Viktoria Zizkov 2-0 Vitkovice, Sunday 11th August 2019

Viktoria Zizkov 2-0 Vitkovice, Czech FNL, att. 1,002 (efotbal arena)

Welcome to ...

It’s mid-morning on a Sunday in Prague, which can only mean one thing – Viktoria Zizkov!  Along with Bohemians, this is by far my favourite Prague footballing experience (outside of Prague, definitely Sigma Olomouc – what a stadium!)  And, knowing the area, I stayed in Zizkov (one stop on the tram from the main station) and left my abode at 10:05 for a 10:15 kick-off.  Not that I saw kick-off – the queue saw to that.

Nice day for it.

There were plenty of English (and Scottish) voices in the crowd.  Certainly, tourists and expats made up a decent proportion of the crowd.  More than the away fans, though I saw two wearing Vitkovice scarves.  Unsurprising really, as they barely get a crowd at home in the eastern city of Ostava.  I presume those two live in Prague.

Is it an away end if there's no away fans?

Being clever (!) I bought a ticket in the Main Stand, the only cover in the ground.  Already the sun was up and temperatures were bordering 30°c.  Course, I hadn’t actually noticed where the sun was – pointing directly at the Main Stand.  Fans shuffled to the back, but the view of the pitch is obscured by the camera gantries.  Far better to be on the far (seated) terrace: the tall buildings behind mean this is always in the shade of a morn.  In early August.  So I moved there for the 2^nd half, not wanting to push my way past other fans while the game was playing.

It's cosy in here.

The teams moved about quite well considering the heat, but it remained scoreless at half-time.  Zizkov had had some promising attacks but were let down by wayward, or weak, finishing.  It was breakfast time for me, however, and I was rewarded with my finest sausage so far on my latest adventure, a salami-esque number in a hot dog roll, with onions.  All washed down with a morning beer…no, I was thirsty.  I didn’t need alcohol.  7Up (Sprite) has never tasted so good.  (Reminds me of a joke from my youth: Why do Americans drink Coca-Cola?  Cos they can’t get 7Up!  - This was after a rather unsuccessful US space mission in which the crew died.)

This is what I call a fine specimen.

While I, and many others, sought shade, the Zizkov ultras (all 30 of them) stood in the ‘temporary’ stand behind the goal, slowly cooking in the sun.  (I say ‘temporary; it was here 5 years ago or whenever I was last here.  Like Gillingham’s away end, if you substitute red seats for blue and sun for habitual misery.)  Change is on the horizon though.  The old entrance has been removed as part of the building process for the new office and living blocks which are going up behind the goal.  The temp stand still remains in the architect’s impression though, as well as the rest of the ground,  Long may it be so; don’t turn it into the plastic experience of Sparta or Slavia.

Gillingham's away end has never looked this good.

Zizkov eventually won the game 2-0; a flicked header from a cross and a 25 yard free kick which went through the keeper’s hand.  Shame for him, as he’d had a good game.  Otherwise, the star turn was a black fella in Zizkov’s midfield, presumably the Ecuadorian (Ecuadoran?) Batioja.  Defensively, he won everything first half, before being pushed up second half and being the centre of everything.  I suspect he won’t be there long.  
And then it was all over.  It was barely midday and I was one game down.

Zizkov players receive their dues.

The Damage:

CHK 100 ent
CHK 65 klobasa
CHK 35 Sprite
CHK 50 fridge magnet
CHK 150 badge

CHK 10 prog

= CHK 410 (£14)

The Tunes:
None – early kick-off!

Stayed at:
Hostel Boudnik, Prague (£25 – two nights)

Viktoria Zizkov panorama from the Main Stand.

Zizkov panorama towards the Main Stand.

The view from the building site.

This will all look different next time I come.

The (lack of) entrance.

Where the away end meets the far terrace.

Big plans in Zizkov (the area).

Down the touchline.

Looking towards the home end.

The Main Stand.

Zizkov ultras

The home end.

Zbrojovka Brno 2-2 Usti Nad Labem, Friday 9th August 2019

Zbrojovka Brno 2-2 Usti Nad Labem, Czech FNL, att. 3,492 (Mestsky fotbalovy stadion Srbska)

Welcome to ....

I had this one sorted.  Spend the afternoon whiling away time listening to live music and drinking in bars overlooking squares (plural), before jumping on a train to Brno Kralove-Pole, the station nearest the ground.  So, obviously, when I got to Brno main station, the train didn’t exist (actually, it probably did; while the main station undergoes renovation, some trains left from a different station, 10 mins away – Brno doli nadrazi). 

Brno seemed full of music box players.

So, after an initial panic, I hit on the idea of a tram, and while studying timetables, it looked like a ‘P6’ would take me to where I wanted to go (it would).  However, I saw 2 or 3 fans in the red of Zbrojovka and when another tram pulled up, they jumped on, so..so did I.

