Monthly Archives: June 2012

The Devil in the Detail

20 Wednesday Jun 2012

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Sunday 17th June 2012 ko 17.15

UEFA Women’s European Championship Qualifying Group 6

ENGLAND 1 (Yankey 67)

NETHERLANDS 0

Att 5,505

Entry (all areas) £5

Programme £3

@ Salford City Stadium

This close season mullarky isn’t much fun, I’d gone almost a week without a game! But then Chris Berezai phoned, and said he and Chris Bedford (http://pitch-side-stories.blogspot.co.uk/) were going to this one, so why not?

In purely groundhopping terms, this was quite an important one, as Salford City Stadium is only used by Salford City Reds Rugby League team, and so chances for another association football match at the ground look to be slim. A 5.15 kick-off, presumably to tie in with the Men’s European Championships allowed me a run home at a reasonable hour.

The 12,000 stadium is in fact in Barton-upon-Irwell, Eccles, and was built to replace the rugby club’s former home, The Willows. That ground hosted two association laws games, both between Salford FC and FC United of Manchester. It’s one obvious quirk is partial standing behind both goals, 2/3 of the space being simply tarpaulins. The space is there for an expansion to 20,000 but that would require some major adaptations. The devil in this place, is in the details.

Consider the attendance, well under half capacity but sufficient to cause a massive queue from the M60. The official car park costs £5 but is only bookable in advance, so all other drivers are directed to the nearby aerodrome. That costs £5 too, but the queue to leave afterwards was lengthy, and was worse when we got to the road back to the M60. I’d rather not imagine what it would have been like with 20,000 there.

We approached the ground and discovered the modus operandi was to buy a ticket before heading to the turnstiles. Common enough, but only have three windows open is plain silly, especially another was wasted on programme sales. I saw no programmes on sale in the ground. It wasn’t obvious where our turnstile was so we asked a steward resplendent in his “G4” jacket. He asked which stand we were in, we replied, “The West,” he responded, “Well, I THINK it’s this one, not but I’m not sure where the turnstiles are.” I walked round to the corner, and guessed correctly.

Anyone who’s made a serious attempt at completing the 92 Premier and Football League grounds will recognise the ground. It’s what a tolerably ambitious League 2 club builds. Safe, functional, and utterly lacking in imagination. The sight lines are good, but the leg room lacking, the food hot, but overpriced. It didn’t stop many groundhoppers turning out for this one though! Another annoyance was the insistence of the programme, announcer, and scoreboard of referring to the visitors as “Holland”. Holland for what its worth, is the western area of the Netherlands, and it was the Netherlands National Women’s team on show this evening. Still pricing the tickets at a fiver is an excellent move, and it was an obviously different demographic watching the game. Its also an idea that those organising finals for the FA Vase, and Trophy should take a long look at.

With the Dutch topping the group, and only the top team guaranteed to progress to next year’s finals in Sweden, England needed a win to stay in with a shout of top spot. In front of the BBC2 cameras, the game was as dull as the ground was uninspiring. In a turgid first half both sides passing was too poor to generate a chance worth recording. It took a cheeky bit of quick thinking from England midfielder Rachel Yankey to break the deadock. Awarded a free kick just outside the Dutch box, keeper Loes Geurts started lining up a wall, without checking that the referee had signalled an “On the whistle” kick. She hadn’t, so Yankey neatly lofted her kick into the underguarded net, and left the Dutch to argue the point.

After that the game opened up a little, but was never going to be a game to convert any doubters to the cause of the womens’ game. That’s a real shame, as the BBC has invested much in female football, but I suspect England manager Hope Powell will be far more interested in the leaps and bounds the team has made during her tenure.

There was one more piece of poor management as I left. I walked past two large security guards at reception in order to get team sheets for the three of us. I asked the lady behind the desk, and she looked at me in stunned silence. Eventually another guard said, “Sure, how many do you want?” and went and collected them. In the meantime I was treated to the lady shouting at the guards, ” How did you let HIM in?”

I should have said something, but I collected the teamsheets and disappeared into the Sunday night traffic.

