You Cannot Be

13 Wednesday Jun 2012

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Friday June 2012 ko 19.00

Division One Norra

ESKILSTUNA CITY 1 (Rogic 47)

IF SIRIUS FK 0

Att 630

Entry & programme Hop Ticket

Burger and Can Fanta 50sek

So, back to Sweden for the weekend, but this is no ordinary weekend, this is the 6th Annual Swedish Groundhop, organised by Kim Hedwall, I’ve been on all 6 and in recent years helped Kim a little, mainly as a sounding board.

An issue for this year’s event was our desire to move away from the hop’s base of Stockholm, and base it somewhere in Värmland, Sweden’s beautiful lake district. With no suitable hotel in the most obvious location Örebro, Kim picked out Eskilstuna as there was a Friday night game. It proved to be an inspired choice, but it did leave us with only one choice for the hoppers’ flight into Sweden.

The 6.10am flight from Stansted to Nyköping based Skavsta is not ideal, especially as it would put us at the hotel well prior to 2pm when our rooms would be available. That problem was solved by a stroke of genius by Kim, a visit to the Taxinge Slott. This castle dates from the 13th century and is famous for having Northern Europe’s largest selection of cream cakes on sale! So picture the scene, 24 bleary eyed hoppers enjoying a cream cake or 10 and a refillable coffee outside in the summer sun. It killed an hour, gave the 3 newbies a chance to introduce themselves and in other cases catch up with old friends.

The Comfort Hotel in Eskilstuna, was a bonus too, mainly for its location, with easy access to the town’s bars and restaurants, but with the quirk of a rock and roll theme, the lifts being named after Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon of The Clash! I used the time to catch up with a little sleep before everyone reconvened at 5.45pm for the short drive to Tunavallen.

Its a ground I’ve visited before, for fellow tenants IFK Eskilstuna. Its an interesting place, built in 2002 on the site of the 1958 World Cup venue. There’s identical seated stands either side of pitch, with one end having wooden step terracing, the other simple hard standing. What sets this 7,800 Allsvenskan-compliant stadium apart is the tower blocks on each corner, complete with floodlights, and the balconies do seem to give a great view of a 3G pitch that’s set to be replaced with an even better artificial surface.

We were given a talk on the club by the chairman, before taking our seats for a game that he felt his side would do well to get anything out of, given that Uppsala-based Sirius were yet to lose. He was proud to comment that his side were all from Eskilstuna, apart from Lansana Kamara, who’s from Sierra Leone!

What we gor early on was a demonstration in text-book passing from the visitors, but as the game wore on, it became clear that Sirius were creating nothing that the home defence couldn’t cope with. Particularly impressive was home keeper Nicklas Bergh, who pulled off a number of fine saves. As hoppers we wanted a goal, and that came just after half time, Filip Rogic scoring with the faintest flick of a header direct from a corner. Sirius huffed and puffed but created only one gilt-edged chance, Alagie Sosseh missing an open goal with just seconds remaining.

For students of Swedish hop history, when Sirius’ Ian Sirelius came on as a second half subsitute, he squared a circle for the hop. He appeared on the very first hop, for Råsunda vs Gamla Uppsala, in wonderful 2-2 draw at Skytteholms.

The Deep Breath

12 Tuesday Jun 2012

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Sunday 3rd June 2012 ko 15.00

Nord-Rhine Westfalia Liga

SC WESTFALIA HERNE 0

SpVgg VELBERT 6 (Janas 4 9 Onucka 18 69 Kaya 54 59)

Att 200 (Official website)

Entry €7

Programme 50c

Badge €5

Coffee €1

From Essen it was just a couple of stops by train to Bochum, then a U-Bahn ride to Herne. It was clear that Lee had planned the weekend around a visit to Westfalia-Stadion Schloss Strünkede, and the further the train headed towards its terminus the more I found myself anticipating our final game of the tour. We walked across the public park that homes the ground, and glimpsed huge swathes of terracing but it wasn’t until we got through the turnstiles that I understood what I was seeing.

