My first experience at The Oval was on a cold October day in 2009, when I watched
Glentoran win 1-0 against Lisburn Distillery. The match was bad, but I wasn’t bothered
by that because of the stunning stadium. The Oval went straight to the top of my
favourite grounds for several reasons. The main stand was of course the eye-catcher, but
the terracing behind the goals, the sign with just the word ‘Jesus’ and backdrop with the
yellow cranes Samson and Goliath were at least as beautiful.
After moving to Scotland in 2014, Belfast was both literally and figuratively closer with
many flights from Edinburgh Airport. This allowed me to attend my first Big Two Derby
on Boxing Day 2015, about which I wrote a piece in Staantribune Magazine. It was a
match that was actually supposed to be cancelled due to the amount of water on the
pitch, but due to the importance of the match, it eventually went ahead after kick-off was
delayed by an hour. Glentoran lost the match, but it was wonderful to see a sold-out
Oval.
Two years later I was there again on Boxing Day. This time not as a journalist, but as an
enthusiast. I was not in the main stand, but stood on the terraces behind the goal. A
better spot could not have been possible, as I watched Glentoran win 2-1 with a goal in
injury time in front of me. I have never seen The Oval rocking like that, not even two
years later, when I was back in East Belfast on Boxing Day and saw the Glens easily win
3-0 over their arch-rival.
Since then, I have been to The Oval several more times, the last time for this Estadio. Again against Linfield and again Glentoran won. This whole project was a special experience. For instance, I was for the first time in the Griffiths Memorial Room, an area in the main stand that I didn’t know existed. I got to hold the 1914 Vienna Cup, quite an honour. Photographer Marco Magielse, writer Wouter Schollema and I also visited some supporters’ clubs and saw Sam Robinson’s amazing shirt collection. To top it all off, we slept in the house where George Best grew up and I stayed in his room. Through that week in East Belfast, I feel Marco, Wouter and I really got under the skin of the club. Hopefully you will see that reflected in this Estadio.
Joris van de Wier, writer Estadio and Staantribune Magazine
In Staantribune, a magazine about football culture, they give a lot of attention to stadiums, whether big or small. They typically limit themselves to a few pages per stadium in the magazine, but they think some football grounds deserve more attention. That is why they came up with a new series: Estadio. An entire issue dedicated to one stadium. Almost two hundred pages of depth. The first edition was about de Adelaarshorst, the stadium of Dutch football club Go Ahead Eagles in Deventer. This second volume focuses on The Oval, the stadium of Glentoran FC in Belfast.
You can order the latest copy in the UK via Stanchion Books here!: https://stanchionbooks.com/
