A seemingly overlooked footballing venue as Weavers Fields only appears to be used for Women’s football but has an interesting history. The park opened in 1967 as a replacement for the demolished slum housing lived in by Huguenot silk weavers. There were over 750 dwellings, often small but with large first floor windows to allow light in for the weavers to work as late as possible. Cheshire, Hague, Wilmot Streets were all cleared as were parts of Mape Street, Menotti Street and Sale Streets.
The story of Weavers Fields is commemorated by the stainless steel sculpture “Weaving Identity” by Peter Dunn in tbe centre of this fifteen acre park, and the entrance signs designed by Paul Margetts.
In the south west corner of the park is 178 Valence Street, home the Kray twins for thirty years from 1938 until their arrest for the murders of George Cornell and Jack “The Hat” McVitie.
The Guernsey Football Association finally opened their new Victoria Park headquarters in late March when Guernsey FC took on Westfield in an Isthmian League match. The opening event attracted an encouraging crowd of 2,207 and despite relegation to the Southern Combination League, Guernsey FC will hope their move away from Footes Lane will reap longer term rewards.
The Guernsey Football Association was formed in a meeting held at Stedman’s Café in Fountain Street in February 1894. The first six Priaulx League champions were all military teams and it wasn’t until 1899/1900 that a local team, Northerners, won the league. It was also Belgrave Wanderers’ first season in the Priaulx League.
There were some interestingly named teams in the early years of the Priaulx, including Progressives FC, Artisans FC , Intermedians FC and Sarnian League, Sarnia being the Roman name for Guernsey.
Earlier in 1899 there had been preliminary discussions into creating an inter-insular competition between the Channel Islands and despite a positive response from Alderney representatives, Alderney Rovers and St Anne’s United, there was a lack of interest from Jersey’s teams, so the competition never got off the ground.
The idea was revived in 1904/05 and it was decided that a representative side from the three islands would contest the new cup. Key decisions included offering Jersey home advantage in the first competition and an agreement that players had to have been an island resident for at least three months prior to the competition. The well known tobacco company Messes Muratti & Co Ltd supplied a Challenge Vase to presented to the winners.
The first Muratti Vase game was contested at the Victoria Avenue Cycling Grounds (Belgrave Wanderers’ The Track), on April 17th 1905 with Guernsey beating Alderney 6-0. The final was held at the Royal Agricultural Grounds, Springfield, with Guernsey defeating Jersey but a solitary goal. Obviously a three team tournament presents an immediately apparent issue, so it was decided the final venue would be alternated and the non-hosts would contest the semi-final. Since the 1948 competition though the final has between alternated solely between Jersey and Guernsey.
The vast majority of Guernsey’s Muratti Vase games have been held at The Track before moving to Footes Lane in 2003 until returning to The Track in 2009. The record attendance for a Muratti final on Guernsey was the 12,693 (some sources quote 13,273) that gathered at The Track for the 1951 final.
Over in Jersey between 1907 and 1923 the games were held at Westmount before alternating between there and Springfield until 1930. Since then all their games have been at Springfield. The record attendance for a Muratti Final on Jersey is the 10,000 for the 1928 match, although Springfield held a staggering 11,100 for a match against Manchester United in November 1971. All Alderney’s home games are played at the Arsenal Ground in St.Anne’s.
Alderney have lost nearly all their Muratti Vase matches, but back in 1920 they gloriously defeated Guernsey 1-0 in their only ever final win. The goal was scored by a player called James Lihou, who promptly emigrated to America the very next day! This historic match was played at Westmount on Jersey and the Ridunians had to use the mail boat Reindeer to get over for the match. Alderney, either by hosting or receiving a bye to the final, have also contested the final in 1906, 1909, 1912, 1923, 1926, 1929, 1932, 1935, 1938, but have lost every post World War II semi final. This means they have not won a Muratti Vase game of any sort since that day in 1920.! Their recent results have been more than respectable, however, in 1994 Alderney lost the semi-final to Jersey by an incredible scoreline of 18-0. Alderney FC have competed in the Priaulx League since 2016/17 and this has resulted in more competitive performances against their neighbouring islands in the Muratti Vase.
