09/03/2008 by leo.

There may have been a time when the football authorities listened to the people they were supposed to represent, and had some agreement before they started making statements on changing competitions – but what on earth would be the fun of that? In the current world, leagues and associations make statements first, and discover the consequences afterwards.
The FA of Wales has always been a good one for this – the history of the league of Wales from its inception has demonstrated their inability to communicate with its own members. Until 1993, things were straight forward enough – the FA of Wales ran non-League football in Wales, the International team and the Welsh Cup, but the biggest clubs in the principality played in English leagues. All those clubs playing in English leagues, plus a few selected other would play in the English FA Cup, and by reciprocal arrangement some English teams would play in the Welsh Cup. When European competition came along, the Welsh Cup was considered important enough to enter a team in the Cup Winners Cup almost from the start. It was soon agreed that this team had to be Welsh, and could only be the winner or runner-up of the actual cup. This did not present a problem as except for a short period in the mid 1930s, there has always been a Welsh side in the Welsh Cup final. Wales’ first representatives in European football were Swansea Town, who lost to the East German team, Motor Jena. Oddly the next two seasons saw non-League teams Bangor City (then Cheshire County League) and Borough United (Welsh League North) in Europe. Bangor drew with Napoli and had to play a third game before they went out. Borough were the first Welsh side to win in Europe, beating the Maltese side Sliema Wanderers before losing to Slovan Bratislava. These were one-offs, as Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham took the majority of the places and it was more than 20 years before non-League football (Bangor, then Northern Premier in 1986, and Southern League Merthyr Tydfil in 1988) again qualified. Newport County, although in the Football League, played only once in Europe. This was of course a legend – they reached the quarter-final but like Swansea could not get past Jena (now known as Carl-Zeiss Jena).
The League of Wales was started in 1992-3 despite much opposition within Wales. The first champions were Cwmbran Town, who entered into the European Cup the following season, beating Cork City 3-2 in their first game, but going out on away goals. (In four returns to Europe since, Cwmbran have lost every game). The FA of Wales arguments for starting this league were numerous – creating a league that had European status was just one of the reasons, while another was to create a clear division between English and Welsh football at a time when they thought their status as a separate member of UEFA and FIFA was under threat. Although the idea of a combined British international team had been made on several occasions, it was mostly newspaper talk, and there was little international call for this to happen. In the early and mid 1990s, a large number of new footballing nations were emerging thanks to the breakup of post-communist Russia and Yugoslavia, while in other areas of the world, more and more smaller nations were joining the confederations. UEFA realised they needed numbers to keep them one step ahead in international terms of the growing Asian and African federations, and so they were not about to deny Wales their existence. By the end of the decade, they have even added San Marino, Liechtenstein and Andorra to the club competitions, despite the fact that all these cases, the territory’s most senior clubs play in another country. (All Liechtenstein’s clubs play in Swiss football, and as such the principality does not have a league, only a cup; AC San Marino play in the Italian Serie C2, while Andorra has had a club in the Spanish second division, even if they have now dropped down to a local Catalan division).
The next move by the FA of Wales, however was the worst one. In an attempt to improve their fledgling league, they withdrew their sanction for Welsh clubs to play in English non-League competition. They decided not to take on the league clubs, and to give Merthyr Tydfil a period of grace. This did not go as expected, as some of the clubs refused to tow the line, even though this meant a period of expulsion, playing in exile on shared English grounds before a high court ruling stated the club’s rights to stay in the English pyramid even with grounds in Wales. This led to the end of the exchange rule where some English clubs could play in the Welsh Cup in return for the Welsh clubs in the FA Cup. Meanwhile in England, the FA had made clear that although Welsh clubs continued to play in the English leagues, there was no chance of them qualifying for Europe through the League or FA Cup.
There has in fact, only been one occasion when a Welsh team could have qualified for Europe through the English game, and this was Swansea back in 1982. As it happened, they managed to qualify for Europe through the Welsh Cup, and this took priority over their league position. In 1995, the Welsh Cup final saw Wrexham beat Cardiff City 2-1, and Wrexham lost to the Romanian side Petrolul Ploiesti by a single goal in the following Cup-Winners-Cup. Since then, only clubs entered into Welsh completion have entered the Welsh Cup. Curiously, despite the FA of Wales abandoning their clubs to English football, they retain control of disciplinary procedures for these clubs, resulting in many accusations that the football league trio get an easy ride.
The League of Wales allowed more Welsh participation in Europe, but by keeping the league sides out, put paid to any positive results for the Welsh, apart from the odd win against some non-entity from Eastern Europe. (This season, The New Saints lost to Latvians Ventspils, and runners-up Rhyl to Finnish club Haka (both on away goals), while Carmarthen went down 14-3 on aggregate to Brann Bergen).
The FA of Wales have long recanted, and been trying to get their big clubs back into Europe, but have found that UEFA are now determined not to change the rules for them. The creation of a Welsh Premier Cup did not help as UEFA ruled it could qualify clubs for Europe. Had the FA of Wales made an effort to find a true champion of the country in the early 90s, when UEFA rules were in flux, then a place might have been found for a Welsh Champion, with the competition to decide it running in parallel to the English and Welsh competitions.
Earlier this season, the FA of Wales announced a new change to the Welsh Premier League (giving it its new title). The league would reduce from 18 to 16 teams and include the reserves from Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham. This was announced without consulting the administrators of the Welsh Premier League, any of the clubs, the League clubs or UEFA. It turned out the clubs did not fancy it, and UEFA would not sanction the idea, (if one of the reserve clubs qualified for Europe by this route, they would only be able to use players registered to the Welsh club, and there could be no dual registrations across the border). It is worth thinking though, that Cardiff City, the loudest opponent of the plan had suggested something very similar some time ago (different chairman), when they considered taking over one of the Welsh teams.
Another attempt will take place next month to get Michel Platini’s backing for a change in the order, (which even if successful would have to get full UEFA backing later). There is just a possibility that this might come to something if it was for a return of the exiles to the Welsh Cup, and a simultaneous withdrawal of the clubs from the English FA Cup (if they will accept that). This is similar to the situation where all of Liechtenstein’s clubs play in the Swiss Leagues, but they also play their own national cup, (and not the Swiss Cup). With FC Vaduz normally winning the cup and playing in the Swiss second division, Liechtenstein’s clubs now have a higher UEFA co-efficient than Wales! (Liechtenstein are 37th of 53, Wales are 48th, ahead only of the Faroes, Luxembourg, Malta, Andorra, San Marino and new entrants Montenegro). Back in 1992, there were only 33 countries, but Wales were in 25th place. If UEFA were to accept the idea, then the FA of Wales may still find that the clubs may reject it. Indeed, it may be more interesting to clubs such as Merthyr Tydfil, who could get a serious shot at European competition, than to Cardiff City – whose run to the semi-final of the FA Cup has netted them £420,000 in prize money alone. I would estimate well over £1 million when additional gate money and TV fees are accounted for. These are not sums that can be equalled by clubs losing in the early stages of the UEFA Cup