 

The Pickled Herring Brigade

19 Tuesday Jun 2012

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Sunday 10th June 2012 ko 17.00

Division 5 Svart Sörmland

IFK NYKÖPING 1 (Abdulsatar 77)

VALLA IF 2 (Nilsson 59 L Larsson 90)

Att 55

Entry, Programme, Yearbook, and meal- Hop Ticket

Coffee 10 sek

Pennant 20 sek

The final game of the Swedish hop saw something of a homecoming for the 6 of us that were on the very first trip back in 2007. Back then, we’d landed early at Skavsta and stayed in the pretty town of Nyköping. We’d arrived too early to be allowed into our hotel rooms so went for a stroll and discovered Folkungavallen. We’d also discovered that IFK were at home that Friday, and were sorely tempted to stay and ditch a trip to Nyköping BIS. I’m glad we didn’t for many reasons, but Kim and I were keen to take the hop here ever since.

But why? Have a look at pictures! A wonderful gatehouse and a pretty as a picture wooden stand. Is that not enough? What made it special for Kim and I was watching the other hoppers jaws drop as we arrived, then started to explore.

The stadium was originally built for an agricultural fair in 1914. After the show, it was decided that the facility would be converted to sports use. By 1919 the conversion was complete, but the ground wasn’t officially inaugurated until 1921. The ground was only renamed Folkungavallen in 1925, after a poll in the local newspaper. From my perspective, it was the fact that it doesn’t seemed to have changed much since then, that makes it what it is. On one hand a relic, on the other something of real beauty.

We were welcomed by the ebullient figure of club President Veronica, and were invited for a meal of pickled herrings, potatoes and light beer at half time. Did this make us the Swedish equivalent of the Prawn sandwich brigade? It didn’t feel like it, as this was a friendly, down to earth club struggling at the bottom of the table, but who made some tired hoppers extremely welcome.

A word about that league and division. There are 2 division 5’s in the area, and unusually the authorities have not gone for a geographical split. They’ve gone for “Black” (Svart) and “Blue” (Blå), strange but it seems to work for the local FA!

Sadly, what it didn’t give us was an exciting game. The heavens opened and it appeared to drown any goalscoring ambition. It was clear that the hosts would willingly take a point, so Nicklas Nilsson’s goal for Valla looked to open things up a little. That it did, until Sardast Abdulsatar scrambled an equaliser for Nyköping, and at looked to be the final score until Lars Larsson tucked home the winner for Valla with just seconds remaining. Harsh on Nyköping, but things like this happen when you’re occupying one of two relegation spots. The other, by the way is held by the other club that plays at Folkungavallen- Harg.

That was the last game of this year’s Swedish hop, and a little run of 20 non-UK games for me! There was barely enough time to do the final bits of housekeeping on the short drive to Skavsta airport, and in no time we were flying back to Stansted.

I’d like to thank firstly Kim Hedwall for organising the whole thing. Put simply, no Kim, no hop. Secondly Thomas Nybom, our driver, and often the voice of sanity. Every hop needs a great coach driver, and Thomas is a gem. Lastly, I’d like to thank everybody who supported the hop in its 6th year; I hope you enjoyed the weekend as much as I did!

If reading these reports tempts you into attending next year, we’ll be advertising the 2013 hop around April. Normally that’s in the “Football Traveller”, and ” Non League Digest” together with various Facebook pages and Twitter.

Initiation

17 Sunday Jun 2012

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10th June 2012 ko 13.00

Division 7 Södra Sörmland

RÅBY-RÖNÖ 7 (T Andersson 19 84 M Karlsson 48 58 Holmsell 49 Svehn 56 Fahlén 77)

STJÄRNHOVS 3 (B Andersson 63 Ekström 75 R Karlsson 90p)

Att 105

Entry & Programme, Badge and T-shirt Hop Ticket

Can Coke 10sek

After the usual gargantuan breakfast, Thomas and the coach arrived in plenty of time to gradually make out way back towards Nyköping, and eventually Skavsta. The other 23 hoppers were talking about their evening’s out, but I knew just how early Thomas must have left southern Stockholm to be in Eskilstuna at 9.45. I found him a strong coffee which was gratefully accepted.

