Friday 6th June 2025 ko 14:00

Division 3 Östra Svealand

IK VILJAN STRÄNGNÄS 1 (Malmqvist 87)

IFK NYKÖPING 2 (Thunström 50p Björklund 79)

Att 206 at Vasavallen

Entry 80sek

Programme online

The Swedish Hop’s cost of £350 included bed and breakfast for two nights, all transport in Sweden, together with entry fees for all games, and a goodie bag!

It was Thursday evening, and I was airside at Heathrow Terminal 2. Robyn was contemplating how far it was to our gate (SAS, so 200 metres only) and Adrian was complating whether he had time for another beer (as always- yes). As for me I was contemplating the series of occurences that had got us to there for a flight to Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport.

Robyn and I would visit Stockholm every year even if the Swedish Hop didn’t exist. We love both the city and its people and if the 16th iteration of the the hop invented and run by Joachim “Kim” Hedwall proved anything at all, its that Robyn and I have wonderful Swedish friends.

We opted to bolt on a trip to Estonia afterwards, you may remember us using the Tallink overnight ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm back in the day and a similar service exists from Stockholm to Talinn. It was relatively easy to dovetail the two legs, and catch up with friends too!

We’d opted to fly out the day before the hop, mainly due to the two game intinerary on the Friday- the national day of Sweden and so a bank holiday would mean an early start and a busy day would be rather tiring! We looked into it and discovered that flying on Thursday and staying at the Aiden Hotel in Arlanda’s surrounds was actually cheaper than the early Friday flight. That’s my card marked, even if it did mean in 11 days we’d be visiting 3 countries (there was a brief stopover in Helsinki on our way home) with 4 beds, a ferry ride and 3 flights. Little wonder I was in contemplative mood.

Everything fell into place when Kim collected us the next day. We ended up giving a lift to the airport to the girlfriend of a volleyball player flying to Umeå to see her chap represent his country. Her mum phoned on route and was less than impressed when she explained she was in a minibus with complete strangers…. We were harmless I promise!

The sadness of this hop was that we were limited to the 8 people we could fit in the minibus. Kim’s personal circumstances dictated that, and it was horrible having to turn people down. Hopefully we’ll be able to expand things next year.

We drove around 75 miles south-west stopping briefly for a stretch-your-legs stop at the achingly beautiful Svinngarms Kyrka near Enkoping. The church dates back to the 13th century and could you imagine anything more Swedish?

The town of Strängnäs sits on Lake Mälaren- Sweden’s third largest freshwater lake. Its a place of both history and learning and Kim’s knowledge of running these events since 2007 meant he allowed plenty of time for the party to sit by the harbour, have an ice cream and enjoy Sweden’s day.

But dear reader Kim still had his ace to play- and that was Vasavallen. We had two people new to the hop and new to Sweden too, so I think Kim, and certainly I was keen to give them a wonderful ground to start them off. And if you don’t fall in love with that wooden stand, why on earth are you groundhopping?

The welcome was fulsome, and tea hut took cash when they worked out we couldn’t use Swish for payment (you need a Swedish National Insurance Number to set up an account) and those of us with longer memories remembered IFK Nyköping’s wonderful Folkungavallen home- we visited in 2012. I wonder if they still serve pickled herrings to their visitors?

IK Viljan Strängnäs date back to 1914 and used to be better known for their now defunct bandy section. The football section have played as high as the 3rd tier but now play in 5th tier 3rd Division, and with the weather just about holding up it was a pleasure to stroll around the ground, and enjoy both the surroundings and the game. Of course we jinxed a friendly club, we always do! Here the visitors gained a deserved two goal lead, but when Alvin Malmqvist pulled one back for the hosts with just 3 minutes left they threw everyone forward and were unlucky to steal a point with a last second scramble!

It was a wonderful start to our weekend, and it was a happy minibus that headed for southern Stockholm.