I first went to Prague on a trip with the Dulwich Hamlet Supporters' Team in May 2003. I loved the city so much I decided to go back to see more, & have been doing so ever since! On my first return, in October '03, I saw Sparta Praha play in a European clash with Besiktas on the Thursday I arrived. Sods law on the Monday they were also the televised game, so I saw them at home twice in four days. On other trips I've had Monday night games at grounds I've been to, and haven't bothered to travel, instead recharging my batteries doing tourist stuff in Prague. museums, galleries, that sort of thing.
Today I am very lucky, and extremely happy. For Slavia Praha are at home against Sigma Oloumouc. It is a spanking new ground, their old stadium completely demolished and rebuilt on the same site. Their old Eden Stadium was old & had fallen into disrepair. They have had plans to leave it since the seventies, but the planning was extremely slow under the previous communist regimes, & it wasn't until 1989 that they finally left, first of all playing their First Team fixtures at the nearby Dolicek Stadium, home of rivals Bohemians.
This was short lived, & they then moved into the Evzena Rosickeho Stadium, up on Strahov Hill, but building work was stopped back & Eden, and Slavia returned there once more, with a temprary stand being built. There were several attempts to redevelop but the funding was never in place, & by 2000 Eden was not up to the required standard for the Czech First Division, so they moved back to the unpopular ground up at Strahov, which was to be their 'home' until they returned to Eden in May 2008.
On vacating the original Eden in 200o the ground was still used for Reserve Team fixtures, their reserves fluctuating in the second & third divisions, but it was finally vacated for good, and demolished in December 2003. Sadly I hadn't realised this never saw their second XI play there. Although I did get some snaps of the overgrown terracing inside, but on an 'ordinary' camera, not on digital, so I can't show them on my blogs.
Sad as it sounds it will always be one of my 'sporting regrets' that I never saw a game at this venue. It is up there along with missing out on the old amateur ground ay Lynn Road, the old home of Ilford. Also the reportedly magnifcent Brooklands home of Romford. And also the historic White City Stadium over in west London. I suppose my love of the big old amateur grounds stems from growing up supporting Dulwich Hamlet, whose old Champion Hill home was the greatest of them all.
So while I've missed out on some I can take comfort, indeed am grateful, that I saw matches at the likes of Leytonstone's Granleigh Road & Walthamstow Avenue's Green Pond Road.
The new Slavia ground was originally scheduled to be completed by the end of 2005, but increased costs led to delays & cutbacks of the original plan, and it was finally opened , with the stadium not quite complete,with a match against Oxford University, who were their first ever opponents back in 1892, on May 7th 2008. A few days later, on the the seventeenth, they drew 2-2 with Jablonec, to clinch the Czech League title, in their first competitive match there.
I had hoped to see a match here last season, but was extremely disappointed they were away on my 2008 trip. But this year I was ecstatic when the fixtures were announced. This match was originally scheduled for the 24th, which would have been the best birthday present ever for me, but I couldn't complain too much when it was moved to this evening for the Monday night televised game.
I spent the day making good use of my Prague travelcard, going round the city taking more snaps of non league grounds. Just in case I was running late I headed to Eden, or the Synot Tip Arena, to give it the sponsors name which nobody uses, and bought my ticket, also taking the opportunity to snap the outside in clear daylight. Round the back it was just ugly breezeblock, out of sight, out of mind. clearly part of the costcutting. I wasn't entirely sure which end of the stadium I was buying one for, but it was the cheapest, at 150 Kc. I think there were slightly more expensive ones along the side for 220Kc.
Just as well, as I got out of the local Metro station less than a hour before kick off, enough time to get there, but pushing it if I had to queue. Walking along I passed the old ice hockey rink at Eden, a few hundred yards away from the football ground. I saw my first ever game of Czech ice hockey here, back in October 2003.
