Football Nomad

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.

This article is an edited collection of the best responses from the recent Like A Local Day question that focused on local football bars. I hope it helps to inspire you to travel to far away lands with the strangest of football folk.

Please feel encouraged to share your own favourite football bar in the comments at the end of the post. It’s a great way to spread the word amongst the Football Nomad community and generate the spirit of Like A Local Day.

Not Out — The Hague, Netherlands

Yesterday I arrived in Barcelona to begin a 10-day holiday in Spain.

While I will be using the time to relax, take in the sights and do some obligation-free writing, I hope to find some time over the next week and a bit to share what’s going on in this beautiful country.

The colours!

So stay tuned to the blog and indeed my Twitter account to keep in touch.

And for those wondering, Like A Local Day will be back again this Thursday, complete with a round-up of all the great suggestions from last week, the announcement of the competition winner and a new question for this week.

But that’s it for now: I’m off to the beach to enjoy a Estrella with A Football Report‘s Eric Beard.

Ciao!

Get involved in the Football Nomad community via Facebook or Twitter.

It’s an exciting step forward today with the first ever Like A Local Day post on Football Nomad.

As football ticket prices around the world continue to rise, many of the most loyal and die-hard fans simply cannot afford to watch their team play live. Instead these fans cram into football bars around the world and create an authentic and atmospheric alternative to going to the stadium.

So this week, for the first ever Like A Local Day, I’m asking you to share with us all your favourite local football bar. Let us know where in the world it is and what makes it so special? Do you have a particular story that sums it all up? What makes it a place that others could go to experience football like a local?

Just leave a comment on this post with your responses.

It might also be handy to include the team you support as well as some information about yourself, just to add some context, but that’s completely up to you.

Pelé Sports Grand Master Crew T-Shir

The most interesting/creative/heart-warming responses will be compiled and featured in next week’s Like A Local Day while the VERY BEST will win a terrific Grand Master Crew shirt from the Pelé Sports Pelada range as a thank-you for their contribution to the community.

So get involved in Local A Local Day, share your story and help turn Football Nomad into something special.

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 with the Football Nomad community.

It is based on the principle of give and take, that someone living in Lisbon might have information about football travel and culture that someone living in Vienna 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 will be happening every Thursday on Football Nomad. To keep in touch just follow the blog on Twitter or Facebook.

When I launched this blog on the eve of the 2010 World Cup my goal was simple: to help people experience football like the local. My vision was to attract a community of football-loving readers from around the world who would come together, share their local knowledge and help each other out.

But so far Football Nomad has failed.

You see, up to this point very little of the content on Football Nomad has focused on providing the right sort of information to achieve this goal. So far it’s simply been a collection of football travel posts and videos from yours truly, some interesting football culture links and some football photography from around the world.

Decent content, yes, but nothing remarkable. Nothing truly unique.

And the community? There’s 250 people subscribed to the blog by email, 1000 who are part of the Facebook page and a further 300 who keep up to date via Twitter. It’s not small by any means but nobody is really talking to one another. Nobody is really sharing what they know or learning from one another.

But that’s all about to change — and you’re going to help me.

You see, I have come up with a way to build the community on Football Nomad. A way to get the readers speaking to one another and sharing their special knowledge about the culture of the game. A way to grow Football Nomad, to give it the content it needs to achieve the goal of helping people experience football like a local.

It is called Like A Local Day and it launches later today.

Like A Local Day is a weekly feature sponsored by Pelé Sports that encourages football-lovers to share their local knowledge with the Football Nomad community.

It is based on the principle of give and take, that someone living in Lisbon might have information about football travel and culture that someone living in Vienna 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.

So how will it work?

Every Thursday I will ask readers to share their knowledge about some football culture they have experienced in the world. It could be info on the best way to get tickets to an AS Roma game, a brilliant bar to watch football in Bordeaux or a terrific football museum spotted in Valencia. Anything that will help someone experience the football culture of a place more like a local.

Each week I will ask a specific question about football travel and readers can leave a comment with their responses. This means that others reading can immediately see and benefit from the knowledge of others and the channels of communication will be open. Additionally, I will look to collate the best responses regularly into focused content that everybody interested in football travel and culture will find interesting.

As an added incentive for you guys to share, the best response each week will receive some great clothing from the excellent people at Pelé Sports.

I should reiterate again the goal of Football Nomad is to help people experience football like the local. By tapping into the knowledge of thousands of football-loving locals from around the world we have the ability to share this knowledge and make this goal a reality.

So get involved in Local A Local Day, share your story and help turn Football Nomad into something special.

The first ever Like A Local Day post will be published on Football Nomad shortly. Stay tuned via Facebook or Twitter for more details.