If there’s a football club that represents the rise of the northern textile centres into the Portuguese football elite, it’s Gil Vicente. The club from Barcelos, named after one of Portugal’s greatest playwrights and which has as its crest the famous cockerel of Barcelos, one of the nation’s most ancient collective symbols, was a minnow for decades. But the shift in economic power from south to north paved the way for them to become one of the most beloved first division sides in the past decades.
Part of the charm behind their identity came from their old ground, the Estádio Adelino Ribeiro Novo. It was a symbol of what Minho football pitches were all about and a place where football was much more than a game. It was above all a community-centred arena where everyone got together to support their local identity.
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North-south divide
September 16, 1946. Gil Vicente hosts Desportivo das Aves in a friendly match. Both sides languished in the third tier, at a time when northern football clubs were nowhere to be seen in the top flight. Occasionally, Braga and Vitória SC had a chance to compete in the Primeira Liga, but that was it. The engine of the Portuguese football culture was down south, in Lisbon and the Setúbal district, the same place where the money was.
Minho was a very poor, rural region and seemed lost in time to people from the capital. Even for those who lived in Porto, much closer to their daily reality, it was a place few ventured to visit because of the scarcity of facilities and the poor quality of the road connections. The perfect representation of Portuguese rural identity that Salazar prided himself so much on fostering. Despite this, Barcelos had played a huge role in the history of the nation. The axis between Ponte de Lima, Viana do Castelo, Braga and Guimarães included the medieval town, which enjoyed the peaceful life of a place where time flowed slower than the waters of the River Cavado that passed by its gates.
A tragedy never forgotten
On that late summer afternoon, a decent crowd at the Granja ground welcomed both sides. Around the tenth minute, tragedy struck. The young Gil Vicente goalkeeper, known by everyone as Ribeirinho, launched himself at the feet of Aves striker Armando de Sá as he fought for the ball with the same ferocity as usual, despite it being only a friendly. Both players clashed, but the goalkeeper never got up again. A kick in the head caused severe brain damage, and he passed away on the spot. He was just 25, a local boy, whose real name was Adelino Ribeiro Novo. The ground would forever be intertwined with his story, and his never-say-die attitude remained part of Gil Vicente’s identity, the goalkeeper eventually immortalised when the stadium was renamed.
The ground where the tragic event took place had been initially inaugurated in 1933 as Campo da Granja. It was Gil Vicente’s first proper football pitch, a time when the small towns north of Braga were beginning to embrace the game, even though, historically, none had sporting success. Bar Gil, that is. They remain the most popular club in northwest Portugal to this day.
The club existed since 1924 and took the name of the local theatre where a group of kids used to play kickabout games. The theatre itself, of course, was christened in honour of the famous local Renaissance author, one of Portugal’s greatest ever writers, a sort of Portuguese William Shakespeare. They started to play in red and used the local council crest of arms as a badge. In 1932, after moving around some local pitches that clearly were not fit for playing the game properly, they inaugurated what was called then called the Campo da Granja.
Come rain or shine, the fans turn up
The stadium was built just outside the city centre, north of the River Cavado, close to the local cemetery, and was successfully updated for the decades to come to hold more than 10,000 spectators, although the mandatory seating in the 1990s abolished the terraces and reduced capacity to a maximum 8,500. Only two of the four stands were covered and floodlights were later installed, making it visible from almost every corner of the city. During the usual cold and rainy days of the harsh autumn and winter of the Minho region, those unlucky enough not to grab a place in the covered stands would end up soaking wet.
The only other great sporting force was not a rival football club but the prestigious roller hockey side Óquei de Barcelos, one of the most important clubs in Europe from the 1980s onwards, able to muster several European trophies including the European Cup on two occasions, on top of their several national honours. Supporting the hockey club and Gil became a staple for the local community. The football team’s importance only grew as Gil got promoted to the second tier and established themselves as one of the most respected clubs in the northern division for decades, making the pilgrimage to the stadium every other weekend an ever more ingrained tradition in the fabric of the local community.
