Written by Emma & Max
Ground #64
Sunday 13th October 2024
RFEF Segunda – Group 5 (Spanish 4th Tier)
CD Union Yaiza 1 – 0 Atletico Paso
Attendance: 450 (estimate)
Entry: €12
Club Deportivo Union Sur Yaiza (to give them their full name!) are a Lanzarote based football club who play in the Spanish football pyramid. Formed in 1983, the club have spent the majority of their existence playing in the 5th tier of Spanish football where they face off against other clubs from Canary Islands.
In the 2023/24 season the club finished 3rd in the league and won the play offs, shocking other teams such as the Islands biggest club UD Lanzarote to win promotion up to the 4th tier. This meant, not only are they now the highest ranked team on the Island, they now play the majority of their games against teams from mainland Spain meaning the average away trip is over 1,000 miles away!
Today’s game saw them host one of the few ‘local’ sides in the division as visiting team Atletico Paso only had around 300 miles to travel from another of the Canary Islands La Palma. Just in case we weren’t sure just how big this game was, the cameras were in town as this game was being shown live on Canary Islands TV!
The day before the game we compiled our usual tweet mentioning where we were going and the club messaged us back saying they were honoured we would be visiting and that we should get to the ground early as the club president would like to meet us!
We weren’t really sure what to make of this but we turned up around an hour before kick off to be greeted by 2 men in suits who led us over to the merchandise stall, handed us 2 club caps for free and took us over to the director area where they presented us both with a shirt. The official photographer then took a picture of us both with the directors before explaining to us how we had come to the right place as they were the best club on the Island!
We are still not really sure we can put into words what this experience was like. The club made us feel like VIP’s and made sure we will remember this day, and the club, forever!
Going into the game tensions were high for this Canary Islands derby and the first ever meeting between these 2 clubs. Amazingly over 100 away fans made the trip, bringing flags, drums, a mega phone and even a trombone to the game!
The game began , and with both sides of the ground open to the elements it was clear the wind was going to have a huge effect on the game. Both teams looked composed on the ball and were knocking it around nicely on the pristine 4G surface, but as soon as any team looked to go long the wind would redirect it away from the intended target.
A particular highlight of ours was a home player going down rather easily and appealing for a foul. The visiting fans then ironically played an ambulance siren on through their mega phone!
Yaiza were having the better of the game but the wind was against them and they were really struggling to have any meaningful attempts on goal. The only real threat from both teams was coming on the counter but almost every time it would end with an obvious shirt pull from a defender and a number of yellow cards were given.
The second half began and almost immediately Yaiza took advantage of the favourable wind conditions and won themselves their first corner of the game. From this a back post bullet header gave them a very much deserved lead.
The hosts continued to be on top but just like the first half struggled to create any meaningful opportunities. With around 20 minutes to go the home manager made a number of changes and they seemed to be sitting back on the 1 goal advantage. This saw the visiting team have their best spell of the game which woke up their travelling fans who had fallen almost silent since the half time break.
Although they had more of the ball, Paso struggled to trouble the Yaiza keeper and if anything the hosts still looked the more likely to score on the counter. In the end after a nervy few moments and a period of added time that felt like a lifetime, the home side held on for an important 3 points to move them up into the play off places! They couldn’t go back to back could they?
Before we move on to our scores we have to mention our admiration for the travelling Atletico Paso fans. They travelled to a different Island to watch their team play a 4th tier league game and their team didn’t even manage a shot on target! Amazing dedication and proper football fans!
Now to rate our first ever experience of Canary Island football:
Location: 6/10
The ground is on the edge of the small town of Yaiza, which is home to only about 500 people. There is a tapas restaurant/bar across the street and a bus stop right outside the ground. Playa Blanca is about 10/15 minutes away on the bus, which is the journey we took today.
