It was about 7pm when UMF Grindavík’s players finished training in the club’s indoor hall. There had been seismic activity in the area all day but, in this harbour town to the south of Iceland’s famous Blue Lagoon, everybody had become wearily used to that. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions had been a discomfiting, menacing backdrop to the previous three years. Everyday life had continued but now, on 10 November 2023, nature was to have its say. Four hours after its football team had completed their session, the danger had become intolerable and Grindavík was evacuated. Their once-thriving home quickly turned into a ghost town.
Nobody would dream of using the hall for football now. Its pitch is cleaved in two by a fissure up to 25 metres deep; one of the most striking images in a settlement that has been ripped apart. A chasm has destroyed their outdoor practice pitch too. But something remarkable will happen in Grindavík on Saturday: football will lead the way in a recovery few could have foreseen over the past 18 months. Grindavík will play at their Stakkavíkurvöllur home for the first time since the town’s abandonment, hosting Fjölnir in a second-tier fixture whose outcome feels distinctly secondary.
