Saturday 7th June 2025 13:00

Division 4 Stockholm Södra

STUVSTA IF (Labihouton 16)

SKOGÅS-TRÅNGSUNDS 1 (Thunberg 52)

Att 62 at Stuvsta IP

Free Entry

Free Programme (to Swedish Hop party)

The party also received either a mug or pennant each too

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!

Saturday morning dawned as what this Englishman calls the Full Swedish breakfast was in order at our hotel in Hammarby Sjöstad in Stockholm’s southern suburbs. I’m not saying its for everyone, but the scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, meatballs and chicken sausages were lovely, and if you’re feeling adventurous, you could try a side of pickled herrings on crispbread. I did every time, but then Sweden and I do get along…

In an ideal world we’d have found a morning game, but since Covid those have become far more difficult to come by, so organiser Kim Hedwall got creative. Stockholm is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever visited, so any nod to that was always going to be a good move.

He took us to Ivar Lo’s park, in northern Södermalm, with a quite wonderful view of Stadshuset (the town hall), Kungsholmen, Gamla Stan and Mälaren. The park is named after author Ivar Lo-Johansson whose house is opposite. We spent a happy half hour there, relaxing, and yes taking pictures. The place is a hidden gem.

We headed deep into Stockholm’s suburbs, away from the tourist areas. Stuvsta sits in the south of Stockholm, with its parks, trees and a Pendeltåg (commuter train) station I must have travelled through a hundred times. Someone Swedish would probably find it unremarkable but to my eye it is a classic case of Sweden doing the “Village within a city” idea really well. Of course it has its idrottsplats and at least for the visitors to this one the weather was fine!

The club were extremely welcoming, and the gift of either a mug or a pennant was appreciated. I do wonder whether my mug expected to see so much tea, and so few cinnamon buns! We had a little time before kick off so it was a pleasure to spend some time in the clubhouse and relax- even down to an inpromptu game of Cribbage breaking out!

We were joined by Mats from the Swedish Society of Football Statisticians, and possessor of the driest sense of humour in Scandanavia! We caught up, laughed, enjoyed an excellent game, and as always he made sure I left knowing more than when I’d walked in. Best of all, we had more to enjoy…