of the bulls open ceremony 2019

Resumen de la juerga. Así hemos empezado la que va a ser una de las mejores juergas de la historia.

OPEN CEREMONY LIVE, JUNE 6

This moment is marked by a rocket -the “Txupinazo”- which is set off to announce the start of the Fiesta. All morning, crowds gather in the “Plaza Ayuntamiento”. It is often a hot day and there is not an inch of free space in the packed Square. The passion and intensity grows every minute until it reaches a crescendo at midday. At that point the Mayor and members of the Council step out onto the balconies of the Town Hall to greet the crowds.A nominated person shouts the announcement; “Pamploneses, Pamplonesas, Viva San Fermín! Gora San Fermín!” (people of Pamplona, long live San Fermín!) The crowd responds with cries of “Viva!” and “Gora!” and the rocket is launched into the sky.


At this moment the Square erupts as hundreds of bottles of Champagne are uncorked and sprayed liberally over the crammed crowd. The smart, clean clothes of the excited people take their first, but not their last soaking from the jets of spraying Champagne. All over the city the same collective madness bursts out and a whole new atmosphere reigns in the town.

The first bout of drinking has started as thousands of bottles of champagne are guzzled down for the start of an uninterrupted party until the day of the 14th of July arrives. Within a few hours many people will be on a high that will last for the whole week. The Txupinazo begins a high that for many people will last the whole week.

 


How to take part in the Txupinazo rocket

If you want to get right in there among the packed crowd it means getting there an hour before and pushing your way in among the packed crowd. If you want to see the spectacle then the best place would be from any one of the many balconies of private houses which surround the square. But of course that means getting an invite from of the owners or to rent the balconies of sanfermin.com. The square is so crammed that it might be better just to go along to one of the surrounding streets where you can feel the atmosphere of the whole thing. Or you can just do the same as many of the locals do, and watch it from the T.V. in some bar or other.

Inside the square

If you want to get right in there among the packed crowd it means getting there an hour before and pushing your way in among the packed crowd. To experience the whole spectacle in this way is unique of course, but remember that you won’t be able to move a muscle in the tight space. It will also very likely be teeming hot even if the heat is only coming from the milling crowd of sweating drinking singing bodies crammed together. Some young people make a very disgusting mixings: quetchup, cacao, mustard, flour, saving foam, etc. The whole thing can be so suffocating that people from the balconies often pour buckets of water over the crammed crowd to give them some relief. There can sometimes be waves of bodies pushed forward and some people can fall to the ground among the avalance of people. When it’s all over the departing crowd often look like they have just come out of an old washing machine what with all the water, champagne and sweating.

There are always some first-aid posts to attend to those who have fainted or bruised themselves, though it has never gotten more serious than something like that.


 


Open ceremony advices (Chupinazo tricks)

It’s no place for kids. They could get stepped on and at their height there is not much air moving round.
It’s no place for wearing sandals or light shoes. You’re going to get stepped on and also many people drop their empty champagne bottles on the ground when they have finished them, so broken glass is to be found all over the square.
Don’t wear any clothes that you value, and this is good advice for the whole of the Fiesta.
Don’t take your camera or any valuables with you. Taking decent photos will be impossible with all the liquid spraying round. And if you drop anything like your wallet or whatever it could be difficult to look for it among the packed crowd.
If you don’t want to see it inside the plaza, you can just do the same as many of the locals do, and watch it from the T.V. in some bar or other or at the big screens at the Plaza del Castillo.

 


Open ceremony from our balcony

If you can watch the Open Ceremony from a balcony we can offer to you the best of them. Surely the best balcony to watch the Open Ceremony with the rocket launch (The Txupinazo). You can be exclusive witness of the Fiesta from a safe and privileged position. Our local guides (Spanish, English, French) accompany you to the apartment, from which you can watch the event while enjoying a typical snack with drinks.