Geordie Al's Groundhopper Scrapbook: Vysocina Jihlava 1-0 Jablonec, Monday 10th August 2015

Tuesday, 11 August 2015

Vysocina Jihlava 1-0 Jablonec, Monday 10th August 2015

Vysocina Jihlava 1-0 FK Jablonec (att. 3,689)

Welcome to ....

As a London-based fan of a lower league northern provincial outfit, my favourite away games are those just OUTSIDE of London: Luton, Wycombe, Southend, Watford. There is an element of adventure, but without having to travel too far. But as a traveller (groundhopper) you can’t beat going to somewhere obscure, where getting to the town, finding your abode and locating the footie ground are all a challenge. And then, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, a quirky stadium. Jihlava had all of these things.

Found it!

On arrival at Jihlava station I could not make head nor tail of the bus timetable or the directions to my apartment (Yes! An apartment, including FOUR beds). This, despite a map in the station. It turned out that matters were complicated by the directions given for the apartment. They were NOT from the station, but from the city centre, over 2 miles away. The lovely lady in the ticket office spoke no English but understood ‘taxi’ and she ordered one for me. Imagine THAT happening in England. The taxi came and even he didn’t know the street I wanted, but he knew some of the streets on my directions so we got so far then I guided him in, a left here a right there. I dropped my stuff off and went for a pre-match beer.

Training ground behind the new stand.

On our journey I’d seen some floodlights. Was THAT the stadium? I looked on a map and saw some athletics stadium. I’d not written down the address of the football ground. Was it one and the same? I then spotted another stadium, which looked much more ‘football’. I mulled over what to do as I drank my beer. I was pushing it to fit both stadia in before kick-off. I’d have to plump for one or the other; I plumped for the ‘football’ one, cos it involved a straight walk down a long road off the city centre. I couldn’t miss it. I chose right.

Beer garden inside the stadium

I was virtually on top of the stadium before I encountered anyone resembling a fan, 4 or 5 lads wandering along. The stadium WAS the one with the massive floodlights. Even better, said floodlights craned in over the pitch like a giraffe looking over a wall. Why aren’t all floodlights built like this? I had half an hour, so I circumnavigated the stadium. Down one side was a row of nice houses, while another side had a football pitch. Entering at the opposite end from most, the queue was smaller. 150 Czech Koruna gained entry and a free programme.

Back of the new stand; Jihlava's pride and joy.

Once in, there were numerous beer stalls, as well as ‘beer gardens’. I went photo-mad before treating myself to a pair of beers in time for KO. What a stadium! It used to have a track around the pitch and one end still does; low, with only three rows of seating plonked upon it. At the other end is a tall, modern, one-tiered structure with an arched roof (which looks like a bubble). To its right is a smallish stand with seats bolted onto the old terrace and a roof which covered perhaps 2/3 of the touchline. Opposite, a…what? Something about the size of a small villa, with a few rows of seating (and roof). This was the VIP section. Their reward? Watching most of the match with the sun in their eyes.
The away fans came in number – 14-17, roughly. Monday nite in Jihlava can’t be easy. I’m not sure there are any rail connections late enough to get to, say, Prague.

The teams come out in front of the VIP Stand.

Vysocina won 1-0 in a pedestrian game. Just as I was ruminating on how slow it could possibly get, Jihlava finally passed the ball forward and an instant flick put the striker through on goal. Although he rounded the keeper, I was still slightly surprised he didn’t fall over before rolling it in with his left. Otherwise, there were few chances but the one other moment of note came when Jihlava’s keeper tipped one over the bar that was heading for the top corner. He seems very popular: he certainly had the best passing range of any home player, chipping the ball over forwards to the feet of his own teammates. Together with a previous clean sheet against title faves Sparta, maybe he’s one to watch?

Fans look on from behind the seats.

I sat high up behind the goal in the new stand for an hour, till my beer ran out and I could see the queue was short enough. Once replenished, I went and sat next to the away fans. The home ‘ultras’, such as they were, consisted of about 15 teenagers making some noise on a small strip of terrace next to the home end. Nobody else joined in their chants, though the crowd happily clapped along sometimes. This was much more like England!

The hardcore (plus mascot - WTF!?)

The souvenir shop (a portacabin) is underneath the new stand and it's there I headed at full time. With t-shirts at about £6, how could I resist? A customer who spoke English said I should try it on and they’d tell me what they thought. I held it against my chest and everyone agreed it looked great! (Of course they did. What else would they say?)

A busy home end.

Back at the ranch, I flicked through the TV channels to find something called ‘Arsenal 360°’. Half an hour of Arsene Wenger dubbed into Czech, before an entire re-run of the Premiership opener at home to West Ham. I understand they lost (ha ha – I have lots of Arsenal mates) but I had to turn it off at half time. Sleep beckoned.

The Damage:
CZK 150 ent
CZK 45 beer (x2)
CZK 25 beer
CZK 40 klobasa (sausage)
CZK 220 (t-shirt)
= CZK 570 (£15)

The Tunes:
Elastica (Elastica)
Ill Communication (Beastie Boys)
It’s Album Time (Todd Terje)
Singles (Future Islands)