All roads lead to Utrecht
This and other incidents led to the unwanted accolade of a visit from professional West Ham fan, funny walking, wide boy Danny Dyer in ‘International Football Factories’. For the football neutral, problems at previous Den Haag and Ajax fixtures means there are currently no away supporters or even the chance for tourist to buy tickets for these matches. Which is a pity, as Ajax in particular are Utrecht’s biggest rivals and their fixtures are responsible for best atmospheres at Galgenwaard. You can check out the Bunnikside choreography photos on www.bunnikside.nl .
‘Friday Night is FC Volendam Night’ by Paul Whitaker
FC Volendam or Het Andere Oranje (The Other Oranje) have just finished mid-table in 2011/12 season of the Jupiler League or Eerste Divisie. Football tourists should not expect voetbal in the Dutch second division to be of the quality of Ajax or Feyenoord . But, Eerste Divisie fixtures are always played on Friday evenings (8pm kickoffs), so as not to clash with Eredivisie fixtures. You also do not need to apply for a club members card or purchase an expensive ‘tourist ticket package’ for Eerste Divisie fixtures. So if you are planning a long weekender in Amsterdam, why not give the ‘Ajax Experience Tour’ (Price €17.50 for adult) a miss on the Friday and instead sample the ‘FC Volendam experience’ (Price starting €15 for adult). You can still be back in Dam Square, central Amsterdam for 11pm.
Slav to the Rhythm – A Balkan Adventure
This was not my first visit to the capital of Croatia. Oh no. If you believe the stories of the Current Mrs Fuller you would have her believe that I nearly died the last time I was there. It was never an issue. I mean walking along the road, wearing full England kit (it is a long story) towards a few hundred strong group of the most fanatic Croatian fans whilst saying things down the end of a phone like “Oh shit, we are going to die” and “The will is in the box under the bed”. I mean who would really take that seriously? Granted, when I didn’t answer the phone for the next three hours or the TV pictures of the crowd trouble prior to the game it may have been a bit worrying but surely an over reaction?
Anglo Italian Relations
But all was not lost! Whilst the new Premier League teams shared the wealth, West Ham had the reformed Anglo-Italian Cup to look forward to. The cup had been played previously some twenty years before (although in the 1980′s it was a competition for non league teams) but for some reason the FA felt that having the FA Cup, League Cup and 46 League fixtures wasn’t enough. In previous seasons there had been the Full Members Cup (aka Simod, Zenith Data Systems) but the Premier League clubs had stated they had no interest in that, so it was consigned to the scrap heap, and thus it was decided the second tier clubs needed a new distraction. So someone, somewhere came up with the crazy idea of a revamped Anglo-Italian Cup.
All’s square in love, war and Leverkusen
Arrival in Leverkusen is in bright sunshine, but as soon as we find the stadium, we then have the problem as to where to park. All of the car parks marked on the maps attached to the club website are for pass holders only, so we end up trying to find the shuttle bus park, so that we can get the bus back to the stadium. Once we have found the park though, we are told by a local family parked next to us that the buses do not start running for another hour, so we go to the train station next door. We also explained to them that we had travelled over from London for the game, and were met with looks of amazement and horror in equal measure. However as we are trying to buy tickets, the train arrives and departs before we are able to extract our tickets in time. So, with half an hour to wait before the next service, we decide to walk. After all, it doesn’t look that far on the map.
La Beuna Vita
There is polite applause, rather than a full on roar of noise as the teams enter the field of play, although there is quite a bit of noise from the sizeable contingent that have made the trip from Sociedad. The game starts, and there is a yellow card before the first chance of the game is created, but while Getafe are the home team, it is Sociedad who seem to be the more threatening when attacking. There are a couple of near misses for the visitors, and when they are not creating their own chances, Getafe seem intent on helping them out. One such incident happens just after the half hour, but Sociedad are unable to turn this gift into a goal. The visitors are the better side throughout the half, but have nothing to show for their efforts.
Lake of fire
If only the Grasshoppers players showed just 1% of the passion of their fans who were outstanding during the game, never giving up singing and supporting their club, if not the XI on the pitch. They welcomed the teams onto the pitch with a display of colour and fire, drenching the whole stadium in smoke which took around five minutes to clear, by which time Luzern should have taken the lead after the sprung the offside trap for the first of many occasions. FC Luzern’s fans weren’t silent though, and their impressive banner, hoisted up from the rafters before the game can be seen here.
One night in Munich and the world’s your oyster
This season has seen the club for the most part in the upper reaches of the table, hoping for a return to the second tier of German football. Just six points off top spot, this was their game in hand against an Oberhausen team who were flirting a bit too close with the bottom of the table. They had never been the same since the death of their most famous resident, Paul the Octopus in 2010. However, with ex-German international Mario Basler now in charge there is a more positive outlook for the future I am sure.
Livin’ la Vida Loca
The game was no conforming to any calcio stereotype. It was fast paced, open and chances were flying it at both ends. The fans at both ends were distracted by the game for once, and whilst the noise didn’t really abate, the show did. Both sides should have scored again before the break, and it was left to the referee to become the common enemy as he dished out four yellows in the opening period.
Affamato come un lupo
All of a sudden some of these middle age placid fans went ballistic. They charged at each other, with the fence and a fat old policeman keeping them apart. You got the feeling that these were people who knew each other, perhaps working together and this was an outpouring of emotion and frustration, similar to the scene in Football Factory when Danny Dyer and Tamir Hussain have a scrap at a kids Sunday League game. Police re-enforcements were called and a second officer arrived, wearing trousers far too big and no Batman-style utility belt. Calm was restored and a mobile phone was passed through the fence and whoever was on the other end (bets were on someone’s Mum telling them to behave) put them in order.
