European Football Tour

EFW - 23-26 October 2009

2009-11-02T11:06:00.000-08:00

Friday 23rd October: Den Bosch v Fortuna Sittard

European Football Weekends started life as a humble website, http://www.europeanfootballweekends.blogspot.com/. With the birth of facebook, it became a group of over 300 people from around the world, who enjoyed travelling to different countries to watch football. Then the enterprising founder Danny Last went one step further. He decided to arrange a trip for thirty-two people in the Netherlands. Thus the EFW 1 was born.

This was too good an opportunity to pass up, so I headed down to St.Pancras station to meet up with Olly. Owing to Danny's advance planning, I had been able to book us cheap tickets on a sensible timed train, the 0834!

In Brussels, I met up with Andy & Game-a-day John, who had booked later and therefore had to go on earlier trains from London. The exciting news was that the Brussels Midi supermarket refit was complete and that everyones favourite vending machine was back.

The beer selection was also back, so after much though I bought some Kriek & Gueze for the train north.

Excepting the Arsenal Emirates, our first football spot of the weekend was the Achter de Kazzerne, home of KV Mechelen.

In Antwerp, we saw an amazing sight of something modern, in Belgium. It looked they had actually finished the station refit.

Over the border, we changed at Roosendaal. The stadium of the Dutch second league side is clearly visible from the train.

From Roosendaal, it was a short ride east to Tilburg, our base for the weekend. On the way, we saw the third stadium of the tour, that of NAC Breda. We had intended to watch the NAC game on the Saturday, but the request was turned down the local police, seemingly worried about the reputation of the EFW 32. As it turned out, it mattered not a jot.

Tilburg, we found, was a nice little town.

Meeting point for the EFW was the Little Devil pub, which Danny had exclusively reserved for us.

It had good company

good decor

and good beer

After a few drinks in the pub, we headed down to the station, for a few more drinks of something. I can't quite recall what concoction was in the bottle, but it was interesting to say the least.

Our first game of the weekend was the second division game, a twenty minute ride away in Den Bosch.

We arrived a little early so had a look around the stadium. We found that inside the stadium was none other than a ski rink!

However, we were going to the football, rather than the ski slopes. We got our tickets and found our seats.

Our seats were situated close to the away sector, which gave a good oppoortunity to admire the extreme segregation. This consisted of two fences, a net to catch missiles and some vicious looking spikes.

Danny is a floodlight enthusiast so this one is for him. Den Bosch had a nice set of lights.

Soon after, I decided to check out the catering in the ground. If British grounds are known for their pies and German grounds their Bratwursts, Dutch stadia feature these cheesy things.

After a lot of waiting, EFW 1 got underway with the first of the weekend's four games, FC Den Bosch v Fortuna Sittard.

Sure enough, within only five minutes, the home team got a penalty....

Goal!!!

Five minutes later, Fortuna equalised. Five minutes after that, Den Bosch regained the lead. Fifteen minutes into our first game, and already three goals. There was even a smoke bomb from the home supporters.

After an explosive start, the game lost its way somewhat. There was to be only one more goal, as Den Bosch secured a 3-1 victory

Back at the station, we met the Den Bosch hooligans who were spoling for a fight. Alas they didn't find the Fortuna Sittard fans, but those of Legia Warsaw, Lewes, 1860 Munchen, Royal Antwerpen...

Saturday 24th October: Rot Weiss Essen v Preussen Munster & Vitesse Arnhem v Heracles Almelo

Having had our request for tickets turned down by NAC Breda, Danny worked double quick to come up with an alternative plan. A plan involving hiring a bus with a driver called Willem to take us to two games in two different countries, in the same day. Not only that, but Willem had stocked up the fridge with beer.

Our bus headed out of the Netherlands and into Germany.

The first exit in Germany.

Soon enough, the green fields gave way to the smoke stacks of the Ruhrgebeit.

The floodlights of the Niederrheinstadion, Oberhausen, are just about visible in the distance.

Our first game of the day was the Regionaligawest clash between Rot Weiss Essen and Preussen Munster. There were lots of police out for the day, but we were given a warm welcome in the clubhouse, where many a glass of Konig Pilsner was sunk.

