[Credit: Danny Last/Lower Block]
Danny Last is one of the most high-profile groundhoppers, having founded the European Football Weekends blog way back in 2007. He now chronicles his travels on Twitter and Instagram, and has a new book out, Campo da Calcio, via Lower Block. Outside Write caught up with Danny to learn about his favourite grounds, the perfect floodlights, and his closest calls… Enjoy.
When did you first start groundhopping and chronicling it?
You can blame Peterson Cresswell and Simon Evans. They released European Football – A Fans’ Handbook as part of the Rough Guide series, which I absolutely adored. Still do. That came out in 1997 and gave practical information on travelling to matches abroad, so I booked up a trip to Amsterdam to see Ajax in their shiny new Arena and haven’t really stopped since.
Ten years later, I started chronicling the adventures on a blog called European Football Weekends. The writing was absolutely awful until I got other people to document their trips too to add a bit of quality. EFW ran from 2007-2012 during the halcyon days of football blogging, which was all good fun at the time.
What inspired you to create a book about Italian grounds? Why Italy over, say, Spain or Germany, where I know you spend a lot of time?
Matt Lidbury of the Lower Block had been tugging my coat for a while to do something together. I didn’t really think I had anything worthy of publication and certainly not anything people would want to actually buy but he convinced me otherwise. I’d always taken photos on my trips which were pretty mediocre but three years ago I gave up alcohol and decided to put a little more effort in the photography as it was something I thoroughly enjoyed, much more so than the hapless attempts with notebook and pen.
In the recent years of sobriety, I’ve found myself returning to Italy time and time again so that’s the country I had the most useable images for. To my utter amazement, Campo da Calcio has been a huge success, so I’m beavering away on a Spanish version and, if that goes well too, Germany will complete the trilogy.
What makes a great stadium shot, in your view? You love using perspective and reflections in your work, for example.
I could make stuff up about yer leading lines, yer rule of thirds, yer symmetry and patterns, yer light and shadows, but the truth is I don’t really know a great deal about all those things. It’s just whatever catches my eye on the day of the game. Sometimes it works and on other occasions not so much.
It must be hard to pick out any single ground as your favourite, but could you give us one large arena, one modern arena, and a small ground that you think every groundhopper should take in?
If you’re ever lucky enough to go to Buenos Aires for football, then you can take your pick of stadiums there which all have their redeeming qualities but the pick of bunch by a whisker was Racing Club’s El Cilindro. If you go to a game there and don’t enjoy the stadium, its surroundings and the match day experience then come to me for a full refund. It’s sensational.
Not meant to like the modern arenas so much are we, but a stadium very much in that category that knocked me over the boundary ropes for six recently was FC Girondins de Bordeaux’s Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux (Matmut Stadium) with an exterior that breaks all the rules of what a football ground should look like but somehow really works with all its thin poles, stairs and corridors.
For a small ground I’ll go for something a bit closer to home and The Dripping Pan at Lewes. There really aren’t many better places to watch football on a nice sunny day – it’s my happy place.
Which grounds have the best floodlights?
As we’re amongst friends here I’ll tell you about an underrated set of floodies in Spain’s Segunda Division B at the Estadio Reino de Leon, home to Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa. There’s no missing them as you sweep past the stadium either on the coach or train chugging into the city. The towering, rusting mighty lighties lean in at a jaunty angle from the outside popping their heads into the ground from a great height. Oh God, I love them.
What are your tips to would-be groundhoppers looking to explore Europe? What are the absolute musts and what are the hidden gems?
If you want an easy ride, lots of football and beer and not have to think too much about it then hop over to the North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany when on any given weekend you can see two, maybe three, of Borussia Dortmund, Schalke 04, Borussia Monchengladbach, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Fortuna Dusseldorf, FC Köln, Rot-Weiss Essen, Rot-Weiss Oberhausen and a whole host of others. If only there was a podcast on the subject <wink>.
In the absolute musts department, I’d pull the Genoa derby out of the hat, if and when that ever materialises again. And I’m not sure these are so hidden but certainly count as gems, go for the likes of FC Magdeburg, Legia Warsaw, Royal Antwerp, Racing Club de Lens, oh, and of course, The Spakenburg Derby.
Any close scrapes or anecdotes from your groundhopping travels?
There was a moment walking around the Gran Parque Central in Montevideo before a Club Nacional de Football match where a few of the local Barras Bravas initially mistook us for away fans when I thought it might be curtains. Luckily, I can speak a bit of Spanish and convinced them we were just a few overly-enthusiastic football fans who had travelled the thick end of 7,000 miles just to be there. I was drinking at the time and hastily fished a couple of cold cans out of my bag to give them to as a gift and it was all smiles and high-fives after that.
I was at the Russia v England match in Marseille [Euro 2016], which was preceded by two days of rioting but swerved most of those shenanigans by removing myself from the port area where it was booting off. We did have tear gas wafting through the windows of our hotel though as the rioting continued apace throughout that night. There was also a moment after the Belgrade derby when a group of fans came marching towards us with what looked like baseball bats, which I took as our cue to jump in a taxi and head back into town.
You’re a regular at Brighton’s Amex Stadium. I think it’s one of the better modern arenas for aesthetics/originality and atmosphere. Where do you think it ranks among modern British arenas?
I would say this wouldn’t I, but I think it sits comfortably at the top table. After years of watching the Albion at Gillingham and Withdean Stadium I still have to pinch myself walking up to the Amex. Now we have the football and a manager to match the luxurious surroundings and European football on the menu for the first time in the club’s history. Lovely stuff.
Finally, what away days are you hoping for with Brighton’s first European adventure in 2023/24 season?
With it being our first time, I don’t think we can go too far wrong with whoever we get but since you’ve asked, I’ll go for a group including Sporting Lisbon, Real Betis and Freiburg please. But if the little bit of paper pulled from the magic balls sends us to FC BATE Borisov in Belarus then I’d sign up for that too.
Campo da Calcio is available via the Lower Block shop here.