Eurotour of 2014. Part 5
My last few days were to be spent in more familiar territory, the Netherlands and Germany. I did not know about the exact fixtures when I started the trip, but knew various play offs and cup finals had to be arranged. Indeed before I started, the only options for the Tuesday were a couple of low level games in Germany and Austria, or a return into Poland. I did know about the play offs to win promotion from the German Regionalliga to the 3. Liga would start on the Wednesday, but also that the options, which were likely to be Neustrelitz and Sonnenhof Grosaspach were both going to cause difficulties with the travel.
Then up comes the Netherlands play offs. With the addition of the National Topklasse (one each, for Saturday and Sunday) as the top level of Netherlands Amateur football, (which is of course, semi-professional), there has to be promotion and relegation. There are three regional leagues (Hoofdklasse) below the Topklasse, and all three champions go up at the expense of the bottom three. But then there are the period champions. In the Netherlands and Belgium, the playing season is divided into roughly even groups of matches and the winner of each period goes into the end of season play offs. As the automatically promoted team may well have won (at least one) period, and teams can win more than one, additional teams may be included from second place down in the league.
In the Netherlands Hoofdklasse, there are three regional groups, and three periods per group. They then play a round robin within each group, with each team (normally) getting one home game. The three winners, and the fourth from bottom team in the Topklasse then play semi-finals (two legs) and final (single match, neutral ground) to decide the final club in the Topklasse. So the fixtures were not known at all when I started out, and even when I spotted them (about a week’s notice), I did not know who would be at home. The Saturday semi-finals were to be played Tuesday and Saturday. When the fixtures were eventually settled, it was Ajax Amateurs and SteDeCo at home in the first leg of the semi finals. As SteDeCo’s home in … involves two buses from the nearest rail station, I chose Ajax. On a very wet day, an artificial pitch may help.
This meant Amsterdam joined Prague and Budapest as a major cities on this tour where I saw football without venturing into the city centre.
This game was at the Ajax Amateurs pitch at Toekmost. The main pitch there is used for the Eerste Divisie Jong Ajax team, the Ladies and the most senior (A1) of the many youth teams. The main pitch is grass, but the Amateurs use an artificial surface, no doubt shared by other teams. Ajax Amateurs themselves run three adult teams and a veteran’s team. They are a curious combination, being simultaneously part of Ajax, and apart from the Professional team. In the past, I am told the team has been used to blood youngsters who are likely to go on into the professional game, but with Jong Ajax now in the league, they are now a purely “amateur” outfit, which of course, in a Netherlands context means semi-professional.
Most of the budgeting for Ajax Amateurs appears to come from the professional club, and they also have the benefit of the facilities and stewarding. They do not even feel the need to charge an admission fee. I am not sure if the coaches are shared. Players may come from those who have not made it to the professional ranks, but are just as likely to transfer in from outside. The top scorer, Dennis Kaars came from another amateur team in the Amsterdam and I have seen reports that he will transfer to Sunday football, with Hoofdklasse team de Dijk for next season. I might like to go there, if only to see if the Wikipedia drawing of red, blue and with chequered shirts is accurate.
Kaars opened the scoring quite early in the game. He is a pacy forward that caught the eye, (and made me ask whether he had come through the Ajax academy). Noordwijk gave good account of themselves, but were always looking suspect to the pace of the Ajax attack. They levelled from the penalty spot, but went behind again when a Kaars shot, saved by Amerzni was then hit in by Kenneth Misa Danso.
Noordwijk’s problems really started in the 33rd minute, when Kai van Hese pulled back Kaars as he tried to run through. I thought there were other defenders that might have been able to get back, but Kaars had the pace to go clear and the referee red-carded the defender.
Noordwijk still defender well until the hour mark, when Sergio Cameron hit the third in from a difficult angle. A couple of minutes later, there was a foul from an Ajax player that incensed temperments. I did not get a clear view of the initial foul, but I did see Bryan Braun push over an Ajax player. The original foulee was booked, but Braun had to go and Noordwijk were down to nine men.
This was too little for them, and Kaars got his second soon after, followed by Cameron (penalty for hand ball), and substitute Ronday in the final minute added to the score
As this was the second pitch at Toekmost, a small stand (around 240 seats) and four steps of concrete terracing opposite, resulting in a lot of wet spectators, I will go back for Toekmost 1 most likely for a league match involving Jong Ajax.
