The Minnows Who Captured the Nation's Hearts and Turned Kenny Dalglish Into a Pantomime Villain

Even Jeremy Paxman got in the act by asking on Newsnight: "Is Kenny Dalglish a big girl's blouse?" The former Liverpool legend and at the time Newcastle United manager was seeing himself ridiculed by everybody and his side cast as the pantomime villain. Not even two years earlier, under the stewardship of Kevin Keegan, United had been everyone's 'second team' but suddenly it seemed as if the whole world and his dog were desperate for them to lose. The issue? Dalglish kicking up a fuss about having to play an FA Cup tie away against a group of part-timers from the GM Vauxhall Conference.

When Premier League side Newcastle United were drawn away at Stevenage Borough in the fourth round of the FA Cup in January 1998 it was one of those classic David versus Goliath ties with the two sides separated by 99 league places. Newcastle were a side that included £15m Alan Shearer, signed less than two years earlier for a then world record fee, whilst Stevenage had Giuliano Grazioli a man who manager Paul Fairclough joked had cost the club "Three packets of crisps and a Mars bar." The contrast was stark.

But whilst many would have no doubt been looking for an upset on the pitch they would find even more drama off it. The furore started when details of a phone call between Dalglish and Fairclough were leaked to the press. On the phone to Fairclough, Dalglish had demanded the match be switched from the Hertfordshire based club's small 6,000 capacity Broadhall Way stadium to Newcastle's home ground of St. James' Park stating Stevenage's ground was not fit for purpose. What was seemingly a spectacular PR own goal for Newcastle became even worse when a delegation from the club, including their safety officer, turned up uninvited to inspect the Broadhall Way stadium.  At this point, things really got heated with Stevenage accusing United of "Big brother tactics" whilst Dalglish apparently told Stevenage chairman Victor Green that he was "not running scared" and would happily play the non-league side anywhere "even Hackney Marshes." Dalglish and Newcastle's antics had done their damage, however, and Daglish was by now public enemy number one and being lampooned by the press and indeed much of the nation, Jeremy Paxman included. 

The whole saga over the suitability of the stadium to host such a big game came to an end when an FA committee declared the venue safe to hold the match and Newcastle reluctantly accepted the decision. FA spokesman Steve Double said: “We always rely on the safety authorities and both they and the police are happy for the game to go ahead and therefore so are we."

Newcastle and Dalglish were not the only ones who came in for criticism, however. Stevenage chairman Victor Green was condemned for hiking up ticket prices for the match by 400% which enraged many fans. There would still be a full house, however, even with several thousand temporary seats installed to increase the capacity. As well as making a killing from ticket sales they also received £150,000 from Sky Sports to broadcast of the match across the country on satellite television. It was not just Sky Sports and the British public taking an interest, though. Whilst the tie had captured the imagination of the nation it was also to be screened in 25 different countries and even made the back page of the South China Morning Post, for example.

If Newcastle were hoping to avoid an upset with an easy victory then they got off to the perfect start in the match itself when Shearer, returning from an ankle injury, headed home from a Keith Gillespie cross after just three minutes to give the visitors the lead. The comfortable afternoon they would have been hoping for, against a side lying 17th in the Vauxhall Conference remember, never materialised, however, and the hosts drew level four minutes before the interval. After a Gary Cranshaw corner sent the ball into the box Giuliano Grazioli touched it home from close range in front of the away end to bring jubilant scenes from the other three sides of the ground. The noise was deafening and almost echoed around the whole country. The minnows were suddenly level. An uneventful second-half saw the match finish 1-1 and Stevenage force a replay. Naturally, Dalglish said afterwards: "The conditions suited them more than us," but at least he would now get his wish to face Stevenage at St James' Park...

The antics of Newcastle and Dalglish in the lead up to the match had made the result even sweeter and Stevenage's heroic performance brought comparisons with what had happened in 1972 when non-league Hereford United stunned the nation by defeating Newcastle in a third round replay. But whilst the media and public alike revelled in Newcastle's struggles most realised it would be a very tough ask for Stevenage to go one better and actually defeat their opponents when they were to meet in a replay ten days later.

