23 Thursday Jun 2016
Posted in S
Stockholm 1st to 2rd June 2016
This year’s visit was different, for the first time I convinced a significant other to come with me. On one hand it wasn’t too difficult to convince Robyn, all I had to do was show her the photos I took last year but this year we were a little short of time so my task was to condense the best of Sweden’s capital into a little over a 48 hours. Continue reading
22 Wednesday Jun 2016
Tags
BK, Enköping, Fanna, Kim Hedwall, Råbergsvallen, Rosersberg, Rosersbergs, Sweden, Swedish hop
Sunday 5th June 2016 ko 16.00
Division 5 Södra Uppland
ROSERSBERGS IK 1 (Lyngbrant 34p)
FANNA BK 1 (Abbas 88) Smedlof sent off 68 (2nd booking)
Att 121
We left the countryside and narrow-gauge railway and headed back to the Swedish Hop’s eventual terminus at Arlanda Airport. The planes flying over the top of Råbergsvallen seemed to me a horrible reminder of what was shortly going to finish. My girlfriend Robyn was half-asleep, half gazing in wonder at the scenery so whatever occurred at our final game I knew that at least from her perspective, her first trip to Sweden had been a success. The last sign back to Kårsta disappeared as we reached the E4 motorway and we headed north. Continue reading
20 Monday Jun 2016
Posted in K
Tags
FK, GoIF, Kare, Kårevallen, Kårsta, Kim Hedwall, Staffen Hassius, Stockholm, Sweden, Unik
Sunday 6th June 2016 ko 13.00
Division 5 Södra Uppland
GoIF KÅRE 1 (Zachrison 64)
UNIK FK 0 Holm sent off 81 (violent conduct)
Att 126
Sweden’s countryside is so friendly, even the bus shelters talk to you (If you push the button on them)! Following Swedish hop tradition it seemed, we followed the Roslagsbanan narrow gauge railway, but this time to its terminus at Kårsta, although there are plans to reinstate the line right through to the heritage lines further north-east to Rimbo. We were at the furthest outpost of Stockholms Lan (Stockholm County) and our coach bumped down a track at the edge of the village but what we were to find at the end blew us all away. Continue reading
16 Thursday Jun 2016
Posted in S
Saturday 4th June 2016 ko 18.00
Superettan
IK SIRIUS FK 2 (Björkbaum 67 Bergman 78)
TRELLEBORGS FF 1 (Jovanovic 29)
Att 1,170
Entry 140sek (but included in hop price)
Programme 20 sek (but included in hop price)
If the Swedish Hop isn’t about one thing it was this. We’ve put on games at Allsvenskan and Superettan grounds before and the result is always the same. Organiser Kim Hedwall gets the clamour to include them but when we do, we don’t get the extra hoppers that would justify doing it more often. Now whilst Kim and I would love to see more hoppers come to Sweden each year, we are reasonably comfortable with the 20-or-so we get each year. There was though a couple of compelling reasons to head north to Uppsala. Continue reading
15 Wednesday Jun 2016
Posted in D
Tags
Österåker, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Djursholm, Djursholms IP, Kim Hedwall, Roslagsbanan railway, Swedish hop
Saturday 4th June 2016 ko 15.00
Division 4 Norra Stockholm
FC DJURSHOLM 4 (Tollis 55 Linner 83 Croon 84 87) Ibraham sent off 19 (2nd booking)
IFK ÖSTERÅKER 6 (Sindemark 27 35 Tuhcic 40 Sjöstrand 53 Musa 62 65)
Att 112
If we’d thought Danderyd was well-to-do, it was immediately trumped by Djursholm! The small town has the most expensive house prices in Sweden and ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus has a house here. Incidentally his ex-wife and fellow ABBA member Agnetha Fältskog lives in a small town with a football team too- Ekerö, but that’s south of Stockholm.
In Djursholm, to the north-east of Stockholm the watertower is a listed building, and the local castle, in baroque style, peeps over the treeline over towards the town’s idrottsplats. The Roslagsbanan railway trundles on narrow-gauge from what was its original terminus towards Tåby and eventually to Stockholm Östra station. It’s an understated railway for an understated dignified town.