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14/01/2008 by leo.

Whenever we play at home on a Friday night, my next question is what to do for the rest of the weekend. Crossing the Channel to see some type of European game is very often an option – but it is an option with a cost, and the worst part of the cost is not monetary, but the fact that one needs to be up early in the morning.

After the Luton game, I choose a match in the eighth round of the French Cup – the kick off was 2 p.m. (French time), and the location was only a 90 minute drive from the Eurotunnel terminal at Calais. But with Christmas coming, we all (I had two passengers with me for the trip), needed to stock up our drinks cabinets, and get some potential presents, so we decided to head to the Belgium border town of Adinkerke, centre of the cheap tobacco/ booze runs for a quick stop on a way out – an extra 60 minutes required. So I needed to be at Calais by 11.30, and we always allow some spare time, so this becomes 10.30, 35 minutes in the tunnel, 30 minutes check in time and an hour time difference between the two countries means being at the Folkestone terminal around 8.30 – and that means leaving home before 6 in the morning!

The French FA Cup is run on similar lines to the FA Cup, with the weaker teams starting at the beginning of the season, and stronger teams being exempt for a number of rounds, until the elite come in to create a straight 64 team knock out contest in from the first week of January. Second division teams in France, however, are not part of the elite as they are in England, and have to face an extra round compared to their counterparts this side of the Channel. (The French third division clubs, co-incidentally do start their competition with the same number of rounds to play as our level in England). There are no replays in France, though – all matches are decided first time out. There is also a rule that demands that certain matches must be played at the venue selected by the smaller club. If this rule was applied in England, League-2 clubs would always be at home when drawn against Premiership, (but not League-2 against Championship, or League-1 against Premiership), where as a League-1 club could not be at home to a club below the Conference’s National division. These rules tend to allow more small clubs to progress further in the French cup then might happen in England – but also allows such progress to go through with less remark. Most of the football grounds in France are the property of the local authority, so while clubs always do have a place to call home, this may be shared with another local club – it does mean that most grounds are similar in construction – a running track and a single stand, regardless of the level the club plays at. The fact that the council owns and runs the grounds, means that clubs do not have pay vast amounts to improve grounds as they progress up through the leagues – but anyway, French clubs do not have the long list of increasing standards for every promotion, and crowds for French football are low for all levels below the professional level.

I cannot say that I had actually heard of Olympique Marcquois more than a few hours before I decided to go there. It was a simple case of looking up the fixtures for the cup on the web page, then finding out where they played, and finally checking up the level they played at. So in reverse order, they play in Division Honneur Regional for the region of Nord Pas de Calais. This is the seventh level of French football – the seventh in England is the Southern League Premier Division and two other regional variations, but Southern League clubs have only 160 clubs in more senior Leagues to consider – the more extreme regionalisation of the French system means there are more than 600 ahead of Marcquois in the system. The locality is in the suburbs of the city of Lille, an area of mid-rise apartment buildings strung along a busy thoroughfare. The ground turned out to be a spacious area, but with the exception of a small stand, all the ground surrounds were level. The visitors, Sedan were relegated from the first division at the end of last season but currently lie in mid-table, and are unlikely to return to the top division this season.

I remember quite clearly my visit to Sedan in 1999, towards the end of one of the most successful seasons in the club history – on arriving in the town, I found everything was decorated in red and green – the club colours, and the place was alive with anticipation. Seeing great red and green banners hanging down the sides of high rise blocks around the ground, I could not help contrast this with the fact that two days previously in Cheltenham, it was only the fans that gave away the fact there was a big match going on. (I was in Sedan on 24 April 1999, 9492 watched them draw 1-1 with Nimes, leaving them close to winning promotion to the French Division One – two days earlier, a capacity crowd had watched Cheltenham beat Yeovil 3-2 to clinch promotion into the football league). As well as winning promotion in 1999, Sedan reached the final of the French cup, losing to Nantes in the final – co-incidentally, Nantes finished below Sedan when they returned to the second division last summer, while Troyes who were the third promoted side in 1999 were also relegated. (both Sedan and Troyes were also relegated in 2003, although their most recent promotions were not in the same season).

A potential mismatch such as this one would probably fill the ground in England, but not so in France. The stand was about full, but could only hold around 300 – I had no difficulty in spending my €8 on a stand ticket less than two hours before kick off. The total crowd did not exceed 1000, with no more than 50 making the trip up from Sedan. The police making a great effort to keep these few segregated from the rest of the crowd. For a while it appeared that we had the potential for a giant-killing. Sedan took the field in a very cautious 4-1-4-1 formation and were shocked when Marcquois took the lead through Elaarrasi after just four minutes. The visitors then held most of the possession through the first half, but rarely troubled their opponents defence, and a breakaway attack allowed Marcquois to double the lead before half time.

