Mikel Larrañaga: "We must remain in Primera so as to be able to continue to promote these kinds of initiatives, it's the first time that we've been represented at the #ABIAN fair but we're keen to return"
This morning saw the club's institutional vice-president take part in the launch of the #ABIAN Employment and Training Fair
The #ABIAN Employment and Training Fair, organised by Debegesa in collaboration with the Basque government, the provincial authorities, town councils for the region and SD Eibar opened its doors today. The event was attended by a number of political figures, heads of training centres and business owners, but now into its third edition, the fair has added a Spanish top-flight club to its list of partners, with SD Eibar taking part through its Foundation.
Larrañaga, the club's institutional vice-president, took his place on the panel of speakers at the #ABIAN fair launch ceremony, where he noted: "SD Eibar have had a Foundation since 2009, but it's in the last year that we have decided to really promote ourselves within our society. As our president, Amaia Gorostiza, says, we want to pay the community of Eibar back for part of what it has given us. We understand football to be more than the purely on-field aspect and that's why we have to be aware of the needs of our society, with this fair representing an example of this. We have come here with a desire to be represented at this fair again over the coming years, for this to be the case, we have to remain in Primera so as to be able to continue to promote these kinds of initiatives".
Taking their places alongside Larrañaga at the ceremony were the mayor of Eibar, Miguel de los Toyos; the deputy minister for employment at the Basque government, Marcos Muro; the head of economic advancement at the Gipuzkoa regional government, Antton Tomasena; the head of planning and innovation at the Basque's governments department for employment, Amaia Arteaga; the head of knowledge management and training at ADEGI, Mikel Sarriegi; and the social educator and technical coordinator at Elgoibar's Kalexka Elkartea, Aitor Ávila. These representatives were joined by a number of figures who descended on Ipurua to gain a first-hand feel for the stadium and its new East and North stands, including the mayor of Soraluze, Iker Aldazabal; the mayor of Mallabia, Igor Agirre; the mayor of Mutriku, Jose Angel Lizardi; the mayoress of Mendaro, Sonia Garcia; the head of IMH, Ixaka Egurbide; the head of professional training at IMH, Imanol Iturria; the director of the Armeria Eskloa, Jose Luis Novoa; the head of UNI Eibar-Ermua, José María Pérez; and the director general of Debegesa, Juan Ángel Balbás.