Sunday 4th June 2023 ko 13:00

Ettan Norra

TÄBY FK 3 (Hellqvist 16 Johannsson 18 Grönborg 45)

BODENS BK FF 3 (Bawa 56 Cief 81 Hejal 90+5)

Att 154

Entry & Programme 120 sek (approx. £8.94)

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.

It was the final day of the 14th Swedish Hop and although there was the normal regret of soon leaving, it was tempered by a quite superlative breakfast at our hotel in Sollentuna. Three types of pickled herring, 2 of smoked salmon, and the inevitable crispy bacon and meatballs meant I ate bit both extensively and well! Again, in an ideal world we’d have then headed for a lower league Sunday morning game, but since we’d drawn a complete blank, organizer Kim Hedwall did have a plan.

We headed north of both Stockholm and Arlanda Airport and spent a happy hour at Rosersbergs Slott. The castle has been a royal palace since 1762, and sits on the banks of Lake Mälaren, so there weren’t many better places to enjoy a coffee and one of those oh-so delicious Swedish cream cakes.

The choice to head to Täby had some significance in Swedish Hop history. The very first hop visited Tibblevallen, Täby on a wet Sunday morning in 2007. Thinking more generally this part of Stockholms Lan (county) is served by the Roslagsbanan, Sweden’s only narrow-gauge railway still in use for commercial traffic. We’ve been to no end of places on that line, such as Danderyd, Åkersberga and Viggbyholm.

It’s worth commenting that Täby FK play at Vikingavallen in Täby kyrkby, not Täby itself, the two places are around 8 km apart. And yes, the Roslagsbanen does serve Täby kyrkby, in fact the station is a mere 5 minute walk from Vikingavallen.

Of course most will see the ground as the home of IFK Frej but as we’d learned with the previous day’s visit to Hammarby IP they’d given up their place in the third tier Ettan Norra two years ago and entered the sixth tier Division 4. This season they’re plying their trade in the fifth tier Division 3 Norra Svealand.

Täby Fotbollsklubb, however are following a different trajectory. They’re the product of a 2012 merger between Täby IS and IFK Täby and won their place in the third tier in 2019, moving from Tibblevallen in the process.

But can I be selfish about this, just for a paragraph? Other than the fact that this was the only new tick on the hop for me, it also represented me completing the top 3 divisions in the Stockholm area too. Yes I was more than aware that the ground, also known as Täby IP isn’t a classic of Swedish football architecture but there was plenty to hold the attention.

The first thing was the opposition from Boden, in Norrbotten who had the longest journey of an away club at any game I’ve ever attended. Boden is only about 100 km south of the Arctic Circle, and so they travelled some 920-plus km for this game. You think that’s a long way? They’ve played in the Superettan, a national division so can you imagine the journey to somewhere like Trelleborg? Please though, dear reader, don’t get the wrong idea by the photo of the Boden’s coach, Robyn and I saw the team in Arlanda airport a couple of hours later!

It was unquestionably the best game of the hop. I don’t think anyone predicted anything other than a home win beforehand and that went triple at half time! All credit to the visitors for a stirring comeback!

But all too soon it was all over. The niceties such as the “Guess the scores” prizes were completed, and the bit I always hate- the point where I have to say goodbye to Kim. Ours is one of those friendships where we sometimes don’t speak for months then pick up as if no time has elapsed. I was so pleased this event took place, of for no other reason than we’d have both hated losing the event to Covid, and a more general feeling that the hop still has plenty more to say for itself. When the Swedish Hop ends, which it will at some point, it should end on our terms.

The good news is that Kim is planning a 15th Swedish Hop, to take place at roughly the same time as this one, in 2024. The idea is to base it in southern Stockholm, which may pull in an old friend of the hop Skavsta Airport, and there are no end of hotels in places like Hammarby Sjöstad that hopefully will allow for cheaper accommodation too.

But those are broad brushstrokes, much will have to be pondered, but for Robyn and I the great delight will be once again landing in Sweden, and seeing how long it takes blue-eyed, blonde Robyn to be mistaken for a local. It took 5 minutes after leaving customs this time. I think that’s a record that needs beating!