Searching for the Meaning of Football - In the Sex Capital of Europe?

Nick chatting to fans outside Sturm Graz's Merkur Arena stadium

Still on the search for the true meaning of football, Episode 4 of Nick Thomson's new football podcast Around the World in 90 Minutes is out now and where better to continue on this earnest quest than in the self-proclaimed sex capital of Europe. What?

Graz is the capital city of Austria's second largest state of Styria and home to SK Sturm Graz, current champions of Austria's Bundesliga. It is also home to two UNESCO world heritage sites, the futuristic Kunsthaus (be careful how you spell that) Graz exhibition centre and a funicular connecting the city centre to the Schloßberg, a historical site atop a hill from which the world's tallest indoor slide can be taken thus enabling you to return back down the hill very, very quickly. And alongside all the history, culture, thrills and football, Graz has a thriving (and legal) sex industry. Very smart move to take the wife Nick. 

Cheers!

All of the above information is almost certainly news to you, unless you're Austrian of course. So is Austrian football any good? Do they have real football fans? Why would a Brit from Colchester support SK Sturm Graz? And what does Nick sound like when hurtling down a slide? 

For answers to these and other questions, tune in to Episode 4 via the links below.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/around-the-world-in-90-minuets/id1772650811

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5HZALrt0Crw6bHfLE0hzVw

Searching for the Meaning of Football - What's the Craic?

Nick in solitude at Solitude.

Episode 3 of Nick Thomson's new football podcast Around the World in 90 Minutes is out today, searching for the true meaning of football and off to Northern Ireland to visit the oldest football club on the island of Ireland, Cliftonville Football & Athletic Club. Based in north Belfast, a city still scarred by "the troubles", the club has a fan base which bridges historic divides and epitomises the quiet progress made over the last twenty six years since the Good Friday Agreement. 

You don't normally go to a football match for solitude. But you can go to Solitude for a football match. How and why does that make any sense? Well, Solitude just happens to be the name of Cliftonville's stadium and that's where Nick took in Cliftonville v Glenavon in the Northern Ireland Football League (NIFL) Premiership earlier this season, taking the opportunity to speak to fans about what their football club means to them.

Nick not in solitude this time, but rather
with local guide Donzo who provided a
brilliant, concise history of "the troubles".

So, how did the club bridge the historic divide? What's it like to watch football in Northern Ireland? What is the meaning of football? And who on earth is Donzo? For answers to these and other questions tune in to the podcast via the links below and find out.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/around-the-world-in-90-minuets/id1772650811

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5HZALrt0Crw6bHfLE0hzVw

Searching for the Meaning of Football - and Why do Croatia Always Beat England?

In Episode 2 of Nick Thomson's new football podcast Around the World in 90 Minutes, Nick travels to Croatia in his search for the true meaning of football. A stop-off in Zagreb is followed by a trip to Rijeka where the local team HNK Rijeka are currently unbeaten and top of the Croatian First League ahead of rivals Hajduk Split and Dinamo Zagreb. 

Based on the performance of its clubs in European competition, Croatia is positioned nineteenth in the EUFA rankings, eighteen places below England. So why is it that Croatia always beats England when the two countries meet?

Nick takes in the match between Rijeka and fierce rivals Hadjuk Split, talking to the home fans whilst avoiding the away fans who are particularly scary. Why do they think Croatia always beats England? What do they think of English football fans? What is the true meaning of football? And what is smash or grab?

For answers to these and other unsolved mysteries, click on the links below.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/around-the-world-in-90-minuets/id1772650811

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5HZALrt0Crw6bHfLE0hzVw

Searching for the Meaning of Football - Sheffield FC - Where it all Began.

If you're going to launch a new podcast about the true meaning of football, then where do you begin? At the beginning of course and Sheffield FC is where it all began. 

Which is why the first episode of new football podcast Around The World In 90 Minutes starts at the home of football, Sheffield FC, the world's oldest football club.

This new series is about football where there isn't too much money, where any prawn sandwiches are probably washed down with a cup of Bovril and the fans and the players have a drink together after the game. It's real football - the people's game.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/around-the-world-in-90-minuets/id1772650811

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5HZALrt0Crw6bHfLE0hzVw

Magic of the Copa?