Meanwhile, I was given more information from a referee’s assessor, who was at the game as a spectator. Unlike the clubs, he seemed perfectly happy with the KNVB plan to force promotion on the champions of the Topklasse starting in 2015-16, despite the fact that hardly any of the teams in the Amateur leagues desire promotion. The team Achilles 29 came up at the start of the season, under a three season trial arrangement. During this season, they have played as an amateur team with only a couple of professional players. They have struggled to make the grade and eventually finished bottom of the table. They had been promised that they would not be relegated at the end of the season, but also that promotion was not an option. The results prove that although amateur teams frequently beat the professionals in cup matches, this does not mean that they are good enough to compete on a week in, week out basis. When I saw Achilles earlier in the season, they were comfortably beaten vy the Venlo outfit VVV, 3-0 and it was clear the main difference between the two teams is the fitness levels. Next season, Achilles are committed to a 50-50 professional/amateur team, which may do better, but would surprise me if it really worked. At the end of the season 2014-5, Achilles have the option to pull out, but the league will not relegate them even if they finish bottom again. Should they stay in the League for 2015-6, then they will have to employ at least 11 full time players paid at least the minimum wage, and a number of full time youth players who can be paid a less wage. At the end of 2015-16, there will be automatic relegation, and if the Netherlands FA gets their way, the winners of the Amateur title will be promoted.
I remain uncertain about the logic of adding the three reserve teams to the lower division, (or as they are titled, “Jong”). The trio, along with Achilles brings the number of teams up to 20, while the Netherlands FA actually proclaims 18 as the ideal full strength. My assessing friend said the 18 would be achieved again by not replacing clubs that fold. Still it seems like a brazen dereliction of dut by the league to have a policy that expects clubs to fold, and if the financial standing of the Eerste Divisie is so poor, surely having two extra (home) fixtures dates is a good thing? At professional football clubs, an extra fixture should increase income to a greater extent than it increases expenditure. There is a full reserve division as well as the reserves in the main league, but there is no direct relegation and promotion route for these clubs. Feyenoord were particularly incensed that the clubs chosen to send their second teams in league were PSV, Ajax and Twente, but not the Rotterdam outfit who feel that their status as a member of the “big three” should have given them primacy. I wonder if they have considered a play off after the Amateur championship, between the winners and the reserve competition winners, for the promotion place? When TOP Oss where relegated a few seasons ago (as part of a earlier reduction of numbers), they were pleased to be able to regain their place later, replacing one of the many teams to fold from professional football in recent years. (RBC, Veendam, AGOVV and Haarlem have all dropped by the wayside, many others are threatened). Even the big three have all had to restructure themselves from debt mountains, (which had the positive effect of opening the competition and allowing teams such as AZ and Twente a chance to win the title).
There are many in the Netherlands who believe that their FA are pursuing a utopian league, while not recognising the problems they have at the moment. They now have a promotion/relegation system about to be placed upon teams that do not want it. They have introduced reserve football to the professional leagues, while not having a structure to promote and relegate these
Anyway, from Amsterdam I headed to Braunschweig – a straight forward enough journey with just one change on the route. It had not escaped my notice that it had been an extremely wet day and when I reached my hotel room, trying to sign onto the internet was my first priority of the day. Before I could get connected, there was a call – Dirk was at the reception. Dirk is a German groundhopper who I have known for many years, he lives in Braunschweig and supports the main team Eintracht. He was going to join me for the evening game at the town’s second club FT Braunschweig, who were to play the Neidersachsen Cup final. This is one of 21 “Lander Pokale”, which are important as they serve as qualification competitions for the following season’s German cup. Only teams in the two divisions of the Bundesliga and the top four from the 3.Liga qualify directly. In recent years this has been recognised with increasing crowds and several thousand would be expected for the evening, although with 24 places from 21 competitions, the most populous (Niedersachsen, Westfalen and Bayern) get two places each, so only local pride was at stake.
Anyway, Dirk’s news was bad news – the game was off due to a waterlogged pitch. I said I did not know, as I had not yet got onto the internet, (which was not coming up on my computer). I wondered if there was any other football to keep my run going. Dirk thought that any game was likely to be off as well, the weather having been so poor. Dirk then went out to sort out where his car was parked, but was to come back within 30 minutes to show me around the town.