This was our second visit to Georg Melches Stadion and in the last couple of years the guest sector had vanished. The new stadium was being built next door, overlapping part of the existing one, so a large part of one stand was destroyed to make way. This left a 2 1/2 sided ground.

The Home supporters had turned out in force for this one:

The away following wasn't bad either:

Indeed the EFW 32 had tipped the attendance for this game over the 10,000 mark, not bad for the fourth division. A great atmosphere was building with some nice flag action both on the pitch...

...and off it

There were also some giant letters!

The game was an exciting one, with Essen netting shortly after half time:

Last time we came to Essen, they conceded a stoppage time equaliser to Wacker Burghausen. With the ninety minutes up they led 1-0 again. Surely lightning couldn't strike twice?

Oh yes it could! So it was Muster fans, not Essen fans, went home happy.

I nearly forgot the floodlights:

Having seen one very game in one country, there was nothing to do but cross over to another country to see another. So it was back on the road for the journey to Arnhem.

The coach trip was fairly quiet:

We turned off the motorway and saw this. Is it a supermarket? Is it a cinema? No, it's the Gelredome, home of Vitesse Arnhem.

We were back in the Netherlands, but it wasn't obvious. The carpark had a distinctly 'European' feel to it.

Our bus

and our group:

The Gelredome has a pitch on wheels. During the week it lies outside:

...before being rolled in for the game.

Once again, we were welcomed into the clubhouse.

The currency for buying beer was not Euro's, but munts.

The stadium had a close roof, making it an indoor stadium. The contrast in feel to Essen can hardly have been greater.

The home fans gathered in the end to our right

Meanwhile, the small away supporters were away to our left. Given that Almelo is under an hour away, the visitor block was surprisingly empty.

Arnhem fans were mourning the death of a club legend, the eagle. RIP.

The club mascot was getting into the EFW spirit, though his hands were too big to hold the badge.

Arnhem were poor, Heracles a little better. The game finished in a 2-0 win for the guests.

Afterwards everyone cycled home.

Meanwhile we sunk a few more beers on the bus and listened to Hans reading out the confessions page of Zoo magazine. It was one of those 'you had to be there' moments.

Back in Tilburg, we enjoyed a few more beers in the local bars, before finally retiring to our hotel. It had been a memorable day.

Sunday 25th October: Willem II v Heerenveen

For our third day, and fourth game of the trip, we didn't have far to travel. Having stayed the weekend in Tilburg, we finally had the chance to see the local team, Willem II, take on fellow strugglers Heerenveen.

Konig Willem II sat here:

Posing with the team

The customary bike rack

John's joy at having to pose for yet another photo.

Inside, we found a fairly standard, uniform Dutch stadium, whose only individual feature was a wiggly roof. However, I am reliably informed that from next season the seats will be removed from the home end. Progress.

In Dutch terms, the visitors journey from Friesland counts as a long haul. Even so, you expect to see more away supporters than this:

EFW's newest recruit:

And some of the older folk:

The early exchanges were not the best. Indeed the highlight of the first half was a rather nice rainbow.

After the interval, however, everything changed. The home team ran in four goals right in front of us, with only one reply. Sitting just behind the goal, we even made the ESPN highlights the following week.

That, as far as the EFW was concerned, was just about that. After one final look at the floodlights, we bade farewell to our new friends from around the continent.

Along with John, Olly and Andrew, we headed back to the station for the train back to Roosendaal, and onto Brussels.

En route, we once again passed Achter de Kazerne. The lights were on, as KV Mechelen were hosting Anderlecht.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to see this game, but we consoled ourselves by running through John's rules of groundhopping. The logic of them is just unquestionable.

Back in Brussels, we checked into the Hotel de France, which had some great staircases.

A trip to Brussels means just one thing though and soon enough we were heading up to the bars around the Grand Place, which was stunning as ever.

Andrew showed us one of the sights we had previously missed. While everyone knows about the Mannekin Pis, fewer know of the Jeanneke Pis. It's just as bad.

In return, we decided to show Andrew a nice little bar.

Just as we were sitting there, who turned up but Napolean! He told us about all of his great adventures and even gave Olly his hat to try on. So here is Olly as Napolean.