Club Deportiva Minera v Real Madrid CF

As a football-loving kid growing up through the sixties and seventies, I remember when the FA Cup was the glory trophy in English football. Whilst it was always recognised that winning the league was the greater footballing achievement, football used to be about the glory and the FA Cup competition was glorious. But that was then. Some time between then and now glory was replaced by money and then, in 2024, money itself was usurped by (the financial interests of) an elite few. How else to explain the Football Association's contempt for its own competition by agreeing to the demands of that elite few - without any meaningful consultation - in banishing replays from Round 1 onwards and scheduling the final on a Premier League weekend, all so that an expansion in the number of European competition fixtures can be accommodated. Forget the glory, the FA Cup is diminished. If not quite death by a thousand cuts, it it is diminished by the actions of it guardians, sweet FA. The magic of the cup replaced by the tragic of the cup. 

But what about the Copa? Obviously, I'm talking about the Copa del Rey, Spanish football's equivalent of the FA Cup. Has the Copa gone the same way as the FA Cup? Following my recent cheeky LaLiga weekend in Madrid (see Rayo Vallecano de Madrid - The Beating Heart of Community Football), I thought it would be rude not to find out and this time the action was close to home or, in this case, my Spanish apartment in Mar de Cristal in the region of Murcia.

The local Spanish team of any note is Tier 4 club Club Deportiva Minera, based in the small town (pop. 1,300) of Llano del Beal. I confess that I have only recently discovered Minera and have attended just the two home games, the first of which I wrote about three months ago (see Loopy LInares Rides Again). Having comfortably disposed of fellow Tier 4 team CD Tudelano in the first round of the Copa, Minera were rewarded with a home tie in the second round against LaLiga outfit Deportivo Alavés, the match being played at FC Cartagena's Estadio Cartaganova in which they prevailed, on penalties after extra time and a 2-2 draw. A genuine giant killing. But the third round, the round of 32, is where the real giants enter the fray. There is a second main cup competition in Spain, the Supercopa de España, now a 4-team format (since 2019/20) between the previous season's LaLiga and Copa del Rey champions and runners up and which now, shamefully, takes place over five days in Saudi Arabia. The four participants in the Supercopa first enter the Copa del Rey in the round of 32 which invariably means the first appearances in the competion of Spanish football's two behemoths, Real Madrid and Barcelona. Seedings and lower division home advantage played their part but it was still a magical moment for the Minera team and supporters, watching the draw live on television, when their round of 32 opponents were confirmed as being Real Madrid, the biggest team in world football.

To slightly less excitement, the same draw saw Tier 2 team FC Cartagena drawn at home to LaLiga side CD Leganés who, incidentally, we went to watch last March in Madrid (see Football Away Days - CD Leganés v CD Mirandés). The two games were to be played twenty seven and a half hours apart at Estadio Cartganova in Cartagena, not much more than twenty minutes in the car from my apartment. As suggested earlier, it would have been rude not to. First up, on the Sunday, was FC Cartagena v CD Leganés.

FC Cartagena have had a torrid season thus far, currently sitting second bottom in LaLiga2 and rapidly becoming known as Cartagena Nil. One might have hoped that a cup match would have enabled the team to play with a little less pressure on their collective shoulders, particularly against higher ranked opponents who themselves have LaLiga survival on their minds following promotion last year. However, despite taking the lead in the seventeenth minute, that was as good as it got for the home team and Leganés didn't really have to break stride in strolling to a 2-1 win in a poor match in front of a sparse crowd. It didn't help that the city of Cartagena was gearing up for the Dia de Los Reyes (Day of the Kings) parade later that evening but clearly the good folk of Cartagena were more bothered about the parade than they were the football. I doubt that there were more than five thousand spectators inside the ground and whilst those that were there did their best to create a supportive atmosphere, that is more than can be said for the Cartagena players who played like they were more bothered about the parade as well. A poor start to my Copa del Rey double-header. 

One week later, FC Cartagena sacked their coach Jandro Castro and are now looking for their third coach of the season.