Kit: 8/10
CD Union Yaiza have a nice green Hummel kit. The shirt this season is a dark green with black and white chevrons down the side which match up with the white chevrons on the shorts, we loved the kit so much we even purchased one ourselves. The sponsor on the kit is the islands tourist board which we assume is mainly the reason they can afford to travel to the mainland every other week for away games advertising the island of Lanzarote.
Shout out to the visiting team who were sporting a fantastic all yellow away kit at today’s game.
Facilities: 3/10
Once through the turnstiles you had two choices, either turn right and there you will find an array of club merchandise on sale. As mentioned earlier we made the most of this buying a replica shirt. The club were then kind enough to offer us 2 free club caps aswell as last season’s shirt as a thank you for visiting!
On the left, was a food service hatch from which you could order food and drink during the game. This was nicely on brand with a green and white canopy. There was no inside clubhouse/bar area and so everything was sold from here. You can imagine the chaos here before the match as everyone one was desperate to get their pre match snack.
Look: 4/10
Once you walk into the ground the main seated stand is opposite you and spans the majority of the length of the pitch. Half of this stand was designated for away fans in this game and the 100+ travelling supporters packed this and made a lot of noise during the game.
Near the entrance on either side of the food hatch were 2 brand new looking, temporary seated stands which we assume have been added recently due to last seasons promotion. There was also a benched seating stand near one of the goals which we sat in for the second half.
As with many municipal grounds in Europe, the pitch at Yaiza is surrounded by a running track which isn’t as bad as many as there are only 4 lanes and the temporary seating is actually placed on top so you can still get close to the action.
What makes this ground is the view from the permanent seated stand. As with the majority of the Lanzarote landscape the backdrop is pretty spectacular and from this area you get a stunning view of the volcanoes nearby. There can’t be many grounds in the world with a view like this one!
Food & Drink: 4/10
As mentioned above, there was a bit of a melee around the food hatch as kick off approached so we made our way over there and fought through the crowd to see what they had on offer.
There was a good looking selection of hot sandwiches available but with the ground being cash only and the lack of funds due to Max spending the majority of our cash on the replica shirt we only had enough money for one meal. We decided to risk it and go for the interesting sounding salchipapas. As we waited for this to be cooked, money was thrown around and a lot of shouting in Spanish as people tried to get their food and drink ordered before the game started.
It turned out, salchipapas is a Spanish street food that consists of fries topped with slices of hotdog, cheese and sauces. We shared this between us and it filled a gap without being the most spectacular of meals. But we probably had ourselves to blame for this as due to the lack of cash meaning we couldn’t try the sandwiches, which the majority of people were going for and looked the better option in hindsight.
Drinks wise there was a large selection of canned soft and alcoholic drinks available from behind the counter.
TOTAL SCORE: 25/50
This was something completely different and something we have wanted to do with this blog for a while as we compare the footballing experience not only in England but across the world!
After the amazing welcome we feel slightly harsh giving the club some of the lower scores for certain sections, but when looking at other clubs in the division they play in this is certainly one of the smaller set ups. But I suppose that shows just how far the club have come. A community club playing on a tiny Island, in a town of barely 500 people, are somehow managing to punch massively above their weight and are competing with the big boys in mainland Spain.
We can’t recommend highly enough that you visit this club if you are ever in Lanzarote as the welcome we received was quite frankly ridiculous! After our visit the club even took the time to write an article about our visit which you can read here (English translation is at the bottom): https://www.cdunionsuryaiza.com/es/news/de-luna-de-miel-con-el-union-sur-yaiza
We will be following this team from afar from now on due to this and hope to see the club continue to grow and climb the leagues, and who knows, maybe we will be back one day.
FORZA UNION!
We weren’t quite sure which leaderboard to place Yaiza in, but in the end decided that as thetier in Spain is regionalised we will count it as Non-League. To see how they compare to other ground visited click here: NON LEAGUE LEADERBOARD
And to see the professional grounds we have visited click here: THE 92
Emma’s Ground Guide 