I can't remember the opposition but it was a cracking game, the first foreign hockey match I'd ever been to. And as I was only used to the 'pedestrian' English sides, even not high quality at the top level compared to the best in Europe, never mind the North American version, that wasn't difficult. But it was the atmosphere, and the venue itself that I fell in love with! The spectators were mostly on the two sides. One a bank of seating, and the other...all terracing, packed, like an old fashioned football game, with proper flags and chanting! As with all hockey games music is played when the puck was dead, and one tune had lyrics in English, albeit American, and included the phrase 'So fucking what! So fucking what!' Which cemented my love affair with the Slavia Prague hockey club for me! I'm since asked around & think it was the Metallica version.
They say you always remember your 'first time' & my first foreign hockey time will always be my first & foremost Czech hockey love. Whilst almost certainly makes me unique! For when it comes to the city of Prague I must be the only person who follows Sparta at football & Slavia at hockey!
I had a bit of a surprise when I left the rink & got to the ground. Just as I got there I bumped into a carload of serious English groundhoppers, who were all on a week long tour through Austria, Germany, here & Switzerland! One I knew well, Eddie Smith, a fellow South Londoner who also supports Streatham Redskins. Two of the others I first met at Admira Praha, two years previous. They were 'Veteran' & Stan Green. As I walked round chatting with Eddie as he headed straight for the beer stall (oh to be able to partake with him!) , he spotted the last of their quartet, & introduced me to 'Yorkieexile', who I had not met before. It's always a pleasure to chat to fellow 'anonymous' names who are also Kempsterites, no matter how fleeting.
It was a bit embarrassing chatting to Veteran, actually. He told me where there'd been, but my mind went a total blank, & couldn't recall the names of some of the games I'd watched that weekend! Imagine! Getting tongue tied in such exalted groundhopping company! not surprising really, as I am a mere amateur compared to those gentlemen!
The ground itself must be the best in the whole country. I don't know what sort of contract the authorities have with Sparta, in regard to staging internationals, but this really should be the home for them. I'm not too clued on international football, to be honest, and they may stage games here already, which must be a huge blow for rivals Sparta, who used to hold them.
It's a superb stadium for a new build, to me it's like a 'poor mans Emirates', comparing it to Arsenal back home. There is a wooden roof inside, which I am presuming was designed with the acoustics in mind. for, with the place just over half full tonight, the singing is loud! And for the 'anoraky' among you apparently it's made from Canadian cedar, which is between thirty & one hundred years old. The stands are continuous, no obstructions, with all supports being through the roof & anchored outside.
Going through the turnstiles you could pick up a free 24 page glossy colour programme, so naturally-being English-I grabbed a handful! As per usual when abroad I turn to the league table. Slavia are struggling by their standards, only in fifth spot, but despite that it's almost been 'fortress Eden' in the league. Their only home defeat being three weeks previous, a one nil defeat to Sparta, in front of an almost sell-out 19,370...which probably was capacity, is segregation 'dead areas' are taken into account. By contrast the vistors this evening, Sigma Oloumouc, are only three points off the bottom spot, held by Bohemians Praha, who are the fake munfactured version, as opposed to the REAL one. And it is against the rock-bottom outfit that Sigma claimed their only away win of the league campaign, way back on the opening weekend of the season on the 26th of July.
My seat at one end is a decent one, despite being the cheapest. I'm just to the left of the goal, and I'm high up enough in row 9, to have a good vantage point. Even better, from a 'crowd watching' standpoint, I am just to the right, on the edge of, their main bulk of hardcore fans. At the front is a 'leader'. On a raised platform, megaphone in hand, who co-ordinates all of the chanting. It's not the English way, but that's how they do it abroad, though I can't say I've noticed it in the Czech Republic before. And it's not the only thing that's pre-meditated...
