Sky Sports' Johnny Phillips: Holiday football can be making of a trip

It was a welcome diversion from storms Ciara, Dennis and Ellen.

One can only guess what the next one will be called. Storm FFS, perhaps?

But to return to the matter in hand and the requirement to pen some football-related material, as opposed to absorbing some vitamin D, when travelling abroad I fit firmly into the category of people who try to find a local football match to watch.

Now, football in Tenerife is more than just pasty middle-aged men wandering around in ill-fitting Nottingham Forest shirts and an abundance of bars showing every English game live, which has reached something of an epidemic.

The Canary Islands also happens to be the home to one of the most keenly-contested derby matches in the world.

Las Palmas (of Gran Canaria) v Tenerife has been a La Liga fixture in the past, although both teams now reside in the Segunda Division.

Followers of the two clubs have to make lengthy trips to the Spanish mainland for most away games – it’s 1,262 miles as the crow flies for any Tenerife fixture at Athletic Bilbao.

I wonder how many fans make that trip when it gets moved to a Monday night?

In contrast, for the derby, a 90-minute boat trip between islands is small beer for fans of the two clubs.

There is certainly a football heritage here. David Silva is probably the most famous Gran Canarian playing in England at the moment, but there have been plenty of others who have left the islands for an illustrious career in mainland Europe.

Tenerife once reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, back in 1996/97.

For tourists on the holiday island wishing to watch the team, there is even a British ex-pats supporters club – called Armada Sur – to join up with for a trip to the match in the capital, Santa Cruz.

In a former life, when holidays weren’t restricted to the school calendar, a backpacking trip to south-east Asia involved a flight out to Bangkok with Finnair.

It was a delightfully cheap air ticket, but the catch was an eight-hour stopover in Helsinki.

This afforded just enough time to wander around the capital and also take in a Veikkausliiga fixture between HJK Helsinki and FC Lahti.

It was a totally underwhelming affair, more akin to a pre-season friendly, but a nice diversion from long-haul flying nonetheless.

A far livelier experience was had in the Peruvian city of Arequipa a few years later when a South American backpacking trip with a mate coincided with the Copa America.

For the princely admission fee of £3, we saw a double-header where Paraguay beat Costa Rica before Brazil defeated Chile.

To top it off, we bumped into several of the Brazilian team – including Arsenal’s Edu – out on the town after the match.

The relaxed attitude to team bonding served the team well, as they went on to beat Argentina on penalties in the final.

Taking in a game hasn’t always been plain sailing.

In 2009, my sister was working for a non-government organisation in the troubled city of Bukavu in DRC Congo.

She invited me out for a brief visit and, against local advice, we decided to take in a football match involving champions Bukavu Dawa.

In the last minute, the referee awarded a disputed penalty. It prompted a pitch invasion from angry fans.

The officials fled for cover and the referee headed straight for the part of the stand we were sat in, bringing the wrath of the supporters with him.

The footage of the riot was broadcast on the local evening news that night, showing the referee clambering over the seats just in front of us.

We didn’t hang around to find out, but I’m fairly sure the match was abandoned.

One childhood summer holiday that sticks in the mind more than most involved a two-week break in the Scottish Highland village of Brora.

I use the word ‘break’ in the loosest sense.

A sustained battering of icy rain in buffeting wind is an experience that would test the most fortified of us.

Anyone who attempts to holiday on the north-east coast of Scotland comes back home in need of a holiday.

But a highlight of the trip came when my dad suggested we take in a football match one evening – Brora Rangers were hosting Nairn County in the Highland League.

A solitary stand was open and we took our seats alongside some hardened souls who had an appearance that lends itself to several decades sat in non-league football stands exposed to the wilder elements of Scottish weather.

To fit in, we clapped enthusiastically whenever Brora mounted an attack, but none of our immediate neighbours seemed too impressed with the enthusiasm.

This culminated in a fully-fledged cheer as we leapt from our seats to hail the home side’s opener in the second half.

Unfortunately, nobody sat around us joined in.

It was only then that we realised we had positioned ourselves in what constituted the ‘away end’.

Luckily, Nairn’s travelling army – or van load – of supporters weren’t in the mood for retribution and we observed the remaining minutes without further cause for alarm.

On this latest vacation, the football didn’t quite marry up.

A quick scan of the fixture list revealed that Tenerife’s Saturday evening kick-off against Elche was just out of reach ahead of the journey home.

But there is always next time, because taking in a holiday football fixture can make any trip worthwhile.