The Greatest Cup Competition? Try France!

25/11/2009 by leo.

It is almost sacrilege in England to suggest that the FA Cup is anything but the best of all the world’s domestic cup competitions. But to take such a blinkered view is to ignore the pleasures of cup football beyond the channel. I would not head for the Spanish or Italian competitions, professional organised, and planned to please the professional cups, but the low countries, Germany and France all have competitions worthy of note. The French in particular is noted for giving the underdog a chance. As in England, France plays Eight rounds of competition before the top division is included (and as in England, there are then 64 teams contesting, and the new year is upon us), although their second division teams have to start some two rounds earlier. Down the divisions, the various leagues all come in at different points, but amazingly – considering the number of rounds is the same as in England – the total number of clubs in ten times as many. The FA Cup has space for around 600 teams, but the Coupe de France has over six thousand. Of course you lose some things with this – with over 6000 teams, there is no minimum ground standards for the cup – if the ground is not suitable for the crowd expected, then the match will simply be moved to a larger stadium. The other thing the French do without is replays – but this works in a French way. The French league is just about the lowest scoring in Europe, with all but the best away teams going away and attempting just to hold onto the point for 0-0. The single match nature of the French Cup frees away teams. If there was a replay, then they would be under pressure to defend and get it, but as there is no replay they can attack even away from home.

There is one other unique selling point to the French cup, and this is the seven “Outre Mer” teams. If the remains of the British Empire are these days ignored, almost an embarrassment except when we fight wars to defend them – and these remains are encouraged to enter international competition in their own right, the French keep their remaining possessions close at hand, and politically, some are treated the same as if they were part of mainland France. Having frequently voted to keep their French connections, and against independence or a union with the Comoros Islands, the small territory of Mayotte is to become a French department in 2011, (despite the fact this would mean an increase in taxation). It became the seventh of the overseas territories to have French cup status in 2002, following Reunion, Martinique, Guadelopue, Guyana, French Polynesia (Tahiti) and New Caledonia. Mayotte is situated in the Indian Ocean, north of Madagascar and not far from to Comoros Islands – it consists of two main islands, and a number of smaller (many uninhabited) ones. Oddly, because the capital used to be on the smaller island of the pair, the international airport is not on the main island. Each year, a local cup competition will decide the territories entry into the main Coupe de France (each overseas territory gets one entry only, entering at Round 7 with the second division teams). This year the team is Kaweni, from just outside the capital. To get to play in Petit Quevilly, (a southern suburb of Rouen), they had to get to the airport by boat and taxi, then fly first to Reunion, and then from there to Paris – still a two hour coach trip to their destination.

On arrival, they find that the Amable et Micheline Lozai is a typical football ground, with no track and the sides square to the pitch. The names refer to the club president and his wife during a successful era for the club. On one side there is covered terracing along the whole length, whereas the main stand takes up about the third of the other side with other buildings to the sides, (furthest away from the entrance) is the dressing rooms, while nearer is a room used for VIP and guests. General refreshments are served from behind the goal by the entrance on a flat area. There is no access behind the far end goal for spectators.

The last picture seems to be a mixture of supporters and the visiting ‘WAGS’. Certainly some of the girls had come with the team from Mayottte, and there were some supporters that had made the journey. On the other hand, when I questioned the only people wearing Kaweni replica shirts, they turned out to be students from Lyon.

The Quevilly team have a cup pedigree of their own, they reached the final in 1927, when they lost 3-0 to Olympique Marseille. They were the top amateur club in France in the mid-fifties, winning the amateur championship twice in successive years, but after that they must have gone into some decline - as by the end of the seventies, the club was wallowing in the fourth division of the district league. This is about as low as a club can get in France, but things have picked up - over the next 22 years the club won promotion 9 times (with one relegation to compensate). This brings them back to the CFA, the highest level of amateur football in France. (The amateur title, won by Quevilly in the fifties, is now given to the winner of play-offs between the four regional CFA winners). When Quevilly were at the lowest ebb, neighbours FC Rouen were at the top level of French football - (they were relegated from the first division in 1985). Last season they met in the CFA, with FC Rouen winning the title and returning to the National level, while Quevilly finished a credible third.

While I believe I was the only English groundhopper at the match, I met up with Stephan Schlei, a German groundhopper and hitchhiker. Stephan informs all (he has it printed on a card) that he is a World Record hitchhiker, recongnised by the Guinness Book of Records. I do not quite know what this means, but I do know that Stephan travels the length and breadth of Europe through hitchhiking and sleeping rough. Last season, I had also met Stephan when watching “outre mer” teams in the French Cup, we both watched Colmar v AS Tefana (Polynesia) one day, and St. Louis Neuweg v Jeanne d’Arc (Reunion) the next, both matches won by the visiting team. On that occasion, Stephan refused to travel with me between games, preferring to make his own way - but this time he was desperate to persuade me to drive to Pontivy where the Guyanese club CSC Cayenne were to play. Sadly, I could not help, as I was in my own car, and needed to return to Calais the following evening. Stephan even offered to pay my entire expenses for the trip - although I do not think he realised I would be almost doubling the weekend milage (which cost me £100 in petrol anyway), and the road tolls in France are high - anywhere between €40 and €80 extra - and another £50 or more if I failed to make the last Eurotunnel shuttle trip before midnight.

In the end, I gave Stephan a lift to the nearest motorway services (30 miles return) for which he just paid the motorway toll of €2.80 (and he was looking for a way to avoid that), and kept to my plan of watching FC Rouen.

But what, you may ask, of the actual game between US Quevilly and ASC Kaweni. The answer was it was a predictable procession. In their eight previous attempts on the French cup, teams from Mayotte had lost eight times, scoing just three, but conceding 29. Kaweni themselves had never previously represented the islands at this stage. It took 27 minutes for the resolute defence to be broken down, but even in this time, it was always a question of when, and how many goals. The score was quickly built up to 3-0 at half time, with another two minutes after the break. Two more were added later, and the game finished 6-0. Still you have to admire the Africans for making the journey from summer in the Indian Ocean to a cold and wet city in Northern France, to face what a defeat that was surely inevitable. Still, the first representative from Reunion lost 14-0 - and they are now the most successful of the “outre mer” teams, this season, Excelsior, from Reunion were the only won to get a win this season with a 1-0 win over Quimper. Excelsior will visit Angers in December.

For me, it was on the FC Rouen….

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Who wants to be Top Klasse in the Netherlands?

19/11/2009 by leo.

It was the summer of 2008 that FIFA added a section on promotion and relegation into their statutes. Even at the time, FIFA were quick to point out that the new rules would not be applied retrospectively. Hence although not in compliance with the regulations, no action will be taken against countries such as the USA, Singapore and Australia which use a franchise system and do not have direct promotion to their top divisions. The idea that FIFA was trying to nip in the bud was that of new European super leagues that could be created without any promotion or relegation. At the same time, FIFA directed that a club could not uproot and move, in the way that Wimbledon did before becoming MK Dons, or Clydebank becoming Airdrie United and numerous other cases in Eastern Europe. (The test of this still seems to be with local FA’s. Arles to Avignon (39km) having been acceptable this season).

To be honest, none of this makes much difference to the boys at the KNVB (Netherlands Football Association), who were already looking at ways to bridge the gap between the closed shop two divisions of their professional league, and the well organised double pyramid that in the amateur game. The Netherlands are unique in Europe in offering parallel, (generally equal) systems for non-League football, played on Saturdays and Sundays. Across Europe, the traditional day for playing football has a religious divide, with the Catholics of Italy and Spain being played on Sunday, while Protestants tend to play on Saturdays. The Netherlands however has a full structure of amateur football on both dates. The top level for this is currently the Hoofdklasse, which is divided into three regional groups, hence giving a total of six divisions, (three Saturday, three Sunday). Below the top level, the game is organised in six regions, unexcitingly called North, East, West 1, West 2, South 1 and South 2. Each of the six regions runs football from first class (one Saturday, one Sunday per region) down, and the regional cup competition (four teams from each regional cup on season qualify for the national cup the following year).

In one of the South zones, covering the area around Maastricht and close to the German border, there is a Sunday pyramid only, as this area has no Saturday teams

Regional and National cup competitions, and the final of the end of season amateur play offs are the only times that Saturday and Sunday teams meet – and the rule is always that such matches are played on Saturdays. A Saturday team can always refuse to play on a Sunday.

As I have said, the KNVB have been looking for a way to bridge the gap between this system, and the two division professional league. Currently, teams move into the professional league by applying for a place, and proving that they have suitable facilities and finances for the higher level. There is no method for moving in the other direction, and the KNVB will not contemplate forcing a team to drop out of the professional league until there is a direct promotion available in the other direction. This is despite the fact that be allowing several new teams to join the league in recent years (Top Oss, AGOVV, Omniworld), while teams have not be dropping out, and mergers are no longer in vogue – which means the lower division now has 20 teams, the KNVB would prefer both divisions to be 18. Until the start of the current century, there seemed to have been significant losses from the professional leagues – teams dropping out for financial reasons, while others merged – recently however, there have been no drop outs, and fans have started to transfer against mergers. Efforts last season merge Roda JC and Fortuna Sittard, both in financial trouble, failed due to supporters’ campaigns to keep their own clubs.

So, from next season, the KNVB plan is to introduce a new Top Klasse, above the Hoofdklasse. The Top Klasse will be a National Amateur League. Although of course it will be repeated for both Saturday and Sunday football. The end of season championship matches are therefore simplified. At the moment there are play-offs between the three Hoofdklasse champions to find the Saturday and Sunday Amatuer champions, but these will be unnecessary, leaving only the grand final to select the overall champion.

Promotion to the professional leagues will be limited to a single team, with only the two Top Klasse champions being eligible. If neither title holder wishes to apply for promotion, then no team will be relegated, but as the professional league currently has two more teams than it should, it has been decided that the bottom two sides from this seasons Professional League will be relegated into the new league. This has led to protests from clubs in the league, with the current bottom club, Emmen, saying that a relegation of this form would practically be the same as sending them into liquidation. Faced with this sort of bad publicity, the KNVB are now considering parachute payments, similar to those made to clubs relegated from the Football League to the Conference to help these clubs to keep on running. I am told the most likely result of this decision is that the clubs near the bottom of the league will go on a spending spree in the transfer window in an attempt to sign players to stave off the threat. This, of course will increase the debts, and I would be surprised if the crowds are increased by the anti-relegation fight. Nine of the 20 teams get less than 3000 per match, only 3 get over 5000.

