Geordie Al's Groundhopper Scrapbook: Hradec Kralove 2-1 Pardubice, Monday 14th August 2017

Tuesday, 15 August 2017

Hradec Kralove 2-1 Pardubice, Monday 14th August 2017

Hradec Kralove 2-1 Pardubice (Czech FNL, att. 2,551)

Welcome to ...

Whatthehell just happened there? One minute I was minding my business, next thing you know a masked policeman is pointing a semi automatic rifle at fans on the terraces at point blank range. Who was he going to shoot? Cos even if he was trying to protect his own unfirearmed police mates, there would have been multiple casualties and probably a lynching (his). As it was, several members of the crowd laughed and openly mocked. It didn't seem real.

WTF?

Earlier, the ultras had had a banner with a message on confiscated by the stewards. They must have dumped it somewhere, whereupon, with about 10 minutes left and Hradec having taken the lead, a couple of rapscallions grabbed it and ran down the terrace. With help they unfolded it as stewards pounced and they began a tug of war. Cue beer and various objects being thrown at the stewards, while the ultras clambered over the adjoining fence or came running down the terrace from the back. Then the riot police arrived, soothing nobody, and a stand-off and occasional skirmishes followed. One fan, possibly one of the rapscallions, left covered in blood. A storm in a teacup, but quite what a semi-automatic rifle was doing in the midst of it, I've no idea.

Hradec ultras.

The match could have been forecast as tense and likely to have bad blood - Pardubice is 20 odd minutes away by train. However, this was far from the case, since Pardubice brought negligible numbers (less than 100) and the chants didn't seem particularly directed at them.

Perhaps followers of FC Hradec Kralove are naturally bitter? It's a sizable enough place (95,000 inhabitants, the Czech Republic's 8^th biggest), yet they're perennially in the second tier. Maybe it was the heat, but that's why we were all sat in the shade.

The away end.

I arrived in Hradec Kralove at 17:22 for a 18:00 kick-off and I just about made it on time. I’d taken the precaution of leaving my baggage where I had to change trains (ironically, Pardubice), so all I had to worry about was directions and I followed my notes to a tee. Pleasant walk too, crossing a couple of rivers, skirting a park and circling around an old bit of wall. Shame then that I took a wrong turn on the way back, got completely lost and missed my train. Only a bus saved the day and I was able to catch a later train, to stay in Prague for the night.

The sweep of the stand.

There were plenty of ticket booths to choose from and queues weren't huge. I was in and to my joy I had a proper old school European stadium, elliptical, benches chucked on the terraces at either end and 2 stands by the sides of the pitch. One was a large cantilever, though the seats once again were on the old terrace, benches in the bottom half, proper chairs higher up. The main stand, which the players decanted from, had a smaller propped roof, though the sun was also directly in one's glare. Most were in the stand opposite.

Welcome to...(II)

Having a chat to the guy on the merchandise stall, he said they'll soon be pulling down the stadium, possibly one stand at a time, to make way for a new one. The Všesportovní stadion is one of a dwindling number of it's kind so visit while it's in its (reputed) 25,000 glory.

Pardubice went one up. This was the second time this holiday I've seen someone able to stroll forward 10 yards before having a pot shot. Again it went in, as the keeper was beaten to his left. A decent strike but you don't get this amount of time in England.

Floodlights towering over the Main Stand.

Half-time and I queued up for my second beer and first klobasa (sausage). Very nice too, albeit Hradec equalised and the ensuing smoke from the smoke bomb made me move sharpish. Penalty it was. The stewards were straight down the terrace to extinguish said item.

Thus, they were doubly ready when, a few minutes later, Hradec scored again, a scramble off a corner. Same scenes again and maybe a factor in the later skirmish as the stewards were then ordered to stand by the ultras, bringing various chants towards them and so it was till the rapscallions and riot police got involved. It was all quite surreal.