February 24, 2013
Gambrinus Liga (1st tier)
Sigma Olomouc 2 Slavia Prauge 1
Attendance: 5,000
Admission: 90kc (uncovered seating)
I have been following Sigma Olomouc ever since 1999, and I once went to a lot of home and away games. When I moved to Prostějov in 2007 I still followed Sigma quite closely. However, since about 2010 I have slowly been drifting away from Sigma because I end up going to see my local side play home and away. I would say I don't support Sigma anymore, but I definitely still follow them closely.
With the break in lower league football continuing until late March, I took the opportunity to watch the 1st round after the winter break in the Gambrinus Liga . The Sigma-Slavia match was my first I have attended at Andruv Stadion since the summer of 2010. The first thing I noticed walking up to the stadium was the slight rise in costs. Tickets were now 90kc for uncovered seating, and 120kc for covered. When I moved to Prostějov I remember that the uncovered seating would go for 50kc.
The other thing I noticed was the that northern stand with the steep seating was closed. Apparently, it was closed because of a health and safety risk. The city and the club feared that the steps on the stand could become slippy during the match from ice. Since the stand is extremely steep, this was probably a wise decision. Unfortunately for me, I was not able to sit in my usual spot high above the pitch. Instead, I had the sit in the south stand which was rebuilt a few years ago. The view is still pretty good, but nothing like the northern stand, which I would recommend to anyone wanting to see a game at Andruv.
Slavia normally brings a healthy sized following for away matches, so this meant a large police presence. I would say Slavia had between 100-150 supporters at the game, which is certainly respectable for a Sunday 17:00 kickoff. Of course this meant that the main shop in the train station was closed for 'technical reasons'. This happens whenever a team plays in Olomouc that has a large following. The Slavia supporters were quite loud to begin the match, but quickly quieted down after Sigma took an early 2-1 lead. Perhaps it was because I was sitting at the other end of the stadium? They just didn't seem to have the vocal passion. In the 2nd half they had a fantastic display with flares and some sort of banner (which I couldn't read). The flares were met by a public address announcer who reminded the crowd that flares weren't allowed. Obviously, the supporters (for Sigma and Slavia) who wanted to bring flares into the game didn't have any problems.
The Sigma supporters were decent. They seem to have grown in numbers of the past few years, and look to be more organized. They also seem to be a little more 'family friendly' and concentrate more on creating an atmosphere around the stadium.
The match was certainly an interesting one, considering the long winter break. Slavia came our fast and scored early on, but Sigma scored two goals before the 20th minute. It was all the scoring in the game and Sigma won 2-1. Slavia were unlucky not have scored a goal in the second half, and deserved to get a point from the game.