The Minera fans were concentrated in 
the corner at one end of the stadium
 

Next, on the Monday night, was the big one. Tier 4 Club Deportiva Minera versus Real Madrid CF. The previous night's parade (an annual event held in cities all over Spain on the evening of 5th of January), celebrating the arrival of Melchior, Gaspar and Balthasar to Bethlehem over two thousand years ago may well have overshadowed the previous night's football but what we witnessed today was a modern day Dia de Los Reyes. This was royalty personified and the loyal subjects were out in their thousands to demonstrate their devotion to the cause. In a near sell-out crowd of fifteen thousand, the vast majority were there to honour their heroes from Madrid. Never mind the football, this was a communal worship. I have never seen anything like it in English football. These guys are revered as gods. In fact this was not so much a football match as a spectacular entertainment event, a star studded family show not unlike going to watch the Harlem Globetrotters, or a World Wrestling Entertainment event, where the outcome is pre-determined to ensure that everyone goes home happy. Families with young children, bedecked in their Real Madrid regalia, dominated three of the four stands whilst a small but vociferous band of Minera supporters stood their ground, concentrated in one corner of the stadium. That is not to say that Minera lacked for support but their well-wishers, like myself, were easily outnumbered throughout the rest of the ground. 

Is the Copa del Rey similarly diminished as the FA Cup? In his managerial press conference the day prior to the game, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti said (and I paraphrase) that the Copa was important "only when you're not in it". He would be taking the opportunity to give playing time to some of the fringe squad members but he would not disrespect either the opponent or the competition and to be fair to him he was true to his word. The starting eleven may have included a fair sprinkling of names unfamiliar to me but any starting eleven that includes the name of Luka Modric is okay by me. Together with Eduardo Camavinga, Modric ran the show despite a spirited effort by the Minera team, including a man of the match performance from goalkeeper Fran Martínez. Madrid were 3-0 up at half time and Modric put them 4-0 up ten minutes into the second half. A few minutes later and with the game already comfortably won, Modric was substituted along with Camavinga and two others and Ancelotti delighted the crowd by bringing on superstars Kylian Mbappé and Vinicius Junior, together with Lucas Vázquez and youngster Chema Andrés. It was in danger of becoming embarrassing for Minera but a combination of wasteful finishing and inspired goalkeeping kept the scoreline at four until the 88th minute when Madrid scored their fifth and final goal to put a more realistic shine on proceedings.

So, Madrid won. They're still in it (the Copa) and Ancelotti was able to rest his star players and give others some gametime. A near fifteen thousand crowd went home happy having been entertained and, in the case of the Minera supporters, extremely proud of their team's efforts. The royal visit was over. It had been a genuinely feel-good experience for all involved. But was it real football?

Less than seventy two hours later, Madrid were playing their football over two thousand six hundred miles away in the semi-final of the Supercopa against RCD Mallorca in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Why Saudi Arabia? Forty million euros - that's why. And whilst the four participating clubs do very nicely thank you, it is the Royal Spanish Football Federation (Real Federación Espanola de Fútbol - RFEF) that mops up almost half of this amount. As a fan of one of the participating clubs, you would probably need a cut of this pot yourself in order to afford to go support your team. I would hazard that the RFEF top brass don't do too badly though.

Despite losing the final of the Supercopa three days later to fierce rivals FC Barcelona, Madrid returned to Spain with a few extra million in the bank and no apparent jet-lag as they progressed through to the quarter finals of the Copa with an extra-time victory over LaLiga rivals Celta Vigo. For the Real Madrid owners, bankers and accountants and perhaps even Carlo Ancelotti himself, I suspect that the Copa del Rey competition is now viewed largely as an insurance policy to boost the prospect of ongoing participation in the Supercopa and its riches in the unlikely event of their failing to finish either top or runners-up in LaLiga every season. Such is the history and success of Real Madrid - officially recognised by FIFA as the "greatest club of the 20th century" - that the club exists in a football universe of its own, transcending its home country football boundaries in a way that no English club can match.To be honest, nor would I want them to. This is a model that has no need or place for the traditional football supporter.

The FA Cup has gone the way of the EFL Cup before it in that the big clubs are only really interested if and when they find themselves in the last eight of the competition. Otherwise, Premier League survival is the be all and end all. The Copa del Rey may well have gone the same way although the competition format at least lends competitive advantage to the smaller clubs in the earlier rounds with home advantage, if not the potential for financial advantage from an away tie and/ or possibility of replay. 

