A Question of Sport
While on holiday in Burgau a chance conversation led to Andy and Judy Robinson moving to the Algarve with the idea of building a sports-centre. 35 years since its inauguration Andy explains how his dreams became a reality.
Andy Robinson is a bit of local action man. A role model to the hundreds of kids, including Spurs ́ Eric Dier, that have passed through his sports centre, he played 1st class Rugby for WASPS and London Welsh. Despite this when he came to Burgau on holiday, he was looking for a new path.
“When I first came to Burgau It was 1979 and I was lost. My dreams of being capped for rugby hadn't come to fruition and injury had halted my sporting career. I had been a P.E. teacher, but I become disillusioned by the non-competitive sports initiative that had infected British schools. For me, teaching was about throwing yourself into improving children's’ lives with competitive sport, but now I was told that it was cruel to make children compete. So with a lump in my throat and missing the kids terribly, I walked the plank.”
Andy started working as a rep for Adidas but feeling that it wasn ́t the job for him. “I had come on holiday with my wife Judy, my brother and sister-in-law plus two friends. Fate turned for me on that day.”
“I had organised a football match on the beach for the holiday-makers and locals. We were drinking in one of the bars afterwards, I was playing the guitar and everyone singing. A big guy with a posh accent who had been playing football asked me out of the blue what I was doing here and what I did for a living. The drink talking I told him; “I would like to build a sports centre here in Burgau.”
That guy was David Miller the MD of Beach villas so the seed was sown on that summer day in 1979. “To my surprise, he asked me to meet him in Cambridge. I marched along Hill’s Road, went in Beach Villas and came out appointed as a holiday rep. We took that chance and we are still here thirty-nine years later. ”
“We had come with nothing more than our clothes, leaving behind a great circle of friends. We just got on with it, every Thursday we had 100 tourists arrive to stay in Burgau, Luz and Salema. We settled them into their accommodation, organised parties for kids, football matches and beach parties.”
They lived in the old Burgau fisherman’s cottages owned by Beach Villas great in the Summer but cold and damp in the Winter. “At that time Burgau was a poor village. Some of our neighbours had no shoes. There were just three cars in Burgau and one of those belonged to Beach Villas.”
They were thrilled that David Miller had not forgotten their conversation with him about a sports centre, but at the time Burgau had a communist council and they were not supportive to Andy´s plans labelling him a capitalist. “I had borrowed £15,000 on 33% interest and that had to be paid back within six months of the centre opening. Some capitalist! Still, we did it.”
It was during 1983 that Andy and Judy watched as the walls of their sports centre gradually arose from the ground, helped by João Jaceito, Beach villas partner who liaised on their behalf with the local council. As well as the centre they built 6 houses, three being kept for the family and the others sold.
“On May Day 1984 the Burgau Sports Centre opened. “Thanks to Tina, our beloved cleaner it shone like a new pin! We had done it! JPR Williams opened the centre, Billy Beaumont and Roger Atley, who I had met during my rugby days all visited.”
The couple did not have much time to savour the moment though as Dan, their first son had been born a month before.
The Sports Centre was a partnership made up of Andy and Judy holding 70% with, Andy ́s and Judy ́s parent ́s investing too. It was always an uphill struggle with most of their clients being the summer holidaymakers, they borrowed money during the winter and paid it back with what we could make in the summers.
A huge set back was buying the land in front of the Centre, in order to get planning permission for twenty houses so people could stay and use the Sports Centre. Before it came to fruition the Environmental agency declared all the land to be a green belt. “They would not let us build anything, not even the full-size football/ rugby pitch we would love to create now, to form a football club.”
During this time they grew their family with Ben came along in 1986 and Sam four years later.
“In 1984 I introduced some of the locals to squash and taught them to play. It was a bit like missionary work at first. No no no! Hit it against the b***** wall! Squash in the U.K. was huge in those days. I formed teams and organised competitions and we were regularly playing in a league we had started with three other Algarve clubs.” Well-known squash players came from England to see this thriving squash club that they had heard about in a small fishing village in the Western Algarve.
Andy then set about finding converts to play tennis, a game he had only recently taught himself. “We built that up nicely organising matches and roll-ups. Our early tennis progress, however, was spoiled when in 1986 Lagos built its own courts. We lost most of our Portuguese players.”
In 1990 the Beach Villas and Martin Holidays went bust, where they used to host parties for 100 tourists a week, it went to nothing and all their trade had gone. Judy got a job teaching when Sam was 1.
“I can’t ever forget the worst Winter, our lowest time by far. It was 1996 and it rained for four months. I could not believe it when I saw one guy canoeing down the road outside the Sports Centre! It was literally ‘all hands to the pump’ as we nearly went down. Nearly bankrupt and with few or no customers, with a wife and three kids it was a time of big worry for me. I did not know how we would get through. It was a case of swallowing our tears and rolling up our sleeves.”
From about 2000 expats started moving to the area and Andy started kids football and built up the tennis club. One of the kids that came to his football academy is Eric Dier, whose parents lived in Lagos. Then when Eric showed the talent he moved to Lisbon and joined Sporting. This is all the sweeter for Andy as he is a huge Spurs fan. Eric still remembers Burgau Sports Centre and just sent him a signed t-shirt for his birthday, proudly displayed on the wall. The Centre would desperately like to now create a full-size pitch so they can create a team and not lose the young talent they help to cultivate.
“We try to do our best to make people enjoy the sports centre family atmosphere which is what keeps us going. Tennis is now very strong, with an evolving group of players who are new to tennis but who are regularly turning out for Dan’s coaching sessions.”
Sadly David Miller died very young at 59.” He was a big loss to everyone and especially to us at the Sports Centre. Without David Miller, we would not have been here.”
On 1st May, the boys organised a bash for their parents in the place where so many parties, sporting events and friendships have played out. Dan posted on Facebook; “Happy 35th anniversary to my home. The place I grew up, the place I became me. Thank you to my parents as well as my Gran for your vision, investment and constant battle to create and sustain our business for as long as you have, its such a massive part of the community and has been helping families who have moved her settle as well as giving families on holiday a place to go and enjoy their family time together.”
Andy has never regretted coming to Burgau and has proudly watched his sons as they have grown from boys to young men. “I only have to look at my lovely granddaughter Sofia as she toddles towards me and I say to myself “Yes it was worth it!”
So what is Andys´s ambition for the future? “My only wish is that my family will keep the Sports Centre open with my ashes scattered over it!”