For the rematch, two goals from Shearer were enough to see Newcastle win the replay despite an unconvincing performance which saw Crawshaw pull a goal back for Stevenage on 74 minutes and bring a nervy finish. It was also claimed by some that Shearer's first goal, acrobatically cleared by Mark Smith, did not actually cross the line. Newcastle would eventually reach the final and lose to Arsenal whilst Stevenage who twice gave them a good run for their money would get their revenge in 2011 when, by then a league club, they defeated Newcastle 3-1 at home in the third round. There were no complaints about the pitch or the stadium on that occasion, however. 

Fans Can Return To Football Except In Reality Many of Them Can't - Far Fewer Clubs Will Be Allowed To Admit Spectators Now Than a Month Ago

UPDATE 10/12/2020: It has today been announced that even in tier 3 lockdown areas fans are now allowed into 'non elite' football grounds albeit at half the numbers allowed in tiers 1 and 2.

No doubt BBC/Sky/ITV News will be all over the supposed return of fans to football next weekend. 'Elite' clubs are now permitted to admit spectators again, albeit in very limited numbers, and the mainstream media will no doubt hail this as a success and interview fans saying how wonderful it is to be allowed back into their team's stadium. That's great, but unfortunately, it will completely ignore the fact that rule changes mean more teams in England are no longer allowed to admit fans than were just a month ago, before this latest four week lockdown brought 'non-elite' leagues to a halt. It will fail to showcase the stark realities for most clubs up and down the country which are far from celebratory like the news reports will show.

Some Background Information

When football clubs playing what is classed as 'non-elite sport' started their league campaign's in September they did so because they'd been told spectators were allowed back into their grounds. Clubs at step 3 of non-league football and below were allowed to admit 30% of their league minimum required ground capacity into their stadiums. Of course, this did not apply to 'elite' clubs where fans were still not allowed but for non-elite clubs, this change was welcomed with open arms.

Since these rules came into place I have attended numerous football matches in the region where I live, mostly at steps 5 and 6 where up to 300 fans were allowed into grounds. For a few better supported clubs this was problematic but for most, it meant a return to normality and a saving grace for clubs who in many cases were on the verge of financial ruin because of this pandemic. In the North East rising COVID figures saw the Durham and Northumberland Football Associations reduce by half the numbers of spectators allowed in grounds but for most of the country they carried on with original crowd allowances and things running in many cases rather smoothly. 

Football Suddenly Stopped

So above was the situation before, by no means perfect but invaluable for many. This situation completely changed, however, on 15 November when a countrywide lockdown in England saw all non-elite football suspended for four weeks. Many supporters, me included, were dismayed by this news and no doubt so were the clubs. There was, however, the belief that after four weeks things would return to as before and the football could easily restart as if nothing had happened. Alas, this was a little misplaced... 

Latest Update - Can Restart But Many No Longer Allowed To Admit Fans

New tiered restrictions that are to come into force on 2 December when this current lockdown ends state that clubs in the highest level tier three restrictions are not allowed to admit any spectators even at non-elite level. This will spell disaster for clubs up and down the country as unlike before half the country is now seemingly in tier three. Under the old tiered system before this latest lockdown, even in the areas with the toughest restrictions fans were still allowed at non-elite level so this new change came out of the blue and was unexpected by most. Another change sees clubhouses not allowed to open for clubs under tier 2 restrictions meaning even where clubs are allowed spectators another vital source of income has been shut down. The North East actually experienced this rule as part of the extra restrictions I mentioned earlier that were put in by the two local football associations. It's a nightmare.

Leagues Delaying Their Restarts: The Disastrous Effects These New Restrictions Are Already Having Before They've Even Came into Force

With fans not allowed, restarting league campaigns is not viable for many non-elite clubs as the income spectators provide is vital for paying bills and things like player wages. Albeit the players are of course part-time as this level they still get paid, in many cases per appearance so no competitive matches mean the clubs don't have to pay them. Another issue is that in some leagues half the clubs would be allowed supporters on their terraces whilst half would not - this would create an uneven playing field which would be grossly unfair. Because of this many leagues have cancelled or delayed the restart of their seasons. In steps 5 and 6, the Northern League and the North West Counties League are to name but a few who have decided against restarting next weekend whilst the step 3 and 4 leagues have yet to make a decision on their restarts. 

