The Youth of Torremolinos

(8th November 2020)

When I first returned to Spain in September 2020, I had ambitions and set myself some targets to achieve, mainly keeping them simple, such as exploring more parts of the Costa Del Sol than I had done previously and watching as much local football as possible. With both of those in mind, there was one notable place that I had yet to visit in the region that stood out to me, since it’s quite a well-known tourist town and I’d be able to combine it with a visit to the local football club.

The town in question is Torremolinos, commonly known as the cheap and cheerful ‘package holiday’ destination and a popular place for ex-pats. It’s not too surprising, being located very close to Málaga airport and having a lovely long stretch of coastline which is a good enough reason to visit here alone, it’s also fair to say that the town is well catered for the tourists that flock here every summer with plenty of bars, restaurants and shops. I wanted to visit outside of the summer months though, so on a warm Sunday morning in November I made my way from Marbella to see what the place had to offer…

I was lucky that I had my dad for company, as he’d already visited the town on a couple of occasions including watching a match at the local club, Juventud Torremolinos, during the 2019/20 season when they regained promotion to the Tercera Division at the first attempt. Thankfully that meant he knew his way around the centre and how to get to the football ground, which could’ve proved tricky if he didn’t, due to the bus dropping us off only half an hour before kick-off. Everything proved to be relatively straightforward in the end and once we reached the Estadio Municipal El Pozuelo, we had the typical procedure of buying our tickets (standard pricing at €10), filling in a contact information form and having our temperatures checked.

We were given the all-clear and headed into the main stand just under 10 minutes before kick-off, where we found a busy and social affair, with plenty of families and friends meeting up for a drink and kids playing football behind the goal. As the start of the match approached, everyone took to their seats (socially-distanced) and sang along to the home club’s anthem, which seems to be a particularly popular practice here.

The ground itself is quite standard for this level of football, housing a large modern covered seating stand, which gave a great view of the action since it’s raised above the pitch slightly, along with a couple of banks of blocked concrete around the other three sides of the ground. The bar was located behind the goal on the side closest to the entrance and had plenty of seating, which did a steady trade throughout the game. There were a few people scattered around on the concrete blocks but the majority chose to sit in the stand, as it kept you out of the direct sunlight on this warm day.

I must say that the game was excellent, undoubtably my favourite of the season to date, with both teams looking to play open and attacking football from the first whistle to last. The away side, CF Motril, were especially strong on the counter-attack, but they’d actually take an early lead following a corner kick, which led to Paquito scoring after the hosts failed to clear their lines. Half way through the first period they doubled their advantage through striker Juanfran, through a counter-attack, but Torremolinos were still playing far better than the score suggested, with them going into half-time 2 goals behind.

The score line got even worse for the hosts during the second-half, when another quick counter from Motril resulted in a second goal for Paquito, to make it 3-0. With around 15 minutes left to play, the visitors got their 4th goal of the goal following a penalty from Martin, in a match where it seemed like nothing would go the home side’s way. It can be relentless for newly promoted clubs. At this point you’d think that the contest would be over, but the final 10 minutes proved to be anything but uneventful. Firstly, Gerrit scored what seemed to be a consolation goal, but the crowd spurred on Torremolinos, hopeful that they’d pull off an unlikely comeback. They were able to reduce the deficit again through Henares after 87 minutes and had other goal scoring opportunities as well, but unfortunately, it proved to be too little, too late, to make a significant difference and the match ended 4-2 to Motril.

The €10 entry was certainly good value for money, as I’d liken these sides and this particular match to being around National League North / South standard, in terms of the quality of players, their skill and fitness levels, with the game being very enjoyable to watch throughout.

After getting some pastries for lunch and beers from a supermarket, we headed for the beach to spend the mid-afternoon in the sun, walking through the centre past many bars, restaurants and shops, with the majority being closed on a Sunday. The town and beach proved to be much better than I’d previously imagined, so it felt nice to relax and spend time somewhere different to usual. On this autumn weekend it was very peaceful and I really enjoyed my visit.

The week after this match, new Covid restrictions came into place which meant that football was either suspended or taking place behind closed doors, so I’d have to wait over a month for my next football fix. All of that to come soon…

Chris Sharp

(All photos are taken by me, please can you give me credit if you wish to use my photos)