Iceland Ladies 0-3 Austria Ladies, Wednesday 26th July 2017

Iceland Ladies 0-3 Austria Ladies (Sparta Stadion Het Kasteel, Rotterdam, att. 4,893)

Welcome to ....

There can't be many folk have walked to both ‘De Kuip’ (home of Feyenoord) and Het Kasteel (Sparta Rotterdam) in the same day, but void of any other ideas I thought why not? I've always wanted to see a game at De Kuip and though it couldn't happen this time it was nice to at least see it, though don't walk there, it's too far and once you've crossed the Erasmus Bridge there's not a lot to see.  After a circumference of the stadium, I caught a tram back to town.

Feyenoord's cathedral.

 The centre of Rotterdam seemed awash with Icelandics, keen to follow up last summer's adventures with the men.  The fanzone was busy with a multitude of games laid out for the kids.  Least that's who was playing.  I’d have fancied a game on their ‘football pool’.  I even saw a couple of Austrians.  The Icelandics though had come in numbers and who knows how many families had made the Netherlands their holiday of choice this summer?

Football pool.  Kids have all the fun.

 With time on my hands and a yearning to see the old port of Delfshaven, I decided to walk to Sparta Stadium (‘Het Kasteel’) through a park, over canals and passing the Euromast, Holland tallest building.  I even managed not to go wrong this time, following the canal till I could see the floodlights.  All I needed now was a deluge of rain and a bridge to stand under to start drinking the can of beer I brought (Franziskaner).

An inauspicious 1st view.

Deluge over, I headed to the stadium where I still had an hour to kill.  I walked around, passing four or five policemen before a couple more pulled me over for drinking in the street.  ‘It's ok it's just not allowed’(!)  I was allowed to finish it as long as I didn't go wandering off with it in hand.  

I was also able to finally see Sparta’s legendary castle entrance, though the effect was somewhat ruined (enhanced?) by the addition of the local municipality’s refuse trucks being parked outside.  The police asked me why I was taking pics of the trucks.  ‘I wasn't.  I was taking a photo of the entrance and if you could possibly arrange for the removal of the trucks I'd be much obliged.’  I think they realised I wasn't a threat to government security, though they did ask to see my match ticket.

Sparta's grand entrance.  Plus dustbin wagons.

As well as ‘Het Kasteel’, Sparta used to have a massive 10,000-seater stand down one side, but since redevelopment, this has gone, to be replaced by a smaller stand in keeping with the rest of the stadium, now a tidy all-seater, all covered, stadium of 11,000.  The charm of ‘Het Kasteel’ is exaggerated by the ‘Het Kasteel’ itself splitting a stand in two.  Once upon a time, this was behind the goal, but since redevelopment, the pitch has been turned 90° and the Het Kasteel sits proudly on the halfway line.

Het Kasteel splits the stands.

Tonite, Iceland had gathered behind one goal and one side of Het Kasteel, while Austria had the other.  I'd say the Austrians were outnumbered three or four to one in a crowd of 5000 and I can now say I've taken part in an ‘Icelandic thunderclap’.  Be careful to hear the drum beat.  Not ones to over egg the pudding, it was only once each half.  Perfect.

The Iceland thunderclap!

Iceland fans.

Otherwise, I was sure I was sat two rows behind Jonny Lee Miller 20 years ago.  I presume he was in Holland looking for his mate Rents, who’d nicked all his cash in Trainspotting.  Anyway, he was obviously a big Iceland fan cos he spoke the lingo, knew all the chants and wore the stars and stripes as a wrist bandana.  (Is ‘wrist bandana’ a thing?)

Unfortunately, went the day badly for Iceland.  Austria had a number of shots saved then when the keeper had weathered the storm she dropped an innocuous cross for an Austrian to head in on the rebound.  Two days in a row I've seen a keeper f*** up.  Despite another outstanding save, a scramble lead to a close range second.  Game over.

The Exec box side.

Iceland tried to threaten second half, but they were clearly inferior to the bright Austrians who were to claim top berth in the four team group.  Indeed, Austria had the last say, a rebound tapped home following another save.

All that was left was the acclaim, Iceland coming to the corner to give thanks, while the Austrians jumped around together.  I caught a bus back.  Sadly no shuttle buses a la Breda.   I asked the policeman and he pointed me to a bus stop on a nearby bridge.  €3.  Travel is not cheap in Rotterdam but at least I was able to procure a €3 hot dog in the stadium.  However, I was unable to pay with my women's EURO 2017 payment card (current balance €10.50).  This is why I hate these damn cards.  You are left with money on them you'll never use

The teams are paraded.