After an interesting discussion with Napolean, we headed off to another bar. This had its own brewery, inside the pub.

By midnight, we called it a day.

Monday 26th October

The next morning, we had to work, so it was back to the Gare de Midi for the train home. All in all though, it had been a memorable trip. So thanks again Danny!

Bochum 1&2: 17-19 October 2009

2009-10-28T13:57:00.000-07:00

With another overseas jaunt a week later, I hadn't intended to go to Dortmund. But such was the limp performance in our last outing and with the unrelegatables looking distinctly relegatable, we realised that this might be the last chance for a while to see the B1 derby. As usual, this meant an early flight from Luton and an even earlier wake up call.

With the Game-a-Day's running a bit late, I caught up with them at Barnet Odeon, where Hayley drove us to the airport (many thanks!).

On the way I sat next to the cat.

At Luton, we found a massive queue for security and after lots of worry just about made the flight, only thanks to Easyjet kindly changing the 'gate closing' time. Ryanair would probably have charged a fee for that.

After the usual sleep and cloud gazing we made it into Dortmund on time.

Feeling rather peckish, we found a great cafe in Aplerbeck and tucked into some breakfast.

Our hotel for the night was the Bochum Acora, and on arrival we found that our three bed room was missing a key component - a third bed. Apparently it hadn't arrived.

After a quick kip we headed out to meet Alex and Philip in the Hop and tucked into some beers.

The region's game of the day was Wuppertaler's clash with Eintracht Braunschweig. But Bochum's second team were at home so we went to watch them instead.

In Germany, reserve teams play in the pyramid structure, as high up as the third tier. The system is hotly controversial, with lots of 'Amateur Raus' calls from supporters of clubs whose first teams ply their trade at this level.

Our fixture, in Regionaliga West (fourth league), pitted Bochum 2 against Bonner SC in Wattenscheid. We found a ground that was suitably empty. Home end:

Away end:

Shut stand:

Hey, some people!

The beer stand was open of course.

The game was pretty bad, with very little skill and just a couple of goals. At one point it rained so the sparse crowd (320 people) took cover under a tree. Amateur indeed.

Back at the hotel, the third bed had arrived, so we caught up with the Bundesliga highlights on the telly and slept a bit.

John and I headed out for some pizza and headed up to Bierkutscher.

Here we found a rather merry Pete, who had already been drinking a few hours.

Drinks varied from large beers:

to small beers:

to a strange home brew with himbeers:

Scary stuff!

By now Pete was taking a liking to everything, from the glass washing device...

...to the barmaid

Alas about twelvish we called it a night. Tomorrow was the big day.

Sunday 18th October - Borussia Dortmund v Vfl Bochum

Just how do you prepare for a trip to see the world's biggest terrace stadiums? By visiting the world's largest mining museum of course. Better still, it was yards from our hotel.

Beyond the Ruhrstadion, Bochum's greatest cultural exhibit is the Deutsches Bergbau Museum. Lying in the centre of a coal mining region, this museum takes you underground. It was brilliant.

Der steiger kommt.

There were some cool machines:

the odd train

and some nice old telephones.

It's hard to see but this is me with Tobias, the last ever working horse that came down this way.

Best of all though were these conveyor belts, presumably to take away the coal...

...but not the minersStrange contraptions

Strange people

After the mines, there were some exhibitions. These started off fairly standard, but soon became a bit odd.

Man in diving suit with fishing net

Underwater mine?

We had some lunch in the museum, then headed back to Hopfendolde for pre-match beer.

Being a local game, there was a football special to take us straight to the stadium. It was brilliant fun with some conversation...

beer...

singing in the carriage...

...and out of the window.

We then got the usual march to the stadium.

The guest block at Dortmund is directly opposite the Sudtribune, which was once again a fantastic backdrop.

Atmosphere Dortmund:

Atmosphere Bochum:

Someone had found a BvB scarf...

and some low alcohol BvB beer :o(

Dortmund have the flag waving on the pitch beforehand:

Shouty megaphoneman:

Bochum were refreshingly diabolical, creating no chances of note and losing comfortably 2-0.

