Blyth and Betis, two clubs with a common identity

“There’s no obvious connection between the town of Blyth around 20 kilometres north of Newcastle (England) and Seville,” says Simon Needham, Secretary of the Blyth Spartans-Real Betis Peña Betica, in conversation with www.laliga.es. “But Blyth Spartans [who play in the seventh tier of English football] are famous for playing in the same iconic green and white stripes as Betis. It’s an important part of the identity of both clubs and they seem like a natural team to support. We’re all fans of Spanish football and it’s great to draw attention to a team that isn’t Real Madrid or Barcelona. There’s so much more to LaLiga than that!”

The Blyth-Betis peña’s members, who meet up in a pub in the centre of Newcastle to watch their adopted LaLiga side play every weekend, are a varied group. “We have fans from all over,” he says. “Obviously some of us are Spartans fans from the area but others live as far away as Belfast and Dublin. And, of course, as the Spanish population in the north-east has grown we’ve built a strong relationship with Spanish fans. One of the big ideas behind our group is to build links and friendships among football fans from different nations and we’ve had a fantastic time doing that in recent years.”

The group don’t restrict their support to the north-east of England. “Back in May 2013 a few of us went over to Seville as guests of the club to watch Betis take on Celta,” recalls Needham. “Since then we’ve followed the side on pre-season tours across both Spain and the UK and travelled on many occasions to watch home games at the Benito Villamarin.”

Needham and his fellow members have a particular interest in the club’s rich history, in particular its little-known Irish connection, and have been at the forefront of the successful campaign to restore the London grave of Patrick O’Connell, the Irishman who coached Betis to their one and only LaLiga title back in 1935. “Through one of our Irish members, Fergus Dowd, we discovered Patrick’s story and together with his relatives Michael and Sue we created the Patrick O’Connell Memorial Fund,” says Needham. “It’s been a wonderful experience to be able to do our bit for the legacy of one of the club’s most important figures.”

Following his historic spell in charge at Betis, O’Connell moved on to manage this weekend’s rivals Barcelona, who he coached through the Civil War years and even took on a tour of the United States and Mexico. Needham and a number of other members of the Blyth-Betis peña will be at the Benito Villamarin, once again as guests of the club: “we wouldn’t miss it!”