Around the centre circle are a group of 'ball boys' all with red & white flags, which they are waving round in a synchronised fashion. There are lots more behind my goal. A mass of red and white flags. some are quartered. Others halves. Tricolours, like the Austrian flag. The white cross on a red background like Denmark. And, pleasingly to warm the old cockles, some St. George crosses too! The players come out, line up, shake hands and wave to the crowd. the Sparta players then go to the centre circle & each take a flag from one of their little helpers and throw them into the crowd at our end! How's that for PR eh? Presumably they do this every home game, hence the huge amount of flags. Not all are kept, as they many are dumped at the final whistle. I grab an 'English one' as a souvenir!
As for the game itself...well, well! What a turn up for the books! I turned up as a neutral, got 'won' over by the great home support, who just kept on singing, but was silently willing Oloumouc to hold on at the end, as it was such an upset against the overall play. I still can't see how Slavia lost. I doubt if there was more than a bullseye of away fans to celebrate, but having made such a long journey across the country they deserved it! Such blind loyalty deserves repaying sometimes.
Most fans had barely settled in their seats when Tomas Horava headed Sigma ahead in the third minute, getting onto a cross from Marek Kascak. This wasn't in the script, and it continued, with Slavia not seeming sure what to do, looking a tad lethargic against an Oloumouc side who didn't seem that phased by holding such an early advantage against supposedly more illustrious opponents.
On the half hour mark they doubled their lead. A long free kick floated in, which ended up with Pavel Sultes slotting under Martin Vaniak in the home goal. This seemed to stir Slavia & they started to awaken from their disastrous slumbering start. A mere three minutes later Adam Hlousek reduced the arrears making no mistake in the six yard box.
The second half continued as the first had ended, all Slavia pressure, as Oloumouc defended in strength. I had, by now, moved round to the seats along the side, and had a superb view on the halfway line. I had been snapping round this side of the ground at half time, and just plonked down in one of the empty seats a few minutes into the half. I was well settled down by the time things got even harder for the visitors when captain Marek Kascak got his marching orders in the 61st minute, both for fouls, I think. He's not happy, and he appears to be moaning as he goes.
It's almost constant Slavia pressure for the rest of the game, but Tomas Lovasik in the Sigma goal is playing a blinder, anything on target is not getting past him. I am expecting Slavia to score every time they push forward, and I am torn between wanting them to score because they deserve to, and their support is unwavering from the stands; & willing Oloumouc to clear every ball as they defend for a shock result! Weird emotions, as I'm split between who I want to win, it's almost as if I'm behind both teams!
There is drama right up to the end, as Sigma pick up a couple blatant yellow cards for timewasting. I have no problem with that, with three important points at stake for them. They are extremely fortunate to say the least, with two minutes left on the clock a blatant handball is missed by the referee, which was a clear Slavia penalty to everyone but the man in black, with well over nine thousand of the 9,159 crowd having spotted the infringement!
Fair play to the home side. At the final whistle they go back up to the home end to applaud the fans, though I'm sure they don't really want to. it's a psot match ritual, rather than trying to milk the applause I think!
With the match over it's still early, & I'm not quite sure what to do, as I'm not really going to hit the bars, not drinking, as even though I'm over seven years sober now, it is still quite a temptation in this city! I cross the road to the large shopping centre, and wander round the huge Tesco, where there are a lot of Slavia fans buying cheap beer to drown their sorrows. They seem to congregate outside, in the sort of square, the open space by the entrance on the main road. I cannot understand a word as they chat in their small knots of friends, but it is clear from the tone of their voice that they are not happy bunnies!
It's getting a bit cold, now it's dark and early evening, but not overly nippy. I jump on a tram back toward the centre, and end up walking around the Old Town Square & the Charles Bridge. I realise that although this is the end of day five on my trip, I haven't ventured around the touristy part of Prague at all. Until I do so now I've forgotten how nice it is. There's no football tomorrow night, and I only had a basketball game lined up in Pardubice, as there was no hockey that I could get to. But right now I change my plans. And choose to have leisurely day in town here, not chasing football grounds to photograph for once, & just chill out, being a lazy tourist abroad.
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