Any content creator knows that getting the facts right and doing your research the proper way is both the core of any decent podcast, video or blog entry, but also the hardest variable to control (except the views of course). Reading books is a big investment of your time. Youtube videos do a poor job of referencing original source material. Newspaper articles frequently get the facts wrong. And podcast episodes normally serve to inflate the ego of the hosts, bruh.
With the remaining garlic-covered octopus tentacle between my teeth, I knocked back the final millilitres of Paxaran before indicating to the waiter that I needed the bill. There is always something so impressive about Spanish hospitality staff and their ability to do three things at once, but even so, the typical Basque industriousness was visible in every movement he made. 10.40€ lighter, I bid the patrons farewell and continued my walk Las Llanas, taking care to find some good photo opportunities as I went. Green and black flags hanging outside two bars on the main road indicated the opportunity to get another drink before kick-off, and in no time I found an open door to what I thought was the club shop.
With some trepidation, I stepped into the carriage and grabbed onto a handrail. Not a single seat was available at peak transit time so I had to politely stand among Manhattan’s finest. One of the Big Apple’s scarier boroughs lay at the end of the line, but as the doors closed and the wagon jutted forward, it wasn’t the wild characters heading back to the Bronx that were giving me the heebie-jeebies. I was apprehensive of who or what might be waiting for me at the first ever live Football (read: soccer) game I was about to attend in the World’s greatest city.
The platform was entirely empty as I stepped out. A single stairway led to an uncovered footbridge across the trainlines and towards the exit of the train station. As I climbed, the regional train shuddered into motion and continued its routine journey along the coast. A few moments later and silence resumed. It’s true, I was arriving in the town several hours before kick-off. But as I passed through the small train station and onto the main road, the silence was unnerving. With my backpack hoisted high on my shoulders, I began the ascent uphill to the stadium.
Back in business. Here at planet FBTG we always love to celebrate Spain’s week long Easter holiday with more groundhopping around one of Europe’s most fascinating countries. This year we trekked north for a short tour hitting up 3 different La Segunda games in 3 different days, braving the rain and the cold.
We’re late to turn this adventure into a post, but our story of travelling away to watch our beloved Hull City AFC play a pre-season friendly away on the Sunshine Coast was too unorthodox to ignore it. The Brighton and Hove Albion reserves and La Segunda big club Málaga CF were the opponents on the same day in the Marbella Football Center, but last minute plans to travel down from Barcelona without taking time off work made it anything but a conventional away day…..
14:40 – close my laptop with a vague message to my manager about “got somewhere to be” and leave the office quickly.
15:37 – walk through the door of my flat and jump into the shower as quickly as possible knowing I won’t have another chance to do so for 2 full days….
It has been an odd couple years for us all, and we can surely agree that things are not fully back to normal yet even though they are getting there. Your FBTG editorial team is enjoying the degree to which markets and governmental mandates and initiatives are becoming more predictable, and international travel is becoming increasingly easy. And we celebrated this with our first home game in 3 years.
Many of the regional denonyms in use in modern Spanish are Latin in origin. If you are from Seville, you are hispalense. If you are from Badajoz, you are paciense. And if you are from Huelva, you are onubense. This was the inspiration behind the leading fan group of Spain’s oldest running Football club Recreativo de Huelvo “el Decano” – the Frente Onuba. This was seen in Seville, and while we cannot claim to be big fans, this Aufkleber design is a cracker.
From Boothferry To Germany 