As we set off I quickly calculated the distances and times involved. With Råby being fairly close to Nyköping, we were going to be there far too early. Kim being Kim he had a surprise. We made a stop along the way at the Swedish Tramway museum in Malmköping, and so 24 football fans had a whale of a time riding on a 1935 German built tram, and looking at the vintage trams and buses on display. One of our number, a keen train enthusiast was particularly pleased! Continue reading →

M or XL

15 Friday Jun 2012

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Saturday 9th June 2012 ko 17.00

Superettan

DEGERFORS IF 1 (Rennie 45)

HAMMARBY IF 3 (Ayranci 31 Forsberg 69 Lallet 90) James sent off 57 (2nd booking)

Att 5,603

Entry, and badge- Hop Ticket

Programme 10 sek

T-Shirt FREE

With Thomas driving, we reached Stora Valla in plenty of time, enough time to watch the Hammarby fans arrive in a plume of green smoke! Degerfors is the club where Tord Grip and Sven-Göran Eriksson started their managerial careers. Their names are inscribed on the “Tree of Achievement” behind one goal but other than that I found no other reference made to these famous sons. I’d made a visit here around a year earlier, where Kim and I ended up being interviewed for the club’s website!

The ground is Kim’s favourite in Sweden, and it’s easy to see why. There’s a wonderful old wooden stand, with terracing on the other three sides. On the far side the wooden steps double the standing capacity on a day when triple the normal attendance arrived. For me what makes the ground special is the nooks and crannies. There are so many places to watch the game!

The club annoyed Kim by not supplying the 24 programmes he’d ordered, but with the club producing a T-Shirt for the first 3,000 through the gate, they handed him a box of 50 for us, in a mixture of medium and extra-large sizes. Trouble was that most of us had already been given ours at the gate. On the basis of “Waste not, want not” I was charged with throwing the box of shirts over a 10 foot fence for Thomas outside to catch and stow aboard the coach. Expect Kim to have a similar shirt on for the foreseeable future!

I talked my way into the press area to grab a team sheet for the lineups, and the party scattered to find a space to watch the game, Kim and I found somewhere to reassure the other that it was all going well. Despite the shirts stating “VärmLAND VS HammarBY” ie a whole AREA versus just a DISTRICT, there was far more to the tie than that. Hammarby see themselves as an Allsvenksan side, and the Södermalm based club have the support to back it up. In 2013 they’ll have the stadium too, as their new ground just the other side of the Globen from the Söderstadion nears completion.

Going into this game, Hammarby were third, in the playoff spot, behind Östers and Landskrona. In contrast Degerfors were also in a playoff spot, of the relegation variety, fourth from bottom. Sadly for the red t-shirt wearers, the game went precisely by the form book. Eric Figueroa picked out Sinan Ayranci who finished with a deft flick. Degerfors responded just before half time, Amadaiya Rennie’s skidding 20 yard just sneaking in off the base of the left post.

When Monday James was dismissed for his second needless heavy challenge, it looked nicely set up for a Degerfors renaissance, but Hammarby went up through the gears and the for all the world it looked like Degerfors had the player missing. Max Forsberg danced past Daniel Sundgren and fired home from the edge of the box, before Christophe Lallet, last year at Degerfors player dribbled through the home defence before lobbing Jonas Bohlin in the home goal. There was even time for Ayranci to miss a tap in, but the Hammarby fans had already begun to party…

Hospitality

14 Thursday Jun 2012

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Saturday 9th June 2012 ko 13.00

Division 4 Värmland

IMMETORP BK 0 El Naga sent off 88 (2nd booking) Zetterberg sent off 88 (foul and abusive language)

SK SIPHÄLLA 1 (Nilsson 43)

Att 118

Entry, Programme, & badge -Hop Ticket

T-Shirt 70 sek

Pennant 20 sek

Coffee, Beer, Soft drinks and Fruit- Complimentary

After taking full advantage of the hotel’s buffet breakfast, for me, the final piece in the Swedish hop jigsaw arrived. That of course is Thomas Nybom of Interbus coaches. He’s driven each and every one 6 Swedish hops, and now greets us as old friends. He didn’t let us down with the transport either, the coach was high-spec, and brand new!