As a traveller I reckon you visit places in the hope of having a “Deep Breath” moment, where you just stop in awe, and, yes take a deep breath. The Kinkaju-Ji Temple in Kyoto provided me with one, as did Niagra Falls. I climbed to the top of the terrace here and had another. A huge 32,000 capacity bowl, with a large bench seated stand providing the only cover. Unbelievably this magnficent stadium, if it were in England could not stage FA Vase games as there are no floodlights.

We had a good walk around, and bought our souvenirs, before picking a seat in the stand as it was raining. Lee had let me know that the NRW-Liga is in fact equal in status to the Oberliga, so we were watching the 5th tier of German football. We would also be watching one of the last games in this league as its being abolished as the level 4 Regionaliga expands from 3 to 5 divisons. None of which was relevant to poor Herne, marooned at the bottom with a mere 12 points. However there was something riding on it for Velbert, a win would give them a playoff spot for promotion. It spoke volumes for how they viewed Herne’s threat that they named several U19 players in their line-up.

It was a ruse that worked perfectly, as Velbert raced into a 2 goal lead with Sebastian Janas being on both occasions the beneficiary. The first he simply walked through a static defence, the second a horrendous Tim Reimann backpass gave him the easiest of opportunities. Herne offered nothing by way of resistance so  it came as little surprise when Markus Kaya placed a delightful cross on to the head of former Herne player Marko Onucka to make it three.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first. Kaya collected a neatly taken brace before putting through Onucka for the sixth. Kaya was then withdrawn, the job was done, and Velbert cruised through the last few minutes for a victory that if more goals had been needed, could have been far more savage.

We walked back to the station, caught a train back to Dormund to collect our bags then made for the airport. An amazing, and varied 4 game programme to celebrate Lee’s impending nuptials. Good luck Lee and Gilly, and thanks to Lee for both organising this, and inviting me along.

Reinventing the cliché

11 Monday Jun 2012

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Sunday 3rd June 2012 ko 11.00

Kriesliga A Essen Sud-Ost

SV PREUSSEN EIBERG 1 (Tüker 75)

SuS NIEDERBONSFELD 1 (Angerstein 42)

Att 67 (h/c)

Entry FREE

No Programme

Coffee €1

With it being Lee’s stag weekend, its fair to say we’d had more than a few beers on Saturday night. In fact, at breakfast one of our number had a receipt from the hotel bar with 2.20am on it. Yet for all of that, we weren’t stupidly hungover, just a little bleary-eyed; perhaps that’s due to Germany’s strict beer purity rules, no nasty chemicals here!

We took a train 35 km west to Essen, a city based on the Ruhr industries of coal and steel. I was a little surprised therefore that when we left the train at Essen-Eiberg station, the scene was one of leafy suburbia! Still not everywhere has to be a post-industrial hell-hole does it? It was a pleasant enough stroll to the Bezirkssportanlage Oststadt, or to be more accurate it would have been bad it not been hammering down with rain! Worse still Lee had looked up the ground on Google Maps and reported that there didn’t seem to be any cover. Brave faces were in evidence as we walked past the clay reserve pitch and into the main complex.

And from that point things looked up. There was a buzz about the place with beer being sold, and sausages were being grilled. For some reason I discovered that there was strong coffee being sold in the clubhouse! Better still, we discovered that there was cover in the form of two railway shelters, perched above a terrace with seats bolted on. We immediately made a bee-line for one and reserved our seats, rather reminiscent of the cliché about Germans and sun-loungers!

At pitchside there’s a shale running track between the terrace and the pitch. It seemed all rather municipal when compared to the club’s building efforts behind. But we had a decent vantage point, the game was on and we were dry!

It wasn’t the easiest game to watch. Maybe I was more hung over than I thought, but this was a game that for long periods failed to spark (maybe it was the rain!). Neiderbonsfeld were clearly that better side, but failed to capitalise on their possession, and will have been disappointed to have reached half time with only Jonas Angerstein’s effort to show for their efforts. They were made to pay when substitute Sebastian Tüker tucked away a well-taken equaliser, and in all honesty I thought that would be the final score at that point.

Of course I was right, but only after a fashion. I made the mistake of commenting how well referee Adam Schneider had done, when Niederbonsfeld forward Özay Gökesil went down in installments in the box, and to the crowd’s consternation Schneider gave a last-minute penalty. Up stepped Angerstein, and his shot went wide of the left post, to give justice for a poor decision, but not in terms of the visitors’ possession and general superiority.