Football always used to be about the glory and, if I am to be completely fair, it still is. It's just that nowadays the glory isn't necessarily to be found where it once was and it costs a lot more money to achieve which fewer clubs - and their traditional supporter base - can afford. That's business I guess. Things change. Progress. Not everyone likes it but do they have a choice? Well, actually, yes. And that's what I love about football. Ultimately, football glory and success is determined by what happens on the pitch. Money helps, sometimes monopolises, but it isn't a guarantee. Real Madrid may have all the financial advantages but they don't win everything. Their challenge is to maintain those advantages but if things go wrong on the pitch - just ask Manchester United. And in the meantime, clubs like Tier 4 side Deportiva Minera are looking to build on last season's promotion. Can they do so? Can they take that next step up to the Spanish third Tier? I don't know. But for an admission fee of fifteen euros for home games, I'm looking forward to watching them try. And if they could take that next step? Well, wouldn't that be glorious.  

Rayo Vallecano de Madrid - The Beating Heart of Community Football

In an age where corporate money rules the football roost and global brand clubs are now no more representative of their local community than I am of the girl guides association, the opportunity to witness a collision between the forces of good and bad in football was simply too hard to resist. And thus it was that flights to Madrid were purchased for the Sunday morning of the matchday between Rayo Vallecano versus Real Madrid. Flights (plural) as Rayo were to be the subject of (my nephew) Nick's podcast  Around The World In 90 Minutes - Searching for the Meaning of Football and every good podcast producer needs a willing bag man. It also helps when you get your dates right and, as it transpired, we were due to land in Madrid  around twelve hours after the match had finished. Doh!

Nick was already committed on dates but I found a work-around with a flight on the Saturday to Alicante and then a two and a half hour train journey to Atocha station, Madrid where I arrived at just before 7.00 pm, two hours before kick-off.

Rayo Vallecano is based in the Vallecas district of Madrid, a fiercely working class area to the south east of the city centre, only a handful of stops on the metro from Atocha.The area was renowned for its antipathy towards the Franco regime and the football club, through its fan base, is known for its strong left wing, anti-fascist and anti-capitalism views. This has manifested, over the years, in many examples of direct involvement in and assistance to the community by the club and its fans, and also in various protests and stunts over the years including a mock fumigation of the stadium after it was discovered that the club president had invited two leaders of the right wing VOX political party to a match. The relationship between club president Raúl Martín Presa and the club's fan base is not an easy one - more of this later.

I arrived - ticketless - at the Estadio de Vallecas an hour before kick-off. With Real Madrid in town, the match had already been declared as fully sold-out but the ramshackle, three-sided ground - capacity 14,700 - has a ticketing infra-structure to match in that tickets can only be purchased from the taquillas (ticket windows) at the ground in the days leading up to a match. The taquillas were now all boarded closed but I tried my luck in an office underneath the main stand. The four guys in front of me were turned away. My turn.

Me: Have you got any tickets left?

Her: How many do you want?

Me: One.

Her: Yes, I have one left.

Result. Mind, it wasn't cheap at €95 but it was face value and legitimate. I was in.

The match itself was a classic. Rayo tore into their posh guests and took the lead on four minutes with a looping header to the far post. And on thirty six minutes they did it again with another looping header, again to the far post. Missing the injured Mbappe and with other big names on the bench, Real still had Modric and Bellingham pulling the strings in midfield and throughout the ninety minutes, even at two-nil down, they played like a team that knew they were going to win. This mindset appeared to be vindicated when they took a 3-2 lead in the fifty sixth minute although Rayo upped their game again and equalised eight minutes later. Big names Ceballos, Camavinga and Vinicius Jr all came on for Real in the second half but the match finished 3-3 with both teams having chances late on to win it. 

A special mention for Vinicius Jr - what an arse he is. Such a talented footballer but he plays the pantomime villain then wonders why the crowd give him stick. The LaLiga president Javier Tebas has since criticised the chants of "Tonto" directed to the player by the Rayo crowd. Basically, this translates to "idiot" and from my seat high up in the main stand, that is exactly what he was as he stamped his feet and repeatedly held his arms out for prolonged periods of time when he didn't get a decision from the referee. I repeat, what an arse.

