Every time I go on holiday, I end up doing the same thing — searching for local fixtures. It became a habit, then a ritual, then a mild obsession. Football makes a city legible in a way nothing else does. You find neighbourhoods you'd never have visited. You sit beside people who have been coming to the same ground for thirty years.
Over years of trips across Spain, England and beyond, I kept stumbling into matches that became the highlight of the journey. Betis vs Frankfurt in the Europa League round of 16. Espanyol vs Mallorca in La Liga. Real Sociedad vs Valencia — which ended 3–4 in the most chaotic second half I've ever witnessed. Each time, I wished there was a better way to discover what else was on nearby — could I catch another game that weekend?
The pick of the bunch was Santander, 18 September 2022. Racing were at home to Las Palmas. Kick-off was a few hours away. I had nothing else planned, so I went.
It finished 0–0. And it was still one of the best footballing experiences of my life. Not because of the scoreline — but because of what surrounded it. The warmth of the Racing fans who welcomed me as a stranger, bought me a beer and told me about the perilous times they had suffered, how could I not adopt them? The noise and colour of El Sardinero. The way the whole city seemed to bend around matchday. Football doesn't just happen inside a stadium. It pulls a place together. It is culture. I've been back since. I own the kit. I check their results every weekend. What began as a spare afternoon became a genuine, lasting connection with a club and a city.
I also thought back to that Real Sociedad weekend: I knew Santander were playing, but had no easy way to figure out how to get there, whether it was worth the journey, or how to fit it around everything else. That is exactly the problem AwayDays solves.
And then, the same weekend I watched Real Sociedad, Racing Santander won promotion to La Liga for the first time in 14 years. I was watching the celebrations unfold on their Instagram — reposting their videos, feeling every bit of the joy, wishing more than anything I was back in Santander to be part of it. That feeling — of being connected to a club from the other side of a border, of genuinely caring about a place you stumbled into on a spare afternoon — is exactly what AwayDays is built to create.
Back home I support Wigan Athletic — which taught me early that football's magic isn't reserved for the top flight. Growing up, I went on away days with my dad and friends across the country. In the Premier League years we made the trips to Old Trafford, the Etihad and Anfield — those grounds that feel like cathedrals when you walk in as a visiting fan. And in League One, to places like Accrington Stanley, Burton Albion, and the afternoon we watched Wigan lift the League One title at Doncaster Rovers — which remains one of the best days I can remember. Each away day was different. Each one was special. I've seen so much of England from the away end, and that feeling — of a journey, a new town, a ground you've never visited, the laughs with your mates, memories with your family — is well known to every football fan who has ever followed their team away from home, and they are special moments which tie people together. AwayDays was built with all of that in mind — because every tier matters, and every away day is its own story.
One search. Every game nearby. All your tickets in the app. Because your Racing Santander is out there — you just need to find it.