It took around 90 minutes to reach Karlskoga, the birthplace of Alfred Nobel, and the small village of Immetorp lies virtually adjacent. Kim and I visited Källmossen IP a couple of weeks earlier, and I’d been asked “Do groundhoppers like beer?” Obviously I’d replied in the affirmative, but I wasn’t expecting the sheer volume of the stuff they’d bought! Three brands, and at least 3 times as much as we could drink. I gave it my best shot though! Player Johan Karlsson (who I saw score at Nordmark) told us all about the history of the club and showed us the club’s old ground 200m away. The line-ups were posted on a whiteboard for us, and a barbeque was fired up.

My only concern was the dark clouds as there was little or no cover, but the rain held off until the final few seconds of the game. Another coach arrived with the away fans, who like us were off to Degerfors after this game. A makeshift entrance was rigged up for them. I told Thomas, and he moved the coach so we could make a sharper exit than them! You need a great driver for a hop, and Thomas, despite not really being a football fan is the perfect man for the job.

The game in truth failed to live up to the wonderful hospitality. The visitors annoyed 24 British visitors by scoring just before half-time, but we were consoled by at least avoiding a nill-nil! Immetorp made a comeback impossible with the dismissal of Martin El Naga for his second booking, closely followed by Fredrik Zetterberg for giving referee Davoud Ataei a mouthful of abuse for the decision.

That was a real shame, particularly as assistant manager Dennis Gustafsson found time at the end to come over to the coach, shake Kim and I’s hands and thank the party for coming to visit. Dennis, it was our pleasure to visit a classy group of people. I wish you and your club all the best.

You Cannot Be

13 Wednesday Jun 2012

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Friday June 2012 ko 19.00

Division One Norra

ESKILSTUNA CITY 1 (Rogic 47)

IF SIRIUS FK 0

Att 630

Entry & programme Hop Ticket

Burger and Can Fanta 50sek

So, back to Sweden for the weekend, but this is no ordinary weekend, this is the 6th Annual Swedish Groundhop, organised by Kim Hedwall, I’ve been on all 6 and in recent years helped Kim a little, mainly as a sounding board.

An issue for this year’s event was our desire to move away from the hop’s base of Stockholm, and base it somewhere in Värmland, Sweden’s beautiful lake district. With no suitable hotel in the most obvious location Örebro, Kim picked out Eskilstuna as there was a Friday night game. It proved to be an inspired choice, but it did leave us with only one choice for the hoppers’ flight into Sweden.

The 6.10am flight from Stansted to Nyköping based Skavsta is not ideal, especially as it would put us at the hotel well prior to 2pm when our rooms would be available. That problem was solved by a stroke of genius by Kim, a visit to the Taxinge Slott. This castle dates from the 13th century and is famous for having Northern Europe’s largest selection of cream cakes on sale! So picture the scene, 24 bleary eyed hoppers enjoying a cream cake or 10 and a refillable coffee outside in the summer sun. It killed an hour, gave the 3 newbies a chance to introduce themselves and in other cases catch up with old friends.

The Comfort Hotel in Eskilstuna, was a bonus too, mainly for its location, with easy access to the town’s bars and restaurants, but with the quirk of a rock and roll theme, the lifts being named after Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon of The Clash! I used the time to catch up with a little sleep before everyone reconvened at 5.45pm for the short drive to Tunavallen.

Its a ground I’ve visited before, for fellow tenants IFK Eskilstuna. Its an interesting place, built in 2002 on the site of the 1958 World Cup venue. There’s identical seated stands either side of pitch, with one end having wooden step terracing, the other simple hard standing. What sets this 7,800 Allsvenskan-compliant stadium apart is the tower blocks on each corner, complete with floodlights, and the balconies do seem to give a great view of a 3G pitch that’s set to be replaced with an even better artificial surface.

