SGI

There is no derby to speak of in Esbjerg's western suburbs. SGI's Saturdays are spent against the sides that regional football throws up — Varde IF, Gørding-Vejrup Fodbold, FC Sydvest 05 Tønder — and matter for a season, or for as long as the divisions keep them in the same table. Serie 2, Serie 4, the Jyllandsserien, occasionally the Danmarksserien: the club moves between them.

What Esbjerg knows SGI for happened elsewhere. Martin Braithwaite passed through the youth side between 2003 and 2007, and went on to Middlesbrough, Leganés and Barcelona. Allan Nielsen, a midfielder, played for Tottenham Hotspur, Watford and Odense before that. Both wore Denmark's shirt. Neither did it here.

Here means Guldager Idrætscenter on Præstemarksvej. The club is a forening in the plain Danish sense: subscriptions, volunteers, red and white shirts. The cup remains the exception.

The arrangement that produced all this was signed on 18 January 1971, when three organisations agreed to stop being three. They took the name Sædding-Guldager Idrætsforening and have not changed it since.