España (Sept. 2025)

Plaza de Toros de La Malagueta

By Allan Brown:

Bull! Toro! Bugs Bunny! Ole!

Like most of us, I had my first introduction to bullfighting from watching Bugs Bunny as a kid. Later on, there were movies and TV shows usually showing the comedic angle of the protagonist running from the bull before hiding behind the wooden barrier or before launching themselves over the protective wall bordering the bullring. There was even a modern version of bullfighting in the last Jack Ass movie involving teeter-totters.

So what are the facts? Bulls don’t change at the color red but at the movement of the matador’s cape. There really are wooden barricades to hide behind in a bullring, and there is a convenient little ledge that runs around the ring to get a foothold on should you need to launch yourself over the wall for self-preservation. It usually does not end well for the bull, but occasionally, they get a pardon of sorts for a good “fight” and get to live their days on the farm making baby bulls. We read that only 4 bulls in the last 20 years made it to the farm. 

On this day, The Browns took the self-guided tour of the bullring in La Malagueta, Málaga. We have passed the ring on our walks to the beach for years and had never set foot inside until this day. We were overwhelmed by the history, pageantry, and seriousness of this event. I’m reluctant to call it a sport, as it is a brutal, bloody tradition and part of the Spanish heritage that many would like to outlaw. I did watch a few bullfights on Spanish TV a few years ago, and it is not for me; it is cringeworthy, but like a train wreck, I couldn’t stop watching. I did, however, root for the bull.

We toured the ring, visiting different sections like the Presidents Box where various signals are communicated to the matador via handkerchiefs, the bull pens in the back where they are staged just hours before their fight, and the corridor where the bulls walk into the ring.

A sobering and creepy part of the tour was the 2 hospital surgery units and a list of matadors that have died in the ring.

There was a barricade that was made from 2×8 wooden planks that had a hole in it gouged by a bull horn, demonstrating the power these 800-pound bulls have. Being gored, tossed, and then trampled to death would be an awful way to go.

The tour had videos of various ranches that the bulls are raised on, stating that only 1 bull in 6 ever makes it to the ring and that they live a pampered life until then.

There was a room filled with the ornate costumes the matadors wore, and they were covered with thousands of decorative beads. Such pomp for such a dangerous occupation seemed counterintuitive.

Bull rings and bull fighting, interesting, breathtaking, and heartbreaking. Not for me, and “Th-th-that’s all folks!”