In the second half, sedan turned the screw and the superior fitness and ability of a professional outfit eventual came through, even though it was done without any recourse to style or finesse. Moussa Sow, a player of Senegalese descent on loan from Rennes and the most impressive footballer on the field scored twice, while Chiguy Lucau scored the other and Sedan won through by 3-2.

Our party of three did not stay put after the match – instead we negotiated Belgium from South to North to arrive in the Netherlands only two hours after the match had finished. The city of Eindhoven hosts a football club that has won many honours in Netherlands and European football – but that was not the club I was going to see. FC Eindhoven were once considered the equals or even better than their rivals PSV – but they have not won a championship since 1954, and have now spent thirty consecutive seasons in the lower division of the league. It is probably just as well for them that the Netherlands is one of the few countries in Europe without direct relegation from the professional to amateur leagues, as it is unlikely they would still be at this level.

The ground, in the southern suburbs of the city is a neat enough stadium, with seats on three sides of the pitch, and no spectator facilities behind the north goal. The biggest problem we had as spectators was the fact that the match was a local derby (against den Bosch), and had been designated as ‘high risk’ by the notoriously nervous local police. Officially this means that tickets are only on sale to holders of membership cards, with away fans having to buy their own tickets in advance at their own club. In practice, they allow fans in who can prove they do not live in the wrong place, although just before I entered, I watched a debate with one spectator using his driving licence, and the officials trying to decide whether his village was nearer to Eindhoven or Den Bosch.

I had e-mailed the club in advance and been told I could not get tickets, I then phoned, spoke to an official and e-mailed again – this time being given a press ticket. This was without any evidence of being press, and haven spoken to the same people in attempting to buy a ticket and then getting my freebie! They said on the gate, that they would have sold me a ticket anyway. The crowd ended up as 1475, with less than 100 coming from Den Bosch and being the group that sang and chanted in support of their team during the game. The home crowd was silent, until a late goal broke the deadlock in their favour. Eindhoven still do not look like changing divisions this season, while Den Bosch, relegated in 2004 qualified for the end of season play offs with a good run in the first six games of the season. As they are unlikely to take the title and automatic promotion, they can now sit back and relax until April and the play offs.

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02/12/2007 by leo.

If Michel Platini has learned anything from his first year in office as President of UEFA, it will be about the need to compromise, and the clear fact that the power lies with the money. His advisors have done well to hide some of the scale of his defeat from view. The changes to the European Club Competitions for 2009-2012 will still have Platini’s stamp upon them. By making the announcement on a Saturday, the day before the draw is made for the Euro 2008 Championship finals, UEFA have made sure that the political ramifications of the announcement will not be read centre page of European newspapers.

The changes are not without some success for Platini. Increasing the numbers of actual champions in the Champions League group stages was always one of the biggest objectives, and this has been achieved. The number of Champions that get direct entry into the group stage is increased from 10 to 13 (it was the top nine countries, plus the holders, and will now be the top twelve countries). The compromise was to allow the third placed team from the top three countries in the rankings (currently Spain, England and Italy) to go through without a qualifying game. An even bigger change is to separate the qualification competitions into two parts, one for champions only, and one for ‘other clubs’ from the top 15 ranked countries. Each part of the qualifying draw will produce 5 teams into the group stage. So the number of actual champions in the group stage, 2009 will be 18 (Holders, Champions of countries ranked in the top 12, and five from the rest of the Union).

The plan to allow cup winners into the draw has been lost, although I believe that hidden in the rules will be a clause allowing individual countries with a ‘non-Champions’ qualifying place to enter their cup-winners instead of the one league team. Strangely, an idea that started in England was condemned by opposition primarily from England. Certainly, the FA were in favour of the FA Cup winner being in the Champions League, but some Premier League clubs (Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea, perchance) were the biggest opponents of the plan. When the consequences of the cup-winners plan came out, Scotland too (and we are talking of Rangers and Celtic here) were massively opposed.

For England, the change in 2009 will be quite small – three clubs rather than two have direct entry to the group stage, while the fourth club will play a single qualifying match, but this must be against a non-champion from a country ranked 1-15 (seeding probably means from a country ranked 6-15), as opposed to the possibility of the champion of a weaker country. For Scotland, assuming their ranking (currently 11) remains between 7 and 12, it is good news for the Champions, excused from qualifying (they played one round this season), but not for the runners-up who will still playing two qualifying rounds, but can no longer draw a weak country’s champions. Should the Scots drop down to 13-15 in the ranking, then the task for the runners-up is unchanged, but the Champions will face other Champions, and have to face two qualifying rounds.

For UEFA’s other competitions, there are certainly positive improvements. The five team UEFA Cup groups, which were just too easy to get out of, have been replaced by four team groups, with only two teams from each passing through to the knock out stages. The number of groups goes up from eight to twelve, so the number of teams in the group stage has increased. Only one team is exempt from playing at least one qualifying match for the group stage – that is the current champions. The UEFA Cup qualifying rounds will produce 37 of the teams in the groups. Three English sides will be involved, but one of these will have to face two rounds to reach the groups. The remaining ten teams in the UEFA Cup group stage will have been knocked out in the Champions League final qualifying stage (i.e. five Champions, and five others), whereas those knocked out in the next to last stage (ten Champions, and five others) also get a second life in the UEFA Cup.

The Intertoto cup is being abolished. It will be missed by few. An extra place in the early rounds of the UEFA Cup is being given to middle and low ranked countries, but not to the top ranks, (so England will not get an eighth place by this route). The lowest ranked countries therefore are guaranteed four places in Europe – but this requires an extra qualifying round starting on the 15th June. Wales and Northern Ireland will feel the pinch here, so there may be renewed calls to move their Premier Leagues to the summer. This also means those three extra UEFA Cup places given to the ‘fair play champions’ are a mixed blessing. They too will start qualifying in mid-June.