Going Forward

So there you have it, hundreds of football clubs up and down the country who have happily been playing in front of spectators since the end of August have now been told they can no longer play in front of their fans causing unthinkable damage for these clubs and chaos to their league campaigns. The question now is how do things proceed? Leagues will no doubt review the situation in the coming weeks and these leagues I guess can extend their seasons through next summer if necessary but the extent of the financial implications are harder to gauge. Regarding the financial side of things, one must ask about government funding. There was recently announced a winter survival package which will give £14m worth of funding via grants and loans to clubs between steps 3 and 6 but how this will all work has yet to be fully explained and the uncertainty does not help. This has helped put us in the current situation as a lack of financial clarity is part of the reason varying leagues feel they cannot resume as planned.

Please Spread The Word

Of course, all the headlines have been about the forthcoming return of fans to elite football and this is how the narrative will no doubt continue but as you have seen the reality is vastly different and needs to be brought to attention. Please share this article and bring the grave news of this plight to a wider audience. 

We are currently in a complete mess and It's difficult so see way out other than allowing spectators to return.

One Final Thought

One final point of note though. If clubs at the lowest level of elite football are allowed in some cases 2,000 spectators in at tier two then why are the tier two clubs in the divisions directly below, if they restart, still only allowed at most 600 fans in (that is the unchanged maximum allowed at step 3 as agreed in August)? Why for non-elite clubs the continuation of these number restrictions when the clubs above are allowed much higher numbers of spectators? Surely the largest non-league step three and below stadiums could easily accommodate close to 2,000 spectators as the elite teams can at step 2 and above? Just another example of how ridiculous this situation is.

The German State That Once Had Its Own National Team and Even Faced Germany Itself For a Place at the World Cup

The border that separates France and Germany has a somewhat complicated history. Strasbourg, nowadays a firmly French city was once upon a time under German control whilst the German state of Saarland has at times been governed by France. Even today the popular French greeting of 'Salut' is still commonplace in this German speaking area, albeit having been Germanised to become 'Salü'. But although, its very earliest years apart, in footballing terms Strasbourg has always been strictly French the story of soccer in Saarland is far less straightforward. Saarland's tale is one that includes not just its own national team but also an ultimately failed World Cup qualifying campaign that hinged on a final match showdown against none other than their German neighbours to the East.

"I feel German I didn't want to stop them getting to the World Cup," said player Kurt Clemens after Saarland lost to West Germany in their final qualifying match for the 1954 World Cup. Clemens' feelings towards West Germany after the game do nothing but highlight the complicated situation in Saarland at the time. Many Saarland residents felt German and did not want to be a semi-autonomous state that was part of France as they at that time were. Luckily for them, Saarland would soon be reunited with West Germany, at the beginning of 1957 in fact, and to this day remains part of what is now a unified Germany. But Saarland's history prior to 1957, even in just the first half of the twentieth century alone, saw the people of this small state change nationality several times and, of course, even have their own national football team.

Over the centuries Saarland, which currently has a population of just over 990,000, has changed hands several times but after World War I and the treaty of Versailles it was governed by Britain and France. A referendum in 1935, however, saw the residents vote to be ruled by Germany as it had been previously and this lasted until the end of World War II. After the Germans were defeated in another world war the French wanted to get their hands on Saarland again due to its large coal deposits and that is exactly what happened. Saarland would actually have its own flag and even its own constitution but it was, despite some forms of autonomy, essentially under French supervision. This was something that, as mentioned, the people of the Saar never really enjoyed. Possibly because of this dissatisfaction at French interference, in 1954 those in the state were offered the chance of complete independence via a referendum. The public of the Saar voted against independence, however, as they wanted a return to Germany. Because of this a return to German rule was, of course, granted just three years later to see Saarland leave France and rejoin its German neighbours to the east once and for all.

Although officially becoming part of France shortly after the war ended in 1945, maybe because of the degree of autonomy it was given, Saarland soon established its own football association and never joined the French Football Federation (FFF). Having said that, despite the fact that they had formed their own association, local club 1. FC Saarbrücken joined France's Ligue 2 as a guest team for the 1948-49 season. Unfortunately, things did not end well for them. Despite winning the league comfortably, a proposal from president Jules Rimet for them to officially join the FFF was rejected by the majority of French clubs and resulted in Rimet's resignation and Saarbrücken quitting the league.

