How This Mess Started
Felt like figuring out every single time Real Valladolid and Las Palmas ever kicked a ball at each other. Crazy idea, right? Woke up thinking ‘how hard could it be?’ Oh, the horror.
Jumped online first thing. Thought some big fancy football database would have it all neat and tidy. Total nightmare. Searched like five different sites. Each one showed bits and pieces, like they only cared about the last few years or just league stuff. Missing chunks everywhere. Cup games? Forget it. Friendly matches? Nope. Felt like trying to build a puzzle with half the pieces thrown out.
Drowning in Chaos
Kept digging. Found old newspaper archives online – figured newspapers never lie about scores. Wrong again. Found one match report saying Valladolid won 2-1. Another site said 1-0. Who do you believe? A guy typing scores after ten beers? Took ages just to confirm a single stupid result from 1978. My coffee got cold. Twice.
- Step 1: Scrape official league sites. Found league games, mostly recent ones. Older ones? Spotty records.
- Step 2: Dig into fan forums. Bless those crazy fans arguing about a penalty kick from 1992. Found two obscure Cup ties everyone else forgot.
- Step 3: Hit up local library microfilm. Felt like an archaeologist. Dusty reels, blurry text, squinted at match reports written in typewriter font.
The Home Stretch (And Almost Giving Up)
Eventually had this big messy list scribbled down. Dates, scores, where they played. Still missing stuff. Turns out, they played some pre-season friendlies nobody really bothered to write down properly back in the 60s. Found mention in an old sports magazine snippet someone scanned. Felt like winning the lottery, finding a dollar under the couch cushions.
Cross-checked everything. Twice. Made a stupid spreadsheet because my notebook looked like a drunk monkey’s handwriting. Put it all in order, oldest to newest. Finally hit print. Stared at the stack of paper. Mission accomplished? Mostly. Still pretty sure some friendly match in 1985 is hiding out there laughing at me.
Whole thing took way longer than I planned. My desk looks like a paper bomb went off. But hey, got the timeline. Mostly. Kinda. Close enough. Learned one thing for sure – next time I get a ‘fun little idea’ about football history? I’ll need more coffee. And aspirin. Lots of aspirin.