Platini has achieved something in terms of spreading some of the Champions League money thinner. There should be more countries represented in the group stages, with more cash going to them. The Final Qualifying Round and the UEFA Super Cup (an unchanged challenge between the Champions League and UEFA Cup winners) are now included in the central marketing and TV rights packages. But the largest parts of wealth redistribution have remained beyond him – Platini’s comments has shown he is only too aware that Champions League money is damaging the competitiveness of leagues across Europe. If he could bring the UEFA Cup into the marketing package with the Champions League, then a big step would be taken to change this.

Finally, the Final itself will be changed. From 2009 it will be on a Saturday, rather than a Wednesday evening. The claim is this will make it more fan friendly, but this is only true if UEFA go out of the way to make sure the tickets end up with the fans of competing clubs.

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11/11/2007 by leo.

There are few places where the line between Sports and Politics is more blurred than in the republic of Ireland. At the centre of this is the Gaelic Athletic Association. The association was formed in 1884, roughly the same time as the different sports organisations were being organised in the rest of Britain, (all Ireland being under British rule at the time), with the specific purpose of promoting games of Irish origin. The original intention was to re-establish an ancient sports event, the Tailteann Games and if this had stayed the main focus, Gaelic games would have become singular atheltics events, a cross between the common international athletics meetings and the highland games. However, the focus was soon changed to the two major Irish field sports, Football and Hurling, (Gaelic Rounders is also promoted, this is a sport much closer to the American baseball than the British rounders games you may remember from schooldays). As with sports in Britain, prior to organisation, there were a number of variants of any sport, with the rules changing from institution to institution. By laying down a common set of rules, it became possible for the games to move beyond single communities and for competitions to take place between different counties. Naturally, other areas of progress in the last 19th century also helped this progress – the development of transportation (the railways and better roads) to enable the teams to meet, and the changes to working hours bought about by the industrial revolution.

It is worth noting, considering the directions the organisation took within 30 years of being founded, that one of the GAA’s founding fathers was a capped International at Rugby, and a member of the Royal irish Constabulary, while another became the father of a cabinet member in theBritish government. As the question of Irish identity became one of nationalism and independence, so the GAA quickly became an organisation that not only shunned British sports, but actually legislated against them. The organisation was always unashamedly Catholic in nature, but would never prohibit members of other demoniations or religions from participating. Most games, anyway were played on Sundays, which has always ruled out the participation of those protestants who took their religion seriously.

As early as 1886, the rules of the GAA banned members of the British military and the British Police forces in Ireland from taking part in Gaelic sports, a ban that was not lifted until 2001 – and then only with much controversy in Ireland. Another rule banned GAA players from particpating in, or even watching other sports (this was lifted in 1971), while the ban on GAA premises being used for non-Gaelic sports lasted much longer. The words non-Gaelic really meant British, as the headquarters of Gaelic sport, Croke Park was used for a Boxing match in 1972 (Mohamed Ali won) and two American football matches in 1996 and 1997.

The worst of all events at the stadium took place on 21st November 1920. On the morning of that day, a series of attacks by members of the Irish Republican movement, killed 14 British Intelligence Officers around the city of Dublin. That afternoon, a football match was taking place at Croke Park between Dublin and Tipperary. Members of the British Army’s Auxiliary division entered the ground and shot indiscriminately into the crowd. Thirteen spectators, and the captain of the Tipperary team, Michael Hogan were killed.

The Croke Park of today is somewhat different to stadium of 1920. It was essentially rebuilt in the 1990s. The stadium today has three sides of a uniform, three tiered stand. These are everything that you would expect of a modern stadium. The upper and lower tiers present unhindered views of the pitch. Sandwiched between these are the VIP areas, business lounges, and the like.

Sitting uncomfortably against this modern and concrete edifice sits Hill 16. A low slung area, which can still be used as a standing area for the Gaelic games. While most of the stadium sits under arching roofs, Hill 16 is open to the elements. While I was there, this area was converted to seating, and one small section of it was used by the away fans.

Much of the cash for the modernisation of the stadium came from the public purse; so of course is the money for the rebuilding of the Landsdowne Road Stadium, the home of Rugby and more recently football in the Republic. The FA of Ireland has now given up its plans to have a big and expensive stadium of its own, and will go along with sharing Landsdowne Road for the foreseeable future. There is still a considerable volume of opinion that would not rebuild the old ground, currently a heap of rubble on the ground, and move all sports into Croke Park permanently – but that requires the same type of logic as would have been required to make Twickenham into London’s main stadium for all sports. (And do not forget that in addition to Twickenham and Wembley, an improbably expensive Olympic stadium is currently about to be built within five miles of Arsenal’s new Ashburton Grove facility, and yet both Spurs and West Ham are talking of starting fresh ventures of their own).

It has taken a lot of political effort to get other sports into Croke Park. It was only a few years ago that the GAA voted against lifting the ban, and hence put an end to a proposed Celtic bid (Ireland, Scotland and maybe Wales) for a European Championship. Now a mixture of Government money, and a sum of over £1 million per match has persuaded the doors to open for other sports. Still the agreement is only a temporary one – the GAA have only agreed to five Rugby matches (two seasons worth of six nations championship matches), and four Football games (now all completed in the current run of qualification of Euro 2008). In fact, two more six nations series, and most of not all of the qualification for the next World Cup will have to take place before the new Landsdowne Road is ready. Assuming they accept these matches, there is a chance they could be offered the chance to play a major European club final in the city as well.