I guess for all his histrionics though, Vinicius Jr played his part in adding to a spectacularly atmospheric occasion. There was a fair smattering of Real fans amongst the expensive seats but despite the edge of a local derby, there was no hint of bad feeling or potential trouble. In fact, the more I experience Spanish football at LaLiga and LaLiga2 level, the more I am struck by two, what might otherwise appear to be, conflicting observations. Compared to English football, there is more passion and fanaticism on display yet it takes place within a safer feel, more family friendly environment. All three sides of the ground were giving it their all for Rayo, led by the ultras behind the goal known as Los Bukaneros ("the buccaneers" - they having previously self proclaimed Vallecas to be a port city despite it being two hundred miles from the nearest coast!). All three of Rayo's goals were celebrated to a background of The Final Countdown blasted out over the tannoy. At €95 I may have paid top dollar for my ticket but I definitely got my money's worth.

Nick arrived the following morning. His consolation Madrid derby match was Atlético Madrid versus Getafe and we arrived at the Metropolitano Stadium at noon, two hours ahead of kick-off. Atlético moved the near seven miles across town to the Metropolitano back in 2017. It is a spectacular 70,000 capacity stadium with large external concourse providing access to food outlets and bars and a myriad of souvenir stalls. Two large beers (1 litre each) set me back €20 but the sky was blue, the sun was out and it was all very conduscive to a relaxed pre-match atmosphere. Inside the stadium, all seats were accompanied by a free santa hat which was very welcome as the sunshine failed to penetrate most areas. Opponents Getafe CF are based to the south of Madrid city centre, around ten miles from Atlético's new home, and started the match as firm underdogs. The match itself was fairly poor fayre. Atlético were sloppy in possession, best summed up by star player Antoine Griezmann being substituted in the sixty third minute. It took only another six minutes though before second half substitute Alexander Srloth scored the only goal of the game and Atlético really should have scored more thereafter but it was not to be. Getafe paid the price for being too conservative throughout the match. They could have equalised very late on and although they wouldn't have deserved it, perhaps Atlético would have, such was the lethargy of their display. Nonetheless, victory was secured by Madrid's second biggest team and the vast majority of the 60,000 crowd departed the stadium in high spirits. 

But this weekend, for Nick and I, was really all about Rayo Vallecano so we headed back to Vallecas where I was able to show him the scene of last night's pre-Christmas cracker and we would hopefully be able to meet with and talk to some Rayo fans for the podcast. We had also arranged to meet with Jyothis (pronounced Jotus) George, a young man who has been working as social media manager at Real Madrid over the past twelve months. Jyothis proved to be good company over the next five hours and we did indeed find and talk to some Rayo fans at a local bar before moving on to another bar to take in the late match on TV, a 9.00 pm encounter between FC Barcelona and (yet another Madrid-based LaLiga team) CD Leganés.

There is no doubt that all teams have their fanatical followers but, not unlike Manchester United at Old Trafford, Jyothis was of the opinion that the atmosphere on matchdays at Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabéu stadium now suffers from an excess of football tourism with too many "tourists" in the ground there to experience the atmosphere rather than contribute to it. Today of course, Nick and I had essentially been football tourists at Atlético although it felt like we were the only two in an otherwise genuinely fanatical sea of support. Notwithstanding the seven mile move to a shiny new spectacular stadium in 2017, Atlético are big enough in Madrid to command a spectacular level of support whilst not being so big as to warrant global brand status. Rather like second homes in Wales, global brand status drives up the prices to a point where only the wealthy can afford to buy and the locals are priced out of the market. So then, global brand status - blessing or curse? I know what I think.

Bearing in mind that this weekend was all about Rayo Vallecano, by coincidence it transpires that Atlético - first formed as Athletic Club Surcursal de Madrid in 1903 - was originally based in Vallecas although had moved elsewhere by the time Rayo was founded in 1924.