The Liberation of the Channel Islands from Nazi occupation threw up and interesting story in that to celebrate Liberation Day Sylvans took on Tottenham Hotspur who had Len Duquemin in their side. He was a very talented Guernsey born player who had started his career with Vauxbelet, Sylvans’ treasurer tersely commented on his disappointment that Spurs had taken 50% of the gross receipts, he said “Personally, I was disappointed that after Guernsey soccer had given them a player worth a few thousands pounds, that Spurs could not see their way to allow more lenient terms.”
The lack of grounds on Guernsey has been a reoccurring issue and early grounds like Cambridge Park, L’Ancresse Common and Saurmarez Park rarely host football these days. Aside from The Track, the island’s main grounds are, Blanche Pierre Lane (St Martins), Corbet Field (Vale Recreation), La Route du Longfrie (Sylvans), Les Vauxbelets (Guernsey Rangers), Northfield (Northerners), and Port Soif (Guernsey Rovers).
Club football on the island changed forever in 2011 with the formation of Guernsey FC to enter the English non-league pyramid at step 6. Playing at the island’s largest stadium the 5,000 capacity Footes Lane Stadium, which is also used by Guernsey Raiders Rugby Club and for athletics. Guernsey won two straight promotions, and were FA Vase semi-finalists in 2012/13, but they plateaued somewhat at step 4, and were relegated for the first time at the end of the 2024/25 season. A condition of entry to the English pyramid was that the club have to foot the travelling expenses of the away teams in their division, a financially onerous burden for the club, with costly winter postponements and attendances having wained a little in recent seasons. It has taken eleven years, and £10 million, to get the Victoria Park project off the ground from initial agreement in 2014 between the Guernsey FA and Guernsey FC to create a joint football specific venue. It took five years just to get planning consent, and the vision to get the facility built for the 2021 Island Games was scuppered by the Covid pandemic. The site was still nowhere near ready when the delayed Island Games eventually took place two years ago.
The Victoria Playing Fields abuts The Track whose distinctive, and sympathetically re-cladded, barrelled roof stand can be seen from some parts of the new facility. Whether deliberate or fortuitous, it’s a nice juxtaposition between old and new and an enduring link to the spiritual home of the Muratti Vase for Guernsey.
The 2025 Muratti competition saw Jersey beating Alderney 2-0 in the semi-final to set up an inaugural Muratti final to be held at Victoria Park. Having won the last seven finals Jersey must have fancied their chances of another victory, but a noisy and largely partizan crowd of 3,090 packed the new stadium to see if Guernsey would have any say in the matter. A hugely enjoyable game saw Guernsey inspired by their prolific goalscorer, and captain, Ross Allen score two beautiful lobbed goals to set up a 3-1 win over their old rivals.
Whilst the Channel Islands are not the cheapest places to get to by plane or ferry, the Muratti finals are a really big deal in Island life, and a big social occasion as well as a fine sporting event.
📅 Saturday May 17th 2025
⏰ KO: 3pm
🏆 Muratti Vase Final
📍 Victoria Park
💷 £8 📖 £2
Guernsey FA 3 (Allen 6, 35, Gauvain 9)
Jersey FA 1 (Hinds 26)
Att:3,090
Gallery
The Murstti VaseThe Muratti Vase official programme
The Track, home of Belgrave Wanderers
Inside the stand with Victoria Park in the distance
Bohemian Football Club have an interesting grounds history including staging home games at Phoenix Park Polo Ground, Jones Road (now Croke Park), and Whitehall Farm in Glasnevin. Their search for a proper home ground ended in 1901, when they acquired Pisser Dignam’s Field in the Phibsborough area of the city, and renamed it Dalymount Park. Indeed, it is said that even the club’s name was derived from their search for a home ground, “the players showing Bohemian spirit in wandering around Dublin like a bunch of gypsies”, which would become the clubs’ nickname.