We were given a talk on the club by the chairman, before taking our seats for a game that he felt his side would do well to get anything out of, given that Uppsala-based Sirius were yet to lose. He was proud to comment that his side were all from Eskilstuna, apart from Lansana Kamara, who’s from Sierra Leone!

What we gor early on was a demonstration in text-book passing from the visitors, but as the game wore on, it became clear that Sirius were creating nothing that the home defence couldn’t cope with. Particularly impressive was home keeper Nicklas Bergh, who pulled off a number of fine saves. As hoppers we wanted a goal, and that came just after half time, Filip Rogic scoring with the faintest flick of a header direct from a corner. Sirius huffed and puffed but created only one gilt-edged chance, Alagie Sosseh missing an open goal with just seconds remaining.

For students of Swedish hop history, when Sirius’ Ian Sirelius came on as a second half subsitute, he squared a circle for the hop. He appeared on the very first hop, for Råsunda vs Gamla Uppsala, in wonderful 2-2 draw at Skytteholms.

The Deep Breath

12 Tuesday Jun 2012

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Sunday 3rd June 2012 ko 15.00

Nord-Rhine Westfalia Liga

SC WESTFALIA HERNE 0

SpVgg VELBERT 6 (Janas 4 9 Onucka 18 69 Kaya 54 59)

Att 200 (Official website)

Entry €7

Programme 50c

Badge €5

Coffee €1

From Essen it was just a couple of stops by train to Bochum, then a U-Bahn ride to Herne. It was clear that Lee had planned the weekend around a visit to Westfalia-Stadion Schloss Strünkede, and the further the train headed towards its terminus the more I found myself anticipating our final game of the tour. We walked across the public park that homes the ground, and glimpsed huge swathes of terracing but it wasn’t until we got through the turnstiles that I understood what I was seeing.

As a traveller I reckon you visit places in the hope of having a “Deep Breath” moment, where you just stop in awe, and, yes take a deep breath. The Kinkaju-Ji Temple in Kyoto provided me with one, as did Niagra Falls. I climbed to the top of the terrace here and had another. A huge 32,000 capacity bowl, with a large bench seated stand providing the only cover. Unbelievably this magnficent stadium, if it were in England could not stage FA Vase games as there are no floodlights.

We had a good walk around, and bought our souvenirs, before picking a seat in the stand as it was raining. Lee had let me know that the NRW-Liga is in fact equal in status to the Oberliga, so we were watching the 5th tier of German football. We would also be watching one of the last games in this league as its being abolished as the level 4 Regionaliga expands from 3 to 5 divisons. None of which was relevant to poor Herne, marooned at the bottom with a mere 12 points. However there was something riding on it for Velbert, a win would give them a playoff spot for promotion. It spoke volumes for how they viewed Herne’s threat that they named several U19 players in their line-up.

It was a ruse that worked perfectly, as Velbert raced into a 2 goal lead with Sebastian Janas being on both occasions the beneficiary. The first he simply walked through a static defence, the second a horrendous Tim Reimann backpass gave him the easiest of opportunities. Herne offered nothing by way of resistance so  it came as little surprise when Markus Kaya placed a delightful cross on to the head of former Herne player Marko Onucka to make it three.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first. Kaya collected a neatly taken brace before putting through Onucka for the sixth. Kaya was then withdrawn, the job was done, and Velbert cruised through the last few minutes for a victory that if more goals had been needed, could have been far more savage.

We walked back to the station, caught a train back to Dormund to collect our bags then made for the airport. An amazing, and varied 4 game programme to celebrate Lee’s impending nuptials. Good luck Lee and Gilly, and thanks to Lee for both organising this, and inviting me along.

Reinventing the cliché

11 Monday Jun 2012

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Sunday 3rd June 2012 ko 11.00

Kriesliga A Essen Sud-Ost

SV PREUSSEN EIBERG 1 (Tüker 75)

SuS NIEDERBONSFELD 1 (Angerstein 42)

Att 67 (h/c)

Entry FREE

No Programme

Coffee €1

With it being Lee’s stag weekend, its fair to say we’d had more than a few beers on Saturday night. In fact, at breakfast one of our number had a receipt from the hotel bar with 2.20am on it. Yet for all of that, we weren’t stupidly hungover, just a little bleary-eyed; perhaps that’s due to Germany’s strict beer purity rules, no nasty chemicals here!