On the Monday ahead of our flight home we met with Alejandro (Alex) Castellón, journalist, author of Rayo Vallecano: Un Equipo de Barrio (a neighbourhood team) and proud Rayo supporter. The consistent message we received, from Alex and other Rayo fans we spoke to over the weekend, was how their football club is the manifestation of their pride, in their community. Compared to the giants of Real and Atlético, Rayo is a small club and yet it consistently punches above its weight. The club first achieved Tier 1, LaLiga status in 1978 and whilst it has yo-yo'd between divisions including a couple of stints back in Tier 3 since then, this current season is its fourth consecutive back in the top tier. Despite this recent relative success, the relationship between club president Raúl Martín Presa and Los Bukaneros is a strained one. The reasons behind this are numerous - too numerous to retain the reader's interest in a short-read blog - but Alex summed this up rather nicely with the following analogy. The fans and players and everyone associated with the club are all on the motorway driving in the same direction. Raúl Martín Presa is the only one driving in the opposite direction.

One suspects that Rayo, as a club, may struggle to continue punching above its weight unless some serious progress is made in updating and upgrading the stadium and its infra-structure. The club doesn't own the ground, the Madrid city council does. Both parties (the club party being Raúl Martín Presa) prefer the prospect of a stadium move but this would almost certainly mean a move away from Vallecas and this prospect is quite simply anathema to the fans. Too often in football we hear of the owner's ambition not matching that of the fans. That seems almost certainly to be the case here - but in reverse. Raúl Martín Presa sees a ground move as the road to progress. The fans see it as the death of their club.

It's a difficult circle to square. From the research I undertook ahead of this trip and from what I witnessed and heard during it, I don't think I have ever come across a football club so invested with its community and vice versa. To separate the two could be interpreted as an act of vandalism. So, what do the Rayo fans want? According to Alex, the most important thing for them is that the club continues to retain its LaLiga status, that and the opportunity for glory via the Copa del Rey. Oh, and to remain in Vallecas obviously. These aspirations didn't ought to be mutually exclusive but it does mean that someone will have to spend some money on the stadium some time soon before the current state of disrepair and dilapidation converts to safety warnings and closures. 

Nick and I were both really quite taken with Vallecas and the people we met. You won't find it on one of the Madrid tourist open-top bus routes but it was authentic Spain, working class, earthy and friendly. Nick got plenty of content for his podcast which will launch in Q1 2025. You can access the podcast via these links;

Apple: Around The World In 90 Minutes

Spotify: Around The World In 90 Minutes

Sheffield FC versus Real Madrid CF

The FIFA Order of Merit is the highest honour awarded by FIFA and is normally awarded to people who are considered to have made a significant contribution to the game of association football. Recipients of the award make for a stellar list of players, managers, officials, administrators and "other individuals" but as for football clubs themselves, only two have been deemed worthy of the award. At FIFA's centenial congress in 2004, the two clubs so honoured were Real Madrid CF and - checks notes, surely not (?), checks notes again - Sheffield FC.

Surely, that must mean (my club) Sheffield Wednesday? Or maybe Sheffield's second club, Sheffield Wednesday reserves? But no. There is indeed another football club in Sheffield and not only are Sheffield FC one of just two football club recipients of FIFA's highest honour, they happen to be the oldest football club in the world. In conjunction with Nick and Amy (my nephew and his wife) and his soon-to-be-launched football podcast Around The World In 90 Minutes, we set off from Manchester on a cold Autumn morning to find out more. 

Strictly speaking, Sheffield FC's Home of Football stadium in Dronfield doesn't actually, quite, fall within Sheffield's city limits. But, as club historian Andy Dixon points out, the stadium is based on Sheffield Road with a Sheffield postcode and a Sheffield telephone number. And in any event there are plans, with financing in place, for a move to a new stadium just a mile or so up the road which will see the club safely back within the city limits in the not too distant future. In the meantime however the club finds itself, football-wise, at the bottom of the Northern Premier League East division and in danger of slipping into english football's ninth tier.