On arriving at the stadium, a few things surprised me. One is the fact that GAA pitches are significantly larger than those for Soccer and Rugby, so the playing area is marked out on the middle of the green with a very wide expanse of green all around. Secondly the lower tier of seats are arranged not a direct rake, but a gently concave one. The lowest seats are down close to pitch level, but some 20 yards from the action. They also go into the corners, some 20 beyond the goal lines. The front rows of the lower tier are also far forward of the leading edge of the roof, so if it was a wet night, (as it happens, it wasn’t), the spectators here would know about it.

In a stadium like this, where the best views, (apart from the VIPs and corporate areas) were to be had from the upper tier, or at least the upper reaches of the lower tier, I suppose I should not have been surprised to find that only two price ranges existed, and by buying the more expensive tickets, I seemed to have been given the worst view in the house, (two rows back, lower tier and well behind the goal line). Fortunately, the ground was far from full – but this was the only time I have ever ‘sneaked’ into the cheaper seats!

As for the match, it was better than I expected. The opposition, Cyprus may be one of the lesser teams of Europe, but they came to the match to win, and played the ball around in a controlled and confident manner. The Irish on the other hand, played a game of hoof and hope, and rarely held onto possession for more than a couple of kicks. Cyprus really deserved to win, and went ahead with just over ten minutes to go. The Irish did fight until the end, and gained the equaliser in injury time. Even so, the crowd was making their displeasure known, and manager Steve Staunton took the blame for the result (part of a series that left them well short of qualification), and was sacked before the week was out.

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25/10/2007 by leo.

About 9 Metres Below Sea-Level

Flevoland is the newest province of the Netherlands, indeed it is literally one of the newest lands anywhere. The decision to seal off the Zuiderzee was only taken after floods in the Netherlands in 1916. The dike that created the enclosure was finished in the 1930s, but it was not until the late 50s that the water levels were lowered enough to allow new lands to be settled. Situated well below sea level, the terrain of Flevoland is flat and unexciting. The dominating feature being the wind turbines that delineate the dikes between the land and the lake, and also appear to be growing randomly across what is the world’s biggest man-made island. The biggest city on the island is Almere, which has grown from having a population of 47 in 1975 to now house over 165,000 people, the eighth biggest city in the country.

The town planners for Almere started with a blank sheet of paper, and devised a system of keeping roads, bus ways and cycle lanes separate. Sadly, this was their only achievement, and the buildings placed between these through routes fail to show any use of imagination. The city fathers however did show some imagination when they decided the city should have a sports club that would compete in ‘all’ sports. Hence the rather ambitious name of Omniworld. Over the years, though most of the sports have been dropped. The football team, after several years of trying, and reaching the top level of the amateur game was accepted into the professional league last season. This meant a very quick build to bring the stadium up to standard, the stadium has been morphed from a very basic facility named after the Netherlands most famous athlete (Fanny Blankers-Koen) to become the far more eloquent Mitsibushi Fork Lift Stadium. The name is clearly appropriate as most of the parts could easily of been put into position using Fork Lift trucks. Three sides have basic tin covered stands, two (along the length of one side and behind a goal) given over to seats, while the third is given over the standing. Behind the goal where we entered the ground, there were to buildings, - one was a club room where anyone could get a beer or a coffee, while the other newer building was given over to the corporate guests, with dressing rooms on the lower floor.

The playing surface was one of the new third generation artificial surfaces. These play a lot better than the original plastic pitches, but the bounce is ensured by a layer of black dust which is embedded with the plastic. This brings up a slightly disturbing view, somewhat akin to a splash of water whenever ball or player makes a heavy contact with the ground. Contrary to popular opinion, artificial surfaces do not always guarantee the match being played. What was scheduled to be the first ever professional game on the ground, just over a year ago was postponed because the referee had deemed that too much water lay on the surface. That match would have been against BV Veendam, who by chance were also the opposition for my visit. Omniworld, in their second season are still to set the world of professional football alight. Veendam on the other hand have a tendency to be among the leaders in the lower division of Netherlands football, frequently making it into the play-offs, but almost by design not going further. (They have only ever spent three seasons in the top division, and each of these ended in relegation). As for the game itself, it was quite an entertaining affair with plenty of chances at both ends – but no one was capable of converting the chances into actual goals. Officially, the crowd was given as 2236 – I felt this was the first piece of imagination I had seen on the Flevoland, but it would be more charitable to put the figures down to the number of ticket holders who did not fancy the ground on a damp Friday.

In the grey dawn of a dull Saturday morning, Flevoland continued to look bleak, but then so did the rest of the low country as we drove on to Groningen, where we booked into a hotel, and the 100 extra kilometres across the German border to Emden. Arriving only 45 minutes before kick off, I had to forgo seeing the delights of this port, and head straight to the ground. I was already too late to buy a seat ticket. With high fencing on all sides, my eight Euro standing ticket left me out in the rain, as the terrace along one side of the ground was the only one that has reasonable views. I did repair to the covered standing behind the goal for a period of the first half as a further shower threatened to more than dampen my hair. The views from this low standing area behind a fence were poor, and inevitably, while I was sheltering at one end of the pitch, the only goal of the game was scored at the other. Played on an almost waterlogged surface, the game almost certainly would not have started in England.

Back to Groningen, and pleased to find that the long queues through the road works had now evaporated, we arrived at the ground in good time. Groningen moved away from a traditional ground in a built up area about 18 months ago. The new ground is part of a renovation scheme for a derelict docks and industrial area just south of the centre, and conveniently close to the motorways. There are a number of new office blocks in the area, resplendent in shiny glass and steel. By contrast, the ground appears to be an amorphous blob of grey concrete, speckled with porthole windows. As the building also housing a number of other businesses, a health club, a Chinese restaurant and a supermarket among others, there is no shape to remind one that this is a football ground. The only real sign an outsider gets is floodlight gantries which appear to be somewhere in the middle of the block. I thought it appropriate the name of the stadium, the Euroborg reflected that of Star Trek’s Borg – an enemy without shape or personality (and clearly also without 7 of 9 – the Euroborg certainly is not sexy).

