Portugal
Associacao de Futebol da Madeira
1 Divisao
Saturday 2nd November 2024
Kick Off 19.30 Actual 19.32
C.F. Carvalheiro 8 C.F. Canical ‘B’ 0, attendance 103
7’ 1-0, 20’ 2-0, 41’ 3-0
50’ 4-0, 52’ 5-0, 64’ 6-0, 76’ 7-0, 84’ 8-0
@ Campo de Futebol Adelino Rodrigues
Rua Nova de Alegria
9060 – 282 Funchal
Madeira
No Admission or Programme.
Below the top four levels in Portugal the game becomes regional, rather like our county leagues in England. Here on Madeira there are two levels, each playing their fixtures on one designated day. Today was the turn of 1 Divisao, the lower of the two. Only three of those were with the first team as hosts, so I opted for the one here at Campo de Futebol Adelino Rodrigues, just to the east of central Funchal. It was not only the nearest, but also the easiest to get to, being just a ten minute ride from the hotel with ‘Bolt’, which cost €6.65 each way. As with this afternoon, it was a ground I’d had a look at when holidaying here 20 years ago. It is tightly hemmed in, but does have spectator access on three sides, with the just the goal end housing the changing rooms being out of bounds. There are seats bolted to the steps along each side and standing at the other end, with trees growing amongst the terracing. They could do with a few more floodlight bulbs, even allowing for the odd one not working, as it was very dark and patchy in large areas of the pitch. Apart from toilet blocks in opposite diagonal corners, there are no other facilities available. The 3G pitch was laid here around 2003, replacing a ‘dirt’ pitch. It would have been grass at one time though, as it hosted Portuguese league football between 1954 and 1957, when it was temporarily home to both C.S Maritimo and C.D. Nacional, whilst renovation work was taking place at Estadio dos Barreiros (now known as Estadio do Maritimo) where I’d been this afternoon. Nowadays the capacity is listed as 3,000, but would have been higher in those days as it would have been pre-seats as well as pre-safety certificates!
This was the first game I’d seen in the regional leagues and it was between two teams who’d lost their opening fixtures last week. It is probably one of the weaker leagues, due to a much smaller pool of players to choose from than on the mainland or nearer the larger cities, but it was entertaining enough, although it did end up as a real thrashing in the end. Three goals in the first half saw the game comfortably won for Carvalheiro and another five followed during the second half. They should easily have made it into double figures, but wasted a host of chances, especially late on.
Having been dry and sunny all day, it was disappointing to have a twenty minute spell of very light rain during the second half. It was still warm though and the trees behind the goal managed to keep us dry.