After marvelling some more at the stickers and the Sudtribune, we headed back to the station. Although the game was in Dortmund, and our hotel was in Dortmund, our bags were in Bochum so we had to return there first.

This gave Christoph a chance to ponder...

...and Pete some time to drink

Soon enough, we were heading back to Dortmund and upto the hotel.

Monday 19th October - Back home]

Unlike John and Pete, I did not have the Monday off work. So it was a case of an early start, walk to Dortmund Hbf, taxi to the airport, flight to Luton, bus to Luton Airport Parkway station, intercity train to St.Pancras and tube to Aldgate. I arrived in work at 9.05am, five minutes late. Not a bad effort!

Scandinavia: 19-24th June 2009

2009-07-17T11:52:00.000-07:00

19th June: London > Stansted

Following the success of the Dutch trip in 2007, we headed out again to watch the England U-21's, this time for the Euro 2009 tournament in Sweden. Over five days, we would watch four games and visit three different countries.

After work, I met up with Olly, John, Tom & his brother at Golders Green Bus Station. After a quick bus journey, which went almost past Olly's house some two hours after he had left it, we arrived at Stansted airport.

Due to our Ryanair flight being at silly o'clock the next morning (are any Ryanair flights not at silly o'clock?) we decided to stay the night at the Days Inn. Ominously we were allocated to room 101, though it was superior.

Like Britain, Norway, Sweden and Denmark have all held onto their own currencies - three different brands of Krone all with slightly different exchange rates. This trip to be like a journey back in time to life before the Euro.

With no restaurants in sight, we ended up at Burger King in the motorway service station next door. Not the best way to start a holiday, but as time was to tell, Norway had something much, much worse.

June 20th: Stansted>Sandefjord>Oslo

2009-07-17T11:04:00.000-07:00

In theory, staying at a hotel near the airport would give us all a proper nights sleep. However, with rumours circulating about the cost of beer in Scandinavia, we knew we had to get a pint in early, so this European Football Weekend began as they all seem to do, with a early alarm call.

John Hunt had booked himself a prioirty boarding ticket, and so got to sit at the front. I found a good spot by the window. There were some nice views of the clouds and the Danish coast.

In true Ryanair style, our destination was described Oslo (Torp). Being 140km south from Oslo, this seemed to be stetching things just a little. Torp's location, however, close to the Oslofjord, gave us a very picturesque descent into Norway.

Whilst arriving so far from Oslo would have been inconvienient for most, for us it was perfect. We had planned to watch a Norwegian league game today although this was a bit hit and mis with most of the games being played on Sunday. But as luck would have it, the game between Sandefjord and Valerenga had been moved to the Saturday, and Sandefjord was just a short bus ride from the airport. Perfect. At least it would have been had the bus turned up. It didn't, so we took a taxi instead.

In Sandefjord, we dropped the bags and then headed off into town.

And one of the first things we saw was a sticker from German Regionaliga side SG Wattenscheid - which is where Bochum's second team plays its games. Small world.

Sandefjord was a lovely town.

It even had a football pitch made of sand.

Norway is the land of fjords and here they were so proud of it they named it twice. So here is the Sandefjordsfjord, with a variety of boats...

and even a jellyfish...

Norway was living up to its reputation as an expensive country. A sandwich and coke came to some £8, although the prawns were lovely.

Our trip to Scandinavia had coincided with mid-summers day. This is a big event in Norway and there was big celebration parade in the streets.

With time pressing on, we headed upto the stadium. This was a very scenic walk.

Eventually, we arrived at the Komplett Arena, the new home of Sandefjord Fotbal:

The visitors arrived by bus.

And so our first game of the trip was Sandefjord against Valerenga, in the Norwegian Tippaliga.

There were identical stands on each side:

The visitors had the grounds only terrace

Meanwhile we sat in the open ait stand behind the goal.

Now open air stands work quite well in Spain or Italy where the climate is very hot. Norway, on the other hand, is not immune to a little rain, so we were given these stylish rain macs:

Home supporters:

Away supporters:

It was the blues against the blues:

Stephen found it particularly exciting

Half time keep fit class

In the end, Valerenga showed their experience and ran out 2-0 winners.