Heerjansdam is a typical small town in the Netherlands, which means it is neat, tidy, very friendly to the cyclist, it is low rise and low key, with a bland shopping centre – and of course, it has a football ground somewhere on the outskirts. This has a large stand on one side of the pitch, while the rest of the ground is surrounded by a level pathway. Like most amateur teams in the Netherlands, it stands as a true community club, apart from the first team, which is run as a semi-professional team and will recruit players in the same way as a team anywhere else, the club will run as many teams as it feels are necessary to meet the community’s desire to play football. For youth football, in every age group, this may mean running three, four or more teams. Quite simply, if you are a youngster in Heerjansdam and you want to play football, then you will play and be coached by this one club. It also means that if you run a business in the town, then either you, or some of your employees are sure to have an involvement in the club either directly, or because their children are involved. Hence most small businesses put a small amount of money into club sponsorship.

Sportpark de Molenwei, Heerjansdam. The clubhouse backs onto the stand, whereas there are further pitches behind the trees.

The away team for my game is ASWH – a very local derby (they share a motorway intersection). Heerjansdam are in the 1^st Klasse, Zuid 1 (after relegation last season), while ASWH are if Hoofdklasse A. The match is in the regional cup, and hence has the unwieldy title of Districktbeker Zuid 1, Round 1. Apart from local cup glory, the four semi-finalists from this competition will play in next season’s national cup. Although both sides for this match are from the Saturday leagues, the cup bridges date divide, and also has Sunday clubs in competition.

I am told that Heerjansdam had beaten their neighbours last season despite ending the season as relegated. I had been to ASWH in 2005, to see them become the Amateur champion of the Netherlands. [incidentally, the name stands for Altijd Sterker Wordend Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht. The last part of this is a placename whereas the first three words means something like “Always Becoming Stronger”. Such slogans are common in Netherlands football club names, and are perhaps the reason why clubs now prefer to be known only by initials]. Both clubs have made good starts to the season, but it took a while for this to notice on the field, or for either team to create a chance worthy of note. What was evident was a lot of progress being made on the wings, being ended by poor crossing. De Jager should have put the visitors ahead around 30 minutes in, missing a clear chance when the ball successfully made it to the far post, and then Heerjansdam created three good chances as the half came to a close. The first was blocked, but resulted in a corner, which for once was delivered into the danger area for centre half Gert-Jan Stout to bundle over the line. Jeroen Wolf should then have added a second in injury time, but he hesitated and allowed visiting keeper Jacob van der Belt to close down the chance.

The final (saved) penalty. Note the high number of advertising hoardings, a common feature of grounds in the Netherlands and Belgium.

ASWH came out for the second half with all guns blazing, and it was no surprise when substitute Henk Roeland brought the scores level; but in an already physical game, ASWH almost brought about their own downfall. Verluis was booked for a challenge in the 66^th minute, and had to be restrained by his goalkeeper. Two minutes later with the ball out of play he was in trouble again and was fortunate to only get a second yellow and not a straight red. The game continued to be physical, and the referee ended up showing ten cards, but there were also plenty of chances for both sides in the second half – but a couple of good saves including a tremendous dive by van den Belt in injury time, and a lot of timely blocks kept the scores level. The match then went straight to penalties, but the home side did not come good here, missing the first two, while ASWH hit three in a row. Van den Belt then saved the third to give the visitors a 3-0 penalty shoot out win.

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Ireland 2009.

24/07/2009 by leo.

Why do I go to Ireland? It is a question I was soon asking after arriving on the Emerald Isle. The country is inordinately expensive, whether one wants to find a hotel or B&B, buy a meal or a pint, use the infrequent and slow public transport systems or just enter a football ground. It almost always rains at some stage during a weekend trip, and the football itself is not very good.

And then, to add to the difficulties, there is the uncertainty about the fixture list. Part of the weekend trip I had planned featured a match between Shamrock Rovers and Sligo Rovers, at the Tallaght Stadium. This being Shamrock’s first season here, after a number of years sharing other Dublin grounds. According to the fixture list seen when I booked my ticket, about two weeks before the trip, the game was scheduled for the Saturday. Having decided to make the trip, I was then hoping Sligo would meet early defeat in the Europa League qualification, because if they played in that on the Thursday, surely their league game would be postponed until the Sunday.

This is at least was not a problem – Sligo went out at the first hurdle. My travelling companion, Paul had found a cheapish hotel almost adjacent to the Tallaght stadium, and on booked this six days before we travelled. Later the same day, we found that the match was switched from Saturday to Friday! I then phoned Shamrock, confirmed they had switched the fixture and actually booked two match tickets, while Paul changed the hotel reservation. Based on this, I made plans for a long bus trip to Finn Harps on the Saturday, while Paul, who had been to Finn was heading to Longford. So all fine until I arrived in Dublin and picked up the local paper. On the day before the match was due to be played, the local council had decided that Shamrock could not use the Tallaght stadium due to health and safety issues as work was being carried out to increase the capacity for two prestige friendly games (one of which had already been played). So the date returned to Saturday, and the venue was changed as well. Fortunately, neither club not hotel complained about cancelling the reservations.

So, Shamrock was taken out of the equation, and we made our way down to our alternative fixture at Wexford (indeed the one we would have chosen for the Friday, had Shamrock played on Saturday). It takes almost 2½ hours to get down from Dublin to Wexford by train – a slow journey at this is under 90 miles. The four car diesel unit used demonstrates that the Irish Railway system is no better than the English at matching demand to train size. Not only was this one full to standing for over half the distance, but the one we returned on the following morning had far less custom, but six cars. Wexford is a pleasant enough town, but does not have a anything really special to promote it. We took up residence in the closest B&B to the railway station despite the extortionate €90 for a twin room. We at least persuaded them to put on breakfast before the first train of the morning. One might have thought that a B&B close by the railway station was used to getting customers who wanted breakfast in time for the early train (which was 8 O’clock), but apparently this is not the case. For the record, the room was comfortable, but not special; and the breakfast was good.

Wexford Youths are newcomers to the League of Ireland, having joined in 2007. They have grown out of the successful County Wexford Youth team, and the five stars shown above the badge on players shirts and the programme cover all refer to national youth titles won (and all within the last decade). The club owes its progress to local businessman Joseph Wallace. The club plays a quite large site at Ferrycarrig, about 5 miles north of Wexford, (no public transport, about €11 by taxi). Access is quite confusing – the ground is next to the main road, but there is no entry at this point. Instead, a one way system down small country lanes in instituted on match days. At the ground are two full size pitches, and with two five a side pitches further on. Two buildings separate the main pitches – one is still under construction, and appears to be a sports hall, the other holds dressing rooms, bar and offices for the club. Most of the main pitch surrounds are flat, with a single stand, apparently built from meccano, and with a tarpaulin type roof. Dotted at intervals around the ground, are converted portacabins or containers providing facilities such as lavatories, ticket office and tea bar.

All of the facilities have been paid for by Wallace, who is club chairman. A permanent stand is apparently due soon, and as one of Wallace’s companies is in development, I assume he knows how to get this. His son is manager of the team. It is interesting to reading the programme notes that at Wexford, it is not the senior team that takes precedence, but the youth teams, and in particular the under 18 team that has picked up the trophies. The notes said that in particular, the under-20 team would get squeezed by demands from the under 18s and seniors – but this appeared to be disingenuous. Despite the programme claim that most of the senior side also qualifies as under 20, no starting player was less than 20 years old (2 of the subs were 18, and a couple of the 20 year olds may still qualify if the under 20s have a spring qualifying deadline). The programme referred to was a 16 page A5 affair, selling for the princely sum of €3. Admission to any part of the ground was €10.

And so, to the game. The visiting club were University College of Dublin (UCD) currently third placed in the league compared to Wexford’s fifth. The UCD team are mainly students, although it also acquires a few additional hands and they started out as much the stronger of the two teams. It was no surprise when they went into the lead after just 18 minutes, but disappointing that they could not add to this in the rest of the game. A lot of football in this division relies on an uneven division between attackers and midfielders trying to show off a bit, (but lacking the real ability to make a telling pass or hit the target consistently), and well organised defensives. Many of the attacks broke down simply because the player on the ball was not looking for the simple ball, but seemed to believe it was a requirement to turn the defender before passing. At both Wexford, and Finn Harps the following day, the opening goal was partly helped by a fortunate bounce or block. Wexford rallied near the end, and attacked enough to feel they deserved an equaliser – but I felt that this would have been unfair on the visiting club, and in particular their best player; Evan McMillan, a 22 year old centre half who also still turns out for student teams, and who won almost every ball put into the box in the air.

Getting away from the ground, we were lucky enough that by just asking drivers leaving, we easily found someone heading back to Wexford and willing to give a lift – otherwise the alternative would have been to phone for another taxi. Plenty of time for a couple more pints of Guinness (average €4 per pint) before turning in.

So, without the easy option in Dublin (unless I wanted to return to Tolka Park), it was going to be a long day of travelling on the Saturday. The train took as away from Wexford at a few minutes past 8, giving me best part of an hour to arrange my transfer to a coach (the bus station being a five minute walk). Irish bus does a good selection of radial routes from Dublin, serving most of the country. The coaches are comfortable and not cramped, prices are a little less than the railways. Generally, I am told the timetables are kept to, but I was not lucky, and major traffic jams on the way into two of the towns en route meant my bus was 30 minutes late. No here is a problem – Finn Harps play in a small town called Ballybofey, which is not on a direct route from Dublin, and the connecting buses run only every two hours. Hardly any connection time is allowed, and they don’t wait. So I had 90 minutes to wait when changing. Fortunately, the bus stop was adjacent to the bar, and I could indulge myself in a Guinness while waiting.

So, by the time I arrived in Ballybofey, I had been travelling for over 10 hours. The main street was full of people in football colours drinking before the game. This, of course was not the game I was there to watch, but a qualifying round of the all Ireland Gaelic Football Competition, in which Donegal, (the Irish county including Ballybofey) were playing neighbouring Derry. I had booked into a really nice hotel, spacious and comfortable room, good breakfast, and not much more than I paid to share in B&B on the nights before and after. I noticed from the web site that rooms come even cheaper in mid week, and I would recommend Jackson’s hotel in Ballybofey to anyone passing the area during the week. Not much to do in the town, unless there is football or Gaelic sport on, but of course the town does have an appropriate number of pubs and restaurants. The Gaelic ground is just north of the main street, while the Harps Stadium is a few yards south, behind the shopping centres. Despite this being an old and interesting ground, it will soon be replaced by a new stadium in the neighbouring village of Stranorlar, (the Finn river marking the boundary between the two). The existing ground seems more than sufficient for the crowds that Finn get, even if they could return to the Premier Division, so naturally I was intrigued as to why they wanted to move. The answer is there is only one cramped building serving as dressing rooms and offices – no bar or other facilities, and pitch side refreshments served from temporary huts. There would be room to improve the current ground – but developers would prefer to extend the shopping centre and move the club elsewhere.