About fifteen minutes later we were off.  Stadion Srbská was a couple of blocks to our left.  I wanted to arrive earlyish, as I was worried about tickets.  A team who until 20 years ago were playing in front of the biggest football crowds in Czech history (30,000+) were now playing in a stadium which could only hold 12,500.  I needn’t have worried.  There were barely 3,000 there.  How the mighty have fallen.

Main Stand ticket office.

I encountered the Main Stand side first.  Well, I say main stand – it had the players’ facilities in it, but was by far the smallest of the four sides.  After a cursory glance around the club shop, I was told the ticket office was around the corner.  There were few fans around, even with half an hour to kick-off.

I bought a ticket in Sektor R – the massive terrace which sweeps around one end.  The lady actually gave me a ticket for Sektor A (in the Main Stand) but my movement would have been greatly restricted.  Wherever you went, it was 100 Czech koruna (about £3.30).

Original viewing platforms.

As I walked around the stadium, more fans approached from the estates higher up the hill.  Most of these fans entered the stand opposite the Main Stand, a steep one-tiered stand with ‘BRNO’ emblazoned in huge white letters across red seats.  It was here, low down, where the 120 or so ultras congregated in front of their cheerleader/drummer (they must be short on numbers, cos he had to do both).

The Brno ultras (see later!)

Good job I was on time too – it was one-all after five minutes.  Usti opened the scoring, and as I looked around for where their fans were cheering from, I realised it was the bench, about 20 of them!  (Usti, from northern Czech Republic, are not a big team and to drag one’s self to Brno for a Friday evening game takes some effort.)  Brno equalised two minutes later, the keeper pulling off a great save before the ball ran back kindly for the attacker.

I think I'd be in their gang!

I’d perched right at the top of the terracing, along with not many others.  There was a gaggle of parents to my left, as their kids enjoyed a bouncy castle (with slide!) or drawing pictures.  What kind of kid chooses to draw pictures rather than play on a bouncy castle (or watch football)???  However, I’d grabbed a couple of the local brew (Starobrno) and was happy on my lonesome.  Queues were small at our end for victuals, and at half-time I got another beer and a klobasa (sausage).  ‘Do you want big or small?’   ‘Oh, definitely a large one’ as two saucy minxes burst out laughing.  One also asked what I thought of the football.  ‘Oh, the football’s s***’, I said, to more laughter.  From their kiosk, they could see everything.  They’ll be watching this rubbish 20 more times this season.

'Big or small?'  The refreshment hut is in front of the white building.

The second half also finished one-all.  Brno looked to have won it with an 81^st minute pen.  However, they were reduced to 10 men on 85 (a 2^nd yellow) and things proceeded to unravel as Usti equalised with a pen of their own on 87.  It happened right in front of me and I’ve still no idea what it was for.  The visitors were then reduced to 10 men themselves, though I’m cheating here, as I’m looking at the match details the day after having no recollection of said dismissal.  That Starobrno must be good stuff.

Usti line up the equaliser.

The Damage:
CHK 100 ent
CHK 55 klobasa
CHK 35 beer (x3)

Free prog

= CHK 260 (£9)

The Tunes:
Selected Ambient Works 85-92 (Aphex Twin)
Just For A Day (Slowdive)

Stayed at:
Hostel Eleven, Brno (£14)

Srbska panorama

Dinner time!

Fixture list in the sparse club shop.

Welcome to ....(II)

Ice rink behind the stand.

Pre-match queues.

Fans take their seats.

The curve.  This stadium could fit way more than 12,500 (safely?)

Match action.

The curve towards the main stand.

The teams line up.

The Main Stand.

A deserted (closed) terrace.

The ultras celebrate a goal.

The Balkon(y) Crew.  Great views, but there must be some weight on there.

A Brno free kick clears the bar.

The far end...where the terrace mysteriously disappears.

Fun for the kids.

More closed off terracing.

Come on Brno!

Everything seems so...far away (it is).

Sunset over Stadion Srbska.

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.

They don't make 'em like this anymore.

The Damage:

CHK 80 ent

CHK 55 klobasa

CHK 30 beer (x2)

CHK 40 badge

CHK 25 bus

CHK 80 locker

= CHK 340

Panorama from under the stand.

Panorama from the corner.

Behind the goal.

The entrance.

Coming through the entrance.

Where most of the fans sat.

Behind the goal (II).

Looking toward the Main Stand.

Note the layout of the benches.

Some parts have seen better days.

A huge press box.

Fans standing at the back of the stand.

The club mascot.

A jagged roof frames Všesportovní stadion.

Welcome to ...(III).

A coach in front of the 'tunnel'.

A floodlight dwarves the miniscule away support.

Match action.

A penalty is despatched.

Looking toward the old scoreboard.

Hradec Kralove kneel before the ultras.

Welcome to...(IV).

Zapadni Tribuna

Looking towards the Main Stand (II).