Tenerife went crazy when local football team CD Tenerife broke through into the first division.  Having finished the 2008-9 season in third place in the second division their breakthrough to the premier league in June this year after a seven year absence was heart-stoppingly exciting.  It was as if the whole island had won the lottery. There was dancing in the street, flag waving, lakes of celebratory beer and wine and car horns tooting through the night.

Of course, getting back into the premier division is only the first step on a very steep ladder  but CD Tenerife fans can keep an eye on the competition via Sportal Maps – a clever mash up of Microsoft Virtual Earth, Google maps and Google street view which provides a pretty unique look at sports facilities around the world. Football is one of the topics and there is also Nascar, Forumla 1 and 360 degree views of international stadiums.

Once on the site you can manipulate the images in several ways and come up with some excellent views. This is a part map, part 3d shot of the CD Tenerife stadium. Although you might not see it on the  screen shot, the view is close enough to see players in action on the field (still shots).

You can choose to see 2D, 3D, arial, bird’s eye or with labels – all of it a very cool and clever use of web services. You can click through on the picture to get to the CD Tenerife page on SPortal and have a fiddle.

It is not only Spanish Premier league home grounds you can spy on either. Look up the English and Scottish first league teams, Germany, France and more.

Was there anybody breathing in Tenerife on Saturday who was not aware that the island’s beloved CD Tenerife football team had at long last broken back through to the first division?

There was no mistaking who won the game. Beaming faces shone from every cafe and bar and the sea of white on blue saltire flags would have confused any merry Scotsman out for a wee pre-dinner drink. My kids were bemused but delighted with the eccentric behaviour of even the most elderly and sedate of their neighbours with Sami noting scornfully that one roly-poly young man draped in a Tenerife flag  made a rotten Superman.

As cars passed blaring triumphant horns and dangling triumphant young men from every window it was lovely to see the sheer exuberance of the supporters. Coming from a place and time where football was often a poor excuse for bloodshed it was just brilliant to see all that celebrating with no undertone of bigotry or violence to come.

I think it is in the first of James Herriot’s books after he is hoiked into the air by a rolling-eyed Clydesdale that he is told by an old Scotsman, “Dinna mess with things ye ken nothin’ aboot.” Great advice that I should  taken more often in my life so with that in mind here are a number of sites you can find information about Tenerife Football which is something I ‘ken nothin aboot.’

Armada Sur (Southern Army)
CD Tenerife Supporters Club

Colin Kirby CD Tenerife
As a freelance writer Colin covers all kinds of Tenerife related topics but none closer to his heart than CD Tenerife.  Its a fair bet that someone who says ‘…’CD Tenerife may not be your first love but they can always be your mistress.’ probably has a good idea what’s going on in the Tenerife field of football.

(Photo by Nikki Attree of Tenerife Photography)

If you are at all a follower of football and live in Tenerife, you have either read Colin Kirby’s scribblings on the subject or seen him cheering his team on to glory in the stands. Colin is a freelance writer who covers many of Tenerife’s attractions and distractions on his informative blog as well as posting about his first love – football.

In his latest post on the subject Colin is as excited as a new father on the birth of the Armada Sur footie fanzine.

I did a double take on one of the Mirror’s online headlines today. ‘Kerry Katona, Look Stoned!’, I read. But no, actually it said Kerry Katona Looks TONED. That’s all right then.

And so she did, bless. Gallivanting about in all her glory at Siam Park. Happy as a … well as a very happy person, I suppose. And all those lovely pictures of her looking healthy beautifully captured in glorious technicolour – that’ll do her career a word of good.

In other sort-of-celebrity news it seems a Manchester City footballer has spat the dummy and run away from his team’s winter training camp in Tenerife. I wonder if they’ve thought of trying to talk him back him via his website which clearly invites, ‘Contact Robinho,