Schmälkoch’s consolation

11 Monday Jun 2012

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Saturday 2nd June 2012 ko 16.00

Oberliga Neidersachsen

VfL BÜCKEBURG 2 (Buchwald 33 Schmälkoch 90)

VSK OSTERHOLZ-SCHARMBECK 3 (Ordenewitz 6 71 Manah 86)

Att 247 (h/c)

Entry FREE

Programme FREE

Badge €5

Pennant €6

From our base in Dortmund, we found a tiny bar on the way to the main station, for beer-for-breakfast before catching a commuter train to Minden. From there we caught a suburban service one stop to the pretty town of Bückeburg. Its situated in Lower Saxony, on the border with North Rhine Westphalia. It was once the capital of the tiny principality of Schaumburg-Lipp, and was the residence of the Princes of Schaumburg-Lippe. Although the Princely family surrendered political power in 1918, they still live there today. The palace, part of which is open to the public, is a major tourist attraction, and houses works of art and a library.

I can only assume that the residents were either at the football or the castle, because the town seemed deserted as we took the 5 minute walk from the railway station to the Jahnstadion. On arrival that was a bonus that it was free entry (normally €6) as part of the club’s centenary celebrations. It struck us all that as a marketing tool it worked well, as we all bought something; beer at €2, or a currywurst, or something from a well stocked club shop.

As a ground, it was notable that there was only one raised area, an uncovered terrace on one side, an end was closed off, and the other end provided a fairly impractical viewing piont due to a net. Most activity seemed to be taking place on the near side, with a cafe and beer seller doing brisk trade. I just wondered where people would have positioned themselves if it’d been raining.

The game, in the 5th tier of German football, saw two sides at the lower end of the table, but safe slug it out in a game where the result would see neither side relegated. And to be honest, while it was decent enough fayre, there was little to stir the passion for long periods. Marco Ordenewitz gave the visitors the lead early on, and for the majority of the game, Osterholz-Scharmbeck looked in control.

Nevertheless Bückeburg found it in themselves, through Tim Buchwald, but once Ordenewitz restored the visitors’ lead, it looked all over as a contest, particularly when Mahmoud Manah gave Osterholz-Scharmbecka 2 goal lead.  All that changed with introduction of the unfortunately named Bastian Schmälkoch with 2 minutes left. He scored one, missed another, and in stoppage time we were treated to home keeper Tim Engler coming up for a series of corners. His opposite number Ole Pasbrig made one tremendous save to keep another Schmälkoch effort out, and the game finished with even this cynical neutral wanting 5 minutes more!

Pig Sick

07 Thursday Jun 2012

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Friday 1st June 2012 ko 18.45

Kreisliga A Mönchengladbach-Viersen

POLIZEI SV MÖNCHENGLADBACH 1 (Souren 72)

Krapp sent off 90 (2nd booking)

Schmitt sent off 90 (2nd booking)

Alatas sent off 90 (foul and abusive language)

1FC MÖNCHENGLADBACH II 2 (von der Burg 82 Kisolo 85)

Att 120

Entry €2.50

No Programme

Beer & Bratwurst €3

This weekend was as a stag weekend for my friend and fellow hopper Lee West. Lee studied in Germany, and is fluent in German, so he set up this 4 game weekend. Six of us flew out in the early hours of Friday from Luton, landing in Dortmund an hour later. That’s where the benefits of Lee’s knowledge of Germany started in earnest. He bought a group day ticket on the railway that allowed us unlimited travel in the region for around €10 each, a real bargain. We decamped to Dortmund, had a few beers then dumped our bags at our hotel before heading back to the main station.

The next bit was entirely my fault. I spotted that there was an earlier train heading to Mönchengladbach so on we jumped only to find it was an S-Bahn service stopping at all (around 47 stations) along the way. We were passed by the later train en-route and it all looked in vain when we arrived at the ground to find it locked up. Lee checked the ground address,  and found it had been switched to another ground. I looked that up on my Google Maps App, and discovered it was only 500 metres away. A quick dash, and I turned right, and there was the ground. I actually turned round to the others, grinned and gave them the thumbs up!

