Bullfights returned live to Spanish state TV with a glittering and music-filled display on Wednesday evening, six years after the fights were banned from the widely watched public channel.
The broadcast featured three of Spain’s most famous bullfighters and bulls by a renowned breeder, giving a boost to a tradition hit hard by declining popularity and a dire economic crisis.
Julian Lopez, known by his stage name of “El Juli,” killed three hulking half-ton bulls raised by Victoriano del Rio.
He and fellow matador Alejandro Talavante delighted the crowd at northern city Valladolid and were carried out of the bullring on their assistants’ shoulders, an honour accorded only to fighters that have thrilled their audiences.
Lopez and the other fighters had waived image rights payments demanded in better economic times to broadcast their battles, a decision that helped Spain’s new austerity-minded conservative government in its drive to get the fights back on national TV and promote bullfighting as important cultural heritage.
“I am now conscious of the fact that the future of bullfighting is far more important than my own future,” said Lopez.