After leaving French football, Saarbrücken went on to create a short-lived invitational tournament considered a forerunner to the European Cup and when the European Cup was created soon after became Saarland's sole representatives despite having by this time actually rejoined the German league system. Saarbrücken were able to play in the European Cup because the Saarland football association had by then successfully applied to join FIFA, for which they became a member in 1950, and Saarland was therefore recognised as an independent nation for footballing purposes. Saarland remained FIFA members until the state rejoined Germany in 1957 and during this period Saarland at one point, as we know, came close to qualifying for the World Cup at what would have been West Germany's expense.

Saarland's national football team played their first match in 1950 and their last just six years later, a total on 19 matches. Most of the matches Saarland played in were international friendlies but they did partake in a three man European qualifying group for the 1954 World Cup where they faced Germany and Norway both home and away. This would be the second real dose of competitive international sport for the state having taken 36 athletes to the 1952 Olympic games in Helsinki, although this did not include a football team. Saarland's football side were coached by a young man named Helmut Schön who would later lead West Germany to European Championship success in 1972 and World Cup glory on home soil two years later but this time around he would be watching them from the opposing dugout. 

Having opened with a 3-2 win away in Norway the home match against the Norwegians was a 0-0 draw with a 3-0 defeat away in West Germany sandwiched inbetween before that final showdown between the pair. A win or a draw for West Germany would see them finish top of the group and qualify for the World Cup whilst a win for hosts Saarland would see them draw level on points with the West Germans. Despite the West Germans having a superior goal difference, finishing level on points with Saarland would mean, as per the rules in those days, a play-off match to decide qualification and if that finished level then a coin toss. 

The 'Biggest football festival on the Saar' as the matchday programme called it took place in Saarbrücken at the end of March 1954 but did anyone in Saarland actually want their team to win? Having claimed after the match he was relieved that the Saar lost, an ageing Clemens speaking to German newspaper Volksfreund in 2018 remembered an uncomfortable incident in a local sports shop a few days beforehand and said: "Suddenly the owner's daughter was standing in front of me and roared: 'Insolence that you dare to play against Germany - I hope they'll beat you ten.'"

A full house of more than 53,000 locals attended the match to supposedly cheer on West Germany but over 40,000 spectators had also attended the home match against Norway so maybe there was actually some support for the Saar after all. Not only that but, despite a narrative that everyone firmly wanted the hosts to lose, Saarland forward Herbert Binkert, also speaking to Volksfreund, said: "We weren't interested in politics we just wanted to play football," suggesting that some of the Saarland players would have been happy to win the game. 

Play football is exactly what they did as well almost taking the lead early on only for the Dutch referee to declare a Saarland goal offside. It was, of course, West Germany who won the match though and when Saarland did finally score on 67 minutes the West Germans had already found the net twice thanks to goals from Max Morlock who these days has a stadium named after him in Nuremberg. Saarland's goal came from the penalty spot but was followed 16 minutes later by another West German goal, this time from Hans Schäfer, that saw the visitors win 3-1 and qualify for the World Cup and we all know what happened next...

"We would certainly not have become world champions with Saarland," Clemens said after West Germany won the 1954 World Cup final in what became known as 'The miracle of Bern'. Although the story of West Germany winning that World Cup after defeating Puskas' Hungary is one well known throughout the footballing world Saarland's story post that qualification failure is not. To be fair, however, there is not much of a tale to tell. That match with Germany was not quite the end for Saarland but they would play only nine more times before they were disbanded. All of those games were friendly matches of which only one was won. Then, before you know it they were gone for good. Mind with the world champions on their doorstep did anyone really miss the Saar team? 

Most within the Saar supported West Germany in that 1954 final and with Saarland's Telesaar tv channel not showing the match some went to great lengths to watch it. Many close to the West German border could pick up the broadcasts from West German channel ARD whilst others could pick up broadcasts from France, but for some this was not possible. Those who could not pick up a signal with their usual aerials had to get creative and often with difficulty build larger tv antennas to get the match. Of course, many people could not afford a television though and had to listen on the radio rendering those signal problems moot. For the players of the Saarland national team, however, watching the game was certainly not a problem. The whole squad was invited to Bern where they cheered on from the stands the team that earlier in the year had beat them.