We took a train 35 km west to Essen, a city based on the Ruhr industries of coal and steel. I was a little surprised therefore that when we left the train at Essen-Eiberg station, the scene was one of leafy suburbia! Still not everywhere has to be a post-industrial hell-hole does it? It was a pleasant enough stroll to the Bezirkssportanlage Oststadt, or to be more accurate it would have been bad it not been hammering down with rain! Worse still Lee had looked up the ground on Google Maps and reported that there didn’t seem to be any cover. Brave faces were in evidence as we walked past the clay reserve pitch and into the main complex.

And from that point things looked up. There was a buzz about the place with beer being sold, and sausages were being grilled. For some reason I discovered that there was strong coffee being sold in the clubhouse! Better still, we discovered that there was cover in the form of two railway shelters, perched above a terrace with seats bolted on. We immediately made a bee-line for one and reserved our seats, rather reminiscent of the cliché about Germans and sun-loungers!

At pitchside there’s a shale running track between the terrace and the pitch. It seemed all rather municipal when compared to the club’s building efforts behind. But we had a decent vantage point, the game was on and we were dry!

It wasn’t the easiest game to watch. Maybe I was more hung over than I thought, but this was a game that for long periods failed to spark (maybe it was the rain!). Neiderbonsfeld were clearly that better side, but failed to capitalise on their possession, and will have been disappointed to have reached half time with only Jonas Angerstein’s effort to show for their efforts. They were made to pay when substitute Sebastian Tüker tucked away a well-taken equaliser, and in all honesty I thought that would be the final score at that point.

Of course I was right, but only after a fashion. I made the mistake of commenting how well referee Adam Schneider had done, when Niederbonsfeld forward Özay Gökesil went down in installments in the box, and to the crowd’s consternation Schneider gave a last-minute penalty. Up stepped Angerstein, and his shot went wide of the left post, to give justice for a poor decision, but not in terms of the visitors’ possession and general superiority.

Schmälkoch’s consolation

11 Monday Jun 2012

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Saturday 2nd June 2012 ko 16.00

Oberliga Neidersachsen

VfL BÜCKEBURG 2 (Buchwald 33 Schmälkoch 90)

VSK OSTERHOLZ-SCHARMBECK 3 (Ordenewitz 6 71 Manah 86)

Att 247 (h/c)

Entry FREE

Programme FREE

Badge €5

Pennant €6

From our base in Dortmund, we found a tiny bar on the way to the main station, for beer-for-breakfast before catching a commuter train to Minden. From there we caught a suburban service one stop to the pretty town of Bückeburg. Its situated in Lower Saxony, on the border with North Rhine Westphalia. It was once the capital of the tiny principality of Schaumburg-Lipp, and was the residence of the Princes of Schaumburg-Lippe. Although the Princely family surrendered political power in 1918, they still live there today. The palace, part of which is open to the public, is a major tourist attraction, and houses works of art and a library.

I can only assume that the residents were either at the football or the castle, because the town seemed deserted as we took the 5 minute walk from the railway station to the Jahnstadion. On arrival that was a bonus that it was free entry (normally €6) as part of the club’s centenary celebrations. It struck us all that as a marketing tool it worked well, as we all bought something; beer at €2, or a currywurst, or something from a well stocked club shop.

As a ground, it was notable that there was only one raised area, an uncovered terrace on one side, an end was closed off, and the other end provided a fairly impractical viewing piont due to a net. Most activity seemed to be taking place on the near side, with a cafe and beer seller doing brisk trade. I just wondered where people would have positioned themselves if it’d been raining.

The game, in the 5th tier of German football, saw two sides at the lower end of the table, but safe slug it out in a game where the result would see neither side relegated. And to be honest, while it was decent enough fayre, there was little to stir the passion for long periods. Marco Ordenewitz gave the visitors the lead early on, and for the majority of the game, Osterholz-Scharmbeck looked in control.