The casual visitor to the Eredivisie (it translates as Premier Division) in the Netherlands has a problem. A few years ago, the problems of hooliganism in the country got to the stage where the government decided to introduce a membership scheme, “club cards”, and to refuse entry to anyone without a card. It is a sledgehammer to crack a nut approach, as everyone knows that the problem is limited to five clubs, (Ajax, Feyenoord, PSV, den Haag and Utrecht), with the need perhaps for some extra security for matches of special local interest, such as the Fresian ‘derby’ when Groningen play Heerenveen. Despite the relatively small size of the country, away fans for most clubs are short of numbers. Still, hooliganism has been reduced.

In the meantime, so many new grounds have been built, that the league is unrecognisable (around half the Eredivisie play on grounds less than a decade old). Surprisingly, there has been a boost in the numbers of people watching games, even though it appears to me that the Dutch ideals of total football have died, and with the best of the countries players now abroad, the domestic league exists on crumbs and foreign imports. Buoyed by the new ground, and the rise in support, almost all tickets at Groningen, (and many other Netherlands clubs) are now given to season ticket holders. A small area is for away fans, and this area is divided into two pens. An tickets made available to the casual visitor are in this area, and are not confirmed until three days before the game. At Groningen, these are available on the day at the stadium, or in advance (for two days only) at a nationwide ticket service (run in conjunction with the national lottery). At the ground, one would need some ID, but a foreign passport would do in lieu of the club card. The club will not give out any useful information about ticket availability in advance, nor will they reserve tickets for visitors. Still, you should be confident of getting a ticket if the opposition is not one of the critical teams above. The locals do not queue for them.

I actually cheated though – and applied in advance for press accreditation. Inside the stadium has two tiers of seats around the pitch, with the lower tier going down to around pitch level, on the side were we entered, the upper tier was entirely replaced by executive boxes. We ourselves had the use of a plush lounge which was shared with a number of categories of fan, and we were provided with free coffee and cake before the game. Our view was from near the top of the lower tier, with the executive boxes up above us. Above us, the roofs of the stand did not come out anywhere near the full width of the stand. On a blustery wet day (and we had chosen such a day), almost all the lower tier seats and their occupants were to get wet. This type of detail in a new ground always surprises me. I only had to look up when I entered to realise that the risk of the lower seats getting rained on was high – one does not need a fully roofed stadium to prevent this – a further 5 yards of extended roof would have protected most of the crowd. Many clubs have added this in semi-transparent plastic to reduce the effect the shadows so caused will have on the pitch. Despite having as much rain in Groningen, as there had been in Emden, the pitch was in excellent condition. The game however was not. Sparta Rotterdam played Sander Westervald in goal, and then arranged the defence to try and stop the ball getting anywhere near him – three centre backs, two wing backs (neither of whom pushed forward much), and a defensive midfielder to shield the backs. Only one forward, but that seemed a luxury as they never got the ball that far upfield. Groningen struggled to break down the resistance, but managed a single goal early in the second half. The goal did not change things on the pitch much though, as Sparta continued their resolute defence of a 1-0 defeat.

The tour finished on Sunday with an Oberliga game in the Westfalen region. The match was chosen mainly on the strength of its distance from both Groningen and from Weeze airport. The Oberliga are level four of the German pyramid system and are supposedly nine equal leagues – each currently promoting one team per season to each the Regionalliga. With the creation of the 3rd Bundesliga and three Regionalliga for next season, most of the Oberliga will be promoting four teams at the end of this season. Below this level, things get more complex, for while most Oberliga will remain as they are, those from Westfalen and Nordrhein are to combine, to form a single Oberliga. Meanwhile, the biggest geographical Oberliga (Nord) will disband, meaning that the five leagues that feed to it at present will be the new fifth level. Already there is some disparity between the strength of the Oberliga, and these changes are going to make the differences at fifth level much more pronounced.

Anyway, back to my tour – and to Erkenschwick, a former mining town on the edge of the Ruhr industrial area. The town itself is clean and neat, nothing to get excited about, while not have the depressed feel of some of Britain’s former mining towns. A mining museum reminds the visitor of the towns former status, while a mixture of light industry and accommodation as a dormitory town for bigger centres not far away gives the town its current existence. The football club has seen better days, and has a stadium to prove it – a large bowl with steps of terracing all around a running track with a stand providing cover and seating all along one side. In the days before the National League was formed, Erkenschwick were frequently in the top level of regional football, and in more recent times they have spent three seasons in the second division of the Bundesliga. But the last time they were at this elevated level was in 1981, and since then there has been a gradual decline in the club. A crowd of 600 – good for this level is dwarfed by the size of the ground. Oddly, there is very little in the way of access to the main bowl – the dressing rooms are outside the area, and we approach from a public car park and then across two training pitches, (one plastic, with a junior game in progress, one red gra). The bars are also outside the ground, but the locals are very hospitable, and curious as to why three English football fans should descend on the game. Admission is €8 and the programme is an extra 50 cents. We drink with the locals at the outside bar until they have set up things inside, so we watch them carrying crates of beer, rolls and sausages to provide refreshment to those inside. Later, I will, of course, be partaking of a Bratwurst. It would not be German football without one.

I think the game goes down as unmemorable – typing this piece several weeks later, I remember little of the actual match, and more of the people we talked to (a local journalist, and an Englishman who married and settled in the area), than of the games itself. It remained scoreless in the first half, so the crucial point was the home side bringing on substitute Martin Setzke in the 55th minute. Setzke’s first action was to put his side ahead, but two minutes later, the game was level again. It Was Setzke again who was supersub when Erkenschwick scored the winner with 15 minutes to go. As the home side tried to increase their advantage (and they looked worthy of it), the visitors, Weidenbruck started to lose their shape and composure, and this led to them losing a player, sent off for foul language – as the game was already into injury time, it did not effect our result.