A chance to add to their catalogue of “home” venues manifested when the 2025 League of Ireland season was set to open with a “Dublin Derby” between Bohs and Shamrock Rovers. It afforded the opportunity to launch the campaign with a statement occasion by moving the game to the Aviva Stadium. The change of venue clearly allowing for a much bigger gate than could be accommodated at the ageing Dalymount.
Bohemian will need to find a temporary home for the 2026 and 2027 while their beloved Dalymount is modernised to an 8,000 capacity stadium. Initial suggestions of the Royal Dublin Showground, a former home of Shamrock Rovers, and also Parnell Park, home of Dublin GAA, were quickly ruled out. Realistically, the solution would point to a temporary groundshare at either St Patrick’s Athletic’s at Richmond Park or Shelbourne’s Tolka Park, but if the event at the Aviva was a success it could mean, finances permitting, more of Bohs’ bigger matches being moved to the National Stadium.
In the week leading up to the Shamrock game ticket sales really rocketed and it was clear the appetite for a showpiece season opener was very strong. Attendances have grown steadily in the League of Ireland since the switch to summer season in 2003 and, particularly, post Covid with a 20% rise in average attendances between 2022 and 2023. Both Bohemian and Drogheda United tabled more than a 30% increase in that period. Including European games the 2024 season saw the one million people mark exceeded for the first time for football on League of Ireland grounds. A significant rise in “ultra culture” at Irish clubs has also been a contributory factor in increased attendances.
It soon became clear that this event would set a new attendance record for a League of Ireland match. The last really big crowd for a league match came in September 1991 when 22,000 gathered at the Royal Dublin Showground for Shamrock’s match against St Patrick’s Athletic. Prior to that it was back to 1971 for a 28,000 crowd at Dalymount for a play off between Shamrock and Cork Hibernians. The all time record though, had stood unchallenged since 1946, when 30,000 people when to Dalymount for a match between Drumcondra and Cork City.
The Aviva Stadium was opened in 2010 on the site of the old Lansdowne Road stadium that had been demolished three years previously. It holds 51,000 and is Ireland’s only UEFA category 4 licensed stadium. Designed by HOK Sport (now Populous), it’s a stunning design, the continuous roof tapering down to the lowest end behind the houses of O’Connell Gardens. A particularly pleasing vista of the stadium can be seen from the approach to it from London Bridge over the River Dodder.
The atmosphere at the Aviva was crackling with red and black smokebombs from the Bohs end and green smoke from the away end pervaded the air as the teams came onto the pitch. Bohs fans giving a mass rendition of their adopted anthem, Johnny Logan’s “Hold Me Now”. The game was a very tight encounter of few chances, illuminated by a solitary goal from Bohemian’s Ross Tierney. A big cheer greeted the announcement of the new League of Ireland attendance record confirmed as 33,208. A great day indeed for football in Ireland.
Santuxtu FC were formed in 1918, and played on various grounds that were never truly their own before they settled at their current ground of Campo de Mallona around thirty years ago.
Mallona is truly remarkable, set high above the old town (Casco Viejo) on the plateau of Mount Artagan. To reach the ground from the old town you have two choices, you can climb the 351 steps (Calzadas de Mallona) from Plaza Unamuno before the left turn around three quarters of the way up takes you to the small square where the ground is located. The second choice is that you can do your research first and establish there is a lift from Casco Viejo metro station that deposits you not twenty paces from the stadium entrance.
Once you arrive at Campo de Mallona you are immediately aware that this is no ordinary football ground. You will instantly notice the original entrance, a neoclassical arch with doric columns and a relief containing skulls. It is the work of sculptor Juan de Belaunzaran. Originally Mallona was a farm but in 1808 the French, who had seized Bilbao in the Peninsular War (1808-1813), outlawed the continuation of church burials and the city of Bilbao needed a cemetery. Mallona farm was duly acquired and remained the city’s cemetery until a new larger one was built in the town of Derio in 1927.
