Let’s be honest. Some places in the world just speak to us and we don’t know why. It could be entire nations, obscure cities or very specific buildings, corners or points on a street. During this year’s pre-season season, I got the chance to visit one of mine. That place is Teruel, provincial capital of the region of the same name and the most southerly city in semi-autonomous Aragón in Spain’s north-west.
Quite a beautiful design brought to us courtesy from the south coast of France. I really hope that the ultras of Olympique de Marseille put actual pencil to paper in the creation of this very creative piece that invokes the traditions and history of one of France’s major clubs.
10am on a Friday morning may be an unusual time for a Football match, but it doesn’t make it any less enjoyable – particularly when you’ve been able to go for so long. But with restrictions easing slightly and pre-season friendlies now underway, we did not miss the opportunity to get our groundhopping kicks once again in the home of a semi-professional outfit in Spain.
Needless to say that in the past 15 months it has been tough to find live Football games to attend, enjoy and subsequently write about. Travel has been limited, entry requirements into stadia have been very strict and – let’s be honest – in the grander scheme of things writing about Football fan culture has not been a high priority in the world recently. Since early March we have been to just one live Football match; a heavily regulated Tercera Group X league fixture between Xerez Deportivo and Rota. This weekend however that changes.
Simple and cleanly executed, this design comes courtesy of the Suptras of FC Hansa Rostock. The largest club of East German Bundesland Mecklenburg-Vorpommern will grace the 2. Bundesliga once again next season with their raucous and occasionally outrageous support.
A small-time club that we have a bit of a soft spot for here at FBTG has hit a milestone today. Happy 8th Birthday to Xerez Deportivo Football Club – a sports team fighting to keep the Football traditions of a city alive and well.
The time would have been around 6pm. The final spots of daylight were fading quickly into the surrounding buildings. The sun had been kissing the horizon when we left the guest stadium in Bornos, but that had changed quickly in the bus ride back through the foothills of the Cordilleras Béticas. In the shadow of the Chapín, my two interviewees led me to an innocuous family bar.
A less than chivalrous design brought to you by somebody who is clearly a Denver Broncos fan (NFL in case you were wondering). We cannot say we are fans of the…. theme of this Aufkleber, but the colours contrast well in spite of its vulgarity. Moreover, it is interesting to observe fans of teams, clubs and franchises in other sports taking inspiration from Football fan groups and adapting their practices to their own needs. We at FBTG have previously made the point that far from seeing themselves as culturally superior (as many outsiders like to claim), US citizens who follow team sports often display an alacrity to “copy” (for lack of a better word) fan customs they observe in stadia around the world. NFL fans creating Football-Ultra style stickers and posting them around your city is perhaps a good example of this.