In truth the first ground was nothing special, a railed off clay pitch by a leisure centre. The Sportanlage Radrennbahn, is a different animal all together. Once upon a time it was a velodrome, but the track has gone, and the ends have been surrendered to the trees and shrubbery. There’s no lack of graffiti, but the place has a real atmosphere, rather like Glasgow’s Cathkin Park, another gloriously derelict ground.

We were pleased to make the game for footballing reasons too. With 1FC’s second string needing a win to take the title, there was a decent crowd, in good voice. It did seem odd to see a group of young people cheering on the local Police, but they added to a cracking atmosphere, and a pretty good local game.

In fact all that was lacking was a goal! There was no lack of endeavour on either side, it was just that when it came to shooting, well you knew then you were watching Kreisliga action! Kreis, by the way means district, or county, and the Kreisliga is by no means the base of the German pyramid; try the Kreisklasse! Deo Kissolo for 1FC was worst culprit, missing a string of chances for 1FC, but I was noticing more the challenges going in from the Polizei players. They were two footed, and late, and eventually the ref started booking players….

What changed everything was Polizei taking the lead. Richard Souren stabbed home, and the old stand fairly rocked. We waited for a 1FC reaction, which we got, but we didn’t quite expect the Polizei reaction too! Björn von der Berg equalised which on its own meant nothing, but when Kissolo fired home from 6 yards out, atoning for previous misses, the place, and Polizei erupted. A crate of beer arrived for the away fans just as the unfortunately named Guido Krapp collected his second booking for a quite dreadful challenge. He was followed by Marvin Schmitt for an even worse challenge, his time on the pitch a mere 4 minutes. It was all too much for Görkhan Alatas whose stream of invective earned a 3rd red card for his team, and chortles of “Police Brutality” from the foreign contingent.

At the end of it all 1FC celebrated, Polizei sulked and Alatas continued to berate the ref, as we headed off for a Chinese meal, remembering to collect a takeaway menu for one of our number Graeme. He collects them you see…..

The Piano man just caught the last bus home

06 Wednesday Jun 2012

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Sunday 27th May 2012 ko 18.00

Division 6F Stockholm

HÖGDALENS AIS 0

STUVSTA IF 0

Att 35 (h/c)

Entry FREE

No Programme

Coffee 10 sek

From Handen it was back to Stockholm Central on the train then on to the T-bana (underground) green line out south-west to Hagsätra. We actually passed Hammarby’s Söderstadion and the home club’s actual district, on the way to the end of the line.

Hagsätra IP is a pleasant enough location set amongst the trees in suburban Stockholm. The train we’d arrived on rumbled away beyond the far side, and a cafe in the changing room block lost out on some business by closing up early. There’s  an uncovered terrace on the near side, and an ice rink (also uncovered) beyond one goal, but no cover save for a tiny overhang on the changing room block. Not an issue on a warm evening with a barely a cloud in the sky. Continue reading →

The Burning Mountain

06 Wednesday Jun 2012

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Sunday 27th May 2012 ko 14.00

Division 3 Södra Svealand

IFK HANINGE/BRANDBERGEN 3 (Ljobdje 10 87 Gonzalez 58)

IFK ESKILSTUNA 1 (Alias 6)

Att 171 (h/c)

Entry 50sek

No programme

Burger 35sek

Can Coke Zero 10sek

With the car back at the hire company, and Kim and I back in Stockholm, the plan was two games at nearby Skytteholms. Trouble is, I’ve watched games on Skytteholms before, and fine facility though it is, I fancied something new. So, Kim studied the internet and I spent 115sek on a one-day pass on Stockholm’s buses and trains, and away we went.

Torvalla IP is easily found from Handen rail station, in the southern suburbs of Stockholm. This is isn’t blond hair and blue eyed Sweden either, this is an area that’s seen significant Turkish immigration over the years. What that meant in my terms was an excellent barbeque and some interesting names to jot down. This season has seen Haninge absorb local side Brandbergen, which translates as Burning Mountain. That gave the club a place in Division 3 but there seemed to be little other reference to the second name elsewhere.

What the team did have at Torvalla is a choice of pitches. There’s a grass pitch within a running track, but this time the somewhat worn 3G pitch was used. I’d seen Eskilstuna before, a year previously at their Tunavallen home, and they’d looked a decent team. That encounter will always be the time I had a press pass for a free entry game!!