Boost to local economy changes the football landscape
In a place where local football attracted huge crowds, as village pitted itself against village, Gil Vicente served as a banner for all despite the unmistakable support for the Big Three in the region, mainly SL Benfica and FC Porto. With the Carnation Revolution of 1974, the Minho economy took a turn for the better as more entrepreneurs found their way to make the local textile companies more profitable, something that became even clearer as Portugal entered the EU in 1986.
By then, it was established that the power was shifting north, first with Porto’s on-pitch success, and then with a legion of football clubs from the Porto and Braga districts who began to get their first taste of life in the top tier. Some had occasional experiences, and others established themselves in the elite for decades. By November of 1987, Gil Vicente decided to pay their respects to the beloved figure of Adelino Ribeiro Novo, the once promising local goalkeeper who had even aroused the interest of the likes of Porto. The old Granja pitch was rebaptized with his name. The stadium had just been refurbished, a grass pitch was finally installed, and it seemed the proper moment to make it right with his legacy.
New stadium name, new lease of life
Coincidence or not, the 1988/89 campaign, the first full season with the ground bearing its new name, was also the one that got Gil Vicente promoted to the top tier for the very first time in its history. For the next six years, they were a Primeira Liga side, and the Adelino Ribeiro Novo became popular nationwide. Its characteristic stands, the roar of the passionate local crowd, and the fighting spirit of the side turned the stadium into one of the most difficult away days for any side, including the Big Three.
Famously, one of the stands behind the goal frame was side by side with the local cemetery while the other had the famous local TOR company facilities behind it, a company that used to be one of the biggest local employers, providing more than 2000 jobs. As many shots went wide above the stand and into the company’s facilities, the “bola para a Tor!” became a famous cry from the more spirited supporters celebrating the fact that the shot had not just missed the target but had somehow ended up in TOR.
As some of their local rivals came and went, Gil Vicente somehow managed to surf the waves and owed much of it to the Adelino Ribeiro Novo stadium. After they were eventually relegated, they quickly clawed their way back to the top in 1999, where they remained until 2006, when the ill-fated Mateus affair, a long-running legal case surrounding the registration of Angolan footballer Mateus Galiano da Costa, forced their relegation. Justice would be done years later, but it cost Gil Vicente almost a decade of top-flight football.
Stick or twist
By the mid-2000s, it became clear that the ground had no conditions to host first division football anymore. As most clubs had moved on to new stadiums or completely revamped their old ones, Gil Vicente was forced into a dilemma. To completely change their old Adelino Ribeiro Novo ground or move elsewhere. Finally, the decision was made to move to a different location with the backing of the municipality, to the new Estádio Cidade de Barcelos ground. It became one of the most attractive football pitches in Portugal, a stadium with top conditions, well located, and that fits perfectly with the reality of the club, which went on to reach the League Cup final in 2012, losing to Benfica.
The change also allowed the club to prepare itself for the future as they would eventually celebrate not only a return to the top flight but also qualification for Europe, the side’s biggest achievement so far, in 2022. By then the fate of the old Estádio Adelino Ribeiro Novo had already been sealed. The ground, which hosted youth football matches for some time after the first squad moved to the new Barcelos Municipal stadium, was finally demolished in 2025 and a new health centre will be built in its place.
Adelino’s soul lives on
For decades it had been a meeting point for the people of Barcelos who endured the hardship of the regional leagues and the excitement of the first division within the same walls. The same pitch that saw Adelino Ribeiro Novo lose his life and then have his name intertwined with the dream of competing with the very best. Barcelos is now one of the main economic hubs in the north, and far gone are the days when it was viewed as a village lost in the middle of nowhere.
The Cavado River shines ever brighter, and the roller hockey and football clubs’ successes have made it an even more popular destination. The Gilistas remain the wardens of the North, the last bastion of invincibility of a place that his full of local myths and legends. Between the sea and the mountain tops of the Serra de Gerês, the aura of the past still lingers, and although the Adelino Ribeiro Novo stadium is no longer there, its soul will remain forever a part of these lands.
By Miguel Lourenço Pereira, author of “Bring Me That Horizon – A Journey to the Soul of Portuguese Football”.