Perhaps West Germany winning that World Cup was the beginning of the end for Saarland, after all, mass support for the West German team from the Saarland population showed that most of them were German at heart even if their passports said otherwise. As we know it took less than three years after that day in Bern for Saarland to rejoin West Germany and with it bring to an end the shortlived adventure that was Saarland's national football team. After a lone qualifying campaign and a few friendlies, they had very quickly disappeared never to return. The state of Saarland lives on but firmly as part of a now unified Germany. There are, nowadays, only limited hints in Saarland of its former Frenchness, that phrase Salü being a major one, whilst anything even remotely close to independence of any kind, in football or elsewhere, is completely non existent.

David Ginola and the Cross That Saw France Fail to Qualify for a World Cup

Surrounded by reporters, not long after the final whistle in Paris, perhaps in heat of the moment, David Ginola looked absolutely shellshocked: "C'est terrible, c'est terrible," he whimpered. 

A mistake by none other than Ginola himself had led opponents Bulgaria to victory with seconds left to play and seen France fail to grab the point they needed to qualify for the World Cup. The visitors would be playing on the world's greatest stage the following summer but those representing the tricolour of blue, white, and red would not. Ginola had a few more words of despair then hurried off shaking his head. All these years later and some have still yet to forgive him.

Despite a recent bribery scandal, at the beginning of October 1993 French football was still on the crest of a wave. At the start of the summer Olympique de Marseille had become the first French club to win the European Cup, or indeed any European competition, whilst two French sides had reached the semi finals of the UEFA Cup. And, although the national side were not favourites to win next years World Cup in the USA many certainly believed Les Bleus still had half a chance of lifting the trophy for the first time.

France had not yet actually qualified for next summers tournament but only needed one point from their two remaining games, both at home at the Parc des Princes, against lowly ranked Israel and certainly better but still unfancied Bulgaria. The idea that they might not qualify seemed a fallacy. 

Everyone knew the Israel game was supposed to a formality and a straight forward victory as, after all, France had already put four past them without reply in the reverse fixture. The newspapers were talking as if France had already qualified with one publication in the build up running with simply that Q word as one of its headlines. The matchday programme, meanwhile, used the title "Let The Party Begin" and the VIP section of a prominent Parisian nightclub had been reserved for the players after the match. All the talk was of America next summer and not of Israel at the Parc des Princes in the here and now.

It would be described by some as a trauma and certainly, France's defeat to Israel was unexpected. Israel were in front after 21 minutes but France managed to come from behind to lead at the break with Ginola. arch nemesis in the next match, grabbing the second. The win seemed in the bag until Israel equalised seven minutes from time but a draw would have been enough to see France qualify. Unfortunately in the 90th minute disaster struck. Israel ran forward and in the blink of an eye won the game 3-2 scoring to leave French manager Gérard Houllier looking rather glum in his technical area.

Perhaps the anger and frustration would have been worse had it not been for the fact that France still had a second chance. Defeat to Israel depressing as it may have been was not the end of the world or indeed France's hopes of qualifying for the World Cup tournament. They still only needed a draw in their final game. Another month would pass before the Bulgaria match and the despite Michel Platini stating: “This [Israel] defeat is the worst result for the France team for forty years," the general consensus amongst the nation did not change, France would surely still be in the States next summer. There was no blame game just the belief that the eventual outcome would be World Cup football next year. Unfortunately, it did not turn out that way and sports daily L'Equipe compared the performance against the Bulgarians to that of a village team. 

Didier Deschamps captain for France on the day would years later say in reference to the Bulgaria match: "The Parc des Princes contains my worst memory." Deschamps as we well know would be captain of the France team that won the World Cup on home soil almost five years after the Bulgaria debacle but that was won at the new Stade de France not yet built when qualifiers for 1994 took place. Others, however, took their anger out on one man in particular. Manager Houllier said of David Ginola: "He sent an Exocet missile through the heart of French football," and would later call him a bastard in his autobiography. Whilst although forward Eric Cantona never used such flavoursome words in his condemnation of Ginola he too never forgave the man either. His crime came in the form of a cross into the box.

