Polideportivo Municipal de Vallobín

The Polideportivo Municipal de Vallobín sits quietly in the Vallobín district, far from the glare of the main football arena. It is not a place for 11-a-side football; that match is played at the Estadio Carlos Tartiere. Here, the floor is wood, not grass, and the game is handball. The court measures 45 by 27 meters, a tight rectangle where the players move faster than on the pitch down the road.

It opened in 1993, the same year the local handball team, Balonmano Base Oviedo, was founded. The club calls this hall home. The building carries the name of José Emilio Martínez Fariza, a former president of the club who died in 2015. The dedication came after he was gone, but the structure itself has stood since the early nineties. The capacity is listed as 1,000, though the municipal records suggest the seated stand holds only 525. It does not matter much; the room fills quickly when the team plays.

Last summer, the city council spent money to fix the floor. The wooden parquet had deteriorated, and the contract cost nearly £250,000. The work was meant to bring the Vallobín court up to the standard required for national competitions. The funds went towards the flooring in Vallobín, Colloto, and La Carisa. It still holds the rhythm of the games played there since it was built.

There is no website of its own. You find information through the city’s sports portal. The address is on Calle Vázquez de Mella, a street that does not announce the venue from a distance. It is just a municipal center, one of many, but the only one in the neighborhood with a wooden floor and a history of handball.