By 
So today I got this dumb idea after watching football highlights – wanted to make a simple map showing all Premier League stadiums. Figured it should take like 20 minutes tops. Boy was I wrong.
Total Disaster at First
Started easy – just typed “Premier League stadium locations” into Google. Got nonsense articles and ticket sites. Switched to “EPL stadiums map” and found some ugly interactive thing buried under ads. Couldn’t even pinch-zoom properly on phone.
Got properly annoyed now. Decided to make my own damn map. Opened Google My Maps – created new map. Then realized… I only knew five stadium names! Had to:
- Keep switching tabs between league table site and map editor
- Search each stadium one-by-one like an idiot
- Place markers manually while coffee went cold
Marker Chaos Happened
After 45 minutes had all markers down but:
- London clubs looked like spider eggs hatching
- Forgot Brighton existed until last minute
- Colors made no sense – randomly assigned when angry
Almost rage quit when Luton Town’s pin covered three other clubs. My wife walked by laughing “you call this simple?”. Nearly threw laptop.
Finally Got Slightly Better
Slept on it. Morning me decided:
- Dumped all club names/stadiums in spreadsheet
- Found this geoJSON format thing online (sounded fancy)
- Stole coordinates from some library docs
- Plugged into free mapping tool (copied and pasted like monkey)
And look at this! Zoomable map with cluster circles that explode when clicking. Shows stadium names without overlapping! Even threw in tiny club badges. My cat could use this.
Few Take-Aways
First – football map shouldn’t require coding degree. Second – people can’t spell “Bournemouth” correctly. Third – always save work before smashing keyboard. Might improve this tomorrow if coffee supply holds. Or maybe not. Simple map don’t need fancy labels right? Right.