Allemali

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Allemali
allemalitop.png
Nation Candelaria And Marquez
Function Naval Port
Population



152,000
(Census Esimate 2005)
14,896,000
(UN Estimate 2007)
Representatives





Council Leader Henry Tucker (Modern Liberal)
Allemali Coast MotH, Tomer Deri (Modern Liberal)
Allemali Hawks MotH, Ciro Peccarisi (Modern Liberal)

Allemali is a city and port in Candelaria And Marquez, located in the far south-east of the island of Candelaria.

The original fishing port of Puerto de Alemany was established by Spanish settlers as early as 1791, making it one of the first forays by humans into the establishment of a permanent settlement on the rocky terrain and poor soil of the Candelarias' largest island. Little more than a decade later however it had been vacated; leaving it a ghost town until the arrival of British settlers in 1813. Though not built in an especially productive manner, the pre-existing Spanish infrastructure made it inevitably one of the early British Candelarias most important towns; and its pre-eminent port until the serious attempts at colonising the area that would become Albrecht.

The hills surrounding the city provided the resources for the city's first major industry, as a number of satellite towns and villages sprang up to mine copper and molybdenite; with the produce often being sent to the important cities to the north, such as Vo, Talinger and Brayton, to be used in various finished products before returning to Allemali's port. As a merchant port, the city was second-to-none in the islands for several years; but began to find a new purpose as relations between the British and Spanish in the Candelarias deteriorated rapidly.

Allemali was chosen to become the base for the Royal Navy in the islands, and has retained that role long after the country's severance of ties with Britain and its monarchy. The Candelarias Naval Defence Force has its Headquarters of Command in the city; which is also home to the National Maritime Warfare School, the National Sea Cadet Training Centre, and the moorings for most of the country's naval vessels when they are in the Candelarias. Though most of the ships themselves are constructed elsewhere, most notable Bass, the Navy is one of Allemali's primary employers; both for private construction and repair companies as well as the CNDF itself. No other city in the country has as high a proportion of its progeny employed by the Armed Forces in one manner or another.

However, since C&M has not been officially at war since 1945 and most of the Armed Forces are only ever posted to limited peacekeeping duties;
<div" class="plainlinksneverexpand">allemaliships.png
Allemali Harbour, with the CNDS Ivan Dominik moored
in dock. The older vessel in the foreground is the
HMS Disquiet, an early iron-clad warship that
last saw action during WWI and is now a tourist attraction.
</div>the city has often been forced to look elsewhere to support its economy. Tourism became a boom industry in the 1970s, with Allemali taking advantage of both its rich history and tradition, and the scenery surrounding it. On the latter account however, it soon became clear that the hills of the south-east of Candelaria were nowhere near as beautiful of those around the centre of the island; nor as physically challenging as those across the east; and that they could simply not match those in Marquez for poetic spartaness.

In the late eighties, the city became the home to HarryHall.cam, one of C&M’s – and indeed the wider region’s – largest bookmakers, who now employ a not insignificant percentage of the workforce.

Despite all this activity however, many consider Allemali something of a ‘forgotten city’; while its own citizens voted it the dullest place to live in the islands in 1999. It has since enjoyed a major boost in popularity, and its population has risen considerably in recent years.

Certainly however, the most exciting thing to happen in Allemali for some decades was the brief, late 2007 visit of Dazza Dallas.

Football

Like so many Candelariasian cities, sport has long been a major preoccupation in Allemali and football in particular. The city was home to innumerable small clubs prior to the advent of professionalism, from which time the city was able to support two NFBL clubs; in the Allemali Hawks – named for the sprawling district that covers most of the west of the city – and the more popular Allemali Mariners. Both clubs went bust in the early seventies, several years after the Mariners had lifted their single league title.

In 1983, a new Candelaria And Marquez Soccer Championship (CMSC) was created; being a seven-game series featuring amateur players representing either Candelaria Island or a united side of Marquez and the Outliers. At the time, the Mariners’ former stadium, the Clifton Sausage Company Arena was the most advanced in Candelaria and hosted the penultimate game of the initial series.

The following year, the two clubs were renamed Candelaria-Allemali FC and Marquez-Onwere FC, and based permanently in those two city’s stadia. After early failure to keep up with MarquezOW; CandelariaAM won the 86/87 series and remained an important force in the league, winning the 89/90 series and finishing third place the following season.

There then followed a long fallow period, aside from a surprising and fortunate second-place finish in the 96/97 season. This era was marked by a series of disputes between fans and the club board over the future and identity of CandelariaAM. In practical terms, this was most obviously marked by the owners’ insistence on using ‘the Mariners’ as the official team nickname while fans preferred ‘the Shining Sons’, in honour of the small Church of the Shining Son nearby their stadium. Similarly, the correct name for their stadium, Hallowfield Park, has been ignored in favour of the Sausages Arena; even after the Clifton Company withdrew their sponsorship in the early nineties.

The golden-clad CandelariaAM finally tasted some success again in 03/04, where an experienced if less than gifted squad contested the title and finished second in the league in successive seasons. Their then-manager Andy Walker then quit the club to take on the Caires City job, leaving the Sons in a period of limbo until Charlie Cunningham came in in 06/07. His time in charge however was marked by initial mediocrity before a battle against relegation. Cunningham was sacked two-thirds of the way into the XXV season, with veteran club right-back Jaon van Deene taking the caretaker job.

van Deene steadied the ship and was subsequently given the manager’s job full time. He has recently agreed a deal to bring two former Jeruselem second Di Bradini Cup players to the squad, namely striker Gime Thadope and midfielder Smakam Downe. But more signings will have to come if they are not to struggle again in XXVI, despite the form of forward Andrew Bradley and young holding player Connor Mengucci.