VALUE FOR MONEY, DOWN BUT NOT OUT.

Today, me, my daughter's father in law and bro in law went off to Palma to watch Mallorca RDC play Elche from the mainland in a Segunda Division match of the Spanish League. Neither team are lying in a particularly comfortable place in the division so points mean survival.

Mallorca are 21st (out of 22) in the division lying 6 points , with 30pts behind Elche, who have 42 points in 18th place. 4 clubs get relegated and the other three in the mire are Gimnastic, Alcorcon and Mirandes. I would look these up, you may widen your knowledge of Spanish football.

We drove from Port Soller for 34 kms to Palma and found a parking space near the Iberostar Estadi, under a tree within 3 minutes of the ticket office. Earlier the club's Twitter feed had said the game was sold out, so with heavy hearts we found a ticket office. Indeed all the notices said SOLD OUT. We queued with desperate others including two eager ladies from the UK in front of us.

They heard the only price of ticket's left and said "stuff that". We heard the price, looked each other in the eye and said "we have come a long way, we will buy!" 75 Euros each! The tickets said PALCO VIP; previously the box must have been hired by a company who weren't MAN enough to invite guests to hospitality and to watch Mallorca go down. We took their place.

By the time we got to the stadium's 5th level, on some very slow escalators and found the BOX we had hired for the match, the game was nearly kicked off. Actually we shared the box with three other punters who had spent the same amount of money as us. Were they ripped off too? I found a few bottles of water from the complimentary fridge to benefit from our expenditure. Nothing else BUT......on a positive note;

the view from the stadium to the distant hills was gorgeous, the view from the box of the pitch was spectacular and the view of the third empty stadium even more wonderous to behold. Had we been conned into buying 75 Euro tickets? YES.

Whatever, we are hardened "groundhoppers" so who cares; the game went ahead, and it was tense, lasting to the 92th minute, when Mallorca had a shot saved and the rebound stuck home. 1-0; Cue-celebration and much joy. Points gained.

After, we managed to navigate out of the exuberant fans, cars tooting horns with the joyous screeching of tyres.  What a good experience, led astray but despite the cost, another footy experience worth having.