Nevertheless Bückeburg found it in themselves, through Tim Buchwald, but once Ordenewitz restored the visitors’ lead, it looked all over as a contest, particularly when Mahmoud Manah gave Osterholz-Scharmbecka 2 goal lead.  All that changed with introduction of the unfortunately named Bastian Schmälkoch with 2 minutes left. He scored one, missed another, and in stoppage time we were treated to home keeper Tim Engler coming up for a series of corners. His opposite number Ole Pasbrig made one tremendous save to keep another Schmälkoch effort out, and the game finished with even this cynical neutral wanting 5 minutes more!

Pig Sick

07 Thursday Jun 2012

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Friday 1st June 2012 ko 18.45

Kreisliga A Mönchengladbach-Viersen

POLIZEI SV MÖNCHENGLADBACH 1 (Souren 72) Krapp sent off 90 (2nd booking) Schmitt sent off 90 (2nd booking) Alatas sent off 90 (foul and abusive language)

1FC MÖNCHENGLADBACH II 2 (von der Burg 82 Kisolo 85)

Att 120

Entry €2.50

No Programme

Beer & Bratwurst €3

This weekend was as a stag weekend for my friend and fellow hopper Lee West. Lee studied in Germany, and is fluent in German, so he set up this 4 game weekend. Six of us flew out in the early hours of Friday from Luton, landing in Dortmund an hour later. That’s where the benefits of Lee’s knowledge of Germany started in earnest. He bought a group day ticket on the railway that allowed us unlimited travel in the region for around €10 each, a real bargain. We decamped to Dortmund, had a few beers then dumped our bags at our hotel before heading back to the main station.

The next bit was entirely my fault. I spotted that there was an earlier train heading to Mönchengladbach so on we jumped only to find it was an S-Bahn service stopping at all (around 47 stations) along the way. We were passed by the later train en-route and it all looked in vain when we arrived at the ground to find it locked up. Lee checked the ground address,  and found it had been switched to another ground. I looked that up on my Google Maps App, and discovered it was only 500 metres away. A quick dash, and I turned right, and there was the ground. I actually turned round to the others, grinned and gave them the thumbs up!

In truth the first ground was nothing special, a railed off clay pitch by a leisure centre. The Sportanlage Radrennbahn, is a different animal all together. Once upon a time it was a velodrome, but the track has gone, and the ends have been surrendered to the trees and shrubbery. There’s no lack of graffiti, but the place has a real atmosphere, rather like Glasgow’s Cathkin Park, another gloriously derelict ground.

 

We were pleased to make the game for footballing reasons too. With 1FC’s second string needing a win to take the title, there was a decent crowd, in good voice. It did seem odd to see a group of young people cheering on the local Police, but they added to a cracking atmosphere, and a pretty good local game.

In fact all that was lacking was a goal! There was no lack of endeavour on either side, it was just that when it came to shooting, well you knew then you were watching Kreisliga action! Kreis, by the way means district, or county, and the Kreisliga is by no means the base of the German pyramid; try the Kreisklasse! Deo Kissolo for 1FC was worst culprit, missing a string of chances for 1FC, but I was noticing more the challenges going in from the Polizei players. They were two footed, and late, and eventually the ref started booking players….

What changed everything was Polizei taking the lead. Richard Souren stabbed home, and the old stand fairly rocked. We waited for a 1FC reaction, which we got, but we didn’t quite expect the Polizei reaction too! Björn von der Berg equalised which on its own meant nothing, but when Kissolo fired home from 6 yards out, atoning for previous misses, the place, and Polizei erupted. A crate of beer arrived for the away fans just as the unfortunately named Guido Krapp collected his second booking for a quite dreadful challenge. He was followed by Marvin Schmitt for an even worse challenge, his time on the pitch a mere 4 minutes. It was all too much for Görkhan Alatas whose stream of invective earned a 3rd red card for his team, and chortles of “Police Brutality” from the foreign contingent.

At the end of it all 1FC celebrated, Polizei sulked and Alatas continued to berate the ref, as we headed off for a chinese meal, remembering to collect a takeaway menu for one of our number Graeme. He collects them you see…..