
It seems unbelievable, but a year before curling was officially born in Scotland in 1541, a curling club was born in Collserola, on the banks of the Vallvidrera reservoir .
Every year since its birth , at the beginning of March, coinciding with colder days in the city, the members of the Vallvidrera Curling Club go down to the swamp with a stone that they throw to see if the layer of ice, if it exists, is thick enough to hold a game. If it is not, they go for breakfast. In its half millennium of history the occasion has never arisen, so the Vallvidrera Curling Club has never played a game on its field.
The stone that breaks the ice
This is, roughly, the official history of one of Barcelona’s most curious sports clubs. Although according to them the club has 500 years of history, the truth is that there are only documents of the traditional descent to the swamp since 2018, when evil tongues date the founding of the club.
It has been six years that the curlers (curling player) llebrencs (Vallvidrera’s nickname) go down to the swamp at the beginning of March to throw the famous stone. As the ice has never reached the sufficient thickness they, calm and with the sensation of the feina feta, go to have breakfast to the Racó de Collserola, where the embers and a good sportsman’s breakfast are waiting for them.
What started as a joke a few years ago among some neighbors of Vallvidrera has grown, and, like all great jokes, has become half real, half dream. The Club has its own blue kit, sports equipment and even a sponsor, Cerveses Sant Jordi, which has created a limited edition beer for them, the “Vallvidrera Curling Beer”.
This January 14, 2025, for the first time in a long time, the Vallvidrera swamp dawned frozen, so the threat of having to play, finally, could come true.
500 years of history, one game, one victory
Vallvidrera Curling Club has never played on its home field, but it has played once away from it. It was in 2019, when the Club de Gel de Puigcerdà invited them to the Lliga Catalana de Rookies, where the organizing club loaned a player from its team to each of the amateur participants. With this help (and the 500 years of history behind them), the Vallvidrera Curling Club won the only game they have ever played in their history.
Their other milestone was experienced this year with Ràdio Estel, who organized a day called Estre sobre Gel with which they wanted to join the stone throwing and breakfast of the Vallvidrera club.
A hymn sung by a baritone of the Palau de la Música
Any self-respecting club has a motto and anthem, and the Vallvidrera Curling Club could not be less. The motto is “El pantà serà sempre nostre” and the anthem, a complete song sung by Germán de la Riba, neighbor of the neighborhood and baritone in the Chamber Choir of the Palau de la Música and interpreter of the masses of the Cathedral every weekend.
This year the stone also sank in the water of a swamp that, in addition, is emptied by the cleaning of invasive species. So we will have to wait until next year to try again.
Until then, we can learn the lyrics of the hymn, which we leave here in case you want to join the club. The only requirement is to follow them on their twitter or instagram account, and you will be a curler more.
“És el club que porto al cor Blau i verd és nostra ensenya. That with pride we defend all. From 1540 Les escombres fem suar És sabut que a Collserola. It’s turtling in the swamp. We are, we are, we are from the mountain. Som, som, som els del pantà Club de Curling Vallvidrera, Barcelona ens fa cagar. With a kettle and a granera, we hope to glaze the swamp. We will change the rules, so that they let us skate. The victories endorse us, the future is the Puput and until the last of my days Vallvidrera Turling club. We are, we are, we are from the mountain. Som, som, som els del pantà Club de Turling Vallvidrera Barcelona ens fa cagar”.