The ground is three sides – there is no spectator accommodation at the far end (away from the ground), while the cover is in the form of a barrel roofed stand filling most of the side close to the road. At one end some new seats have been installed on a standard scaffolding base, while the rest is low rise terracing. I am guessing there was once something taller, but this has been knocked down.

Meanwhile I was asking about the clash of fixtures with the Gaelic. “You do ask difficult questions”, the secretary responds – before telling me that the League of Ireland do not allow fixtures to be changed at less than two weeks notice, (a strange statement considering the Shamrock game had been switched twice in the last five days). The GAA, meanwhile, makes its fixtures only a week in advance, a necessity of a knock out competition with matches every week. With the strength of having much larger crowds than the association game can muster; the GAA keeps its own counsel, and only needs to discuss its schedule with the TV company. A few people did walk into the game last on after the GAA game had finished – something I had seen before when a game at Tolka Park in Dublin started while a GAA game was being played at nearby Croke Park. If the GAA match had considered kicking off an hour earlier, then many more people would have been able to double up.

As for the game, not much different to the night before. Defences were generally organised, whereas the attackers continually failed to make anything of the possession they had. Finn were the better team and took advantage when a clearance went back out to the winger – one pass and a good finish. In the second half, Athlone Town managed to level the scores. Again it was a good finish, and again there was little teamwork involved.

With the first bus out of Ballybofey being at 12.25 the next day, I had time for a good night’s sleep. The timing became critical as I had only a few minutes to make a change of buses. Even with all the transport going smoothly, (and it did) – I only arrived in Newbridge les than an hour before kick-off. Fortunately, Paul, with the shorter journey had booked into our B&B and met me at the station. The ground, is in Station Road and all we had to do was cross the railway to get there.

The ground actually belongs to Newbridge Town, of the Leinster Senior League, rather than Kildare County, and all the signs show the Newbridge name. On the side where we entered, there are two sections of open seats, made up on scaffolding. On a blustery and wet evening, not many people choose these seats, as those on the other side were protected by the club house roof. Again just five rows of low seating. The clubhouse itself is two storey, and above the seating there is a good area that can be used as a VIP viewing area, but it does not appear the club has managed to sell this idea. The referee’s dressing room was also upstairs. Downstairs were the other dressing rooms and a small bar – where care was needed due to exposed wiring just by some seats.

The game was no better than any of the others. The visitors, Limerick were on top throughout, but were quite incompetent and it did not take long before we had concluded a no score draw would occur. Kildare are about the worst team in the League, and would have been relegated last season, if Cobh Ramblers had not been thrown out of the league. Having been reprieved once, they have won only once this season, (away to Mervue, the team that would have replaced them), and this was their second home draw. Naturally, they are the only candidates for bottom place again – but relegation depends on a first team finishing in the top three at least one group of the A championship (the third division, split into two groups of 9, but including 13 reserve teams). It appears Salthill Devon may be the challenger – play offs will take place at the end of the season.

Note the small group of supporters to the right (as we see it) of the entrance way are from visiting club Limerick. They were very vocal, but could not spur the team on to actually score.

The Irish League changed to a summer season in 2003, and it has achieved its first objective in doing so – on the UEFA rankings used to determine numbers for club competitions, Ireland has risen about 10 places, from around 40^th ten years ago. By comparison, Northern Ireland and Wales are still in the 40s. According to the web site, European Football Statistics, this has happened without much noticeable effect on the crowds attending the games. The season by season averages for the Premier Division are still around 1500, with Division One getting something less than half that. Now in its summer season, Irish football plays second fiddle to the Gaelic games, while when playing the winter season; there were always more people crossing the water to see Liverpool, Manchester United and Celtic than the total watching League of Ireland.

With these figures, the finances of Irish football are always on a knife edge. The cost of living in Ireland is high – most things are more expensive there than in the UK, and the recession has hit the Celtic Tiger hard. While Ireland is still a popular destination for English and Scottish clubs in pre-season, the really big crowd pullers, such as Real Madrid do not have this as a regular visiting spot. 10,000 spectators at Tallaght thanks to the addition of temporary seats is not normally enough of a crowd to pull in the giants – although once Lansdowne Road has been rebuilt, the prospect of filling this may generate the receipts guarantees required.

And while Ireland have improved their ratings with UEFA, it has not yet been enough to get the clubs into group contention in either the Champions League, the Europa League or its predecessor, the UEFA Cup. While I was there, some of the local papers had realised that Bohemians v Salzburg in the Champions League was the big game of the week, even if they still refused to give it the same sort of coverage as the glamour boys of Real Madrid, (the opposition was generally inconsequential and hardly mentioned). Bohs had already drawn in Salzburg, and if they could win this match, they would have to play Dinamo Zagreb – not exactly the top team in Europe. This is where the new method of keeping champions and non-champions apart can help. On seeding, most of the clubs winning second qualifying games in the old days would find themselves up against runners-up from nations in Europe’s top 15 – now they have to play Champions, but against teams from much poorer leagues.

Losers in the Champions League third qualifying round get a second try in the Europa League (but those who fall earlier do not), while the fourth and final qualifying round is a selector – winners go into the Champions League group stage, while losers play in the Europa League groups.

Having seen Salzburg in May, I thought they should be too good for an Irish team, but Salzburg have hardly played since then, while the Irish season is in full swing, and a 1-1 draw in Austria seemed to swing the tie towards the Irish – but as it turned out, Salzburg got a late goal in a defensive match in Dublin and now face Dinamo Zagreb (another team I saw in May – I am again predicting a Salzburg win).

Still, it has not been all gloom for the Irish in Europe. Bohemians may be out, and Sligo lost earlier, but the two Europa League contenders still in the competition both went through, following 1-1 draws in the first legs with single goal victories. St. Patricks managed this away to Valetta in Malta, while Derry City played Skonto Riga. St Patricks now take on the Russian team, Krylia Sovetov Samara while Derry will play CSKA Sofia. With another round to go, even if they win these (and the odds do not favour the Irish), group stage football still looks unlikely, but Ireland will at least hold its rating in Europe.

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Go No More a Wandering?

18/07/2009 by leo.

The close season started with dire predictions for clubs getting into financial troubles, with some commentators promising a domino effect of clubs going into administration or even liquidation and then those holding the debts of the others getting into a panic.

While this has not happened, there have been a number of scares; in the league Darlington and Stockport County went into administration at the end of last season, losing 10 points then, while Southampton will have their deduction at the start of the new season following their prolonged troubles. Farsley Celtic in the Conference also start on -10, having survived a move to have them removed from the league for going into administration after the league’s AGM. We have lost a few clubs from non-League football, to be replaced by new clubs in lower divisions, Gresley Rovers, Southern League champions in 1997 (when runners-up Cheltenham were promoted) dropped out of the Northern Premier League, to be replaced by Gresley FC in the East Midlands Counties League; Fisher Athletic have become Fisher FC in the Kent League, while possibly the worst felt of all is Darwen – once a league club and one of the first professional clubs in the country, who are replaced by AFC Darwen in the West Lancashire League. All of these, at least appear to have kept their old grounds and continue to exist in a new way. Team Bath, Newcastle Blue Star, Prudhoe Town, Sunderland Nissan and Oldbury United all appear to have been wiped off the football map this summer.

As bad as this cull may be, it is far from the apocalypse that I had seen predicted in some quarters. There is a massive amount of debt held by football clubs at league and senior non-League level, but on the whole those that hold the debt are not about to call it in, knowing that few clubs have assets to pay off all their debt, and so any attempt to claim it back at the moment will end in some monies being lost. The biggest threats to the running of football come from the tax authorities, who are beginning to blanche at the fact that many clubs feel that a late (or non-)payment of VAT or employees NI is a way around cash flow problems, or individuals who may once have appeared to be the knights in shining armour to a troubled club, but later reveal themselves as a more frightening manifestation than the one they vanquished.

Many come in as saviours, putting in much needed finance to stave off a crisis, and at the time agree with the ideals of the fans, such as having trust representative’s on the board; then over a period of time they get more and more involved, adding a loan here, or increasing their investment into the club, building up their stock. But, if the truth is to be told, there are few true benefactors in this world, who are willing to pump millions into a football club with no chance of ever seeing a return. Everyone has a bottom line – some realise that they cannot continue to finance a club that will continue to be a money pit, and make a gracious and generous exit, like Max Griggs at Rushden & Diamonds; some sell off the club and try to recover their loan notes in that way and others have a vision for how the club can be turned into a profitable enterprise, and run with that dream regardless of how their ideas are thought of by the club’s fans. The movement of Wimbledon FC to Milton Keynes can be seen in this light – the opinions of the Wimbledon fans could be completely ignored, because once the club had moved, it was looking for a new customer base, well removed from its original fan base.

The original move of Wimbledon was a failure, of course – it was supposed to be the saving of the club, but in fact they went into administration soon afterwards, writing off most of the debts of the old club, (the same happened at their Scottish equivalent, Livingston, soon after they gave up being Meadowbank and left Edinburgh). Since coming out of CVA, though, MK Dons have been quietly building up a local fan base and threatening to get promoted to the Championship. The real, and as yet unreached milestone would be to post an annual profit.

For clubs that do not make the headlines, the assumption is that there is good governance behind the scenes, and that even if they make losses, the figures are manageable, and the club is not at risk. This is really not the case, as most often the situation at a club is hidden until the crisis occurs. It has also been suggested that clubs ran by fans, through Football Trusts might be an answer, and two football league clubs, (Notts County and Exeter) are under supporters control – but the experiment has failed elsewhere, with AFC Bournemouth, Brentford and Rushden all dropping this to allow in outside investment.

But, until 2004 one club did not need a Supporters Trust to obtain supporters control, as one club was still controlled by its supporters, with the directors answerable to them. This club was Wycombe Wanderers. As a supporters’ run club, Wycombe progressed from cramped ground in the town centre, with a notorious 11 foot slope, and average crowds in the Isthmian League of around 600, to a League-1 club playing in a new stadium, with a turnover approaching £5 million a year, and reaching the FA Cup semi-final. But things were not as smooth as may be thought - the money from the FA Cup run was spent wisely, on the training ground and improvements at Adams Park, but even with the supporters overseeing the club, debts were beginning to become sizable. By the end of 2002-3, the club was £2.2 million in debt, although 20% of this was interest free, mainly from the directors. For a club that owns its own stadium, and has some very good social facilities, this type of debt is not a major problem, so long as some action can be taken to stop the £½ million a year in losses. Of course, stopping losses is not easy – prices may go up, playing budgets down, and costs need to be cut in other areas – all of which would prove unpopular with the fans. These debts, of course, were being incurred despite the additional income to the club from sharing the pitch with the Wasps Rugby Union club since 2002.