The eery first impression continues when you enter the modern entrance and pay your ticket fee of €10. Immediately on your left are two mausoleums left over from the sites former use. Further up this side of the ground is the grandstand and the dressing rooms are on the opposite side. The listed capacity of 4,000 seems a tad high but Mallona is perfectly adequate for the level Santuxtu play at. Beyond the far goal is a second artificial pitch with two small stands that is used by Santuxtu’s 350 youth team players.
Campo de Mallona is also used by three other clubs in the area, CD Solokoetxe, Sociedad Deportiva Begoña and Danok Bat CF. This means over forty teams use the two pitches so Santuxtu’s first team, currently in División Honor Vizcaya, after relegation from the Tercera División in 2020/21, usually play their home games at 11am on Sunday morning. Indeed, immediately after Santuxtu’s game, Danak Bat took over the ticket booth for their own home game.
It is another decent and competitive match and a draw seemed to be a fair reflection. There is no bar or café at the ground but there is a bar and a couple of shops immediately across the square from the entrance. What more could you want from a Sunday morning?
For its cracking views over the old town, its truly unusual former use, and its penchant for early kick offs, a visit to Santuxtu is more than worthy of a visit.
Sociedad Deportiva Erandio Club was formed in 1915 and played its early games on a pitch at Lamiako. However, there were several problems with it and Erandio had to use the grounds of Athletic (San Mamés) and SD Deusto while they searched for a new site. In 1918 they secured land owned by Laureano Jado Ventades on the estuary next to the Bilbao to Las Arenas road. The land was originally called El Machaqueo as it was a site used for crushing and shaping stone extracted from the quarries of Larrabeiti and Zuberogizia into blocks to shore up the estuary. The club christened their new ground Ategorri when it became fully enclosed with a wall in 1921.
In October 1925 Athletic Club visited the Campo de Ategorri to settle the destiny of the Bizkaia Championship. A huge crowd of several thousand gathered but Athletic were in no mood for benevolence, winning 8-1.
In 1932 Erandio were runners up in the Spanish Amateur Championship, losing to Chamartín, but won it a year later defeating Sevilla 1-0 in the play off final held at Montjuic. The 1939/40 and 1949/50 seasons were Erandio’s only campaigns in the second tier of Spanish football.
Over the years Erandio won no less than fourteen Bizkaia Amateur Championships and two Bizkaia Cups. As Erandio enjoyed an industrial boom in the 1950’s the need to secure a site for a new ground became a pressing concern for the board. Eventually in 1963, land known as La Arboleda was acquired and levelled with debris from the excavation of the Deusto canal. However, the building of the Nuevo Ategorri suffered a severe setback when part of the new pitch suddenly collapsed. Remedial work was needed involving laying a supporting concrete base down the affected side of the pitch. It delayed the opening of the new site until 1967.
To mark the clubs’ fiftieth anniversary in 1965, Athletic Club invited Erandio to San Mamés for a celebration match. In the 1970’s the club regularly played in the Categoría Regional Preferente, climbing as high as the third (Tercera) division. Their most recent spell in the spotlight came in 1980/81 when they won the complex series of Tercera Division play offs against Martos and Ponferradina, gaining promotion to Segunda B where they stayed for four seasons. In recent decades Erandio have remained largely in the sixth tier División Honor Vizcaya.
Of the many players that started with Erandio and moved on to Athletic Club, Telma Zarra was the most lauded. He won La Liga’s Pichichi top scorer trophy six times and held the record for the most goals in La Liga and Copa del Rey, until the former was surpassed by Lionel Messi. Zarra scored four goals for Spain in the 1950 World Cup, including the goal that knocked England out of competition.