I found that while I could not get on-line from the computer, I could by using the slab I call a telephone. Searching the match calendar of the kicker website, I found two minor games – one at Bezirksliga level in the Braunschweig area, (Level 7 in the German pyramid) and one a level higher, some 40 km away in Bevenstedt, just outside Hildesheim. The calendar had been updated with the call off at FT, but still had these lower games on. Dirk said that although he had a car from work, it was for business purposes and even driving an 80 km round trip could get him into trouble, but he did check the times for me. If I could get to the local station in about 30 minutes, there was a train for the 20 minute run to Hildesheim and although a bus should get me into Bevenstedt ten minutes before kick off, a taxi might be a better idea. I meanwhile had checked the lower, more local game and discovered it also was off, but neither home or away website for the Bevenstedt game had a comment on the matter.
And so, I set up. Dirk decided who could not make it, still organising his forthcoming three week trip to Asia. We agreed to meet when I got back for a meal and a drink. I quickly headed back to the station, caught the train to Hildesheim and with the help of a taxi found the ground with time to spare. More importantly it was open and they were taking admission money. It was game on, even if the grass was a little long and unkempt and it appeared that the club had neglected to mark out the lines clearly (probably due to the weather). Even better, the ground boasted a quite modern stand with more than 200 seats, situated by the halfway line. The usual food and drink options, including the club bar were situated near the entrance, but having agreed a meal for later I settled on coffee. There was also a match programme, given away free. Admission was €6.
The match had been brought forward from the following weekend. I did not find out why. Bevenstedt were in the comfortable position that no result from this match, or any other match in the league could mean they would finish other than in third place. Only the champions get promoted (as it happens, the champions are Arminia Hannover, the only other member team of this league I have ticked, even if when I went in 1998, they were three levels higher when I went). The visitors HSC Blau-Weiss Schwalbe Tündern were in 9th place and could go up or down two places depending on this and other results, which meant the match would certainly occur on next season’s fixture list. Bevenstedt were on top from the start and it was no surprise when they took the lead after 21 minutes. Playing some very neat passing football despite the uneven and damp surface, they added a second before half time. Immediately after the break they pulled the lead up to 5-0 within ten minutes, Tündern substituted their goalkeeper between the third and fourth goals. It did not appear to be apportioning blame or injury (the sub was waiting to come on when goal three was scored), but merely to give a player a run out. The substitute may have regretted being brought on as he conceded two within his first six minutes on the field. The game turned though, Bevenstedt did not deliberate take the foot off the pedal, but their goals dried up. On 72 minutes, a visiting sub pulled a goal back. Two more followed in the next seven minutes to make the score 5-3. Meanwhile, Bevenstedt revealed their final substitute as a rather overweight bloke with glasses, and quite clearly not of the fitness levels the rest of the team were showing. He spent several minutes joking with those in the stand who clearly knew him before coming onto the field with about five minutes (including injury time) to play. There were lots of calls to “give the ball to Markus” (or the equivalent in German) from the crowd, and he tried to keep in a forward position. I am convinced he did not play the ball once during his five minutes of fame. The final score was 5-3 despite the home keeper being made to make one good save to keep it so.
Third goal for Bevenstedt
I had been asking at half time about getting back to the station, no one appeared to be driving straight after the game, but I was given directions to the bus stop by a young lady who had some English. I asked her again about Markus at the end of the game and the first comment was “he is not a normal player”. I had gathered that already, but why was he on the field. It was in fact a reward for many years of service to the club. One cannot argue with this type of sentiment in a game that does not matter. When I left the ground with just a vague direction to a bus stop, my Sat Nav said if I walked all the way to the station, I would miss my train by about five minutes. As I had arrived by taxi, I did not know the bus times out so I felt lucky to arrive at the stop and find there was an hourly service to the station – especially as I had less than five minutes to wait.
So it was back to Braunschweig, seeing Dirk again and heading to his favourite local Greek restaurant, where I have to admit the food was good, and very good value for money. We talked about Dirk’s forthcoming trip to Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei in which he planned 24 flights in a three week trip, including travelling between Borneo and Java four days in a row. I said I had looked at the fixtures and even considered making the trip, but uncertainty about work prevented me from doing this as an alternative to my Eurotrip. I would have forgone a fixture though to spend longer on Borneo, especially if there was an overland option between the games there.
Office building in Braunschweig, used by the company Dirk works for!
