Haro Deportivo (Spain)

Club Haro Deportivo are based in the town of Haro in Northern Spain, smack in the middle of the wine growing region of La Rioja. Indeed, so bonkers for wine are the locals that the annual Haro Wine Festival always ends up in a massive wine fight called the Batalla del Vino where the locals all arm themselves withe massive water pistols and turn each other pink with the booze. So it's perhaps unsurprising to learn that their fans are notoriously and pleasantly bonkers too.

The club formed in 1914, when a group of locals who admired the popular clubs of the Basque Country just to their North decided they wanted in on the fun. For the first few years they played unregulated matches on a pitch in the middle of a field used for grain threshing - and to this day their ground is named after that place - El Mazo, or The Corn. There is another theory as to the ground's name, that its direct translation - The Deck - refers to the shape of one of the stands, but it's not anywhere near as interesting. It wasn't until 1921 that they were accepted into the Spanish FA and started to play in more orgainised leagues.

They currently play in Tercera División - Group 16 - one of the tougher groupings in the Spanish game's fourth level, and their historic El Mazo ground holds a pleasant 4000 happy wine-drinking fans. They have played in the Tercera División almost every year since the 1960s. Their one glory year though came in the 2004/05 season when, after coming fourth the season before, they had just the one year in Segunda División B. Sadly the excitement soon shriveled to disappointment as they finished plumb last. But that one season has given them hope that perhaps one day they can do it again. And I'm sure everyone would drink to that.

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Cartagena (Spain)

Now here is the tale of two teams from the middle- sized city of Cartagena in Spain and their curious, convoluted histories. One, the second division stalwarts FC Cartagena, the other, their slightly digruntled regional third division cousins Cartagena FC, both of who play in the famous black and white stripes. Now pay attention, because this might get complicated.

Despite their lowly status, Cartagena FC are by far the more historic team, having formed in 1940. Shy of a short spell in the 1980s when they achieved the dizzy heights of the Segunda División, they've spent most of their days in the third level or lower - even dipping down as far as the uber-regional Preferente for a few years in the early 21st Century. But for 45 glorious years, they were the only major footballing outfit in town, until in 1995, the upstart Cartagonova Fútbol Club were formed, who soon changed their name to FC Cartagena.

If this wasn't enough of an imposition, FC Cartagena soon subsumed Cartagena FC to become their reserve team for a number of years, but they finally regained their independence in the 2009-2010 season and are now working their way back up the league system.

FCC play at the classic Spanish bowl-like Estadio Cartagonova, which can cram in just upwards of 15,000 punters, while CFC have kick the ball about in the much cosier out of town ground the Estadio Gómez Meseguer, which holds a respectable 2000. But if both teams continue their current trajectories, they could find themselves being the subject of a very unique local derby in one of the next few seasons.


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Videos from YouTube. Underlying © lays with the owners of the clips