Recently charged with responsibility for getting the club out of this relegation hole is new first team manager Vill Powell who was gracious enough to grant Nick an interview after we accidentally hijacked him in the club car park. Nick's podcast subject - a search for the true meaning of football - makes Sheffield FC an obvious opener for the upcoming initial series of eight episodes, due to launch in early 2025. There are four later episodes already in the can which have seen Nick and Amy visit SK Sturm Graz in Austria and Cliftonville in Northern Ireland amongst others, with further trips planned to Rayo Vallecano in Madrid and Corinthian-Casuals FC in London. I have a suspicion that Vill may already have cracked it when answering Nick's question of "what is the meaning of football". To paraphrase Vill's response, football is almost a language in itself, about community, friendship and belonging. Obviously though we still need to do plenty of research, just in case he's wrong!

Nick with Sheffield FC club historian Andy Dixon.

Andy Dixon lent Nick a good thirty minutes of his time on interview talking about the club, its history and the duty of care everyone at the club feels they owe in preserving the legacy that led to the award of the FIFA Order of Merit. He has had plenty of practice over the years with fans, reporters and film crews from all over the world descending on the club because of its status as the world's oldest football club. The portacabin housing the directors tea room is bedecked with football memorabilia, much of it reflecting the origins of the visitors themselves as opposed to historic occasions involving the club. One such is a small, framed tapestry likeness of Nelson Mandela with the inscription "Presented to Sheffield FC - Boots for Africa - Apartheid Museum. Johannesburg. South Africa 22nd June 2010". Whoever presented it must have been embarrassed that it looked a bit cheap because the frame has a 10 Rand note tucked into the top right corner to perhaps add a little more gravity to the gesture.

Incidentally, Nelson Mandela is one of the "other individuals" to have been awarded the FIFA Order of Merit. He got his in 1998. Can't help thinking that was a bit of bandwagon jumping on FIFA's part, at the time, though. 

Internet research shows the club nicknamed variously as The Club, The Ancients and The First although there is an argument (only in my mind, to be fair) that they could have been known as The Bedouins, such was their nomadic existence prior to the purchase of their current Coach & Horses ground in 2001. Named after the public house which fronts the ground on Sheffield Road and provides an obvious focal point for all associated with the club, the current stadium is more officially known as the Home of Football Ground but I suspect this title will eventually sit more naturally with the new stadium once built. 

Today's opponents were Emley AFC who came into the match sitting in third position, having been promoted from the ninth tier last season, and with a decent away support in a crowd of just under seven hundred. The match itself was a bit meh on a very soft pitch with the two teams fairly evenly matched throughout. Sheffield had finished the first half quite strongly but I remarked to Nick at half time that the game had a feel about it, particularly with Sheffield bottom of the table, to suggest that the visitors would win it 1-0 deserved or otherwise. And that is exactly what happened although the winning goal in the 78th minute by Emley's no.7 Luke Parkin was a real gem after he curled it over the keeper from thirty yards out. It was a goal worthy of winning any match.

Emley's win leaves them in third place in the league, two points below the top two but with a game in hand on both. As for Sheffield the defeat leaves them rock bottom, four points below the next team and eight points from safety but, after only nine matches, there is still a long, long way to go. Manager Vill Powell will know that for the foreseeable future it is all about picking up points and thus confidence. If they can do that - and they won't come up against many better teams than today's opponents - then the league position will look after itself.

After the match and ahead of our train back to Sheffield and on to Manchester, we took advantage of the Coach & Horses and it's impressive array of Thornbridge Brewery draft ales (a bit pricey I thought but delicious nonetheless). Players and officials of both clubs were also soon in attendance and mixing with fans.

Earlier during the day we spoke with an Emley fan, previously a Leeds United season ticket holder, who told us that he had become disillusioned with the elite game due to pricing and difficulty in obtaining tickets. He did so whilst enjoying a pint at pitchside. Such disillusionment with the top level game was a common theme amongst those we spoke to today and who clearly appreciate the fayre being served at this level. 

I guess you can't really get any more elite than Real Madrid CF. Officially recognised by FIFA as the "greatest club of the 20th century" (hence the award of their Order of Merit), I wonder if the pricing and experience of watching the greatest club of the 20th century is now more akin to tourism football as opposed to real football? The pricing and experience of watching the world's oldest club is very definitely real football. Community, friendship and belonging. Nice one Vill. 

Sheffield FC versus Real Madrid CF? No contest.

You can access Nick's podcast via the following links;

Apple: Around The World In 90 Minutes

Spotify: Around The World In 90 Minutes