Dirk also persuaded me to change my plans for the final day of this tour. I was going to Nöttingen, who had a promotion play off, trying to rise into the Regionalliga (fourth level). Instead, Dirk recommended 1. CFR Pforzeim at a level lower. The club is a recent merger and as such is in possession of two stadia, both good and old. Originally the team had favoured a ground at Holzhof, but difficulties in getting permission to update it, meant Brötzinger Tal had become the ground of choice. This game was slated as the last ever game at Holzhof, and would be a German Groundhopper’s day out (not that this necessarily is a recommendation). As a groundhopper, I do tend to head for grounds that may be having their last hurrah, rather than the more important game on a ground I can visit another day. Added to this, Pforzheim is the more easily accessible of the two, Nöttingen being some 45 minutes from the rail station, with no buses back. There was also the precaution that if I arrived in Pforzheim in good time, and it was off, then it would still be possible to get to the slightly later kick off at Nöttingen – and both could be done without changing my pre-booked hotel.
Pforzheim – time for a beer!
There were a number of German groundhoppers in Pforzheim, having arrived at the ground from various parts of the country. However, the news was that the building works at the alternative ground, Brötzinger Tal was unlikely to be complete for the start of the new season, so Holzhof would continue to be used. 1. CFR were a merger about four seasons ago, and they felt at the time that by combining forces, they could move up from the Verbandsliga Baden, which is level six in these parts. At regional levels, the different areas use different combinations of league names, so where as it is always true that Oberliga is above Verbandsliga, which in turn is higher than Landesliga, with Bezirksliga, Kreisliga and finally Kriesklasse lower down, one cannot say that a specific league name refers to a specific level. In Neidersachsen, where I went on the Wednesday, there is no Verbandsliga, so Landesliga is level 6, the same as Verbandsliga Baden.
Anyway, merging the two teams in Pforzheim has not achieved the desired objective, and the club has sat at the same level for the four seasons since merger. To add insult to injury, another team in the town, Pforzheimer Kickers has come through and is now on the verge of rising to the Oberliga. I would be very surprised to find the average crowd now is much greater than that given to either of the two clubs before merger. There may be some advantages through the merger, such as if they have managed to keep all the sponsors from both clubs on board, and the combined committee should be stronger, but I bet there are people on both sides now that do not view the merger as a success.
With only a few hundred present, the Holzhof is easily fit for purpose without renovation. As I understand Brötzinger Tal is also in this category, I cannot see what the club is building for. It has a large stand, with more than 1000 seats, albeit bench seating. There are a number of steps of terracing all around the rest of the group, and although the section behind the far goal has been closed off and is overgrown, the rest is in very good order. On the levels above the terracing at the town end is the normal catering, I bought myself a Bratwurst, and could have had coffee or beer as well. The club house is immediately outside the ground, but this no longer appears as if connected to the club. They would not let me even use their loo.
The game itself was no great shakes; for most of the time, the visitors Hiedelberg-Kircheim appeared to be the better side with Pforzheim doing little other than lobbing balls into the area for easy clearance. The style changed somewhat when Kircheim had the audacity to take the lead. After this Pforzheim finally got their game together, the passing was more on the ground and crisper with far many more passes reaching completion. This created the chance for substitute Jannick Schram to level the scores after Pforzheim had been behind for fifteen minutes, and may have brought them a win in the last 20 minutes. In the end though, my tour was completed with a 1-1 draw.
The switch from Nöttingen to Pforzheim brought me one final piece of good fortune. On arriving in the town, I noticed there were a lot of people and noise in the centre. Not that common on a holiday (as this was). Needless to say I investigated, and was delighted to discover that the event was an open air beer festival. I took a quick beer there before the game, but then somewhat delayed my journey out of the town, so I can take more than one more after the game, and also enjoy the rather good rock covers band that is playing.
The Original Badebier, which is not a Bad Beer
Afterword – looking back on the trip.
The tour consisted of 23 games in 21 days, no days off and two double headers (both in the Czech republic, both starting in Prague). Two games were goalless, but the rest contributed 76 goals to my total. All matches were my first visit to the ground. There were two matches called off due to waterlogged pitches, and twice I had been intending to go to Nöttingen, but changed my mind. There were nine home wins, ten draws and only four away wins. The only game on a neutral ground was a draw, but went on the extra time and penalties.
1. Viktoria Achaffenburg confirmed relegation when I saw them, finishing 18th of 19. Wurzburger Kickers ended up in 11th place
2. Austria Salzburg won the regional title, with Seekirchen finishing 10th of 16. Austria Salzburg lost 3-0 at home in their promotion play off to FAC Team fur Wien, after drawing 2-2 in the away leg.
