Like A Local Day #2: My favourite football stadium
Last week on the first ever Like A Local Day I asked you to share your favourite local football bar.
There were some terrific responses — from Sarajevo to Oslo, from Boston to Trencin — but the one that captured my imagination the most was a comment from Teddy in Manchester.
He suggested ‘Course You Can Malcolm’, a Saturday afternoon show in Bury, Manchester that accompanies FC United of Manchester games and features belly dancers, poetry, local bands (amongst other things!) and rather excellently, regional ale. Teddy’s quirky response means he wins the lovely Pelé Sports T-shirt for this week.
You can read a great round-up of all the best responses from last week in the new post ‘My Favourite Football Bar‘.
Well done Terry, and big thank-you to everybody for their gloriously diverse and detailed responses. You have kicked off Like A Local Day in true style, setting the bar delightfully high in the process.
But this week I want you to get out of the bars, away from the TVs and share two things.
Pelé Sports Edson Electric Crew T-Shirt
First, your local football stadium — the quirks, the best place to sit, the colours, a taste of the atmosphere. Second, your favourite football stadium ever. That way, you can share something beautiful you have experienced on your football travels as well as sharing with the community something unique about the atmosphere you experience on a daily basis for people who may never have done so.
Remember, Like A Local Day is all about give and take so share, share, share. And of course, the best responses from this week will be compiled with the best of the best winning the Pelé Sports Pelada shirt.
What is Like A Local Day?
Like A Local Day is a weekly feature sponsored by Pelé Sports that encourages football-lovers to share their local knowledge and help spread Futebol Bonito with the Football Nomad community.
It is based on the principle of give and take, that someone living in Tokyo might have information about football travel and culture that someone living in Bratislava might want to know and vice-versa.
It is about opening channels of knowledge between people all over the world, controlled for quality by Football Nomad, to share information to help people experience football travel more authentically and encourage them to do it more often.
Like A Local Day happens every Thursday on Football Nomad. To keep in touch just follow the blog on Twitter or Facebook.
My favourite football stadium is Maracanã. It was the first one in the world that let every football fan with their open mouth: Ohhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!
apostolos nikolaidis a.k.a. leoforos stadium in athens…the old home of panathinaikos f.c. small,run down,gritty,but unbelievable atmosphere on game day especially the ultras section gate 13 .
Maracanã is my vote
My local stadium – Bluetongue Stadium on the Central Coast. We have palm trees…’nuff said.
Most people don’t rate the Central Coast, calling us Sea Bogans etc etc (Even though beachside properties are far too expensive for the average bogan to afford, unless your Tinkler but God forbid that man buys a beachside property and Australia is subject to seeing him donning a pair of budgie smugglers…) but I love our team, and love our stadium.
One of the first things that’s noticed is we only have one end…which may seem odd, but we get one heck of a view! The end thats missing however, is lined with palm trees and generally a kick-ass view of the sunset at half time.
I generally sit in Bay 16, the Active Supporter bay. Which, as it’s behind the goal posts, isn’t the best viewing area of the stadium…but it’s probably the most fun. We have the Yellow Army which are mostly situated there, with the mega phone, pullovers and standards, and we don’t take ourselves too seriously. You’ll hear “Bay 16 shout outs”, a hell of a lot of “Huzzahs!” and see the odd inflatable shark fly by your head every now and then.
If you want a good view of the game, best to stick to the Western Side, (Eastern is typically more “Family” and you’ll get a lot of kids…so depending if your more family oriented or not I suppose). You have your alcohol-free bay in Bay 2, and the whole stadium is non-smoking. Oh, and we serve full-strength beer. None of this Mid-Strength crap!
My favourite football stadium ever? Well, I haven’t been as lucky to see football around the world as yet (in 28 days, that will all change…) so mine are limited to the stadiums around Australia.
Apart from my local (which I love…) I’d have to say either AAMI Park (we were there for a game in February when it was absolutley PISSING down with rain, and looked like it would be cancelled…the drainage system was so good, the game went ahead…we were all in shock.
http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/167337_500540051219_711661219_6746094_3072020_n.jpg
Plus, the all-round viewing is fantastic. The only downside is the crappy corner the away fans are shoved in.
The other would have to be Adelaide, Hindmarsh Stadium. The stadium itself is not brilliant, but everytime I have gone, it’s been a sea of red with the fans. Their actual active support may not be huge, but they are committed. I have been there a few times, and always had locals come by and say hello to us, wish us luck and comment on how far we’ve travelled. Derbies are always fun for the banter and rivalry, but sometimes its nice to be able to go to a game and feel welcomed and just enjoy yourself, which is what I feel at Hindmarsh. And ripper sausage rolls too!
My favourite is Celtic Park.
I lost count how many times I’ve shot there, but it has the best atmosphere in all the stadiums I visited. Especially during Old Firm matches and big European nights. Unfortunately, the football played on the pitch do not mirror its sublime atmosphere.
2nd is Stade Velodrome, home of the OM. Great singing and the French does it the best. Their chants and songs put the ones in Parc de Prince to shame.
The worst are Camp Nou and Bernabeu. Completely overrated. Spanish people (except for the ones down south) are the most boring crowd in all of football.