Santfeliuenc FC
Ground: Nou Estadi Les Grases
Capacity: 2,500
Club Founded: 1907
League: Primera Catalana Group III - 7th Tier (current level)
One of the joys of groundhopping is visiting places you never would without the hobby. My visit to see Santfeliuenc FC in action fit into my itinerary perfectly while I enjoyed an early Saturday evening near Barcelona.
Background To Santfeliuenc FC
The Early Years
Santfeliuenc Futbol Club was formed on December 3rd 1905, in the town of Sant Feliu de Llobregat, located around ten miles southwest of Barcelona. Santfe, as the club is known locally, came about after Josep Plana Deu was inspired by the development of football in Barcelona before deciding to set up a local club.
Land was rented by the Unión Coral for home matches before the club progressed, with Joan Rigol making his reputation as one of Santfeliuenc's greatest ever players. In 1925, the new Campo de la Pineda was inaugurated, with the team progressing to Segunda Regional football a decade later.
Following the Spanish Civil War, Santfe dropped down the grades before finding its way back to the top level of Catalan football in the 1950s. They missed out on promotion through the playoffs at the beginning of the following decade, which mobilised the club's supporters.
Fans Become Mobile and a New Stadium
This was because they felt insulted that the Catalan Football Federation implied that the club did not have adequate facilities to compete at what was then the third level of Spanish football had they progressed. A new ground was sought.
The majority of the following decade was spent in Segona Catalana with an occasional short spell in the Primera Regional. Following a reorganisation of Catalan football, the Primera became the second tier of regional football. In 1977-78, the team reached that stage and then consolidated before coming close to promotion to the Preferente Regional four years later.
Wild Celebrations
Coach Francesc Estrada led the team to promotion after a 2-0 win against Hospitalet Atlètic in the mid-80s, triggering mass celebrations at the Campo de la Rambla. Santfe lasted five seasons in the Preferente before the divisions became the second regional level.
Santfe remained at that level until they were demoted further to the Primera Regional before 2000. Soon after, the club were involved in creating the CFA Escuela de Fútbol Sant Feliu. Santfeliuenc would have to wait until 2005-06 to win promotion.
Promotion and Another New Stadium
Coach Vique led the side, which clinched their return to the Preferente with a victory against El Catllar, with the Santfe fans returning once again to back their local club. Santfeliuenc moved from the city centre to a new home, the Parc Esportiu de Les Grases, in January 2007.
New young coach, Andrés González led the club to promotion in 2008-09 to Primera Catalana, the top level of Catalan regional football and the fifth level in the Spanish pyramid. Further progress was made over the following three seasons before another promotion arrived in 2012-13. Santfe reached the Tercera División after defeating CD Masnou 4-3 on aggregate.
The club consolidated for several seasons before the Spanish league system was restructured, with the 2020-21 season being used to decide where clubs would play the following season. Santfeliuenc were placed in the sixth-tier Primera Catalana, where they won promotion through the 2024-25 playoffs.
The sixth-tier Lliga Elit proved too steep a jump, as Santfeliuenc were relegated after just one season.
My visit
Santfeliuenc FC 2 UA Horta 0
Tercera División Grupo V - Saturday 20th January 2018) (att: 300)
👨👨👧👧 300 🎟️ €10
Saturday of my Barcelona long weekend was going tremendously well, with visits to four excellent venues where junior football was taking place, as well as the matches at Espanyol in La Liga and Unificació Bellvitge in the top flight of junior football.
Because the match at the latter kicked off at 4pm, I could only watch the first half before heading to the evening game, which was starting at 6pm. I took the Metro from Hospital de Bellvitge to Rambla Just Oliveras.
A short walk across the road led me to L'Hospitalet de Llobregat station with enough time to grab a bottle of water before the train arrived to take me on the twelve-minute journey northeast to St. Feliu de Llobregat, passing FC Barcelona's training ground on the way.
There was a bit of drama before I even left the station. There was a level crossing 100 metres beyond the end of the platform. One lady crossed the track and jogged along the trackside. The train was heading towards her, and the driver was hooting his horn.
I took the more conventional route to cross the lines. When I alighted, I walked uphill and then took a turn, going a bit of a long way around. The small town did seem to have quite a lot of small bars, but also a lot of housing and small towers of flats, so trade must have been there?
Eventually, I arrived at the car park on Ctra. Sansón, weaving through the cars in search of an entrance to Camp de Futbol Municipal Les Grases. I eventually came to it by passing Pavelló Andrei Xepkin Sports Complex on Carrer Mataró.
After climbing a flight of steps, past the active indoor hall, I came to the pay desk, where I gave €10 to the young lady. It led to an open area, with a couple of club huts across the way. One sold me a beer. The person behind the counter was also selling snacks.
A long slope took me to the back of the main spectator facilities, which consisted of a raised seated block, with a roof covering the far two-thirds. There was room for standing at the rear, and the whole area offered a good view from above the changing rooms.
A flight of stairs led down to a thin area open behind one goal, which was backed by a high boundary wall. The opposite end was enclosed by the sports complex and the raised open club area.
I was unsure whether spectators were welcome on the far side, which backed onto the road and had the subs' benches on either side of the halfway line. Skatepark Sant Feliu De Llobregat, over the road, was in constant use by the local youths.
I’d taken a seat towards the town end when, just before kick-off, a pair of home fans plonked themselves down a few rows in front and across with a dreaded drum! The duo sang songs more or less alone, while one banged their instrument. I had a grudging respect for them.
The match was a bit of a local derby, so Horta had a decent following among the crowd, which seemed to attract a good cross-section of the local community. Several elderly gentlemen smoked big cigars at the rear of the seats.
Horta began the game on the front foot, with Marc Rio having an opportunity to open the scoring after being set up by Gerard Nolla in the ninth minute. They were left to rue the miss five minutes later when young forward Adri Recort fired Santfe ahead from outside the box after good work from Carlos Olmo.
The visitors went back on the offensive, but were thwarted by the home defence before Santfe went forward once again, with Josele testing the Horta keeper Andrés. I declined the opportunity of a drink at the break, but I’d taken up a standing position as the temperatures dropped to around 8°.
The teams exchanged attacks at the start of the second period. Josele went close for Santfe, testing out Andrés once again. Visiting coach Raúl Matito, who formerly held the position at Santfe, rang the changes, as his side looked for an equaliser.
It would be Santfe who doubled their score when a fine move saw Romo set up Nacho Ruiz. His effort was converted by Adri Recort, putting Andres González's team in a comfortable position. I made my move a few minutes later, even though it was a decent enough game.
I had an opportunity to watch a junior game across Barcelona at CE Júpiter, which I didn’t want to waste. I walked back to the station along Carrer de la Constitució to catch a train to Catalunya, before a couple of Metro rides to Sant Martí for my final football match of the day.
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