After the game, we headed back to the station, and caught the train up to Oslo.

Halfway up, engineering works stopped our train so we had to transfer to the bus. The scenery, however, was spectacular, as we headed past cliffs and along the side of the fjord.

While prices in Sandefjord were high, in Oslo they were horrific. £25 for a pizza anyone? We ended up in Smak, the local fast food joint, that made Burger King look like gourmet cuisine. After a quick bite, we headed back to the hotel for a well earned rest.

June 21st: Oslo>Moss>Stockholm

2009-07-16T13:27:00.000-07:00

The next morning, we had a little look around the Oslo docks.

After stretching our limbs we were ready to move on, this time with the short ride down the eastern side of the Oslofjord to Moss.

In Moss, we met up with Tor from the Barnet Fan Club of Norway. At its peak, the Norwegian fanclub had over fifty members, not bad for a team in the English fourth division. Tor lived a short distance away and along with other members of the Norwegian fanclub we whiled away an afternoon with a barbeque and a few beers in the sun.

By happy coincidence, our visit to Moss coincided with a Norwegian second division game between FK Moss and Mjoendalen. It was just a short walk to the Mellos Stadion, but first out we checked into the pub next door.

In addition to the displays for the local team, was one wall of Liverpool memorablia...

...and one for Manchester United. English football is evidently more popular in Norway than Norwegian football in England!

And so to Mellos.

What we found was basically a fairly basic stadium, with one big stand towering above the track. On the other side was the unusual sight of a small terrace with wooden steps.

We found ourselves right in the middle of the fanblock and so helped ourselves to some of the yellow and black flags from the box on the floor.

There was also a giant surfer flag that appeared as the teams arrived:

Not to mention some streamers and confetti:

During the game this chap kept us entertained, at one point picking up a ladder no less.

As half-time arrived, I took a stroll around the ground. Here I found some people sunbathing.

Nice hat:

Moss emerged the victors in this game by 2:0, the second goal coming straight from a corner. Back outside we took a couple of photos and then met the Moss goalkeeper.

Satisfied, we headed back to Tor's house, where the game between Viking Stavanger and Brann Bergen had just kicked off.

Alas our time in Norway was coming to an end. We headed back to the station to catch the train that would take us on a cross country trip to the Swedish capital, Stockholm. Most of us shared a six berth cabin, except for Mr & Mrs, who, due to a mix up by the Swedish state railway, were travelling first class.

June 22nd: Stockholm>Halmstad

2009-07-15T14:31:00.000-07:00

The next morning we rolled into Stockholm. Stockholm isn't strictly en route between Moss and Halmstad, our destination for the day. In fact, after travelling all night we had ended up further away than when we started. But, it gave us the chance to explore our second Nordic capital.

With only three hours there, we concentrated on the old town. This was an area of cobbled streets, hsitoric palaces and attractive waterways.

After a good tour, it was back to the trains where we made the journey back across Sweden in first class luxury. The train was excellent, with a private cabin, free coffee and a fruit basket at the end of the carriage, all for a supplement of about £3. The scenery was pretty spectacular too.

Sweden was full of lakes:

and trees:

Is it me or does this look uncannily like setting for the Krombacher advert?

Enjoying our complimentary refreshments:

Apel juice is orange juice in Sweden.

While others had naps...

... I took some more photos

In Gothenburg, we changed trains for the short ride down to Halmstad.

We arrived to find Halmstad basked in bright sunshine.

In the hotel, the showers had these windows in them for people to look out (or in?)

After a little rest, we took the bus back into Halmstad, which was a nice little town with a thriving fanpark.

The fanpark had a tyre game where you kicked tried to kick a ball through the holes. Get 3/3 and you could win Euro 500 worth of tyres.

I scored with my first two, then missed!

But I still won a cap, which was probably more useful that a vanload of tyres.

There was also a football game:

With time advancing, we got some food in the bar next door.

Then it was off up to Orjans Vall, where England were playing Germany.

The ground was very quaint and picturesque, with cycle racks and flowerbeds inside the stadium.

The two John's attracted the attention of the local police force.

Orjans Vall was the smallest of the four stadiums at the tournament and perhaps not as modern as the others, but I liked it.