On this occasion Eskilstuna were second best to an extremely solid home side. It didn’t stop the visitors taking the lead, with Henrik Rodriguez crossing from the left and Gabriel Alias heading in from a yard or two out. And that was more or less it from the visitors save for the odd flurry. Put simply Haninge shut them down, and soon found parity as Dario Ljobdje headed powerfully home from Alexis Gonzalez’ corner from the right. Gonzalez scored the second himself, running on to a neat layoff from Stankovic to shoot past Richard Larsson in the visitors’ goal.

Larsson was the best player on show, and may well be one to watch. He’s formerly of Eskilstuna City of Division 1 Södra but opted to drop down to fellow Tunavallen tenants IFK. He’s impressing many so expect a move up soon.

He could do nothing with the winner either, and facsimile of the opener. Again the Gonzalez corner from the left and again the Ljobdje header powered in. So worthy winners, but this was neither a game nor a performance to savour.

Perhaps the real bonus was that Thomas, the coach driver of the Swedish hop came down to see us. He’s no football fan, but enjoys ferrying us around for some reason. Its was lovely to catch up and I put in for a coach with a jacuzzi for this year’s hop!

Half a eye on Game D

05 Tuesday Jun 2012

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Saturday 26th May 2012 ko 14.00

Division 2 Södra Svealand

KB KARLSKOGA FF 1 (Pénzes 50og)

ENSKEDE IK 2 (Olsson 8 Andersson 52)

Att 94 (h/c)

Entry 60 sek

Programme FREE

Lottery 20sek

Team sheets FREE

From Karlstad it was a short, well 70 km drive east to Karlskoga and a Division 2 encounter. It was a real shame to leave Varmland with its lakes and head east, but in all honesty the scenery was no worse in Svealand! The reason for the choice of fixture was that Kim Hedwall is now working with South Stockholm based Enskede. They looked a good outfit on the 2011 Swedish hop and it would be interesting to see how they had progressed.

Karlskoga is best known as the birthplace of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite and the owner of several armaments firms, some of which are still in business  (for example Akzo Nobel) today. He used his fortune to posthumously institute the Nobel Prizes of which all but Peace are awarded in Stockholm. Annoyingly the museum was closed!

Still, I suppose the stadium bearing his name is the next best thing, and its huge! Nominally it holds 10,000 but I would have though far more could be accommodated. It is of course far too big for a 4th tier club, and the club played the first few games of the season on a 3G pitch within the complex. As a club Karlskoga’s main claim to fame is that Sven-Göran Eriksson and Tord Grip both played for the club in the early 1970s, the latter as player-coach. Incidentally the KB bit stands for Karlskoga/Bofors, Bofors merging into the club in 1963. The city’s ice hockey team still plays as Bofors.

I had a chat with the manager, who admitted to being nervous at the side’s prospects that afternoon. He had reason too, with Enskede second in the table behind Carlstad United and Karlskoga in mid-table. With Carlstadt at home to Nyköpings BIS Kim and I had half an eye on the scoreboard with the score being relayed in real-time!

The visitors made the perfect start too, albeit with a massive fluke. Mattias Olsson crossed from the right touch-line, and home keeper Joakim Fromholdt looked horrified as the effort sailed over his head and into the top left corner! The lack of a celebration from Olsson spoke volumes.

The rest of the half saw Enskede in full control but creating few chances. The hosts looked to be a decent side, but despite forcing a series of corners didn’t look like troubling the visiting defence.

All that changed in the 50 minute. A free was awarded to Karlskoga 25 yards out on the right. This was whipped in by Johan Persson but it was Enskede’s Balàzs Pénzes who glanced his header in, albeit under extreme pressure from Karlskoga’s Henrik Andersson.

Parity didn’t last long. Enskede’s Modasa Zekria’s excellent deep cross from the right found Fredrik Andersson at the back of the box and his header beat Fromholdt easily. It proved to be the winner, and Enskede were able to maintain possession and stifle the home threat easily to close out the game.

There was nothing else to do but to follow the Carlstad game. That proved to be the real bonus for Enskede with the leaders losing, sending Enskede top. It was a happy Kim that drove the car back to Solna that evening.

