Sunday, June 28, 2015

Old SK Prostějov stadium on Sportovní













The stadium was built in 1931, but it hasn't been used by a men's footbal team since 2007 when SK played in the 5th tier.  A year later the SK U19 team played here, but ever since it has only been used by youth teams... and also by homeless people.  

SK played at the stadium for years, but so did Darija Srna (123 caps and 41 goals for Croatia) and Mikel Arteta (Arsenal) during the 1999 U17 European Championships.  The stadium also hosted other youth internationals over the years.




Saturday, June 20, 2015

June 14 - Euro 2016 qualifier - Slovakia 2 Macedonia 1










June 14, 2015
Euro 2016 Qualifier in Žilina
Slovakia 2 Macedonia 1
Att - 10,765 (sold-out)

Žilina was only a 3-hour train trip from Prostějov so I could not pass up the opportunity to watch Macedonia play.  It is most definitely not a tourist city, and it is a little rough around the edges, but it is interesting enough.  The match sold out quite quickly as the Slovaks were in 1st place in the group.  About 20 Macedonians came from Austria for the game, but I was alone in the rest of the stadium. However, it is something I have felt before supporting Canada, so it was not a problem for me.  Macedonia were terrible in the first half, but they improved in the second half.  With that being said, they still deserved to lose.

The trip home began at midnight and after a 560kc taxi ride to Prostějov from Olomouc I was home at 4:30am.


Tuesday, June 16, 2015

June 7, 2015 - Okresní Přebor - Zdětín 0 Haná Prostějov 0 (Zdětín won on penalties)









June 7, 2015
Okresní Přebor Prostějov - 8th tier
Zdětín 0 Haná Prostějov 1 (Zdětín won on penalties)
Att - 25

Zdětín is one of those awkward villages to reach during the weekend.  The local train stop is about 3km from the actual village, so I had to walk most of the way in 30C heat.  I was in Zdětín 6 years ago for a Haná game but it was cancelled.  The ground had beautiful huge trees around it 6 years ago and I was looking forward to getting there to get out of the sun.  Unfortunately, the trees were all cut down, and the pitch was baking in the heat.

The game was quite poor, but that is to be expected because of the conditions.  The hosts won on penalties after the game ended 0-0.  I wonder how many leagues around Europe end draws with penalty kicks?