In 2004, a new structure was pushed through, despite the unease of many fans. The club became a limited company, but no individual would have the right to own more than 25% of the shares. Two members of the newly formed supporters trust would serve on the board, and the “founders” group of 500 supporters would have a degree of control – no change could be made to this constitution, nor could the ground by sold, or the club relocated without a majority vote by this group, (in order to get the 2004 changes passed, the group had to vote 75% in favour). Entering the frame at this point is Steve Hayes, former co-owner of an internet loans company, who bought 25% of the shares for £250,000, and became the new club chairman. Hayes later took control of the tenants, Wasps in two sweeps, buying 11.6% of the shares in 2007, and then taking over the whole club in 2008.

Last summer, the story moved on a stage further, with plans revealed to move out of Adams Park (aka Causeway Stadium), and to build a new ground – the preferred site being the current Wycombe Air Park where the lease runs out in 2014. From a Wycombe Wanderers point of view, this is not a fantastic option – a new stadium holding up to 20,000 is too large for a club that could only once get close to its 10,000 capacity in a promotion stadium (the second biggest league crowd was 6300). But for Wasps, it is a priority with the Rugby authorities likely to demand a 15,000 minimum size in future.

Now, this summer, comes the real blow to supporters control at Wycombe. They should have seen it coming. Since coming to the club, it turns out that Steve Hayes has put in £6.93 million in loans – representing a loss of around £1 million per season over the last five years. As far as I know, this is all or most of the debt currently at the club, but it still shows a serious lack of constraint by the club’s directors and in particular the chairman himself. It appears that few clubs in the lower divisions of the football league trade at a profit, but losses of around £1 million per season appear to be exceptional, especially when one considers, that as a result of the fact they share their stadium with Wasps, Wycombe are picking up a reported £600,000 per annum in rent and other benefits, (more than double, for example, the amount that Cheltenham were hoping to get by loaning their stadium to Bristol Rovers for a season).

The supporters’ representatives on the board may have protested against the losses, but they have not been able to change it. Hayes, meanwhile may have been financing the club, but most (or all) the money he put in was in the forms of loans, not gifts, and therefore would at some stage come up for repayment.

Now that the repayment is due, the club, and in particularly the supporter representatives on the board, find themselves with the choice of submitting the club wholesale to the man responsible for creating the mess, or going into administration, (and possibly liquidation). Hayes made it clear that he was not going to finance the club further if he did not get his way, and although some of the support still voted to rid themselves of the man; that option seems more like a suicide pact than anything else. Under the old regime, the supporters had a veto over the selling of Adams Park and relocating, but surely this veto would be null and void had the club found its way to administration, with the main creditor almost certainly being the person making the best offer for the ground itself. If the positions were reversed, and Wycombe if found themselves having to pay rent to play on their ground in addition to a lack of continued financial indulgence from Mr. Hayes, it would be very difficult to maintain the club at this level.

That Mr. Hayes made some small concessions to the supporters’ organisation may show that he is not completely the ogre some portray him as, and that he does still support the club – within the constraints of his own vision. In exchange for taking on the other 75% of club shares, Hayes has written off around £3 million of the debt, (curiously, I see no mention of the owner of the shares he has just obtained, gaining any recompense themselves). He agreed the trust would have first option if he ever came to sell the shares, (but of course, not specifying the price), and more generously – but quite likely unenforceable – he has promised a £1.5 million donation to the trust to restart the club should he take it into liquidation. Finally he has agreed that Wycombe stay at Adams Park until a new ground within a five mile radius can be found. The Air Park, is of course within that radius. On the negative side, he may claim back the remaining £4 of loans, (and any others added in the future), and walk away if the new ground has not been agreed by 2014.

In all, despite these promises, the club is now completely in the hands of Mr. Hayes and its future, including funding and the new stadium depends on his vision. The last vestiges of supporter control have gone. But one has to ask oneself, if Wycombe Wanderers with all its advantages – ownership of the stadium, income from the Rugby club, good social facilities, and attendance that are better than many of their close rivals – fall so far short of balancing their books, then what chance do their league rivals have. While the FA and the Football League still stand by, practically inviting clubs to build up debt and then take the hit of going into administration, (except under this seasons new rule, not too much debt to the taxman please, as he is threatening to spoil the party), there is little chance of sanity hitting Football League finances; it is certain that more clubs will go into administration, and surely soon, League clubs will fold.

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The New Legends - Cheltenham Appearances 1999-2009

11/07/2009 by leo.

The New Legends.
Today’s game may be a celebration of the players that won Cheltenham Town a place in the league 10 years ago. But that was not the end of any story. As a club we have managed not only to survive for a decade as a league member, but to spend four of those seasons above the lowest tier of league football. This achievement must never be under-estimated – after our ascension, the next three Conference Champions failed to establish themselves and are now back in the Football Conference.
Ten years of the Football League adds up to 460 matches, we have played six play-off games, and then adding the FA Cup, League Cup, League (LDV or JP) Trophy and a Conference Championship game in our first season; we have a total of 533 in the period.
Only two players have played more than half these games, with our league appearance record belonging to Jamie Victory – Jamie has played 473 times for Cheltenham and scored 47 goals, a great record for a full back. Jamie was ever present in our first league season, missed most of the following season through injury, but then came back and played most games for the next four seasons and retiring in 2007.
Second on the list is the only player who has had a ten year tenancy at the club, arriving in the summer of 1999, and leaving this summer. After three years, this player’s was noted mainly for his patience, having played just one LDV game (we lost 2-0), and coming off the bench twice in the league. It was only near the end of the relegation season that Shane Higgs was given his chance, and he took it with both hands, quickly becoming our first choice keeper, a position only rescinded when his ambition drove him to pastures new, spending the end of last season on loan at Wolves, and who knows where next?
John Finnigan arrived from Lincoln in March 2002. He came in mainly to cover for injury, but has stayed ever since. He has played 252 times for us, all but 14 starting. Before arriving at Whaddon Road, his record was as an uncompromising midfielder, with only 3 goals in over 100 appearances for Lincoln. Curiously the last was at Whaddon Road over two years before becoming a Cheltenham player. Finners scored on his debut for the Robins, but his third goal for the club – at the Millennium stadium in the play off final secured his status. So far he has scored 27 times for us.
Mark Yates and Michael Duff were both with the club on promotion, and added over 200 appearances in staying with the club for a further five years. Yates ended on 240 appearances (22 goals) while Duff made 372 (16 goals). Yates is now managing Kidderminster, while Michael Duff is still with Burnley, hopefully about to make a Premier League debut.
Grant McCann arrived at Cheltenham no less than three times, on loan in 2000 and again in 2002, before finally signing for £50K in 2003. His third stay at the club was for three and a half years, while he picked up 33 appearances in his early loan spell (with three goals securing him in the hearts of the supporters). In the end, he played 222 time for the club, and scored 46 times. McCann marked a change for Cheltenham – a player we paid for, and then sold as a profit, we even picked up a small bonus when he moved on from Barnsley to Scunthorpe.
If there is a surprise among those who have made 200 starts for Cheltenham in the league, then it is Jerry Gill. Already nearing 34 years of age when arriving from Northampton, Jerry played in 90% of the games in four complete seasons with the club. He left last autumn to take up a coaching post at Forest Green.
Also making 200 appearances since we joined the league are David Bird (whose next appearance will be his 200th start, but has also added 47 sub appearances, and eight goals), Shane Duff (three short of 200 starts, but with 11 sub appearance and three goals), Martin Devaney and Damian Spencer. Devaney like Higgs, was a new signing when we joined the league. He stayed for six seasons, making 173 starts, 55 appearances off the bench and scoring 42 goals. ‘Big’ Damian Spencer scored 39, even though nearly half (128) of his 263 appearances were from the bench.
Finally, a quick mention for Steve Book, who if I have my sums right made 199 of his 319 appearances since we joined the league.
Grant McCann is our top goal scorer for the last ten years, and Devaney weighs in third on the list. Second is another big man, Julian Alsop with 44 from 117 starts, and 22 bench appearances. Damian Spencer is fourth top scorer, while two others have more than 30 since we joined the league. Kayode Odejayi scored 34 from 119 starts, and 55 sub appearances before being sold to Barnsley, while even injuries do not disguise that Gillespie scored 33 goals in only 69 starts (and another 26 appearances from the bench). Like McCann, Gillespie was twice on loan from Bristol City before signing on. He then played for 18 months before switching to Colchester. Since leaving the club, he has been hampered by injury, but still scores when he plays.
At the other end of the scale is what I call the nowhere men. Official statistics only show those players who actually appear, either by starting or as a substitute, but with at least two players staying on the bench throughout every game, (increasing to four, as we will be allowed to name seven subs this season, but can still only play three), there are always a few that make it to the bench, but never to the field. One web site, www.soccerbase.com, records these players and includes them on the seasonal squad statistics, with a zero in every column.
From my counting, I believe there have been ten of these players since we have joined the league. It says something (but who is sure what), that no less than three of these were youngsters selected by Martin Allen last season in Dean Maynard, Lewis Fathers and Cathal Tosh. Will Puddy would also have been on the list if he had not made his debut in the last game of the season – Puddy had also been on the bench without appearing in each of the previous three seasons.
The first of the nowhere men was Nicky Marker, who at the height of his career spent 5 years at Premier League Blackburn Rovers. Blackburn had signed him from Plymouth, and he then went to Sheffield United before coming to Whaddon Road. Marker only spent a month at Cheltenham, and went on to Tiverton. Most recently he has been at Plymouth club Tamarside, where he combines youth coaching and being chairman. The majority of the nowhere men are youngsters who did not quite make the grade, and many appear in local non-League sides later. This is true of both Lee Burby and Stuart Mitchinson, who “non-appearances” were in 2000-1. Both have since been sighted at Slimbridge. Burby is now a personal fitness trainer in Gloucester.
Luke Buttery, who made the bench in 2003-4 season, was at Bishops Cleeve last season, while we also signed goalkeeper Craig Humphries that season, and let him only the bench at least once. He was named players’ player of the year at Malvern Town last season.
The last two, Sam Foley and Shane Paul played in 2006-7. A lot of those who watch reserve games rated Foley quite highly, and were surprised he was released last year; he went onto Kidderminster, and in fact was in the nowhere category last season, getting onto the bench, but still to make his first appearance. Shane Paul was signed from Scunthorpe, and spent six months without playing for us. He went on to Halesowen, but has not played since breaking his leg in March last year.
I have based this report mainly on records at www.soccerbase.com, and my summary file is attached (Chelt League Appearance). I have since been given Phil Ruck’s stats file, which is also attached (players) and can be used for comparison. A third set of statistics, on paper, and supplied by club secretary Paul Godfrey is available. Unlike the two attached files, this official record includes the non-League appearances of those that played before 1999. I can make a copy for anyone who wants.

chelt-league-appearance.xls

players.XLS

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Euro Blog 5. Czech out Ostrava and the Frydek mistake

08/06/2009 by leo.