3. Donaufeld won the Wiener Liga, and promotion to Regionalliga Ost, but there is only one promotion place, so Stadlau, despite finishing second, stay put.
4. This was the final game of the season for Wiener Neustadt and Admira Modling, Neustadt finish 8th, Modling 9th in a ten team league with only one relegation spot.
5/6. We saw Maribor take the title in another ten team league. Celje were practically safe after drawing at Krka, and confirmed this in the next match be winning at Triglav. Krka also lost on that occasion meaning the order of the bottom two was only decided when Krka beat Triglav on the last day. This should have meant Krka entering a play off against Radomlje, the runners-up from the second division, but the second division champions (Dob) declined promotion, meaning Radomije went up without a play off, and Krka kept their place.
7. St Gallen finished 7th, Sion 8th in the Swiss League (again ten teams, one relegated)
8. There are still two games in the Tirol Landesliga to play as I write this, and Kundl are still in the “Possible relegation” zone as the numbers vary depending on how many teams are relegated into the division. I think that the relegation from Regionalliga West will be one to Voralberg and two to Salzburg, meaning Kundl are safe. Reutte are in a safe mid-table position.
9. 1. HFK Olomouc finished in a safe mid-table position. Breclav surprisingly one twice in their final four games, and finished second to bottom. With both relegated teams from the second division being Prague based (and hence going to CFL), Breclav may yet avoid relegation
10. Admira have completed their programme, and have just enough points to be sure of safety. Stechovice still have a game to play and are in mid-table
11. Trinec won their last two home games, while losing in Ceske Budejovice, ending in mid-table. I’ll discuss Taborsko at match 18
12. Thanks to a surprising away win at (already crowned) champions Legia Warsaw, Ruch Chorzow finished third and made it to Europe. Wisla Krakow finished 5th.
13. With Dunajska Streda losing their last game at Ruzomberok, while Nitra won on the last day, DAC escaped the drop by two goals. Spartak Trnava had already confirmed their third place, and home defeat to Slovan Bratislava on the last day did not change the positions.
14. Having brought themselves back into contention with the win over Belchatow, Zabki’s remaining away games were a defeat to Stroze, and a draw at Chojnice, although they did win their last home game. Chojnice’s draw was just enough to save them from relegation. Belchatow won their game at Stroze, and took the title with a 4-0 win over Sandejca Nowy Sacz on the final day, overtaking Leczna who lost at Stomil Olsztyn but still took the second promotion spot. Zabki therefore ended up in third place.
15/16. These relegation group matches in Poland confirmed Lodz and Lubin as relegated, Bielsko-Biala finished 2nd in the relegation group, Cracovia 6th with Kielce 5th.
17. Bohemians Praha had a big win, 7-1 against Frydek-Mistek, which means although relegated, they were spared bottom place by two points. Sokolov finished 6th
18. With both Taborsko and and Hradrec Kralove drawing in this round, Ceske Budejovice’s 1-0 win put them just ahead of their rivals. All three won the following week. On the final day, Hradrec Kralove won 1-0 at Pardubice, knowing that a win had to be enough for promotion as Taborsko and Ceska Budejovice, (both starting one point ahead) were playing each other in Sezimova Usti. The crowd for this game is quoted as a somewhat incredible 7465, nearly ten times the figure I saw there. Perhaps Taborsko froze under this scrutiny, certainly they were 3-0 down in 16 minutes, and eventually lost 6-0, meaning they finished third, behind Ceske Budejovice and Hradrec Kralove.
19. Despite winning the cup, Ujpest have been refused a license for European Competition, so Diosgyori take the place in the Europa League.
20. Malmo won 1-0 at second placed Elfsborg in the next round, and take a six point lead into the World Cup break. The next game are in the first weekend of July
21. Ajax Amateurs needed to defend their 6-1 lead in the second leg, which they did not do well, conceded six goals. However, they scored two to just win through 8-7 on aggregate, and then beat SteDeCo 5-2 to win promotion to the Topklasse.
22. The Niedersachsen cup final has been held over to the start of next season, Bavenstedt finished 3rd, and Tündern 9th in their league. They will meet again next season
23. The match I did not go to in Nöttingen finished 0-0, but Nöttingen won promotion to the Regionalliga with a 1-0 win in Salmohr in the second leg. 1. CFR Pforzheim finished 7th and Kircheim 10th in their 15 team division