The Cauldron Gibraltar does not need a mini Bernabéu

I read with great interest the article by Kenneth Asquez in this newspaper entitled: “Nordic influence and the remarkable success of Faroe Islands’ football”.

In it he explains how a tiny, remote nation represents one of the most remarkable footballing success stories in recent years.

The Faroe Islands’ journey is not one of overnight success, it is about a strong football culture built over generations.

Asquez describes the infrastructure as: “22 full-size and 40 small-size artificial pitches located throughout the country and used year-round. All are open and outside of training hours anyone can walk in – even the national stadium – with a ball under their arm and play.”

When the plans for the Europa Sports Complex were presented to the DPC, there were complaints about an existing football/basketball cage being removed from the Harding’s Battery area.

The then Minister for Sport, Steven Linares, poured scorn on those protesting and said that, once the new stadium was completed, anyone would be able to use the pitch; and surely a huge AstroTurf field would be much better than a small, rusty old cage?

Fast forward to now and yes, you guessed it, nobody is allowed to set foot on the ESC pitch unless they are part of an official team and a new cage has never been constructed despite there being space for one. Those cages are the rare pockets of land where children can kick their first ball about, but Government and the GFA seem to misunderstand the concept of grass roots.

Remember when the idea of building a multi-storey car park on top of the Hargraves pitch was mooted? People power ruled again with an online petition and the idea was scrapped; these urban spaces are crucial for a population who mainly live in apartments.

Despite being in UEFA for over thirteen years with all the income that entails, our youth teams continue to scramble for places to train, many having to go over to Spain, yet our Government is starstruck by the idea of a huge national stadium.

Kenneth Asquez also brings to light an extremely serious issue which has gone under the radar.

The GFA have been writing to clubs in England seeking assistance to identify players who might be eligible to play for Gibraltar and committed to provide these players with the support and opportunities to progress within Gibraltar’s national setup. (Not sure how that’s going to work out with the government’s new registration rules.)

Don’t the GFA believe in the Gibraltar-born players of whom we have hundreds? Why spend ridiculous amounts of money on a new national stadium which far exceeds our demands while at the same time seeking to recruit players from the UK who have a tentative connection with Gibraltar? It’s truly shocking.

In 2017, the Gibraltar government sold the Victoria Stadium to GFA National Stadium Limited for a snip at £16.5 million.

Much like in Andorra, the GFA were given special dispensation to have under 4,000 seats (we struggle to fill 2000 seats in competitive internationals, and nobody wants to play in an echo chamber).

However, in 2022, the GFA unveiled an extravagant 8,000-seater ‘venue’ complete with shopping mall, luxury apartments and a hotel, all costing £100 million.

There has been public outcry and rightly so. We are led to believe that if we don’t construct a Cat 4, 8000-capacity stadium locally then Gibraltar cannot host World Cup Qualifiers.

This is simply not true.

For years, our fans and players have been forced to travel all the way to Faro to watch home matches when it turns out that was unnecessary.

The last two competitive internationals were held at Europa Point after a few tweaks here and there made the venue compatible; surely those ‘tweaks’ could have been carried out at Victoria Stadium years ago?

When you look at the photos of the proposed new stadium, they jump out from the page as a supersized carbuncle which will greet pedestrians walking into Gibraltar.

This mini Bernabéu is built right up to the pavement, a hideous wall of glass.

The images clearly show that no new training pitches are added. When questioned we are told, “do not fret, there’s going to be training pitches at Rosia in front of the Nuffield Pool.”

Seriously? The Government are now earmarking any bits of public land for the use of football when the incredibly wealthy GFA promised to build a one-stop-shop for Gibraltar football on the Victoria Stadium site.

Why aren’t the Gibraltar government pushing for the original plans with all the grass roots facilities which UEFA would fund?

What is concerning is that Minister after Minister seem bewitched by the GFA hierarchy and believe all the hype.

Minister Bruzon was caught out when he talked about a “Category 6 or 8 stadium” (there’s no such thing) and now we are told that we must have a huge wall of luxury flats to the south in order to contain ‘special’ obligatory floodlights.

Meanwhile, Andorra has upgraded their football facilities with a new stadium at a cost of approximately €14 million.

It has a capacity of 5,500 spectators, features a heated hybrid pitch and meets all the necessary UEFA requirements. Why haven’t we done the same?

This grandiose scheme is without purpose and will not provide what our local clubs, youth teams and spectators require.

Our land is precious, and we should use it wisely.

If Gemma Vasquez wants to win the Nigel vs. Gemma title fight, then taking a lead on this could be her sucker punch.

The GFA are hugely unpopular, and the people of Gibraltar are fed up with bling and money-wasting.

The humongous ‘stadium’ project must be stopped.