The Neuvo Ategorri has changed little since those heady days except for the addition of floodlights in December 2002, when SD Eibar paid a visit to celebrate their inauguration.
The ground is just simply superb, its lofty location above the town affording stunning vistas of the River Nervión, and the dockyard cranes. The attention to detail in the construction of the ground is remarkable, the latticed criss-cross concrete pitch surround, the large, high stepped, L-shaped terrace that starts at the end of the grandstand and turns sharp left at the top end of the ground is terracing of the highest order. The red door you step into having acquired your ticket at the booth, is a nod to the name the ground, Ate being Basque for door and gorri meaning red. Then there is the 70 year old lottery wheel attached to the wall of what is the pièce de résistance, the clubhouse. The walls are festooned with the clubs illustrious history, pennants, scarves, photographs, awards, trophies, it really is a visual feast for the football history and memorabilia enthusiasts. Then as you approach the bar you get to meet Kai, a seagull which is the clubs emblem. The club volunteers are really friendly and welcoming, and even the referee came over for a chat before the game.
On the field Erandio are in the groove today, scoring almost at will. They find the net three times in either half, before a lack lustre Gatika side get a late consolation effort.
It seems quite mystifying to me that such a wonderful and historic ground remains relatively unheralded especially in the era of the internet, fixture apps and almost unlimited information at your fingertips. I cannot commend Erandio Club highly enough, it really is the most perfect of places.
📅 Sunday February 9th 2025
⏰ KO: 5pm
🏆 División Honor Vizcaya 🇪🇸
📍 Estadio Nuevo Ategorri
💶 €10 📖 None
SD Erandio Club 6 (Erreguerena 13,51,59, Zarraga del la Fuente 23,41, Arzuaga 53)
The old historic Sestao Sports Club folded at the end and of the 1995/96 season due to insurmountable debts of £700,000. The City were in no position to assist as money was tight following the closure of the vast steelworks in the area. Sestao had finished in the relegation places of the second tier Segunda División, and had indeed spent most of their existence in the second and third tiers of Spanish football.
Upon the dissolution of Sestao Sports Club, a new club, Sestao River Club were formed but had to start life playing in the Second Division of the regional league in what is the seventh tier of Spanish football. Commendably, they gained three straight promotions and were soon at the fourth level, and have continued to bounce in between the third and fourth tiers. They are currently in the third tier Primera Federación.
Sestao River Club play at the quite magnificent Campo Municipal de Las Llanas, which these days has a licensed capacity of a little under 4,500, although in reality it could comfortably hold twice that figure. It has two entrances both on Alameda Las Llanas, a five minute walk from Sestao metro station. One entrance gets you a seat in the main stand (€22) and the other gets you into the Preferencia Este for €17. For me it was a no brainer, the covered terrace, split into two distinct areas, one much more cavernous than the other, is redolent of the large covered terraces that existed at English grounds before the Taylor Report signalled their demise.
Sharing Las Llanas with Sestao River Club are Sociedad Deportiva San Pedro who play in the sixth tier División de Honor de Vizcaya.
Las Llanas was opened in April 1923 for a match between Sestao Sports Club and Sociedad Deportiva Kaiku. An official inauguration match took place in September when Athletic Club paid a visit to Las Llanas. The ground was privately owned until 1956 when it was taken over by Sestao City Council. The modest original stand was replaced by the current main stand in the 1970’s and is an interesting structure. The roof is part cantilevered and part bolted to the adjacent sports centre.
The east tribune also dates from the 1970’s remodelling, the two distinct covers necessary because of the large former locomotive factory owned by Babcock & Wilcox and is now owned by Frontoi.
The north end of the ground has a large uncovered terrace where a sizeable contingent of young ultras deliver a cacophony of noise on this visit. The southern used to be a smaller covered terrace, however, the cover has long since gone and it’s now tree lined instead. The away fans from Zamora CF are housed in the southern part of the main stand.
