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Tuesday 4 October 2016

Abellana Sports Complex Cebu City Stadium and Sinulog Venue .

The Cebu City Sports Center, formerly known as the Abellana Oval, has made a lot of difference in the sports activities of Cebuanos. Because of its accessible location and its facilities, the sports center has encouraged the development of different kinds of sports, as well as inspired many Cebuanos to engage in fitness and health-improving activities . It is located at the Abellana National School Grounds, Jones Avenue, Cebu City, Cebu.

The successful construction of the Abellana Oval gave way to Cebu's hosting of the 1994 Palarong Pambansa -- CCSC's first successful hosting of a major event, and subsequently, the hosting of seven game categories of the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games held in November 2005.

View From The Main Grandstand

Besides of being a sports facility, the Cebu City Sports Center is also the venue for the annual Sinulog Festival held every third Sunday of January.
  • I attended the Sinulog festival 2007 . A seat in the main Grandstand ranged from £5 to £10 - about a weeks wage for Fillipinos . You can see an athletics track , floodlights and goal posts though the Sinulog , one of the biggest festivals in the world , is the centre piece attraction not only in Cebu but throughout the Phillipines .



The Sinulog procession/street dancing begins early on a Sunday morning and finishes at midnight with an explosive and extremely colourful firework display . I've never seen so many people converging into one area , its massive and must be on any travelling tourists itenary .

Manny Pacquiao has used the complex for training and many famous actors and famous faces have taken part in the procession such Angel Locsin and Pedro Penduko .














The Santo Niño de Cebú ("Holy Child of Cebu") is a celebrated Roman Catholic statue of the Child Jesus venerated by Filipino Roman Catholics. Claiming to be the oldest religious image in the Philippines, the statue was originally donated by Ferdinand Magellan to Rajah Humabon and his wife Humamay in 1521



Sunday 22 February 2015

Preston North End 1 Manchester United 3

Match 71

Ground - Deepdale

Attendance 21,348

Programme  £3


With over 2000 tickets going on sale on Friday 13th February i couldn't resist the opportunity to grab a couple of tickets for the biggest FA Cup Match at Deepdale for ages .

Last time PNE hosted United in a competitive game was 1972 - i was there that day too when over 37,000 fan attended . Don't remember too much about it apart from Best Law Charlton & Gowling - oh yeh - queued for the tickets for ages as a 7 year old kid , i remember that .

Many fans probably gave up going years ago when they couldn't get tickets for the 64 Cup Final but there was ample opportunity to get tickets for this game as you had to be registered on the clubs data base before Jan 1st 2015 - good idea .

 The United fans chanted you've only come to see United which was probably true for many .
Preston fans were singing the praise of Sir Tom Finney & David Moyes

This tie will be remembered for Rooney's alleged dive for a penalty in the 88th minute although no question it was a penalty as the Preston goalkeeper Stuckmann  made a reckless challenge on United's Man Of The Match .

Decent second half and a good performance from North End .














Sunday 30 November 2014

Kawkab Athletic Club of Marrakech KACM

Ground  No 67

No Match

29th November 2014

Stadium - Stade El Harti

League -  Botola Pro ( 16 Teams )

An outside glimpse of the  old stadium in Marrakesh which has been replaced by a new modern stadium Grand Stade de Marrakech in 2011 .

As you can see , a beautiful day in Marrakesh . The old stadium is located close to The Golden Tulip Hotel Farrah and 15 minutes drive from the new stadium .










Thursday 24 October 2013

Antalyaspor Club Atatürk Stadium Turkey



Ground number 66

Ground - Atatürk Stadium

Club - Antalyaspor Club ( Medical Park )

Founded - 1966

Capacity - 12,000

Country - Turkey

Super League


Antalyaspor Atatürk Stadium  spiritual home .

The team play in the Turkish Super League at the Akdeniz University Stadium ( 7,083 ) and move to a new 41,703 Antalya Stadium next season . They have also played at The Mardan Sports Complex for two years as their Atatürk Stadium  does not meet the required standards

As you can see the ground is surrounded by high rise buildings but there is a beautiful harbour close by which gives a superb scenic view .

Caught the local bus in Side to Manavgat Coach Station  ( Otogar  ) - changed to the coach for the 45 mile trip to Antalya - every 5 minutes along the route seemed to be a stop so it was a good 1 and a half hour journey . Lovely scenic harbour near the football stadium .

In 2014 it may be possible to visit all four stadiums if you have enough time or want to plan a visit as part of a break .





You can just see the floodlights in the background -  Harbour