There was even a bit of terracing that UEFA hadn't obliterated.

Our seats were next to the dugouts so we had a great view of proceedings:

The seats weren't all together. Whilst myself and John Hunt were in the main stand...

...Tom found himself next to the Sektion Stadionverbote

The two managers:

Dennis Grote, Vfl Bochum's one representative in the German team, managed a total of zero minutes of action during the torunament.

On the other hand Theo, who had likewise been frozen out of the 2006 World Cup, did get some action.

Afterwards we headed back into town, where we met up with Henry, Westy and a few other Barnet fans, for a few beers.

June 23rd: Halmstad>Malmo

2009-07-14T23:23:00.000-07:00

The next morning, we tried out the reindeer rides in the hotel before heading down to the beach.

When people think of beach holidays they think of Spain rather than Sweden. Yet as we found in Halmstad, it has it all:

Sun:

Sand:

Sea:

and soccer:

Hayley sunbathed:

While we played football, first on the beach:

And then in the sea:

Back on dry land we had a go at the arcade games...

got ourselves some ice cream...

...and played a quick fire round of crazy golf.

Concerned that this was starting to look like an ordinary relaxing holiday that normal people do, we packed our bags and left, this time on the train to Malmo. The lakes and forests had gone and the landscapes were rather more mundane.

In Malmo we found another city geared up for the tournament.

After being turned away from the hotel because it was double booked, we checked in somewhere else and were soon back out again. We were here for our final match of the trip, between hosts Sweden and Serbia.

We found a great little restaurant, got some food and Chris showed off his patriotism.

'Sweden 'til I die'

As in Halmstad, there was a great little fan park but alas with the hotel mix up time was moving on, so we walked out to the ground, past tree lined avenues and water fountains.

Malmo had recently built a new stadium, but the old one still stood next door. This was the old stadium, an architectural gem

Around the corner was the new ground, looking more like an airport terminal:

The old stadium from the new stadium:

In common with other modern grounds, Malmo new stadium had little unique about it.

Nevertheless there was an excellent atmosphere, with the locals really getting behind their team.

Serbia, on the other hand, were every bit as cynical as they were when we saw them two years previously in Nijmegen. Two red cards and nine yellows were dished out to the Serbs and that was being lenient. Still, Sweden won 3-1 and knocked them out, so alls well that ends well.

June 24th: Malmo>Copenhagen>Home

2009-07-14T13:07:00.001-07:00

Our final day in Scandinavia would take us over the border into Denmark, our third country. First, however, we took a pedalo ride along the river in Malmo.

Duck!

Crash!

We tried to steer past this fountain, which had obviously spotted us as the water stopped flowing.

Then whoosh! We all got soaked.

Safely away, we headed back to the fan park.

We found this inflatable water football pitch, where despite best efforts we all got totally soaked.

Drench, we snuck back into the hotel lobby, collected our bags and headed back to the station. On the way, John Hunt got a Malmo FF tatoo.

That sadly was that as far as Sweden was concerned. From Malmo, we caught the train over the Oreseund bridge and into Denmark. The Oresund bridge is one of the longest bridges in the world, carrying road and rail traffic between Sweden and Denmark. It is said that each day thousands make the international commute over this bridge to work.

Arring into Copenhagen I had the excellent idea that we could walk out to the national stadium, which wasn't far away and would show us some of the sights of Copenhagen.

The walk took us past some pretty lakes, though it turned out to be a little further than expected and so everyone moaned.

Finally we made it, although as national stadiums went it was rather disappointing. We couldn't even walk around the stadium, let alone go inside.

As well as the naitonal team, the Parkenstadion is also home to FC Kopenhavn. Suffice to say John liked the club shop and bought himself a shirt.

Back in the city, we got ourselves some dinner, before heading back to the station.

Close to the rail station is the Tivoli gardens, an amusement park with some rollercoasters.

But soon enough it was time to head home, so after a short train ride we were back at the airport.

Thus it was time to bade farewell to Scandinavia. In five days, we had seen four games and three countries and althogether had a fantastic time. In two years time we planned to return, this time to Denmark for Euro 2011. Lets hope England make it again.