Saturday 3rd June 2023 ko 16:00

Ettan Norra

HAMMARBY TALANG FF 0

STOCKHOLM INTERNAZIONALE 1 (Rashidi 90)

Att 324 at Kanalplan/ Hammarby IP

Entry 100 sek (approx. £7.20)

The Swedish Hop’s cost of £450 included bed and breakfast for two nights, all transport in Sweden, together with entry fees and programmes for all games.

Just about every Swedish Hop we’ve run in the Stockholm area over the 16 years has been based around a ground that either Kim Hedwall or I or the both of us has previously visited and wanted to take folks to. Normally Kim picks the ground, we watch a game and without actually saying it he says, “What do you think of this?”

Hammarby IP or Kanalplan if you’d like its alternate name was a good example of that process. Kim and I visited in July 2007 then a year later for a game- sadly the photos of the latter were lost but as with so many grounds we committed it to memory and waited for an opportunity. 

The ground lies just north of the Göta Canal in Stockholm’s Södermalm district. As the name suggests the ground is the birthplace of Hammarby IF with the wider sports club merging with Klara SK to create a football department in 1915. Kanalplan was opened by Crown Prince Gustav Adolf in September that year with the new team playing only their first few games here, the crowds were large enough for games to be switched to the Olympic Stadium. The club moved to Söderstadion in 1966 and moved to the other side of the Globen in 2013 to the newly-built Tele-2 Arena.

Kanalplan has continued to be used by Hammarby’s women’s and youth teams and by no end of local league sides. When I visited in 2009 it was very much a case of turning up and waiting for a game to start! But please don’t see the ground as just a place for football- the name IP or idrottsplats does give the game away.

Kanalplan has been used variously for bandy, football, ice hockey, athletics, skating, and even speedway although I not sure how they found space to put down a track! Monarkerna rode here in the 1950’s but had no connection to Hammarby speedway who rode at Gubbängens IP until they folded in 2017. We saw a football match there on the third Swedish Hop in 2009.

Hammarby’s youth team, called Hammarby Talang Fotbollförening, or to translate Talent Football Association, were formed in 2003 and have always acted as a feeder team to the main club, but were dissolved in 2011, reformed in 2016, but folded again in 2020. But in 2021 IFK Frej opted to drop down to the 6th tier from the third tier Ettan Norra citing financial difficulties.

Hammarby IF had lent Frej players and funds, so took on their assets and league position, and so Hammarby Talang FF, to use their formal title were formed, moving (back) to Kanalplan but playing in Frej’s yellow and black colours, rather than Hammarby’s green and white. Of course, the next day we were to visit Vikingavallen, former home to IFK Frej, the hop certainly did respect Swedish football history this year!

Kanalplan had changed massively since Kim and I’s visits and that was down to the other major team that calls the place home, Hammarby Damen/ Women. In 2014 they were promoted to the top flight Damallsvenskan and needed to get the ground up to scratch. The changes are manifest, two new stands and a bridge to the top of the main stand too! Thankfully, the cottage, reminiscent of Fulham’s Craven Cottage is still there.

But in the days before the hop, I’d discovered quite a place to view the ground. We’d been staying the other side of the canal in Hammarby Sjöstad. Near to Gullmarsplan metro stop is the Stockholm Skybar. We went for a meal 102 metres above the Swedish capital with views of both of Hammarby’s grounds. And the food was superb too!

Our visit to Kanalplan involved an interesting game. Stockholm Internazionale traditionally are based at a ground that Kim and I have more than an eye on for a future hop, the superlative Kristinebergs IP. Since that ground is currently being refitted, and Internazionale are marching through the divisions, they’ve played some games at the Olympic Stadium too. But for this season at least they’re based at Kanalplan, so we were about to watch a “Hosts versus Tenants” derby.

In fact the only real issue we had was making kick-off. The trip from Sollentuna was slowed by Stockholm’s notorious traffic, and I found myself in the bizarre situation of offering directions, my only excuse is that we were mirroring a tram route I know well, from Årstaberg to Hammarby Sjöstad.

We made it comfortably in time for kick-off but being in the hop party did have some perks. Kim had pre-paid, so we were waved through at the gate, and had time even to buy the rather tasty filled rolls available in the clubhouse. Kim even found time to distribute a small token from the club, a Hammarby kit fridge magnet each.

It was a wonderful place to watch a game, and equally so to explore. Please don’t see the game as a nil-nil avoided, it held the attention more than just that. It was everything you could ask for in a hop game, and certainly a personal triumph for Kim and his organisation skills. For me it anchored some of what we’ve visited in the past, be it the Söderstadion, or even the game we were to see the next day.

After the game we headed back north, to Märsta adjacent to Arlanda Airport. There was due to be a veterans game on the second pitch at Midgårdsvallen. We arrived, only to be told that the two teams had agreed to switch the tie to Sunday evening, when most of us would be midway between Arlanda and home. We managed to pass on the bad news to the four gents following us around in their hire car, but then decided to make the best of the situation.

If we had to lose any game this was the one, and there was a silver lining to it. We made for central Märsta with the express intention of finding an evening meal. We soon spotted the Pizzeria Castello, and since I was first in the door, I asked the waiter whether they had a table for 9. The place was virtually empty, takeaway clearly is king here, so he looked completely stunned to the extent that it took Kim, in Swedish that yes, 1 Swede and 8 British people would like food and drinks!

We made their evening, ate and drank well at prices far below that in the urban areas and followed the adage of “Making friends wherever we go” that has been a hallmark of the 14 hops over 16 years. And while yes, I have preferred to have watched another game, it was lovely to have dipped into Sweden far beyond what the tourist would normally see. Eventually we paid, cleared our tables and headed back to Sollentuna.