The Art of Football

(13th December 2020)

The largest and most well-known town that’s near to where I’m staying in the Costa Del Sol is Marbella, since it’s a renowned hub for holiday makers and wealthy foreigners, with its lovely beaches and harbours. Marbella is without a doubt one of my favourite places to visit, so when I first arrived in Spain, I set my sights on visiting all of the football grounds within the town.

The only ground that I’d visited in Marbella previously was the most common one, Estadio Antonio Lorenzo Cuevas, the home of Segunda Division B side Marbella FC. They’re the largest club in the region and have a well-appointed ground, with 2 large seated stands running along either side of the pitch. This time round though, I wanted to prioritise the “other” Marbella clubs that don’t get as much attention…

It may surprise you to find out that there are actually 4 more football grounds within the town, all bar one of them hosting a senior side. There’s also a couple more teams that are within easy reach, being located in the surrounding villages and urbanisations, giving me plenty of reasons to travel there regularly for my football fix. Unusually, there’s two cases of having football grounds that are next door to each other, which seems to be quite a common trend throughout Spain, with particular areas of land being designated for sports. Football is (unsurprisingly) dominant out here, whereas in England you may see a Rugby or Cricket pitch within the same complex.

To the west of the centre you have the Estadio Carlos Sanchez Navarro, which is used by the CD Vasquez Cultural junior and youth teams. I visited them earlier in the season for a Juvenil (Under 19s) Division de Honor game, since they don’t have a senior team and I haven’t noticed any other senior clubs that have used it regularly. All of the other grounds are located to the east of the centre, heading away from the coast, with Marbella FC being the easiest to find on the main road heading towards the A7, so you can’t miss it. If you head behind their ground, you’ll also find another one, being Campo Antonio Serrano Lima, which is home to 7th Tier CD Atlético Marbellí. Continue heading up the hill towards the La Cañada shopping centre and you’ll find the final duo of grounds, tucked in beneath the A7 motorway. They are the Luis Teruel Aguilar, which hosts Marbella FC’s junior sides alongside 6th Tier Atlético Marbella and beside that, further up the hill, is the Arroyo Primero 1, home to Pablo Picasso… That’s not a “typo”, AD Pablo Picasso CF are an actual football team from Marbella.

All of the smaller grounds have got several similarities on paper, with a seated stand running alone one side of the pitch, a bar behind the goal, changing rooms, dugouts, floodlights and a 3G pitch. It’s quite remarkable for a town of this size to have 5 grounds that have (at minimum) got the characteristics of an English Non-League step 6 ground. Certainly my hometown of Tamworth can’t boast that! The only ground out of the five that I haven’t been able to visit currently is that of CD Atlético Marbellí, although I have tried to watch a game there twice and failed on both occasions, due to two postponements without any notice…

After the Covid restrictions were eased for the Costa Del Sol at the start of December, it meant that I was finally able to travel and watch football matches again, with my last game taking place over 6 weeks before. As it would turn out, a double-header featuring two of the aforementioned Marbella clubs presented itself, so it was an opportunity too good to miss. It was perhaps the easiest double-header you could ever do in fact, with the grounds being next door to each other and the kick-off times meaning that I didn’t have a rush in-between games.

First up was a visit to 6th Tier Atletico Marbella for a 12:15pm kick off against UD Algarrobo, with a Sunday midday kick-off being the preferred choice here. Earlier in the season, I decided to become a “socio” (season ticket holder) at the club, which cost a very generous €10, when you consider that a single match costs €5, it’s certainly fantastic value for money. I’ve found that the majority of clubs in the area struggle to get repeat custom, so that make a target, as I’ve noticed that you don’t tend to get as many casual match goers here as you do in England. The strategy works well and I always buy food and drinks to support to the smaller clubs, particularly since it’s uncommon to have any form of merchandise for sale. Atlético are usually a strong side for this division, which is the Málaga regional premier, but they’ve struggled for consistency this season and with Algarrobo being low in the table it was seen as a “must win game”.

Early in the game it seemed as though the visitors were on top, as they squandered two great chances within the first 30 minutes, with the second effectively being an open net, where the shot was blasted over the bar. Marbella hit back though and were keeping the ball well, but couldn’t create a decisive chance, meaning that the game remained goalless at the half-time interval.

