Futbol Club Martinenc is a football club that is located in the El Guinardó district of the Spanish city of Barcelona. The club was formed in 1909 in the neighborhood of El Clot, in Sant Martí de Provençals; from which the club took its name.
Another local club; Centre d’Esports Martinenc joined forces in 1917 with a merger. The strengthened club became Campionat de Catalunya as well as winning the second level championship of Spain in 1922-23.
The club progressed from the Primera Catalana in 1930-31 to play in the national third tier Tercera División. The Franco regime took over following the Spanish Civil War in 1939. The club was forced to change their title to the Castilian, Unión Deportiva San Martín.
Martinenc continued to play their football in both the Primera Catalana and Tercera División; with the side winning Grupo III of the third tier divisions in 1950-51, before missing out on promotion by finishing bottom of the play-off group.
The team was relegated after finishing bottom of Grupo VII in the extended Tercera División of 1954-55. In 1959 the club celebrated their fiftieth anniversary with a game against Real Madrid at Camp Ple de Gom at which point the club had re-established their third tier status.
The team went back down to regional football following relegation in 1962-63. The club would then spend over two decades in regional Catalana football before winning promotion to the Tercera; which had become the fourth tier in 1984-85.
During their time at regional level, the club moved into their new Municipal del Guinardó home in 1981.
The team was relegated back from the Tercera after just one season. Martinenc regained their Tercera División position following promotion in 1987-88; finishing in fourth place of Grupo 5 in 1989-90 and then finishing just outside the play-off places in 1992-93.
The club returned to the fifth tier Primera Catalana towards the rear end of the decade and also spent time in the Segunda Catalana before returning to the regional top flight for the 2011-12 campaign.
The club made another solitary season appearance in the Tercera División in the 2014-15 season after being crowned Grupo 2 champions of the Primera Catalana the previous campaign.
FC Martinenc will play in Primera Catalana in the 2017-18 season.
My visit
Sunday 21st January 2018
My Sunday football adventures in Barcelona were nearly done for the day as the sun began to set. My long weekend was living up to all my expectations thanks to in no small part to the grounds all been open to stage junior football.
This was the case at Martinenc where a match was taking place in the Cadet Segonda Division Grupo 19 between the D sides of Martinenc and FE Grama; where I’d just been to see their Nou Estadi Municipal de Santa Coloma home.
The Metro from Via Julia deposited me at Guinardó | Hospital de Sant Pau, from where the club was just across the road. A ramp took me up past Centre Esportiu Municipal del Guinardó to the open entrance.
Once again the ground was dominated by a raised seating and terraced area overlooking an artificial pitch, like so many other venues I’d visited. There was a view all the way to the sea from the stand. A crowd of around 60 was watching the action on the pitch.
I was ready for food and a rest, so I walked up the slope on Carrer Torrent de Melis at the other end of the ground before catching a bus to Lesseps and then taking the Metro to Liceu on Las Ramlas, close to my hotel.
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