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07/10/2007 by leo.

Note - this is the long version of my first European trip of the season. If any programme editors, etc wish to use it they can apply their own editing, or contact me at leo@leohoenig.com for a 1600 word version. I also have a few more photos that can be used.

My first trip into Europe for the season, and it is familiar territory as I fly Ryanair in and out of Germany, do battle with the Autobahn and rush across the borders to get my double fixtures in. So, not for the first time, I am rushing around Stansted Airport around six on a Friday morning. The comfort zone is only reached when you have passed through the queues for check-in, security and a cup of coffee, and are on board the plane. Finally a chance to pick up on some of the night’s lost sleep.

My flight takes me to Baden Airpark. The nearest airport to my destination with a cheap fare, but still some 350 km to go. The German motorway system is renowned for being the open road, and without speed limit. The reality is somewhat different. The age of many of the Autobahns means that repairs are constantly needed, while even the major roads were built with just two lanes in each direction. As a result, there is currently an enormous amount of resource being poured into updating the network, and it is almost impossible to go any distance without having to go through either a resurfacing project, or a major road-widening scheme. Still, unlike in England, actual queues when approaching the works are quite rare (and on this trip almost all heading in the opposite direction to me). It still remains a fact, though – that queues apart, I can drive at a faster average speed on the English motorway – even keeping to the speed limits, then the German one.

My first port of call was Ingolstadt, historically an important crossing point on the Danube, between Munich and Nurnberg. The town bristles with imposing buildings, and an improbable amount of church spires fighting for attention. With parkland next to the river as well, the town is a pleasant place to spend one’s afternoon, and after hours on the Autobahn, I was glad to have a couple of hours to look around. Near the cathedral is a gatehouse of some antiquity, and if you wander through, then the football stadium is about 100 yards further up on your right.

The stadium is as basic was one can get. The pitch sits inside a running track, (slightly unusual at this level). The main stand runs less than half the length of one side, and has only five rows of seats, a total of 400 places. Not surprisingly, all the tickets were sold out before I arrived at the ground. There is no cover for any of the standing areas. These consist of banks of terraces each side of the stand – also about five steps, and a slightly higher bank on the far side which goes most of the length of the pitch. Away fans, (and there were few of these on a Friday night), have to content themselves with the curve behind one goal – a few though had chanced their luck for a better view and were standing near me to one side of the stand. The opposite goal is entirely undeveloped, and is closed to spectators. The crowd was 2320, and most of the good view points in the home areas were taken. One could squeeze more in where I was standing – and on the far sides, where the front rows (view blocked by fencing) were unused. But even knowing the away end was nearly empty, I would not like to be there if the crowd ever approaches the quoted capacity of 10,000. At the end of this season, the Regionalliga will stop being the third level of football in Germany, and a new Third Bundesliga will be created. The objective for clubs such as Ingolstadt, and the visitors, Sportfreund Siegen – is to finish in the top ten and qualify for the new league. With nine points each from five games, both sides had made a good start to the campaign. We were treated to an entertaining game with plenty of attacking football from both sides. Siegen were using a 4-5-1 formation with the apparent intention of defending for a draw, but conceding early in each half, they had to attack for the draw, which they did. Ingolstadt always played as if they knew that one goal leads were not enough – and so it was proved with equalisers conceded in both halves.

On the Saturday morning, I retraced my steps most of the way, then headed west of Karlsruhe into the wine growing region of Pfalz. The small town of Hauenstein lies nestled below the hills and vineyards. Its football ground is typical for a fourth level team, with no cover at all, but some steep steps on one side to provide good viewing positions. All the rest of the ground is just level with a path. Behind one goal is a clubhouse, on two levels, while the most important and popular feature is a canteen supplying wurst and bier to the hungry masses. (Well, the 200 or Actually, the attendance was only around 200). The problem for German football, which next summer’s re-organisation will do something to face – is that a little club such as Hauenstein, whose league games do not take them more than 100 km from home - are only one good season away from having to travel half the country in the Regionalliga. Next season’s new Regionalliga will be at level four, and will only cover a third of the country. It is unlikely that either Hauenstein, or Engers, who were the visitors for the day will make the grade, (the top four are promoted to the new leagues). Instead they will stay with their Oberliga, which will drop from being level 4 to level 5 of the German pyramid. I feel this is football that would not look out of place in the Southern League, at a venue that still needs to add covered accommodation and floodlights to join the Hellenic. Very little needs to be said about the game itself, which ended up as a 1-0 home win.

After that, I headed further west. The advantage I now had was I was now away from all major population centres in the country, so although I was on a motorway of much the same standards as before, it was now clear and I was able to put my foot down. Appropriately, I thought – the border crossing into Luxembourg at Schengen is marked only by a signpost. After 40 km, which took me clear across the southern end of Luxembourg, I arrived in Petange. The ground sits on the edge of town – and has only one feature of note – a grandstand for about 300 people. The difference between the top division in Luxembourg and the third division in Germany was clearly shown by the fact that here the stand was nowhere near full. It was also a stand meant more to be admired from the outside than actually used. Its height above the ground, and the pyramid shapes of the roof make it look good – but with the few rows of seating arranged so as there is a path through the middle (used as the only covered standing), the number of railings needed to keep things safe, plus the pillars holding up the roof meant that less than half the seats have good views. The rest of the ground is just flat standing, although an area is set out to sell beer and bratwurst with a few tables and benches.