The Damage:

€10 ent

€3 hotdog

€3 travel

= €16

The Tunes:

The Libertines (The Libertines)

Different Class (Pulp)

DJ Kicks (Daniel Avery)

Milk and Kisses (Cocteau Twins)

Careless Love (Madeleine Peyroux)

Het Kasteel panorama.

Human table football.

Only in Holland...

Welcome to ....(II)

Het Kasteel

Only one thing ruins it...

The main stand.

Match action.

It sheets it down again.

Goalmouth scramble.

The view from behind the goal.

Full-time.  Spot the winners.

Iceland come over to acknowledge their support.

1888: Sparta are formed (oldest professional team in the Netherlands).

Germany 2-0 Russia, Tuesday 25th July 2017

Germany Ladies 2-0 Russia Ladies (Stadion Galgenwaard, Utrecht, att. 6,458)

Indeed!

‘The most beautiful canal city in the Netherlands’ proclaims Utrecht and they have a point.  The centre is gorgeous, all…..canals…..and nooks and crannies, open-air cafes and charming bars.  I loved it.  Got there early, spent hours perusing, quaffed a couple of beers during the deluge pre match, then followed a canal to the stadium (the second canal; I mistakenly went down the wrong one initially.)

The city centre.

At the Stadium, half an hour away, I had to find section X.  V-W were one end and you couldn't continue for fences and a canal, so I doubled back and walked all the way to A-B, right the way around.  Another dead end, like the Circle Line on the London Underground.  So  I returned back to VW and there on a post was a laminated ‘Sektor X’ which looked recently added.  I was due to be behind the goal but with the sparsity of the crowd, I think they pushed us all into the side stand.  Fine by me.  I climbed the stairs for a great view.

A great view...of sorts.

The bottom half of this stand was very busy,  as were the wings opposite (if not the exec bit in the centre).  Below me were the Germans, who probably made up more than half the crowd.  The stadium itself was very impressive, four large, steep modern, identical one-tiered stands. What the stadium lacked in corners filled in, it gained in height, holding around 24,000, though not today.  The sides of the stands seemed a bit open to the elements.   I'm sure Utrecht isn't especially warm.  Each corner contained an office block of zero architectural significance.

Tho' perhaps the office block looked better from without.

I enjoyed the game.  Perennial champs Germany outclassed Russia 2-0, albeit through two pens.  The first one looked 50/50 but since the ref had given the Russians the benefit of earlier doubt, this one went to Germany.  As per the course, it was drilled low to the keeper's right.  The second was a lot more clear cut, the resultant kick sent low in the opposite corner.  Two perfectly executed spot kicks.  Ruthless.

A penalty is despatched.

Otherwise, Germany missed a number of chances while Russia occasionally looked dangerous on the break, but the passing, movement and power of these German look championship material to me.  I didn't walk back to town.  It was the free shuttle bus for me.  Oh, and I succumbed to the payment card system in the stadium.  I was hungry and there was a pile of bacon (‘baked ham’ -  is that really where we get the word ‘bacon’ from?)  Anyway, it was just asking to be eaten. Not cheap but thoroughly delicious.

The Damage:
€10 ent
€4.50 ‘baked ham’ roll
= €14.50

The Tunes:
Sunshine Hit Me (The Bees)
Fabric 84 (Mathew Johnson)
Cypress Hill III: Temples of Boom (Cypress Hill)

Stadion Galgenwaard panorama

Banners advertising the tournament.

An unassuming 1st glance

Match action.

Looking toward the posh seats.

Despite (because of?) the open sides, I really like the design.

Someone getting a bird's eye view.

Exec box overload.

Match action, 2nd half.

Panorama from the back row.

Let's celebrate!

Full-time in Utrecht.

Back of the stand.

More shopping centre than footie ground.

This way in.

Welcome to....(II)

Branded team buses.

England Ladies 2-0 Spain Ladies, Sunday 23rd July 2017

England Ladies 2-0 Spain Ladies (Rat Verlegh Stadium, Breda, att. 4,879)

Welcome to .....

At half time I was thoroughly depressed.  My plane had arrived late, the stadium was miles from anywhere, the ‘every quarter of an hour’ free bus had taken over half an hour to arrive, I'd missed kick off and it was p***ing it down. England were winning 1-0 but that was no matter.  I'd missed the goal.  Of more importance was my lack of a bed.  I'd planned to camp but given the nature of the torrential I thought better of it.  Thank goodness for the mobile phone and internet access.  A few minutes later I had a hostel booked in Rotterdam (about 20 minutes train ride away).