Ostrava is not considered, even by those that live there to be on of the most attractive places in the Czech Republic, indeed when I asked about postcards, the reply was along the lines of ‘why?’. It is more of a functioning town than anything else, although with its livelihood in the past dependent on coal mines and a series of heavy industrial plants strung alongside the Ostrava river – and while there never was a Czech Margaret Thatcher forcibly closing down industry, it has declined in the Czech republic, much the same as anywhere else in Europe. Still, it is a sizeable town, and has football teams in both the top two divisions of the Czech League. The advantage to me was simple, as the second division team were at home on Friday, with the top division team, Banik Ostrava playing on Saturday. When I originally planned my fixtures, I even found a fourth level team, within the city scheduled to play on Saturday morning. Getting to Ostrava is easy enough, so long as you start in Vienna. Fortunately, after an afternoon game in Klagenfurt, it is still possible to get to Vienna and stop there for a short night.

The rather odd choice of kick off time for the game at Vitkovice was 4.30 p.m. Even without using floodlights, it would have been possible to kick off two hours later, and anyway, lighting was available. One has to wonder if this was a factor in the relatively low crowd of 520. The pitch is within a running track, which is the surrounded most of the way be at least half a dozen steps of terracing. The main stand fills up the entire length of one side, and has a garish selection of colours and patterns for the seats. The name, Mestsky stadion merely means town stadium. It is quite close to Vitkovice station, and also served by trams from the centre of Ostrava. The admission charge was 40 Czech crowns, and I got a little shock in having to pay 20 more for a programme. Up to this point on the tour, I had received free programmes at games in Germany and Austria, none at all in Croatia and Slovenia. If paying half the admission price was a surprise (it would have worked out level, if I had bought a standing ticket for 20), it is not so bad when put into context - £1.30 to get in, and half that for the programme. Still change from £2

The club was formed as SK Slavoj Vitkovice in 1919, and like many clubs in this area of the world, have known many changes in identity, for example they dropped Slavoj in 1922, then added an extra ‘S’to become SSK Vitkovice a year later. In 1952, they took on the name Banik for 5 years, and then underwent 22 years as TJ VZKG Ostrava, without any obvious mention of Vitkovice. In 1979, they settled on the simple TJ Vitkovice, and this heralded (if not immediately), the most successful period of the club’s history. They won the Czechoslovakian League in 1986, and then reached the UEFA Cup quarter-finals two years later. In 1994, they almost disappeared into a merger with Karvina, some 30 km awat, spending one season as FC Karvina-Vitkovice. A year later the clubs split apart (both currently in the second division), and Vitkovice took on the fashionable initials and became FC Vitkovice.

The match, against Fotbal Trinec, started in bright sunshine and the home side took the lead right at the end of the first period. The second period was somewhat different. For a start, it was raining heavily, there was a rumble of thunder in the distance, and with the coming of the storm, there was also wind. This was blowing quite notably down the pitch at kick off, and continued to pick up strength. On the far side from me, a number of advertising boards were free standing and were buffeted and moved by the wind. The away team dugout was blown over (empty at the time). Five minutes in, we were treated to the sight of the ball boys running away, being pursued by an advertising hoarding. Missing the ball boys, the hoarding rushed up the terracing where it smashed itself to pieces against a fence. Those (few anyway) of the crowd that had chosen to stand, had by now headed for the cover of the stand, and it was no surprise that the referee called a halt to proceedings just five minutes into the second half. Fortunately for me, storms pass, and the game restarted after ten minutes, and passed off without further incident, except an equalising goal midway through the period.

Before I had arrived in the Czech Republic, an internet search had found a fourth level team called PORUBA with a Saturday morning kick off in the Ostrava area, but I am still a believer in picking up the national sports papers to check fixtures. In this case, they saved me, but showing the fixture as Friday, (17.00) kick off. The journalist (there was only one) at Vitkovice spent some time on his computer checking this for me, but the change was correct. With the main game at Banik at 3 in the afternoon (normally, 5 is more common), I had limited options to find an additional game, but there was a 10.15 kick off at Frydek-Mistek, which was just 30 minutes by train down the Ostrava river valley. This was one level higher than the first choice, but had the disadvantage that the visitors were the ‘B’ team of Zlin, a first division outfit. I know some groundhoppers refuse to have anything to do with any game involving a reserve team, but I have always accepted them, and just preferred to avoid them when I have the choice. I have even ticked the occasional ground for an all reserve match, but my rules would only accept this one a ground where the reserves and first team do not share.

Back in the hotel, I checked the internet again. My original source still had the local game wrong, but other sites, including the Czech FA’s official one had the Friday night time. Search engines could not find a site for Frydek-Mistek’s football club, but the name of the stadium, Stovky resulted in a point on a map just across the road from the railway station, and next to a few other sports facilities. The train arrived at 09.19; but more importantly, I wanted to leave again at 12.27 to be comfortable on returning to Ostrava. This was ideal. Just before the train pulled up in Frydek-Mistek, I could see the stadium in question; old main stand and overgrown terracing. It was only when I actually walked up, that I found out something was wrong. No one was there, except a few athletes training. The athletes could tell me nothing except that this was not the football ground. After a fruitless look around the other facilities yielded no information, I wandered back to the main road, not even certain whether I wanted to turn left or right. After a couple of minutes, I spotted a taxi, and luckily he spotted me hailing from across the road. He understood I wanted the stadium, but did not appear to know about the football club! His first inclination was to take me back to the stadium I had just walked away from, but when I indicated this was not the right one, he told me there was another (in rapidly improving English, it appeared to me). He then took me through the town and into a residential area on the far side. Here I spotted people sporting blue and white scarves, and hence knew that we had it right. Overall, I spent about ten minutes in the taxi, and my bill was only around £3 – so it did not take much decision making on my part to ask the driver to return to pick me up at 12 noon.

It cost me 20 crowns to enter, and another 5 for the programme. As the programme stall doubled up with a place to bet on the match result, there was a queue for this. Still I managed to get my programme, and have someone searching out a team sheet for me before the game kicked off. Not bad for someone who was completely lost fifteen minutes earlier. The stadium was ideal. No running track, and about six steps of terracing along one side and behind the goal where I entered, plus a main stand that almost completes the other main length. Capacity these days is 5,500. Not a guess, but printed on a photograph of a cup game two years ago when Banik Ostrava lost 2-0 here. Some 30 years ago, near enough 13,000 had somehow squeezed in – as another photo in the corridors inside the stand revealed, from the match against Sparta in their only top division season 1975-6. These photos confirmed that despite my “Mistek” on reading from the internet, this was their stadium, always has been, and as far as the 690 souls at the ground are concerned, always will be.

As for the game, it appeared that Zlin ‘B’, like myself, were slightly disorientated at the start. Had they also had been transported to the wrong ground first? Unlikely, but then a fair coach journey to a 10.15 kick off cannot be good for any team. A ‘B’ team in a league like this has to operate under some constraints, as there cannot be infinite dual registrations or transfers between this team and the ‘A’ side. The result is that it cannot easily include senior players dropped from the first XI, or recovering from injury, but is mainly a development team of youngsters. This was shown by looking down the player’s lists. The oldest visiting player, at 23, was nine months younger than the youngest of the home squad. It took only four minutes for Frydek-Mistek to take the lead, and they added to this once more before half time, and again three minutes into the second half.

If I thought they could run riot from this position, I was wrong. Two minutes later, Zlin were awarded a penalty, put away by forward Martin Bacik. This immediately restored some confidence to the visitors, and changed the face of the game. Bacik scored a second just before the hour mark, and while Zlin were now in command, there were many counter attacking chances for the home side in an open and entertaining game. It was ten minutes to go when Bacik completed his hat-trick in levelling the scores, and chances went missing at both ends in the last period before the referee called an end with the scores still level.

The taxi driver was good, arriving at the ground just before the match finished and then waiting for me. He tried to persuade me to let him drive me into Ostrava, but I turned it down, as “I already had a train ticket” I do not use the excuse that the charge would be more than money I have in my pocket, as no doubt I would be offered a trip, via the cashpoiint. As it was, there were fans with Banik Ostrava fans getting on the train with me. I therefore followed them when they exited the train and wandered into Ostrava centre. When they all entered a cavernous pub, it was only polite to follow. But after a pint, I was suffering from my nerves again – about 90 minutes to kick off; I did not know quite how to get to the ground from here, (the road outside the pub being open to trams only, and I did know that no tram went to the ground, only trolleybuses). Also the supporters in the pub already had tickets, and I did not! So I walk out into the brightness outside. It may be 1.30 on a Saturday aftenoon, but Ostrava city centre is near deserted; it is not hard to understand why – the shops all close at midday, and there is just nothing to see or do, except, of course drink and go to the football.

It may have been by chance, but I found the trolley to the ground quickly, it cost 160 crowns, (about £5) for a good seat, and another 20 for the programme. To get there, one needs to cross the river from the city centre, and start climbing the hill. Bazaly stadium is built into the hill with the banks of open seating on the far side from where I entered using this natural slope. There is no track, but still the ends of the stadium are curves, not square and the number of rows reduces as one goes down the hill and around. On the low side, there is a stand the full length of the side, The blue seats opposite me, had the letters FCB picked out, which I felt was dreams above their station, as there was no ‘O’ added. The club was formed in 1922, as SK Slezska Ostrava – Slezska being a Czech reference to the region of Silesia, also seen as Slaski on some Polish club names. Indeed, the club has a ‘twin’ club in GKS Katowice, in Polish Silesia, and some supporters wear scarves showing both names. The name Banik was added in 1952, and has been with them ever since. For one season, 1994-5, the club was named as Banik Ostrava Tango. If they had to lose the blue and white colours for this, then they were well and truly “Tangoed”.

The clubs heydays were in the late seventies, early eighties, when they won the old Czechoslovakian
league title three times, going onto the European Cup quarter finals in 1981, (they have also reached the semi-finals of Cup-Winners Cup). There has been a recent revival in fortunes, with the Czech title won in 2004, and a cup win a year later. The recent run has not brought any international success, with the Champions League qualifier resulting in a heavy defeat against Bayer Leverkusen, and then further indignity when dropping to the UEFA Cup, losing to Middlesbrough. This season, Spartak Moscow saw them out of the UEFA cup at the first hurdle.