The City council did harbour plans to relocate the club away from their traditional home but instead the stadium was further upgraded in 2009, with new seating and an electronic scoreboard. It’s a terrific stadium and has an edgy working class feel to it, a barrage of noise from the ultras, strong whiffs of weed pervading the night air. It’s a good game too Zamora dominate the first half and rightly go into the break a goal to the good. Sestao hovering dangerously around the relegation zone really need something from the game but Zamora seem content to defend their slender lead. Buoyed by their boisterous support and some beneficial substitutions, Sestao level and Zamora go from dominating the game to time wasting to salvage a draw. Sestao probably deserved the win in the end but had to settle for a share of the spoils.
If old grounds full of character and interest are you think look no further, Las Llanas is the oldest stadium in the Basque country and the seventh oldest in the whole of Spain. The six stadiums ahead of Sestao in terms of antiquity are Sporting Gijón (1908), Águilas CF (1913), Lleida CF (1919), Olímpic de Xàtiva (1922), Gimnástica de Torrelavega (1922), and Coria del Rio CF (1923).
Just occasionally you visit a ground that way exceeds expectations based on knowledge, photographs and internet information. Largs Thistle’s home at Barrfields Park in Brisbane Road, just behind the Vikingar Centre, comfortably falls into this category. Known locally as “Theesel” the club was formed 135 years ago in 1889. Football had gained a foothold in this lovely Ayrshire coastal town, a gateway to the Isles of Cumbrae and Bute, from 1876 when clubs like Largs Mackerston, Largs Rose and Largs Apprentices come onto the scene. They were soon joined by Largs Western in 1877, an early attempt to bring senior football to the town, but Western folded after only two years. Fledgling games were staged on fields at Chapelton, Aubery and Allanpark. Soon, the were other Largs clubs including Largs Gogo and Largs Rosevale. Largs Athletic had been formed in 1880, playing at Glebe Park, but had disappeared within three seasons. Largs Thistle were soon dominating local football and would contest Walker Cup matches with the team from Inverkip, travelling to the games there by steamer boat!
Thistle’s first major trophy success came in 1895/96 when they won the Irvine District Cup. However, they soon folded due to money trouble and losing the use of their ground at Aubery Crescent. In July 1905, two Largs clubs’ Largs Neva and Largs Athletic joined forces and took over the name of Largs Thistle. Neva had been playing at Mansefield Park, while Athletic were at Aubrey Crescent. A new lease allowing the new Thistle club to use Aubery was once again secured, but Thistle would soon run into trouble again and disbanded for a second time.
The club was revived once again in 1920 during a meeting held in a barber’s shop, and a ground at Kelvin Park was established as their home venue. Despite being refused entry to the Ayrshire League, Theesel won the hotly contested Ayrshire Cup in 1922/23, when they defeated New Cumnock United 3-1 at Kilmarnock’s Rugby Park. Brunton scored all three Theesel goals and the victorious side were welcomed back at Largs station by a huge crowd with exploding fog signals being set off amid wild celebrations.
By 1930, Kelvin Park was required for a housing scheme and the club secured the land which would become their current home at Barrfields Park. Many of the initial games held at the oval shaped site attracted crowds of over 9,000. The 1950’s were a halcyon period for the club, winning many trophies including the Western League Championships, Western League Cup and Ayrshire Cups. This period coincided with the record attendance at Barrfields Park when Clydebank visited for a Scottish Junior Cup tie in 1952. A truly remarkable 11,000 people watched the game with all possible vantage points taken.
