ON THE ROAD experiences the delights of the Andalusian derby … via Edinburgh’s Polwarth Tavern

Real Betis 2 Sevilla 2  

There are, admittedly, more glamourous places to watch the Seville derby. A cosy café in Triana, perhaps, with flamenco music adding to the drama as the match ensues down the road.

A bar in the shadow of the Giraldo in the wonderful Old Town would be an appropriate spot to savour football and tradition.

The Polwarth Tavern, just an Arsenal long throw from the Gorgie home of Hearts, has its considerable merits, however. This is a football pub. A good shoap in Glesca parlance.

As the watery sun drips down on Edinburgh, the staccato rhythm of Spanish banter is played out in the back area of the bar. The Polwarth Arms is host to Hearts supporters, obviously, an Arsenal supporters’ club and penas (supporters’ clubs) of both Atletico Madrid and Real Betis.

The Scottish branch of Real Betis supporters club show their colours in the Polwarth Tavern

Betis owe their green and white colours to Celtic, a debt officially acknowledged only recently. The Polwarth Arms is thus bedecked in green and white for the day as a couple of dozen fans crowd in front of a television within yards of another screen where Arsenal fans shout in celebration, then anguish, then unalloyed joy.

A pillar stands among all the fans. It is a memorial to triumph, tragedy and, indeed, community. It contains the names of those who have been a part of the pub through good times and bad. There are Spanish names on it. There is also the name of Alan Laidlaw, once a co-owner of the pub who died after a heart attack during the Covid period.

‘I don’t know if you were at a funeral during Covid,’ asks Ben Prowse, owner of the pub. ‘But they were soul-destroying affairs.’

A memorial service to Laidlaw was attended by members of the Betis pena, wearing their strips and paying tribute to a friend and fellow fan, though Laidlaw was a Jambo.

This is how friendships are formed and they grow from the most unlikely roots. Prowse, also a Hearts fan, instinctively wanted his pub to be a football haven when he took it over 20 years ago.

Betis fans Jose Conde, Alan McLean and Luis Gamito pose outside the Polwarth Tavern

Real Betis fans in the Polwarth Tavern are on the edge of their seats for the Andalusian derby

Betis arrived on his doorstep 10 years later. ‘We had been nomads for a while,’ says Jose Conde, a lecturer, who started the pena and has remained to see it flourish. His route to being a green and white exile sipping a bottle of beer in an Edinburgh pub is a tale of family, economic crisis and a desire to find community.

He left Spain as it was entering the financial downturn and found a little bit of Betis in Edinburgh. ‘My grandfather was a director of Sevilla,’ he says. ‘So it was not straightforward to be a Betis fan. My father was not interested in football. I was brought up near the Giraldo and could have chosen either team. I felt Betis was more authentic. It was my fate.’

The fate and destiny of Betis has to be investigated with the help of an expert. There have been many great books written in English about Spanish football from such as Graham Hunter, Pete Jenson and Jimmy Burns. Colin Millar is part of this estimable cadre.

His The Frying Pan of Spain (Pitch Publishing) is a profound but entertaining meditation of football and culture in Seville.

‘Seville is the best city in Europe. It has the best weather, the best food, the best culture, the best old town, the best bars, and the best rivalry,’ he says. ‘It has two genuinely big clubs with a truly 50/50 fan split. This provides the ingredients for the best rivalry. the colour, the noise, the passion. There were 25,000 Betis fans at Saturday’s open training session.

‘Football is different in Seville. Betis fans motto is ‘Manquepierda’ – ‘our support is even when we lose’. They say ‘we aren’t right in the head, but we don’t care’. If you want a corner of South American fandom in Europe, you’ll find it in Seville.’

The Celtic links to Betis are matched by Sevilla being formed by Scottish businessmen, most probably after a Burns’ Supper.

So what differentiates a Betis supporter from a Sevilla fan?

‘Sevilla were born as a club representative of international business owners, many of whom were Scottish, with Betis born specifically to represent a more localised team, says Millar.

‘There was a middle class/more blue-collar divide, but that hasn’t really been relevant in the past 70-80 years. Politically, outside of the ultras being at extreme ends of politics, there isn’t a notable difference between the fan groups. Betis have many more fans outside the city than Sevilla – across Andalusia and the rest of Spain, notably Catalonia, due to 1950s internal immigration.’

The clubs, of course, cannot hope to vie for La Liga title, though Betis have won a Copa Del Rey in 2022 and Sevilla have been regularly successful in the Europa League.

‘Spanish football is dominated by the big two, plus Atletico Madrid,’ says Millar. ‘This has always been true, but especially so this decade with finances decimated across the league. Betis and Sevilla both won one league title each, but none since the Second World War. Both these clubs are big within a Spanish context, but league title challenges aren’t realistic.’

The passion remains, however. It has several strains, all loud. The Spanish exiles are joined by Alan McLean and James Masson, both Caledonian stalwarts of the Betis pena.

Antony celebrates scoring Real Betis’ first goal with team-mate Abde Ezzalzouli

Pablo Fornals of Real Betis runs with the ball while under pressure from Kike Salas of Sevilla

McLean says: ‘Twenty years ago a friend and myself formed a Betis fan club in the north-east of England.’ But why?

‘We are supporters of Blyth who play in green and white and Betis opens its arms to clubs who play in the same colours. We have been to Seville to watch games, of course, and now I am living in Glasgow so it is handy to come through here.’

He adds: ‘The main thing about supporting Betis is that hand of friendship you are offered.’

This factor was influential for James Masson, 21, who is part of the select Real Betis Shetland pena.

‘It’s a bit of a convoluted story,’ says the law student of the birth of his affection for Betis. ‘A relation of my best friend back in Shetland was a huge Betis fan. This guy just saw the name on a television ticker and decided to follow Betis.

‘Last year I was told there was a supporters’ club in Edinburgh so I came along and loved it. So I stayed.’

And has he watched a match in Seville? ‘I am a student,’ he says by way of explanation.

He stands alongside Luis Gamito, who works in the hospitality industry, and has been a regular in Polwarth since 2019.

‘I found out about the club when a driver at my work told me Betis supporters were meeting in a pub. So here I am.’

He also had an unusual route to pick his team. ‘My dad is Sevilla so he didn’t really like it but my mother is Betis so she was pleased.’

Both sides of that family would be at least satisfied at last night’s draw, though Betis fans may be harder to convince as they had a two-goal lead at half-time.

But there were other triumphs in the Polwarth Arms . There was friendship, there was community and there was a home from home, whether one was from Shetland, Seville or Glasgow.