Split between fans and owners rips apart historic Portuguese club

LISBON: It is the story of a group of supporters who have had their club taken away from them and launched a new team in Portugal’s sixth tier, leaving a professional outfit to play in a deserted stadium with a new name and logo.

The club is Belenenses, the historic outfit from the Lisbon district of Belem, famous for its monastery, egg tarts and the iconic tower by the River Tagus dating back to the 16th century.

Nearby, up the hill in leafy Restelo, the 20,000- seat stadium of the same name plays host to a Sunday amateur game in the Lisbon district league.

With a team of homegrown youngsters and before a decent crowd, Belenenses ease to a 3- 0 win over Operario, a neighbourhood side from the Portuguese capital. They are top of the league.

There wearing hi s scar f sporting the cross of the Order of Christ – the symbol of the club in reference to the navigators who set off from Belem in their Caravels on voyages of discovery – Fernando Nunes struggles to hold back the tears as he discusses the club’s collapse.

He is 82 now and remembers when Belenenses won the league in 1946, one of only two occasions when the title went to a club other than the three giants of Portuguese football in Benfica, Porto and Sporting.

“Our history has been tarnished, but Belenenses will overcome this crisis and get back to where they belong, in the first division,” he told AFP.

The previous day, also wearing blue, the professional version of Belenenses beat the mighty Benfica 2- 0 in the top flight, but they had hardly any fans there to witness the occasion.

“Those who suppor t the professional team don’t have a love of the club, they don’t represent Belenenses,” insists Luis Pinheiro, one of the veterans of the ‘Furia Azul 1984’ ultras who have remained faithful to the historic club that will celebrate its centenary in 2019. — AFP