A soccer fan who once spent £1,000 and travelled for over 24 hours to see his favourite Spanish football team has a much shorter trip tonight – to Huddersfield.
Van driver Stuart Hardcastle, 35, of Cleckheaton, has supported La Liga side Deportivo de la Coruna since he was a kid.
Stuart became hooked on Deportivo when he spotted a shirt with the name of his hero – Brazilian striker Bebeto – on the back.
The family were on holiday in Majorca when then 12-year-old Stuart set his heart on the shirt, which turned out to belong to Deportivo.
Yorkshire lad Stuart has been a fan of the Spanish club since then – and will be at the John Smith’s Stadium tonight for the pre-season friendly against Huddersfield Town.
Stuart said: “I couldn’t believe it when it was announced that Deportivo were playing in Huddersfield. I’m really looking forward to it.”
Stuart, who will go to the game with his pal and big Town fan Beth Prescott, can’t explain why he became addicted to Deportivo.
After he’d bought that shirt in Majorca a bar owner ended up shutting for the night and sitting down with the family to watch a game live on TV.
Stuart didn’t see Deportivo “in the flesh” until 2000 when he and a friend went for a fortnight in Benidorm, a holiday which cost him £1,000.
The friends went by bus and overnight train from Benidorm to La Coruna, taking more than 24 hours, to watch a Champions League clash against Paris Saint-Germain.
“I couldn’t call myself a true fan until I had actually been to see Deportivo,” said Stuart. “But after 55 minutes we were 3-0 down and I wished I hadn’t bothered!
“All the Spanish fans around us thought the English had jinxed them and we weren’t very popular.
“But by the 85th minute we were 4-3 up and at the end of the game 20 or 30 people celebrated by carrying me out of the ground to the nearest bar. It was a fantastic turnaround.”
Stuart was left cursing his luck just weeks later when Deportivo were drawn against Leeds United in the Champions League.
“I could have saved all that money,” he groaned. “From never having seen Deportivo I’d gone to seeing them both home and away in the space of three weeks!”
Deportivo only escaped relegation from La Liga by a whisker last season and Stuart reckons Town don’t have much to fear.
“All the big names have long gone,” he said.