Continue reading
13 Monday Jun 2016
Posted in D
Tags
Danderyds, Danderydsvallen, FF, Husby, Kim Hedwall, Princess Sophia, SK, Slitz, Sweden, Swedish hop
Saturday 4th June 2016 ko 12.00
Division 4 Norra Stockholm
DANDERYDS SK 2 (Issa 20 Pharmasson 90)
HUSBY FF 3 (Hien 8 47 Tsegai 75)
Att 63
It was one of those morning starts that was dictated more by when the hotel stopped serving breakfasts than what time our coach needed to leave Ulriksdal. You even could see a road sign for Danderyds sjukhus (hospital) from our hotel. It meant a relaxed breakfast with the inevitable crispy bacon, grilled frankfurteresque sausages, and for the more adventurous- pickled herrings! Continue reading
12 Sunday Jun 2016
Tags
Djurgarden, Football, Idrotsplats, IK, Kim Hedwell, Olympic Stadium, Reymersholms, Stockhol, Stockholm, Swedish hop, Ursvik, Ursvik IP
Friday 3rd June 2016 ko 19.00
Division 4 Mellersta Stockholm
URSVIK IK 4 (Kullberg 36 74 89 Papathanasiou 81)
REYMERSHOLMS IK 2 (Rykelt 53 Engström 58)
Att 75
Back in 2007 if you had have suggested to either organiser Kim Hedwall or I that in 9 years’ time we’d be sat on a coach to Arlanda airport to do the pick-ups for the tenth Swedish Hop we’d have laughed at you. In fact we’d have probably only just stopped laughing now! For the most part the Swedish Hop has made copious use of Kim’s encyclopedic knowledge of the Swedish non-league scene, to the extent that on at least one occasion – Strömsbergs– its taken me some time to work out exactly where I was!
Continue reading
11 Saturday Jun 2016
Posted in I
Tags
Brunn, Fotboll, groundhopping, Hallonbergens, IF, Ingarö, Ingarö IP, Slussen, Stockholm, Sweden
Thursday 2nd June 2016 ko 19.15
Division 4 Mellersta Stockholm
INGARÖ IF 2 (Asplund 41 Eriksson 76)
HALLONBERGENS IF 1 (Yebio 76)
Att 53
Entry FREE
No Programme
For a city as beautiful as Stockholm the bus station at Slussen T-Bana (metro) station is an unlovely place, a place of stained concrete and tired yellow lights. However, the buses to the far-flung parts of the Stockholm archipelago are included on the SL “Access” card, and are punctual and regular from there, so a group of 6 British people stood in a bus battling the rush hour traffic heading for a rather deserted looking island to the east of Sweden’s capital. Continue reading
09 Thursday Jun 2016
Posted in H
Tags
Division 4 Sodra, Hagersten, IF, Meatballs for the people, Segeltorps, SK, Sodermalm, Stockholm, Sweden, T-Bana
Wednesday 1st June 2016 ko 20.00
Division 4 Södra Stockholm
HÄGERSTEN SK 0
SEGELTORPS 2 (Dalakis 33 Borsen 47)
Att 56 at Hägerstensåsens BP
Entry FREE
No Programme
I’ve long since admitted to a love affair with Sweden, 15 trips in 10 years is proof positive of that, but I’m coming to the the conclusion that there’s something of the missionary in me too. When the car travelling to Gatwick Airport contained regular travel companion Sim, his brother Adrian, and my girlfriend Robyn I suspected my influence had been greater than I’d thought! Continue reading
08 Wednesday Jun 2016
Sunday 29th May 2016 ko 16.05
Scottish Junior Cup Final
BEITH JUNIORS 1 (Christie 61)
POLLOK 1 (R. Winters 72)
No extra time, Beith won 4-3 on penalties
Att 4,877 at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock (Kilmarnock FC)
Entry £10
Programme £3
Odd isn’t it? A football match that coincides with virtually nothing, is televised and south of Scotland you’d have had to know what you were looking for to find out about it. There’s really no good reason for it, do the rest of the UK really mistake Junior for Juvenile, surely nearly 5,000 wouldn’t turn out for a youth game? The truth of the matter is that the Scots’ Junior scene is vibrant and for a few reasons its main cup competition is especially gripping. Continue reading
Football: Wherever it may be 