The 1990’s also proved incredibly successful with Theesel reaching the Scottish Junior Cup final of 1993/94. Defeating the likes of Pollok and Kilwinning Rangers en route to the final, held at Ibrox, a crowd of 8,668 saw Largs defeat Glenafton Athletic 1-0 in a tense contest. They were Junior Cup finalists again in 2010, having beaten Coupar Angus, Edinburgh United, Broughty Athletic, Bonnyrigg Rose, Kirkintilloch Rob Roy, Irvine Meadow XI and Clydebank before losing 1-0 to Linlithgow Rose in the final at Rugby Park, in front of 5,788 spectators. After defeating Arbroath Victoria, Shotts Bon Accord, Darvel, St.Roch’s, Kilwinning Rangers and Hurlford United, Thistle reached a third Junior Cup final appearance in the 2018/19 season. Sadly, Largs tasted defeat again, this time 2-0 to Ayrshire rivals, Auchinleck Talbot, with 4,629 in attendance at New Douglas Park.
Barrfields had changed very little over the year until August 2012, when local Euromillions lottery winners, Chris and Colin Weir donated the £700,000 cost to install an artificial playing surface at the ground. The club ran into a little difficulty having to retrospectively apply for planning consent for the surface. The club have recently announced that funding and planning permission for floodlights have been acquired, bringing Barrfields Park thoroughly up to date, without a hand being laid on the essential character of the stadium. The barrelled roof barn style stand that can comfortably house 800 people with rudimentary bench seating. The stand has that quite delicious patina only genuine antiquity affords a structure. On a wild and stormy day on the Ayrshire coast, it stood firm and more than sheltered the gathering cowering underneath its rusting tin roof. The sublime curvaceous terracing wraps around the three other sides of this oval shaped venue. It really cries out for another famous Theesel afternoon and for another huge crowd to gather at a ground rapidly approaching its’ centenary.
A visit to Türkiye for football was more than a little overdue and with President Recep Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party becoming increasingly politically polarising, time seemed increasingly prescient. His government has been accused of inciting political and religious hatred and intimidation across the country to the point where the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office advise against travelling to certain parts of this massive country. The FCDO advises against any travel to any part of Türkiye that borders Syria and instructs undertaking only essential travel to areas like the Sirnak and Hakkari Provinces both of which lie to the north of the Iraqi border. There is also ongoing issues with Kurdish separatists fighting for autonomy within Turkish borders.
All that said there is no reason not to travel to many parts of this utterly beguiling country, the risk of unrest and demonstrations are no more likely than many other countries in these challenging times. Türkiye’s capital, Ístanbul is just incredible, so vast and densely inhabited with a population at 14.5 million is almost double that of London, it can feel a little overwhelming. Coupled with its always intriguing geographical position on either side of the Bosphorus strait meaning visitors to this metropolis not only arrive at the end of Europe, but just a short ferry ride takes you to a gateway into Asia.
Accommodation is pocket friendly and plentiful, and mine was in the Fatih area close to Şehsuvar Bey, so a lot of the historical sights were less than a twenty minute walk away. The iconic Hagia Sofia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace and Basilica Cistern are very close together and are so worth visiting, ancient history is all around you in this area. The spice market, Grand Bazaar (a covered market since 1455), Galata Tower, Dolmabahce Palace and Gülhane Park are also essential tourist spots. A three hour cruise around the Bosphorus, which included an hour stop on the Asian side cost me a very reasonable €15.
The Blue Mosque
Dolmabahce Palace
Hagia Sofia
Bospherus cruise
Heritage tram, Taksim Square
On the football front, when I booked my weekend there were Super Lig matches in Ístanbul at Beşiktaş J.K. and Kasımpaşa S.K. scheduled, so well in advance of my trip I set about getting the Passolig fancard sorted. You can do this online for around £7 and selecting “no club” means you can use it to get tickets on Passo app for any of the clubs in the top two divisions. If you cannot get the Passo ticket app to link to your Passolig account, an apparently common issue, you can use your account number and passport to get a “single entry pass”, known as Tek Girislik.
Unfortunately the week leading up to my visit coincided with Eid al-Fitr and with professional players observing the fasting period, the Super Lig schedule was moved. It could have been a disaster but fortuitously second, third division and amateur league fixtures were not changed.