As it happened, the visitors, Sigma Olomouc had by far the better of the first half, and I was surprised that it finished scoreless. Banik opened the scoring just before the hour mark, and with Sigma not able to convert their chances, it looked like staying like this until very late in the game. Sigma then had a little luck, when a powerfully shot free kick from Tarcisco Pereira (not a name that sounds Czech), was deflected into the net by home defender Tomas Marek.

And so my three match sojourn into the Czech republic ends in three draws. I am glad to meet two other English hoppers coming through from the game at Karvina when there train passes Ostrava, this gives company for a two hour wait to change trains at Brno before we all head up to Berlin the next day.

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Euro Blog 4. Midweek Mediocracy

08/06/2009 by leo.

After leaving Zagreb, my midweek selection of matches did not do so well in terms of football quality. Possibly it is because I was looking more at relegation issues than promotion. My first stop was Austria’s second city, Graz. Graz is a very pleasant city, and in the warmth of spring sunshine, I had a good afternoon wandering around and then sitting outside a restaurant for a meal and some beer. However, I allowed myself to be fooled by the heat, and not to think that weather can change. Quickly. I travelled out to Gratkorn, a ten minute ride on the local train. The station serves two villages, Gratkorn and Gratwein, separated by a river – and I had a half hour walk to the stadium. It is not really a present place, with a large chemical concern filling most of the land mass of the place. The football ground is the main road, next door to said chemical works. Although there was a little uncovered spectator accommodation on the far side, the main facility is a modern stand that runs about two thirds of the length of one side. The lowest level of seats is raised will above pitch level, so views are good. The stand can probably hold about twice the 650 attendance for my game. As seems to be common in this region, there is a wide pathway at the top, with food and drink distribution points, and plenty of room to stand around. The admission price for a second division Austrian game was 10 Euro, while the programme was free.

When I arrived, it was still warm, and they were still watering the artificial pitch. I don’t know much about artificial pitches but judging on the evidence of Salzburg on Saturday and the Gratkorn, they need lots of water. And then the heavens opened, and in this part of the world, the heavens really do open. Clearly there was no need to keep the pitch watering system on, while the view to the mountains was lost in the dark, except the occasional flash of lightning and crash of thunder. The storm started around 30 minutes before kick off, and lasted well into the first half, by which time pools of water had begun to form on the playing surface. Few referees in England would have carried on, but while Austrian footballers fall to the ground at the touch of a feather, they appear to have no fear of drowning, and I was the only one worried that the match might not be completed.

Gratkorn are in their second season in the Austrian second division, and look as if they will be safe for another season. The visitors, Grödig, a small village just outside Salzburg, were promoted last year and are now third from bottom – a relegation position but with a chance of escaping before the game started. For a team in this sort of position, one might expect some sort of effort to win against one of the teams that could be drawn into the relegation zone. Not Grödig – they had shown optimism, combined with ability and a bit of luck when I saw them at the start of the season. Then they played two up front, and beat Admira, who look like finishing second in the table. Now with eight of the eleven starters still in place, they lacked in adventure and ability, played only one forward, even after going a goal down. It was only poor finishing, (and frequently, a failure to attempt a pass) that stopped Gratkorn by winning more than a single goal, scored from the penalty spot just before half time. Both the current bottom two in the league have been told that there is no point in escaping relegation as strict licensing regulations in Austria, (mainly financial , the majority of the Football League’s 72 clubs would fail), means they are to be relegated anyway . Grödig’s hopes of staying up seem to depend on being more financially stable than club’s bidding for promotion, and nothing to do with actual football. For the record, the rain eased off in the second half, and appeared to be almost stopped at the end of the game – but this was just to fool me. By the time I arrived at the station I was a sodden mess, soaked to the skin.

For Wednesday, my destination was Ptuj in Slovenia. It was chosen not because of the importance of the match, but the relative ease in getting in and out of the town. As it was, I probably still could have done better, as staying in Maribor was an option. Ptuj is a very pretty town, built above the river Drava, with a pleasant old centre, and a castle on the hill. It is the sort of place where tourists travelling by road should stop, enjoy the views, take a view photos, (maybe visit the castle) and have a coffee at one of the many cafes dotted around. Or perhaps an ice-cream, I do not recall any town having such a high proportion of ice-cafes, per head of population. Arriving by train is less pleasant. You exit a near deserted railway station without a map and without a signpost even to point to the centre. There is a bus station across the road which is a little better – still no map, but at least someone is there to direct you into town. It is only a short walk, and it does not take long to get to the tourist office (pick up a map) and your hotel. The hotel has an ice-cafe out front but no restaurant, as you discover later when looking for something to eat. And that is the point of Ptuj – it has been designed to be visited, with plenty of ways to while away the afternoon, but it has a limited number of over-priced hotels, and even less over-priced restaurants.

The football ground is at the bottom of the hill, just across the railway line from the town – it is easy to walk to, and if I had not elected to stay, I could easily been at the station within 15 minutes of the game’s end. The Slovenian League has ten team in its top division, with each team playing the others four times, a total of 36 games. The bottom side is relegated, with the next in a play off. The daily sports paper conveniently gives league tables for each quarter. At the three-quarters mark, Ptuj were rock bottom – six points behind Primorje (the visitors of the day). They had picked up only one point in the nine matches of the third quarter. The last quarter was a different matter – Ptuj had suddenly made a clean sweep and one seven in a row! The match I was watching was therefore a chance for the home side to make certain of their place in the top flight, and all but condemn Promorje to the drop. This was enough to attract 1200 into the stadium (either called Mestni (=town) or Drava (after the local river) stadion). This is a good crowd in Slovenia. When I went to Gorica a few years back, and they needed to win to claim the title, less than 1000 watched. The stadium is two sided, with a covered stand on one side, and banks of yellow plastic seats opposite. Most of the crowd were in the covered seats. No programmes issued, but no problem in picking up a copy of the team sheet. The game was a disappointment, especially for the home fans, as the only goal was scored just before half time by the visitors’ Mirko Zaja. It is a result that gives them some hope of survival, and clearly threatens to derail Ptuj’s recovery.

For the third of the series of mid-week games it was Thursday in Klagenfurt. I do not know much about Klagenfurt, and I did not spend much time there. I can say, that on a bank holiday Thursday, there is not a lot happening. My arrival was delayed by the efficiency of Austrian railways. I had checked my train with a travel office, and been told that despite engineering works, I would make a connection. I asked again as we transferred from train to bus – no problem, I am told. Still, at the next station, I find not only have I missed my fast train (getting to Klagenfurt two hours before kick off), but also the slow one (this was four minutes after the fast train, and on the departure board when we arrived at the station, but left before it was possible to get to it. With half an hour before the next slow train, I tried to make a complaint. The Austrian railway officials were having none of it. There is another train within 30 minutes. Why should they care. Anyway, you are not allowed to make a complaint. As I wander away, I am stopped by an elderly lady who had overheard the conversation. Actually, its all a lie,she says. You can complain to Austrian railways, but they don’t like you to know. She gave me a card with the contact details! I am surprised the British railway companies have not cottoned on to this idea – reduce the number of complaints by refusing to tell people how to complain. Anyway I arrive in Klagenfurt less than an hour before kick off, and this is not even a town where everything is centralised. I need one bus to the centre, another to the stadium.

The stadium name,like so many these days is open to interpretation. I know many people, especially among those ground hoppers who went to the old stadium and will no go again, (same site) as the Worthersee stadion. During the European championships, it may well have been referred as the Klagenfurt EM-Stadion, the club has now branded I as the Hypo-Group Arena (that’s one that just trips off the ground), but I noticed that on internal signage, and also outside the offices, it has also become Sportpark Klagenfurt. Inside, it looks vaguely familiar. It is a two tier stadium, the lower tied being of concrete construction, while the upper section, which appears to have been built as an independent, unconnected unit, is all steel. The upper tier does not continue on the west side of the stadium, where VIP facilities are built up, accessed from the lower section. It is clearly a near direct copy of the stadium in Salzburg. There are three major differences though – the pitch is at the same level as the land outside, while Salzburg’s pitch is lower. Klagenfurt is still grass, and the roof rises gently towards the middle of the East side, allowing more seats above the half way line. From the outside, the roofing, which curves down to form a cladding for the upper tier is very different to that of Salzburg. At Salzburg, the roof is level and almost disconnected from the stands below.

While the stadium was built for the European championships, a slightly surprising choice considering that the larger city of Graz already had a near new stadium of its own, (which was known as the Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadion until the city fathers argued with their former favourite son, now governor of California over the use of the death penalty in the American state); the football club itself was a political statement to fill the stadium. Before re-building, the Wortherseestadion was home to FC Kärnten – a club that has been struggling for some time both on and off the field. The old club were moved (supposedly temporarily) while the rebuilding work took place. They never returned, and at the end of last season, they were relegated out of the second division into the amateur regional leagues. Of course, you can not just magic up a top division team out of nowhere, not even in Austria. The solution was found over 200 km away in the small suburb of Pasching. The football club there had risen from true amateurism at the fifth level of the Austrian pyramid, to actually playing in Europe. This was achieved mainly thanks to the financial contribution from an investment company – and the club had become FC Superfund. Still it cannot be a surprise to find out the club was unsustainable in this form, except by continuing funding from above – and so they moved, lock, stock and league position to Klagenfurt. For the fans of Pasching, their reserves became the new first team, and they were back in the amateur levels. I doubt if many new fans stayed. Under the title, Austria Kärnten survive in the top flight, although they are short of looking like European candidates. The victims in this game of musical football grounds are the tax payers in Pasching, as they have paid for a stadium to be built up for what is once again a local amateur club.

Admission cost between 12 and 24 Euro, the upper tier was not used, the match programme was an unusual affair, unfolding from a small size into a single large sheet. A standard A4 sheet of paper would have been achieved by unfolding 3 ‘pages’, but the programme actually had 5. The game was not memorable, and in a week between seeing it, and writing notes, I have indeed forgotten most of it. It did however have a twist at the end. SV Ried were behind at half time, and deservedly levelled the scores with 15 minutes to go. Then in injury time, they took advantage of a brief hesitation by the home defence and squeezed in a winner. The result keeps Ried’s slight chances of European football open – Sturm Graz will go to Ried on the final day, needing to avoid a three goal defeat to qualify

Post-report note – on the final day of the season, Ried did indeed score three goals to beat Sturm Graz, but as this was a comeback in the last 20 minutes from 2-0 down, it was not enough to give Ried a European place. On the same day, the Champion, Salzburg, were humbled by a 4-1 hone defeat to Altach, already relegated in last place.