The home side responded quickly after the break, with Eneko scoring the first goal of the game only 3 minutes into the second-half, with a well-struck shot into the top corner from distance, helping the hosts to settle some nerves. The lead was doubled just under 20 minutes later, when an Algarrobo defender hit the deck after a 50-50 challenge in the middle of the pitch, which left Borja to run through on goal and loop the ball over the on-rushing goalkeeper. Both teams continued to create chances afterwards and I felt for the the away side, since they must’ve been scratching their heads as to how they didn’t score in this game, with it finally finishing 2-0 to the hosts.

There was some added entertainment during this game as well, thanks to the circus which was taking place throughout the game on the patch of land directly behind the stand. It was quite relaxing to listen to popular songs from the likes of “The Greatest Showman” and various Disney films whilst watching the football.

Leaving the ground soon after the full-time whistle, I pondered how was best to kill the time that I had in-between games and, knowing that all the supermarkets would be closed, I headed for the nearby McDonald’s (which is genuinely very rare for me) to get a quick snack and a drink, settling on a portion of fries and a beer (very healthy) to consume in the afternoon sunshine. After swiftly finishing them off and taking advantage of the free WiFi, it was soon time to head off to my second game of the day, strolling back down the way I’d came from and waiting for a junior game to finish, before entering the ground.

This game was certainly more unusual, it would be another new ground “ticked off” for me and seemed like an interesting match-up, but the biggest draw to the game was the odd and unique name of the home club, Pablo Picasso, or to give them their full name in English, Sports Association Pablo Picasso Football Club. Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell you much about the club, but I know that they’ve been around for 30 years now. Pablo Picasso (the artist) was from Málaga, although I haven’t seen anything linking him to Marbella itself, so I’m not sure what the connection is there. It’s still a great name and a unique connection nonetheless, they do say that football is an art form…

Their ground is very similar to Atlético Marbella’s, with the covered seating stand and bar behind the goal being the only notable parts of the ground, but it was an enjoyable place to relax and watch a football match. The stand looked as though it could seat around 300 people, which was quite impressive given that this was the lowest level of senior football in the region. The pitch itself looked quite small, which was odd because there was a lot of run-off space available, but it didn’t seem to impact the game, as I enjoyed the lovely view from the stand. Looking out from here, directly in front of you and raised above the ground is the A7 motorway, but if you turn to look towards the bar, you’ll get a view of the hills overlooking the town. As the 4pm kick off loomed, the temperature began to cool and my need for a coffee (be sure to always ask for milk) grew stronger, which proved a good choice as it was cheap and lovely.

Today’s match saw Picasso host Juventud Torremolinos’ B team in the 8th Tier, Málaga regional third division. Just because this was a game in the lowest tier doesn’t mean it wasn’t good, as I still rate the standard of football along with the grounds above what we have in England at the same level (which would be equivalent to around step 7). The disappointment was that Pablo Picasso play in a plain black kit, whereas I was hoping for a quirky “work of art” or some reference to the artist on the kit, but no such hope. My first impression of the Torremolinos side was that they looked very young, more like a youth team than one playing men’s football, but they made up for their lack of experience with some very good technical and skilful play. The other thing I noticed about the away side was their squad numbers, since they were all wearing the first team kit with their squad numbers, which ranged from 25 to 50 with the team totalling over 400, which has got to be the highest I’ve seen.

It was a very odd encounter to say the least, as the team that absolutely dominated possession went on to lose the game, with Torremolinos having a minimum of 75% possession (I’d reckon 85% in the first half) but they simply couldn’t find a way to score. They were able to keep the ball really well in their defensive third, but ultimately struggled to create any chances going forward. Unfortunately for them, the only noticeable mistake that they made in the game would cost them to concede the only goal of the game, when in the 15th minute an under hit back-pass to the goalkeeper enabled Picasso’s Moi to loop the ball over the on-rushing keeper and into the net. In the second-half, Torremolinos did muster some attacks, but the hosts dealt with them well and stopped any advances. As the game loomed on, the weather worsened again and so another coffee was quickly consumed to keep me going. As we were approaching sunset, the view overlooking the hills looked even more dramatic. The match eventually finished 1-0 to the home side, who were able to hold out for their first league win of the season. It certainly represented great value for money, given that admission was free. After the full-time whistle, I walked back down the hill and into the town centre, with the weather now very cold and dark, meaning that I couldn’t wait to return home.

Overall it proved to be another successful day of football with this simple and enjoyable double-header, after which my eyes were firmly set on completing another double in different location before the Spanish winter break. All of that to come…

Chris Sharp

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