Why colchoneros and merengues?

Although La Liga is over, football is still very present, both on tv and in the city of Madrid. The Euro Cup may be to blame, as it has caused the bars to fill up once again around a football match, with screens in the street and cheerfulness everywhere.
 
Or, if it’s a matter of looking for those responsible, one can also come to the conclusion that Spain is a country that loves football and if there’s no championship, there will be a summer market and if nothing else is invented, football will continue to occupy the bulk of the sports on the news.
In this impasse, it is also interesting to know some details about the main teams of Madrid: Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid. These details have to do with what they are affectionately called, merengues (“meringues”) and colchoneros (“mattresses”) respectively.
The origin of these nicknames is much simpler than one might imagine. In the case of Real Madrid, it is precisely because the colour of their kit evokes the popular merengues that can be seen in pastry shops windows in the historic centre of the city. This nickname was popularised by a sports journalist, Matías Prats Cañete, who made it catchy by including it in his chronicles.
For its part, the history of Atlético de Madrid may not be so obvious, especially to the younger population. The colour of their shirt, red and white, is due to a special link they had with the club Athletic de Bilbao, which made them popular as colchoneros. At that time, in Spain, it was very common that mattress covers had red and white stripes.
They are not the only teams with a nickname, as La Liga has plenty of them, such as periquitos (“budgerigars”) for Espanyol or palanganas (“washbasins”) for Sevilla. Undoubtedly, no matter whether the season has finished or started, football is always a good topic of conversation

Categories: Madrid Deportes