About a lifetime ago I worked for a bank in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar which, for those who don't know, is located pretty much at the southernmost tip of Spain. One of our clients went by the name of Mr Linares and he was a bit of a nutter, so much so that he was known among the staff as "Loopy Linares". One day, said client came into the banking hall and presented himself to the receptionist saying that he wanted to speak to someone about his account. The receptionist phoned upstairs, speaking to my colleague Joe, to pass on his request. "Is it Loopy Linares?" Joe asked. "Just a minute" the receptionist answered, I'll ask him".
Nooooooooooooo! Too late. Fortunately, Loopy lived up to his name and, oblivious to this sleight, was ushered upstairs presumably content in the knowledge that he would spend the next thirty minutes or so wasting someone's time.
The Spanish football pyramid is a bit loopy as well. Tiers 1 and 2 are not dissimilar to the English Premier League and Championship with La Liga (20 teams) and La Liga 2 (22 teams). However, Tier 3 (equivalent to our League 1) consists two divisions of 20 teams each and Tier 4 (i.e. our League 2) is made up of five divisions of 18 teams each. The Spanish Tier 5 (Tercera Federación) consists eighteen divisions of 18 teams each. That's a lot of football clubs, 496 to be exact, but there again Spain is a big country.
To the best of my knowledge, our old friend Loopy had nothing to do with the city of Linares, in southern Spain, which has a population in excess of 56,000 and a football team called Linares Deportivo. Indeed, the city has had a football team in various guises since 1909 although its latest incarnation has been in existence only since 2009 as a replacement for a dissolved predecessor. Since its rebirth, the club has largely bounced between Tiers 3 and 4 but now finds itself back in Tier 4 following relegation last year. However, a good start to the new season saw the club in second place in Segunda Federación Group 4 ahead of their trip to Club Deportiva Minera for Gameweek 6.
The main (only) entrance to Estadio Municipal Angel Celdran, home to Club Deportiva Minera. |
As the name suggests the stadium is a municipal facility, owned by the city council who have committed to spend around €150,000, primarily on the installation of a new artificial pitch (now installed) plus improvements to the stadium lighting, changing rooms and toilet facilities. Stadium capacity is said to be 2,000 although the enthusiastic crowd which greeted the players was substantially less than that figure, perhaps around the 300 mark (?).
Local man José Blaya, from nearby Los Nietos, is the Minera chairman who has brought new ambition and success to the club in his two year tenure. Indeed, the Águilas Rojas (Red Eagles) were runaway champions of Group 13 last season finishing ten points ahead of their nearest rivals. Los Nietos is home to a small(ish) expat community, many of whom love their football, and it was with eight of whom - the "Los Nietos Massive" - I met at the game for my first taste of Spanish Tier 4 football.
José is clearly appreciative of this international support group for his club. For our €15 entrance fee, we were treated to reserved seats, complementary beer delivered to us at half time by the chairman's lovely wife plus a complementary cool-down shower courtesy of the pitch-side sprinklers. This was all very welcome bearing in mind the early October, midday kick-off with a temperature in the mid to high twenties.The sprinklers proved to be very welcome, as did the complementary beers courtesy of the club chairman. |
Minera's opening five matches had seen them win twice, draw twice and lose once so a pretty steady start to life in Tier 4, suggesting that the new playing squad had adapted quickly to their new challenge. And after today's scrappy 1-0 victory against Linares, they have moved up to fifth in the table (play-off positions) only one point behind today's opponents who remain in second place, level on points with table-topping Xerez CD.
I have described the win as "scrappy" because the only goal of the game was exactly that although the match itself was fairly evenly contested with the skill level generally better than I might have expected. Players looked comfortable on the ball with plenty of quick passing movements albeit chances created were at a premium. The moment of the match for me was a first half, flying save by Minera's goalkeeper Fran Martinez from a well placed, looping header by the Linares no.4 Rafa Ortiz.
Two other Minera players who caught the eye were no.15 Damian Petcoff, a 34 year old Argentinian midfielder, who very definitely knows how to pass a ball and No.23 Pipo, a feisty little winger who when he wasn't busy chuntering at the referee or opposition players was busy chuntering with himself.
The Minera ultras assemble for the second half. |
These are exciting times for Club Deportiva Minera. For me this was a real football experience. Real people. Real community. Real good fun. A bit loopy in fact.
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