That's not fog, it's RAIN.

I'd come to the Women's Euros on a whim.  I can't say I'm the biggest fan of female  football (especially not after this match) but it was an opportunity to visit a few new stadia: Breda, Utrecht, Tilburg and Sparta Rotterdam.  Also, with The Netherlands being so small, travel is easy.  Mind, I’d been looking forward to lazing by a campsite swimming pool for a few days, imagining the weather would be something approaching summer.  This was a misguidance of a biblical nature.

England in the rain wasn't a big draw...

Handily, England was my first match up so that should engender some interest.  Sadly, due to the aforementioned wait, I, along with the Keele University women's team, arrived at the stadium in time to hear the cheer.  One nil England.  Another loud cheer before we got in was a second, apparently disallowed for no reason.  The Rat Verlegh Stadium epitomised the gloom.  From the outside, a depressing block of metal and concrete which hadn’t aged well since whenever it was built. The 1970s?  Good views, but that’s about the best I can say about it.

About as cheerful as it got.

Once inside, I found myself below pitch level in some kind of moat. This didn’tt augur well for my streak later (kidding).  I sat at one end near the corner flag, despite having the pick of the seats.  The stand to my left looked vaguely full, mainly England.  There were a few Spanish at the far end of the same stand, while on the nearside, a couple of middle-aged locals banged drums.  I'm not quite sure why I thought they were local but the constant dull thud with varying levels of audience participation became a trawl very quickly.

This will get the atmosphere going.

Maybe it was the match?  Or the weather? Or both?  More than once came the deluge. I think that was England's excuse for never being able to control a ball.  (I must note here, the first time I'd seen a womens’ match I was very impressed with their skill, so to see our national side fumble and miscontrol the ball endlessly put a more positive slant on my own abilities. Spain dominated possession, nearly 80%, but the same pattern developed.  Spain would go sideways, sideways, forwards, have a (wo)man on, go backwards again, start again.  (BTW, what DO women shout when someone is about to be marked? ‘Man on’?)

At least one side is busy.

More than once Spain had numbers out wide, but when they weren't knocking it back and starting again they were chipping it in for giant England centre halves to head clear.  I couldn't understand why they didn't simply drill some low balls across the box especially given England's penchant for the slice.

Prisoner: Cell Block H.  The away end at Breda.

England's game plan hinged on the opposite, trying to find a killer pass within 2 or 3 touches, whereupon the whole charade would repeat itself.  God it was boring.  Then, LIFE!  Spain whipped a ball in from the left (finally!) and an England player slipped, slicing the ball smack into her palm.  Hurrah!  Penalty!  I need to work on my patriotism.  But no, the players trot to the halfway line and the referee starts with a drop ball to the keeper.  Actually, I couldn't get my head around that.  I think the ref was dropping it for the keeper to take a free kick.  Foul by the rain?

Plenty of England flags

By now I was high up behind the goal, a downpour driving fans higher up into the seats.  It seemed an even mix of locals and English, with occasional chants of ‘NAC, NAC’ (the local team) breaking out to alleviate the England chants and those cardboard things what Leicester City fans whack to make noise.

Match action.

I was still thoroughly bored, but figured I couldn’t leave early as the buses wouldn’t be going back to the station till full-time. I’d not had anything to eat either, as I needed to put money on a card, etc. No thanks.  So I was still a right grumpy sour puss when England sealed it, the ball somehow breaking loose on the edge of the box for the centre forward to dink it into the bottom left.  A cool finish entirely out of keeping with the rest of England’s game. If this is as good as supporting England’s women gets…

The Damage:
€10 ent

The media.

Footnote:  I was slightly cheered up the next day.  Turns out I shared a room in the hostel with the brother of Scotland’s left back (Hi Jake!) and he talked very passionately of women's football, albeit a team who’d lost by 6 to England a few days earlier.  In the evening I also saw Belgium v Holland on the big screen in the Rotterdam fanzone and that really was a game full of skill and excitement, so I'll give the tournament a chance and not do Plan B: InterRail after some Champions League / Europa League qualifiers.  That’s NEXT week!

Rat Verlegh panorama...in a rare moment of sunshine.

Looking towards the main stand.

The Rat Verlegh 'moat'.

The man himself...Rat Verlegh.

The Main Event.