Post-report note 2 - On 8th June, a tribunal gave a licence to Regionalliga West leaders Dornbirn. Dornbirn needs a point from their last game to ensure the title, which will lead to Grödig being relegated.

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Euro Blog 3 - Zagreb

22/05/2009 by leo.

Zagreb was always intended to be one of the highlights of my trip, the three matches that came before were merely matches at new grounds – in each case I had visited the country and even the city before. Zagreb was not just a new city, but also my first time in Croatia. From Salzburg, it is a relatively easy journey – if anything one that is not long enough, (seven hours on an overnight train, starting at 01.30). I had decided to book a sleeper for 30 Euro, and struck lucky in getting the three berth compartment to myself. Certainly better value for accommodation than the city itself, where a single room in the three star Central hotel was 527 HK per night – more than 70 Euro. And as I keep having to remind myself, in this day and age 70 Euro is a lot more than £60, not the £50 I had come to expect!

Zagreb does have one of the best outlooks when coming out of the station and looking towards the city centre. Two wide thorough fairs are separated by a swathe of greenery punctuated by statues, fountains, and a museum. To either side of this parkland, the buildings are of uniform height and style, the style being that which was popular in those parts where the Austro-Hungarian empire held sway for the second half of the 19th century. A town planner’s dream, the lower town is built to a plan – and the 20th century has not been allowed to turn it into a nightmare. The upper town, which starts a climb uphill is older, but most of the city is of pleasing 19th century design.

The same cannot be said of the city’s two football clubs and their stadiums. Taking the smaller one, NK Zagreb first. The initials NK tell us nothing except that this is a football club and are attached at the start of most club names in the country. NK play at the Stadion u Kranjcevicevoj -which may be a mouthful, but it also helpfully the street address. The floodlights could be seen close to the railway as my train arrived, and trams from the station would have provided an alternative to the 20 minutes walk. The first set of gates when you arrive tell you that it is the home of Zagreb Ragbi Klub. With a 3G artificial surface in place, I wonder if the Rugby players wear slightly more in protective clothing than for a muddy field at home? As well as Football and Rugby, the stadium is also used for cycling and a banked concrete track runs all around. There is terracing all along one side, curving towards the ends, but then ending suddenly. The piecemeal construction of the site is shown by the fact that the lowest steps of terracing are below the cycle track. A large seated stand takes up most of the length of the West side, and this is where the 12 HK (about £1.50) gave me access.

Having bought my ticket, the jobsworth on the nearest gate would not let me pass, but sent me back to another gate. At the other gate, there was no special check or security, and I was allowed to pass without problem. Both gates led to exactly the same area inside the ground. Within the ground were two (one at each end) restaurants/bars that appeared to be completely independent to the football club and stadium. While I took the opportunity to obtain a beer from the first of these, I was left to wonder whether I could have saved my money by saying I wanted to come in to the restaurant instead of the football. There was no further check on my ticket when accessing the stand. The official crowd for the match was 300, and the match played on a hot afternoon was not very good. Croatia Sesvete needed to win to stand a chance of avoiding a last place finish. The nearest they came was a foul about ten minutes from the end. The referee pointed to the spot, but his assistant remained unmoved – and the referee was persuaded to listen to the protests of the home players, but not to change his mind again when the visitors started protesting. The free kick was, of course, wasted and the final score was 0-0.

All is not lost for the visitors though – the Craotian league will expand next season from 12 teams (33 matches) to 16 teams (30 matches). The top four from the second division will all be promoted, taking much of the interest out of a very tight race – while Sesvete will play-off against the fifth placed team. The change in format does not meet with universal approval among fans of the league – the new teams are unlikely to bring much in the way of quality, crowds or stadia to the division, while they will further dilute to pool of talent in a country where the best have already left.

The four-thirty kick off time at NK Zagreb (and the rest of the division) does not make a great deal of sense in terms of kicking off during the heat of the afternoon. Even without floodlights, matches could easily kick off 90 or 120 minutes later. Where it does help though, is for groundhoppers trying to get to the televised game later in the evening. This kicked off at eight O’clock, and a direct tram allowed me to arrive around seven. First order was to confirm the result at Hujduk Split. Split were second in the league, and had won their game. This meant that Dinamo Zagreb also needed to win if they were to claim the title with this game, (there are still two more later games should they fail – while if Spilt had lost, then Dinamo could celebrate the title before even playing).

Dinamo play at the Stadion Maksimir, named after the large area of parkland that starts across the road. It has four large stands, but the only cover provided is by the overhand where upper tiers stand above the lower ones. The stadium once had an athletics track, but only a very careful athlete would try it now. The surface is torn where the “dug-outs” have been dragged across it too many times, the North stand has been built with an overhang over two lanes, and one of the floodlight pylons is on a concrete block that overlaps a lane. The north stand, as mentioned, is square to the pitch and must have been erected after the track fell into disuse, while at the southern end, the stands curve around. There are also two tier stands on both long sides – none of he sides join up.

The newspaper for the morning showed a vast mass of people around the ground the previous afternoon, collecting their tickets. I was worried this could mean a sell out, but I was assured that the main reason for the crowd was tickets were being given away free and that I need not worry about the possibility of a sell out. Indeed, when I arrived, I managed to obtain a ticket for the west side, marked 80 HK (about £10), but given away free. Even at this price, the stadium was a long way from being full – the official crowd was given as 27,000 while the stadium is listed as capable of holding 39.000. The game was as far as it could be, a predictable affair. Dinamo Zagreb started off at 100 km/hour – rather a pleasant change considering the low pace of most games on the tour – and practically demanded an early goal. They got it in unsurprising circumstances – a player who appeared offside to me, was fouled just inside the area and went to ground as if under the gravitation pull of Jupiter. The referee was not going to waste the chance to let the home side have their way and the penalty was given. I signalled incredulously to my neighbour that surely it was offside. Yes, of course, but that is the way. Although I never got to see a replay, so my opinion is unchanged, my neighbour soon got a text from someone watching on TV, saying it was actually on-side – and it was a clean tackle.

With the lead gained, the home side settled down somewhat, playing some good football at times, while Slaven Belupo created a few chances of their own. A second goal was added early in the second period, and Dinamo rode through to the end – not even unsettled when their goalkeeper came rushing out of the box in the 66th minute to chop down a Belupo attacker and pick up a red card. With a large crowd in evidence, we were treated to a good deal of chanting throughout the game. The north stand crowd are clearly the youngest and noisiest, although they managed to get responses from the other stands as well. Dinamo play in blue, so the banners styled these fans as “Bad Blue Boys”, or BBB for short. A favourite, if simple chant, is for the BBB to chant “Dinamo” and for the other stands to respond with “Zagreb”.

Talking to my neighbour in the stand, it appears that crowds of 5000 are more normal at the Maksimir, and it can only be filled for occasional big internationals (England played their) and European ties. Dinamo have dominated the league in recent years (fourth successive title, and 11th since independence from Yugoslavia in 1991), but they have not reached the Champions League group stages, since the year 2000 (getting draws against both Manchester United and Marseille). It is generally felt that the changes to the champions league qualifying structure should help teams like Dinamo Zagreb, who have tended to lose out to the non-Champion teams (Arsenal and Werder Bremen are recent teams that put them out). It seems there has already been some speculation over who might come up against Dinamo, knowing the seeding rules, with significant speculation as to whether they can end up playing Partizan Belgrade.

With the match one, the celebrations started. There was a brief flash of fireworks, and stadium was covered with smoke. I never saw the trophy actually presented, but I did see it during the lap of honour, as an open topped bus paraded around the ground, doing yet more damage to the running track. The bus was pained blue, but looked remarkably like a London Routemaster. The entrance platform was on the left – the wrong side for the local roads, so I assume it had come from Britain, it was only a ridge on the bonnet that looked different from the London bus, and it had the familiar triangle at the top of the grill, (I was too far away to see if the manufacturers initials, though).

Later, I walked away from the ground, as the road outside was closed and their were no trams for a while. There are many bars in this part of town, and many fans had parked themselves outside. I picked a likely looking bar and ordered a drink. I chose well, as some of the other drinkers spoke good English (my Croat being rather rusty). Again the possibility of a match against Partizan came up. So did the possibility of a few fights between the fans if this was the case. The fans I was talking to were clearly looking forward to this, (although in my experience, those that talk about the fight are rarely the fighters themselves). Legend now has it that the start point of the Serbia-Croatia war in 1991 was a football match between Dinamo and Red Star Belgrade – and it is still Red Star that is the most hated team in Dinamo’s books.

While I am sure the war would have happened with or without the football game, it is true that in a closed society, such as Tito’s Yugoslavia, football matches are one of the few places where the crowd can utter a cry, with at least some level of safety. Even in the new democratic Croatia (eager to join Europe) there was still whistling around the ground when the announcer informed the crowd that the mayor of Zagreb had been re-elected that day. I pointed out that many of the crowd must of voted for him, (the person sitting next to me at the game said he had), but booing politicians seems to be the done thing for football crowds. The fans at the pub also explained how the club is almost always at war with the authorities. They managed to keep a badge with the Croatian chequers pattern on it, even when the flag as such was banned in Yugoslavia, but then were told by the Croatian authorities to change their name as “Dinamo” was Yugoslavian, or worse still, Serb. After eight years as Croatia Zagreb, fans pressure forced the change back.

While the fans (who were barely old enough to have been there) harked back to the Yugoslav league and the rivalries with teams from Belgrade and Sarajevo, no one I spoke to wanted to return, even for football to the old days. The main rival for Dinamo these days is Hadjuk Split – their main rival for the title most of the time. Apparently they even have a soft spot for city rivals NK Zagreb, whose 2002 win was the only time the title has not been won by either Split or Dinamo, I assume NK were preferred by Dinamo fans to second placed Split.

The city’s third club, Lokomotiva who play in the second division have been used as a nursery club by Dinamo where they could farm out some younger players. This arrangement will have to stop, as Loko are one of the new members of the expanded top division next season.

The talking did not go on long into the night. The trouble with Sunday night football is that most people have to work the next day, and by midnight the bar was becoming deserted. A quick enquiry said that while the trams were not about to stop, I might struggle to get directly back to my hotel. Just after midnight, the last of my new friends spotted his tram home and made a run for the stop. Knowing that one was not going my way, I just waited for the next one in roughly the right direction and ended up walking for the last ten minutes back to my hotel.

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Euro Blog 2 - Salzburg : Red Bull as the new cultural icon?