The nightmare began not as a nightmare but with France taking the lead and their World Cup place looking assured. They went in front through Cantona on 32 minutes and although they conceded five minutes later they were still on course to grab the point they needed. One Bulgaria goal would put a dagger through French hearts though so things probably were at least little bit nervy albeit seemingly nowhere near panic stations. Jean-Michel Larqué who commentated on the match for France's main free to air tv channel TF1 disagreed, however, and felt there had been severe anxiety from the word go: "As soon as they entered the field they were trembling," Larqué said of the French side. Hristo Stoichkov, Bulgaria's star player at that time,  also thought along the same lines and said: "The French were so scared they played with their buttocks clenched." Mind, trembling or not the French side were seemingly holding on for the required point they needed as the match drew to a close and it wasn't until the 90th minute that things went pear shaped. 

The footage of Ginola slumped over the advertising hoardings at full-time looking absolutely deflated is now iconic and he is the man who will forever carry the can for France's failure to qualify for USA '94. With seconds left to play France were awarded an indirect free-kick to the right of the box. Ginola, who had entered the field as a substitute some twenty minutes earlier replacing Jean-Pierre Papin who'd set up Cantona for his goal but had failed to head the ball clear before the equaliser, saw the ball knocked to him by Vincent Guérin. Ginola decided to cross the ball into the box hoping to find Cantona but unfortunately for Ginola, his cross missed everyone and bounced out of the box to the feet of a Bulgarian. Bulgaria promptly went up the other end and scored and that was that the Bulgarians won the match and France had failed to qualify. In other words "A crime against the team," or at least that was another phrase Houllier would use to describe the incident. Ginola's actions really did upset him.

It seemed to many that Ginola struggled to come to terms with what happened that night and indeed he wrote in his autobiography in 2000: "It is something which will haunt me for the rest of my life." Ginola, in 1993 playing for Paris Saint-Germain, did, however, go on to have a successful career in the English Premier League so perhaps those events did not completely destroy him and besides, years later he would be more philosophical on the issue: "The whole thing is such a long time ago I don't care anymore. I didn't kill anyone. I made a mistake on the pitch." Houllier never did forgive him though, in fact, things turned into a feud which got so bad that in 2012 Ginola unsuccessfully tried to sue Houllier for defamation.

Houllier for all intents and purposes would not take any responsibility for France's failure to qualify. In his post match press conference, he declared that despite the loss he would keep his job and said: "My contract lasts through the end of 1994. I'm going back to work." Houllier's assumptions were misplaced, however, and he was soon replaced by his assistant Aime Jacquet. Under Jacquet, France would reach the semi finals of Euro 96 just two years after the American World Cup they missed and, as the whole footballing world well knows, followed that up by winning the ultimate prize two years later. Their 1998 World Cup triumph on home soil, however, did not include substitute Ginola or indeed much of the starting line up from that Bulgaria match. 

With Zinedine Zidane the star of the show, Marcel Desailly, Emmanuel Petit, and captain Deschamps were the only three players who started that Bulgaria clash to enter the Stade de France pitch for the 1998 final, although, alongside them were Bixente Lizarazu and Youri Djorkaeff who had both been substitutes in 1993. It probably would have been four but Laurent Blanc was sent off in France's semi final win and therefore banned for the final. Ginola himself played ten more times for the national side after the Bulgaria match with his last cap coming in 1995 against Azerbaijan. Injury prevented him from playing in the next match against Romania and he was never picked again. Ginola would regret missing out on playing in a World Cup on home soil and said the nation's victory was: "fantastic for the French people, but on the other hand, from a personal point of view, it was terrible."

After that 1998 triumph France won a second successive major tournament when they triumphed at Euro 2000 under Roger Lemerre, Jacquet's assistant, which capped off what had been a rather successful seven years following the 1993 disaster - far more successful than it had been for Bulgaria despite them reaching the semi finals in the USA. France won the World Cup again in 2018 and thankfully for them, those three triumphs mean their football is not defined by that November night in 1993.

The Forgotten Team of Chernobyl: The Football Club Put to an End by the World's Worst Nuclear Disaster

9 May 1986 was supposed to be the beginning of a new era for FC Stroitel Pripyat but the club never lived to see it. That day in early summer the club were supposed to play FC Shakhtar Oleksandriya in a Ukrainian league match, what was the fourth tier of Soviet football, and it would be their first ever match in their brand new stadium. But unfortunately, the match never took place and the new stadium lay empty in fact so did the whole town. Nearby events that took place just under two weeks earlier shook the world and brought an end to life in this treelined town of Pripyat. But whereas people still well remember the now more than 30 years empty town that was home to the workers of the nearby Chernobyl nuclear power plant very few remember its football club.