Petange has never been a big team, but have managed one European campaign, in which they drew the home match, but lost 4-1 overall to Allianssi of Finland. The visitors, FC Differdange 03 are a merger of two clubs from the town. Red Boys were a force way back in the thirties, but also won the championship in 1979, but they had dropped to the second division before merging with a third division side and climbin back a level. Red Boys have played in Europe on ten occasions, but never won a tie. They did win the first league of their only Champions Cup tie, against Omonia Nicosia by 2-1, but lost 6-1 in Cyprus. Their most notable result was a 0-0 draw with Ajax – but the return defeat at 14-0 remains a European record. (In 1971, Chelsea scored 13 at home to another Luxembourg team, Jeunnesse Hautcharage and won 21-0 on aggregate).

The football was poor, and unfortunately poor in all the wrong ways. With a quite enthusiastic crowd of just over seven hundred in the ground (including a small number for the visitors, Differdange, who had made the 5 km journey for this local derby), the footballers demonstrated a series of different ways to lose the ball. Both sides had gone for defensive formations, so while their forward players attacked eagerly, and the ball swung from end to end – none of the attacks looked vaguely like threatening the goalmouth. Differdenge, who had marginally the better of the game, had a habit of delivering a long ball to a free man on the far side, who would then hit the ball as hard as he could, in any direction except towards the target! Petange preferred not to risk losing the ball to a bad pass, so they made no passes at all and instead found their players continually crowded off the ball, as they tried to find the way through the mass of defenders. And so we had a game bereft of more than a few moments of either skill or entertainment, settled by a single scrambled goal helped in by the goalkeeper. This allowed the visiting fans to return home happy.

So that was Saturday, a fourth level German game in the afternoon, followed by the Luxembourg League in the evening. What to do on the Sunday? Well, much the same, although with no suitable fourth level club playing in the right part of Germany, I had to select fifth level instead. Generally, though Morbach was quite similar to Hauenstein. The Alfons-Jakob Stadion sits on the edge of a small town in a wine growing region. One side of the ground has a number of steep steps, and with the rest of the grounds surrounds being just a path. Again we have a two story club house, with a bar above and dressing rooms below, although this one is better positioned along the touch line, so a terrace outside the bar would provide some viewing under cover should the circumstances demand it. Morbach were promoted to this level at the end of last season, and are looking more than comfortable in their new surrounds. They dominated the early parts of the game, but lacked the touch that was needed to beat the visitors, SG Langenhahn/Rothenbach who were playing a very cautious 5-4-1 formation. Fortunately, on the bench they had Eloy Campos – a flair player who brightened up the attack as soon as he came on, providing the opportunity for leading goalscorer Timo Rosner to score three minutes later, and then adding the second goal, five minutes from time. The crowd was a little better than the previous day, with 300 present, and I felt it was thoroughly worth the €4 admission fee. The club could well get itself into position for another promotion, in which case its proximity to Ryanair’s Hahn Airport hub could see it becoming popular with travelling groundhoppers.

My Luxembourg league match was at Grevenmacher, only just across the border from Germany. An athletics event in the afternoon had led to the fixture being changed from the standard afternoon kick off to early evening. The ground was similar to that of Petange, in so far as it consisted of a single main stand, while the rest of the pitch surrounds (around an athletics track) were level standing. The main difference was that it is somewhat larger, and the stand while being blander in appearance, was far more suited to a crowd. The setting is quite attractive, with the ground quite a distance up the side of the hill above the Mosel river. This means the heavy industry along the river cannot be seen, but instead on gets a clear view to the vineyards on the hills the other side of the river (and hence incidentally in Germany) The crowd was a fraction under 800 and they were given a treat of a game, with both sides adopting attacking formations and going at their opponents from the start. Within 10 minutes both had opened their own accounts, and were fighting hard for the lead.

Grevenmacher established themselves as regular challengers for the title in the 1990s, when the leading club in Luxembourg were Jeunnesse Esch (the visitors for my match). They have now played in Europe 9 times, but have beaten KR Reykjavik, HJK Helsinki and Anorthosis Famagusta all at home, but always lost out on aggregate. In 2003, they won the title for the first (and so far only time), and added the Luxembourg cup as well. The visitors, Jeunnesse Each were the country’s leading team in the country for a long while, but of their 27 championships, they have managed only one (2004) since the millennium. They have featured in Europe on 30 occasions, 19 times in the top competition, and have won two ties.

Even though the league cannot be better than semi-professional, none of the teams involved are made up entirely of Luxembourgers. A variety of other players either cross the borders to play in this league, or maybe are already in the Grand Duchy for other reasons. While the neighbours (French, German and Belgium) make up the biggest part of the mix, there are a number of East Europeans, a smattering of South Americans, and Differdange appear to have more than a fair share of Portuguese.

It was one of the Portuguese, Bruno Ribeiro who had scored for Differdange, while at Grevenmacher, a German (with a Turkish name) opened the scoring for the team on the German border, while the team from the French border equalised by way of a Frenchman. Still it was a local that put Grevenmacher ahead again for the break. The same player concluded the scoring seven minutes from time, but only after another German had increased the home side’s lead, and an Italian had pulled a goal back!
A couple of years ago, there was speculation that a Luxembourg side would be allowed to join the Belgium league – staring in the second division. As with the speculation over Scottish sides joining the football league, the details (especially what happens in the case of relegation) have never been properly worked through. Unlike the Scottish example, there is no proof that a Luxembourg team could pull the crowds in. Where any sort of changes would leave the European competitions remains to be seen, although Luxembourg may point to Wales and say that teams from the league that is left should remain in competition through the league, and also point to Liechtenstein in the hope of keeping the side playing in Belgium in sight of a place, should they win the cup. (The Liechtenstein team remains unique as it is the only team in Europe that represents a country other than the one it plays league football in, Welsh teams in England, along with AC San Marino appear not to play in their home domestic cups). Until something changes Luxembourg appears destined to remain a backwater among footballing countries.

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