20/05/2009 by leo.

The third day, and third stop on my tour sees me in Salzburg. Trips such as this are never 100% plain sailing, and I come across my first problem while on the train. I have managed to mislay the European-UK plug converter. This may not come across as the most serious loss in the history of these voyages (I have lost my computer once, while another hopper of my acquaintance has managed to lose not one, but four interrail train tickets in a single act of tidying up). Still it is an item that needs to be replaced as all my favourite “boy’s toys” (computer, mobile phone, camera) depend on recharging their batteries. The shops near the station do not yield a solution, but I am told to head for the out of town centre, called Europark – a centre that requites a 30 minute tram ride may have been an inconvenience, except that it is only a couple of stops further on the same tram, to the stadium. The time taken, though meant that I had to abandon my original plan of seeing two games at the stadium. The match between Salzburg and LASK was preceded by a reserve game against Wiener Neustadt, in the Erste Liga (strictly translated that means first division, but as is the fashion these days, first division is of course the second level). By the time I entered the ground, Neustadt were 5-0 up (with ten minutes to play) and had won the title, meaning next season they will return to play Salzburg’s first team.

The stadium is known by a confusion of different names, the oldest of which is Wals-Siezenheim Stadion, after the area in which it was built. Maps of Salzburg, though refer to it as the Euro-stadion, as does the bus timetable. The football club itself would have you call the place the Red Bull Arena. It is a curious site, in that the two stages of construction are clearly shown. The lower tier has concrete steps, and a grey stone exterior – most of the seats are lower than the surrounding ground level, so the stadium must have been literally dug out of the ground. The stands are square to the pitch, with little to interrupt the sight lines, and two areas that allow standing rather than seats, (in the centre behind one goal, for the home fans, and a corner at the opposite end for the away ones). The upper tier is a steel lattice work construction, and appears to have been dumped, literally onto the existing stadium. I guess this is not far from the truth, as it was added a few years after the initial construction, to increase the size to that required for the last European championships. The upper tier does not continue on the West side, where executive boxes and a smaller upper section already existed, and hence the stand appears to come to a dead end. The roof is at the same level all around. From the outside, the newer constructions are more obvious, if only due to the creation of steel staircases rising around the stadium, like giant pillboxes, connected only by a bridge to the actual venue. The pitch, incidentally is 3G artificial and played quite well. It was heavily watered between the two games.

On a city that exists now as a tourist trap, dependent on its culture and history; it is strange that Red Bull has tried hard to eliminate all signs of historical culture from the football club. They actually tried to incorporate the date of their take over (2005) into the name of the club - the Austrian FA would not allow that,although they have no qualms about Austria Salzburg becoming Red Bull Salzburg. I guess this is better than many – it actually keeps the town name. The purple in the strip has been replaced by red and white despite some supporters objections. Not that there is no compensation for the supporters, not only does the day’s victory leave the side on the cusp of retaining the championship, but the fact that a single sponsor is subsidising the budget makes the shirts relatively clean. The Red Bull logo is on the front of the Salzburg shirts, and the wording “Red Bull” on the backs. By comparison, the LASK shirts had five logos on the front, two on the back and one on each sleeve – two more logos are added front and back of the shorts, and not forgetting the socks. This is the way of the majority of clubs in Austria, forced to accept whatever they can for small donations towards the costs. Others accept complete loss of name to a sponsor, hence in recent years we have had two different internet betting sites as football clubs, and Superfund, which first took over Pasching, as FC Superfund, and now with Pasching having sold their licence to Karnten, Superfund fund Kapfenburg, under the title KSV Superfund.

On the field, mid-table LASK put up more resistance than may have been expected, but gave away too many free kicks around the 25 yard mark. Three such kicks in the first 13 minutes saw first a narrow miss, than a good save, and finally a goal. A second was added just after the half hour, when the keeper appeared to misjudge a downward header. Surprisingly, Salzburg could not add to this, and actually conceded a goal to a distant shot with just over 15 minutes to go. This did not turn out to be a rallying call to either side, and the game seemed to tire itself out.

While Salzburg will retain their title and achieve their domestic aim, many fans may feel that the sponsors promised much more from the takeover. Trappatoni is certainly not going to turn up as coach, and the certainly show no signs of being able to achieve success in Europe.

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Eurotour Blog 2009. Part 1. Bavaria.

16/05/2009 by leo.

Euro Blog Summer 2009.

Like so many European trips, I am starting in the middle of the night. Leave home at 1.30 – park the car half an hour later and wait for the London coach. Change coaches at Victoria at 4.00 and arrive at Stansted at five. Still two hours to get through the airport before departure. Memmingen is a new route for Ryanair, and it has not caught on yet – there are only 20 on the plane. As well as myself, there are two other groundhoppers, heading independently for the same destination.

Being a small airport, we are not held up at Memmingen – even collecting my bag does not take long. A local bus takes us to town (Memmingen is trying to be a cheap alternative to Munich, so there is also a coach heading that way), where we transfer to the railway system. I lose my travelling companions a couple of stops down the line, as they have s specific pub to frequent. I am meeting with four other hoppers, who have already been travelling for the last week. When I get to Ingolstadt, it is 13.00 German time, and the others shout to me from a bridge over the line as I get out of the train. A hotel has been booked, a short walk away and I am in after 11 hours of travelling.

Ingolstadt is an old Bavarian town on the river Danube, loads of historic buildings within the city,and this is a good place to find something to eat and drink before the game. Until recently, it had two football teams, both of which reached their peak at the end of the 1970s, when they each had two seasons in the second division, with a city derby at this level in 79-80. By the early part of this Millennium were struggling in the Bayernliga, (then the fourth level of German football, but now the fifth) and the football section of ESV Ingolstadt (E for Eisenbahn as in railway) was bankrupt. In 2004, the two teams merged to form FC Ingolstadt 04. Unusually for a German football team, the date part of the name refers to the date of the merger, rather than claiming depths of history that do not exist. Both sports clubs, MTV and ESV continue in other sports. At first, they took the stadium formerly used by MTV Ingolstadt – this was quit a small stadium, just outside one of the city gates. The only cover was over a few seats, while the terracing was limited in quantity and height. Two years after the merger, they won the Bayernliga and joined the Regionalliga Sud. While playing at the MTV stadion, works were going on to improve the ESV-Stadion, and at the beginning of this season the club moved across the town to the re-braned TUJA-Stadion. This was just in time, as Ingolstadt won promotion to the second division of the Bundesliga. The refurbished stadium is still not one of the best, and this is still intended as a temporary solution. In 2010, they intend to open the Audi Stadion, a completely new 15,000 stadium, and for the first time protecting the majority of the crowd from the rain. If this happens, it may make Ingolstadt fairly unique in having three genuine home grounds in just four seasons!

The current stadium is conveniently situated close to the railway station, and is basically two sided. There is nothing behind one goal, while behind the other is a new two storey VIP centre. The upper storey has direct access to a couple of hundred well elevated seats, while the guests in the lower section were seen streaming out (just after kick off) to take up places in the main stand. This side of the ground is all seated, but only the main section has cover while a lack of elevation combined with fences, and various media activities pitch side meant few of the other seats had a good sight line.

The opposite side of the ground is terracing on fresh concrete steps. As with most grounds at this level in Germany, the views from the lower levels are hindered by massive fencing, and a fan I spoke to who decided to stand complained that the terraces did not give good enough elevation to allow for good views.

As for the game, Ingolstadt have struggled all season, and with three games left, needed all nine points to stand a chance of avoiding relegation. Most of the play suggested there were intending to have a serious go at it – but as soon as they got within sight of the goal, they seemed mesmerised by the whiteness of the posts and crossbar, and unwilling to put the ball close to this structure. So Ingolstadt dominated possession, and were ahead 10-2 on the corner count (the well delivered corner count stayed level at 0-0 throughout). Finally, with five minutes to go, St. Pauli broke from defence, and suddenly four players were bearing down on the home goalkeeper – remembering not to get offside, a single pass was all that was needed to present Alexander Ludwig with an easy goal.

The St. Pauli fans were mainly penned into one section of terracing, and managed to maintain a consistent level of singing and chanting throughout. Considering the distance involved for a Thursday night game, of no importance to them, and shown live on TV, one cannot help but be impressed by this. Amazingly, the chanting was all in praise of their own. I don’t think I heard I heard any swearing, or bad-mouthing of the hosts during the game, (sadly a couple of individuals walking past us on the road back to our hotel did not keep this up).

For Ingolstadt, it will be Division three of the Bundesliga next season, still national football and a level higher than a year ago.

From ingolstadt, it takes about two hours heading North by train to Hof. Hof is a pleasant town, if not so well steeped in historical buildings as Ingolstadt – the tourist office certainly does their bit to sell the place, giving out a leaflet on the history, and directing the visitor to such sights as a Teddy Bear museum and a sign-post park. For one that often gets confused by the sign posting in foreign cities, the entrance to the sign post park – a mixture of town entrances, road signs, along with a couple of spoofs and a few adverts for bands seemed overtly difficult – so I crossed the road and carried on walking towards Grune Au.

This stadium shows its age, but wears it proudly. On three sides are steps of terracing, mainly in good condition, and providing good viewing at least from the top steps. An old stand with rows of wooden seating fills most of the far side to the entrance. On the entrance side, newer developments have not been allowed to interfere with the old terraces, but have been added behind it. Firstly there is a VIP section, on the top floor of the building that includes offices and the changing rooms, adding a few rows of covered seats – then next to this is a a tall and modern new stand, looking somewhat incongruous with its height, and being offset from a central position towards the town end. It does provide good viewing though.

The club have also benefited from a recent merger – they were 1. FC Bayern Hof until 2005 when they merged with SpVgg Hof and became SpVgg Bayern Hof. They have played as high as the second level of German football, but were not even in the Bayernliga in 2005. They returned to this level last season, just keeping their place at the end of the season. This time around, they have finished safely above mid-table, but did not challenge for promotion

The visitors, SpVgg Weiden are one of the up and coming smaller teams. They came into the game needing only a point to tie up the Bayernliga title, and a promotion to the Regionalliga Sud (level 4). Only the champions get promoted. In a generally uneventful and low paced first half, Weiden gained a 1-0 lead, but did not provide much to talk about. The game suddenly burst into life midway through the second half, with a sudden burst of three goals. Almost immediately after the visitors went 2-0 up, Bayen Hof pulled one back from the penalty spot – and this was quickly followed by a very well worked third goal for Weiden. A fourth was added late on, again a good passing move with two players repeatedly passing to each other until it looked as if the chance was lost – but fortunately a third player came in to strike the loose ball.

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