Valhalla

05 Tuesday Jun 2012

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Friday 25th May 2012 ko 19.00

Division 6 Östra Varmland

NORDMARKS I.F 3 (Skallare 10 Rojo 43 Allpour 77)

IMMETORPS BK II 1 (Karlsson 75)

Att 30

Entry FREE

No Programme

Coffee (Kaffe) 10sek

Pennant FREE (Gratis)

From Borås we started the long drove back towards Stockholm. There was plenty to do on the way though with a trip to Degerfors to buy the tickets for the imminent Swedish hop game and a trip to Immetorp to meet up with Dennis Gustafsson who’s organising the hop’s visit to his club. That will be superb, but he was rather worried about raising a side for his reserve side’s game that evening at Nordmark. He was worried enough to name himself on the bench, and was just a touch more worried when Kim and I admitted to him that we were going! Continue reading →

Cultural Learnings

05 Tuesday Jun 2012

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Thursday 24th May 2012 ko 19.00

Allsvenskan

I.F. ELFSBORG 2 (Ishizaki 5 Nilsson 80p)

BK HÄCKEN 0 Chatto sent off 90 (2nd booking)

Att 9,744

Entry 225sek

Programme and Lottery 20sek

Badge 40sek

Please don’t try to find Elfsborg on the map, the club is based in Borås about 65 km east of Gothenburg. As a city it gained greatly from the construction of the railway network in Sweden, and today is a thriving university town. I particularly liked the sculpture outside the campus! The electronics firm Ericsson is based in Borås, as is the atomic clock that sets the time for Sweden.

So why is the city most famous club called Borås? The answer is that in 1906, two years after its inception, the founders opted to change the club’s name as they felt there were too many clubs with Borås in their name. With 5 Swedish titles the move doesn’t seem to have hindered their progress!

The Borås Arena is a new edifice, opening in 2005 next door to their former home, Ryavallen, now being converted to athletics use. The new ground has a 17,400 capacity, and a 4G “Fieldturf” pitch. The stadium was originally scheduled to be a tournament site for the 2009 UEFA Under-21 Championship, but a sponsorship conflict with the Max fast food chain’s location at the stadium and official sponsor McDonalds, plus a contractual requirement for official sponsors to have a monopoly over the stadium’s area, and a refusal to close the restaurant led to it losing its status as a site for the tournament.

I liked the place, as I found it both spacious and quirky. The turnstiles for our stand were between its two tiers, and I did enjoy my Max burger, sat underneath the stand. The only difficulty we found was the numbering system used. We found our seats eventually, but the ticket doesn’t make is clear which tier you are on, you just have to know by which section you are in!

The game was a local derby of sorts, BK Häcken are from Gothenburg, but while the away end was vocal, it was by no means full. The Häcken fans were quickly quietened as Stefan Ishizaki’s 22 yard free kick should have been easily thumped clear by Daniel Frölund. He, however kicked at thin air, and the ball sneaked at the back post with keeper Christoffer Källqvist unable to scramble over in time.

It became clear quickly that the Elfsborg trio of Niklas Hult, Ishizaki and former Southampton player Anders Svensson are the reason that Elfsborg reached the European break 8 points clear. They gave the visitors no time on the ball, and despite the visitors having the two top goalscorers in the division in Waris Majeed and Rene Makondele, Häcken were never able to fully exploit their pace and movement. Sometimes it was a poor touch letting them down, but most of the time it was better thinking when out of possession, mainly by Svenson, that swung the play in Elsfborg’s favour.

The lead was doubled with 10 minutes left when Mohammed Ali Khan brought down Hult just inside the box, needlessly as he was posing no danger, and Lasse Nilsson put away the penalty with the minimum of effort. Häcken played out the last few seconds with 10 men after Nigerian Dominic Chatto was dismissed for his second bad challenge. More worryingly for the Swedish National team, Anders Svensson limped away at the finish was an ice pack taped to his hamstring.

To finish, a word about the programme. It’s combined with the half time lottery! What you get is a palm sized cardboard affair that opens out into an 9 page leaflet. It does the job rather well. For the uninitiated though, you could miss it, as its sold more as the lottery than the programme!