Thursday 13th June 2024 ko 19:30

Division 5 Uppland Östra

BROTTBY SK (Rönn 34 77 Berger 38 Smårs 90+1)

RÖ IK 1 (Markström 9p)

Att 82 at Össeby IP

Free Entry

Robyn, Adrian and I were at passport control at Arlanda Airport, noticably more complicated since Brexit. Swedish border guards are unfailingly polite, but their questions are always searching, with the inevitable purpose of our stay invariably the first. Adrian handed the guard a list of the games we’d lined up. I knew the schedule had changed, but guessed the guard wouldn’t check, and he passed after she checked he wasn’t actually a fan of any of the clubs involved! As for Robyn and I we gave our reason to be there, as seeing friends and tourism. When I admitted this was my 18th visit, she half asked, half-laughed, “Have you anything left to visit??” A fair point, but the answer was yes, as dear reader you will soon see!

With the Swedish Hop starting on the Friday, we’d allowed ourselves two days to catch up with friends. The Wednesday we’d spent with Per and Bettan who’d watched me run the line at a game in Åkersberga back in 2011, and who love Robyn not least due to their mutual liking for Emmerdale!

On Thursday we took a boat tour to Drottningholm, the Swedish equivalent to Windsor Castle. That had the distinct advantage of dropping us off at Stadshuset, the City Hall, just a short walk from Stockholm Centrum station. From there it was a short metro ride to Tekniska-Hogskolan which is in turn adjacent to Stockholm-Östra station.

You are very close to the Olympic Stadium, former home to Djurgårdens mens team, so do take a minute to call in at the bar at Stockholm-Östra. It’s something of a DIF shrine, but we did have to duck in quickly, we were due to meet Mats of the Swedish Society of Football Statisticians. As a proud AIK fan there was no way he was going to set foot in the place!

But why Stockholm-Östra I hear you ask? Other than a means of getting to Brottby it was all due to the quirk that uses the station. It’s the terminus of the Roslagsbanan, the only narrow-gauge (3 foot) railway still part of the Swedish Railway network and has been rather visible during trips to no end of grounds we’ve covered on the Swedish Hop over the years. The likes of GoIF Kåre, Täby FK and obviously Roslagskula are all on the 64 km line, and it was high time I made use of the service, included in the SL Access Card, Stockholm’s equivalent of the Oyster card.

Back in the late 70’s the Roslagsbanan was slated for closure, as an anachronism, but the line does link up some of Stockholm county’s more prosperous towns and villages so now the plan is to extend the line from Universitetet Station underground to Stockholm Centrum for a far more elegant interchange. At that point Östra will close.

I’m not sure Vallentuna would be seen as particularly prosperous, just a well thought-out interchange between train and bus. We stopped there to change on to a bus to Karby. As is so often there was a convenient kiosk for us to buy a Tunnbrödsrulle, and discover that the doubled-up version is called the Megarulle. Who said travel doesn’t expand the mind? It certainly expands my waistline!

From there our bus bumped its way through idyllic countryside, and at this point it’s worth mentioning that while the SL card is still valid and you are still in Stockholm County the game was under the auspices of Upplands County, which proved to be handy for us, the Stockholm FA hadn’t scheduled a single adult game in the capital that day!

The oddity of Brottby SK is that the town sits to the east of the E18 road from Stockholm to Norrtälje but the club play at Össeby Idrottsplats in Karby which sits to the road’s west. The bus from Vallentuna dropped us off at the ground, but buses to there are few and far between, and simply by taking the 15-minute walk to the main road, the buses to Stockholm-Östra are spacious and regular! I really did fancy that train ride didn’t I?

If you want a classic example of Swedish lower league football you could do a lot worse than visit Össeby IP. As befits an idrottsplats, an all-sports venue, the site caters for no end of sports, including ice hockey, weightlifting, orienteering and athletics. A little unusually there was no charge for admission, I’d expect to pay 50-100 sek (£3.60 -£7.20) at this level, but we were encouraged to make use of the little kiosk instead.

That is never a trial by the way, Swedish local football does the cafe really well, with the proviso that you will need to take some cash and hope they accept it! Sweden is close to being a cash-free economy, and where card payments aren’t accepted, Swish is normally the back-up. The mobile banking App is handy for paying small amounts for hot dogs, coffee and cakes, but does require a Swedish National Insurance number to set up. Thanks Mads, for buying the coffees!

The game was close to being a local derby, Rö is around a 20-minute drive north from Karby, and have you ever seen a shorter name? We were treated to a good game too, with Brottby’s band of youth ultras supporting their heroes with gusto. They finished happy too, with Brottby controlling the game well after the shock of conceding an early penalty.

We didn’t have to dash off after the game, so it was a pleasure to chat to Brottby’s officials afterwards. I’m well used to the look of incredulity when Swedish football folk realise just far I’ve travelled to see them! We set off for the bus stop on the E18 and got a friendly honk of a car horn as the stadium announcer headed for home.

We soon caught that bus, or more accurately a coach back to Stockholm-Östra. It was far faster than how we’d got to Karby and the coaches stop at interchanges with bus and Roslagsbanan services, with the services displayed in real time on screens in the coach. It was impressive on so many levels, which did set the tone for the weekend. But I’ll never regret that little train ride!