Saturday’s match would see a visit to the Asian side of the Bosphorus for the second tier (1.Liga) match between Ümraniyespor and Şanliurfaspor. Staggeringly the visitors came from close to the Syrian border some 800 miles and a sixteen hour bus ride away from the capital.
Heavy holiday traffic meant a fairly pricey taxi ride to the Hekìbaşi Şehir Stadyumu, which is actually some way from the town of Ümraniye. A match ticket for the Marathon tribuna was secured from the ticket office for 35 Turkish Lira (90p). Security searches were odd, water purchased from a stall holder not twenty steps from the security guards was not allowed into the stadium. When it became clear Turkish was not my first language, and I was clearly considerably more likely to drink it than launch it on to the pitch, dispensation was duly granted! The same vendor then set about selling kebabs and the very same water to fans through the fence throughout the game!
What followed on the pitch was pretty turgid fare, illuminated by a single wonder goal scored by the visitors in first half stoppage time from Íshak Çakmak. Around 35 away fans in a crowd of just under 500 celebrated wildly. The taxi ride back to the European side was considerably cheaper with all the holiday traffic having vanished.
Plan A for Sunday has been another 1.Liga match at Eyüpspor, who are managed by the legendary 100 cap Turkish international Arda Turan, It then dawned on me that if they beat next to bottom Altay İzmir, they would be champions. The Eyüp Stadyumu only holds 2,500 people and their excellent Twitter feed showed that the match was, in fact and not unsurprisingly, sold out.
Plan B was a third tier match in the suburb of Bayrampaşa. The third tier (2.Liga) is split into two groups (Beyaz and Kirmizi), with seemingly no geographical regionalisation, both divisions having clubs scattered all over this vast nation. The resident club at the Çetin Emeç Stadyumu is Bayrampaşa SK, but they are currently down in the fifth tier Bölgesel Amatör Lig (Regional Amateur League). So sharing the venue is Beyoğlu Yeni Çarşi, who for reasons I couldn’t establish, are not using their usual venue of the Maltepe Hasan Polat Stadyumu, having won promotion via the play-offs at the end of the 2022/23 campaign.
My hotel was around a 15 minute walk to the metro station at Yenikapi, the end of the M1 line. You can buy a credit card style top up card, the Istanbulkart, at any metro station and journeys are very cheap. It also works for the excellent and extensive tram network. It was only four stops from Yenikapi to Bayrampaşa and next to the stadium was an interesting and very busy local market selling all sorts of food and domestic goods.
Bizarrely, entry to the game was triple the price of the higher level game the day before, but was still very cheap at 100 lira (£2.70). The visitors were struggling Afjet Afyonspor, who themselves were a five hour drive south east of the capital. Beyoğlu Yeni Çarşi eased into a 3-0 lead within half an hour and coasted the second half with only one further goal. Just over 200 people watched the game in an interesting stadium surrounded by flats and minarets the punctuated the match by crackling into the call to prayer.
I then caught sight on television of a Galatasaray v Fenerbaçhe game in the Turkish Super Cup, and momentarily alarmed at somehow having missed spotting this epic derby fixture was taking place during my trip, I was mollified by the fact the match was being played in Şanliurfa. This was the city, 800 miles away, of the visitors to Ümraniyespor, and the game was staged there in order to raise money for an area rocked by a devastating earthquake.
In terms of football that was it, but scarcely wasting any moment in this quite incredible city, I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Ístanbul. All too soon my pre-booked early morning taxi (around €30) took me to the newish Ístanbul Airport in the Arnavutköy region some 30 miles north of the city. Be mindful Ístanbul also has another international airport on the Asian side, called the Sabiha Gökçen airport.
"Like all children, I wanted to be a soccer player. I played quite well, in fact I was terrific, but only at night when I was asleep. During the day I was the worst wooden leg ever to set foot on the little soccer field of my country. Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good soccer. I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: “A pretty move, for the love of God.” And when good soccer happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it." Taken from Eduardo Galeno's Soccer in Sun and Shadow