Considered the worst nuclear disaster in the history of the world, events on 26 April 1986 left large parts of Ukraine and Belarus uninhabitable due to high radiation levels. This was caused by events at the VI Lenin Memorial Nuclear Power Plant, otherwise known as Chernobyl, during which reactor number four was completely destroyed. This affected the now infamous nearby town of Pripyat which was evacuated just days after the incident and has remained all but empty ever since. The excellent Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham gives a blow by blow account of the event, the aftermath, and the lives of those involved. I could rave on all day about his brilliant book but of course one of thing he does not tell us is the story of FC Stroitel Pripyat.

Formed in the mid 1970s, according to Belarusian football blog A Ya Vse Chashche Zamechayu initially most of Stroitel's line up came from the nearby village of Chistogalovk although others claim the club originally consisted of construction workers working in the local Chernobyl nuclear plant and this would explain the club's name because Stroitel translates into English as 'builder'. Regardless of the club's beginnings, however, and more on that shortly, it does seem that for much of its existence the club's playing squad consisted of workers from the nuclear plant along with the odd player brought in from Kiev. 

Playing in the fourth tier, in 1981, 1982, 1983, and 1985 Stroitel were champions of the Kiev region qualifying for the Ukrainian championship that completed the season and for which the winners were granted a place in the third tier Soviet Second League that sat below the First league and the Top League. In 1985 the club ended the season just four points behind top position and what would have been a promotion in what was the clubs most successful season of all whilst in contrast in 1982, however, they had finished bottom of the eight team Ukrainian championship and in all other years not mentioned did not qualify for it. Playing in the lower echelons of Soviet football the club naturally was not a team of big name stars but one name of note was Anatoly Shepel a former Soviet International who had two League titles and one cup triumph to his name as a player with Dynamo Kyiv. Shepel never actually played for Stroitel on the pitch but for a short while did take up the role as manager of the club during this period of success in the eighties.

It was Vasili Kizima Trofimovich, a man heavily involved in the building of Chernobyl's nuclear plant and the creation of the town of Pripyat, who was the man behind the formation of the town's football club. “We have people in four shifts and nowhere for them to go and rest," he explained. "Let them go and watch football and drink beer." The rest, as they say, was history as many did take up his offer of watching football with home crowds averaging at 2,000 for much of the club's existence. Considering construction of the town did not begin until 1970 and at its height it had a population of barely 50,000 such support was actually fairly impressive. 

With only the most basic of stadiums, however, it was eventually decided that a new one would be needed for the club and so one was constructed. The new Avanhard Stadion was built complete with an athletics track and a 5,000 seat grandstand. It was a stadium the town could be proud of or at least they would have been if the whole area had not have been evacuated shortly before it was due to open.

The week before the grand opening of Pripyat's new stadium, Stroitel were to play in a Kiev regional cup semi-final against a team called Mashinostroitel Borodyanka. However, as the story goes, in their final training session before the match the Borodyanka players were interrupted by an army helicopter which landed on the pitch. Out of helicopter came two military officials who told them that the following day's match was postponed. In the early hours of that day, the now infamous incident at the Chernobyl nuclear plant had happened. 

We all know what happened next for the town of Pripyat, contaminated with radiation leaking from the nuclear plant's destroyed reactor, it would be evacuated with its residents never to return and its shiny new football stadium would lay empty never to be used. But as for the football, well Borodyanka actually went on to win the cup that year and FC Stroitel Pripyat would eventually return as FC Stroitel Slavutych with Slavutych being the name of a new town created for many of the displaced residents of Pripyat to reside. This new side, however, would be dissolved after only a few seasons. Their hearts were not in it. 

The end of FC Stroitel started on that day in April 1986 and their story is one rarely told. In the midst of such a horrifying disaster, one that shook the whole world, the story of the local football club, just one of many subplots to a far bigger tale, was never deemed overly important. But for many of those who lived in Pripyat, FC Stroitel had probably been a significant part of a former life that they would soon come to mourn.