Groundhopping24

Remember the Simpsons episode ‘The City of New York versus Homer Simpson’, where Homer comes to hate everything about the Big Apple because of his own misfortune within the five boroughs? Well, in truth the renowned city of Praha became that on Saturday evening for me. Don’t get me wrong, I still love the city, but sometimes things conspire in the most ridiculous of ways. Even as I write this, my body still aches due to what happened, but more on that later…   The day started early with three of us representing the so-called Gentleman Ultras of Zbrojovka Brno in the bright lights of Prague. I should have foreseen the tumultuous day ahead when I’d spotted some spilled milk on the station floor, regrettably cleaned up before I could make a joke about having sobbed over it. Fear not though; that’s what my Twitter is for!   The day’s opponents were seeking their 8 th consecutive win, so we’d essentially written off the game before a ball had even been kicked. We watched Zlín ...

Unlucky thirteen in this series naturally returned the dreaded goalless draw I had probably been overdue, having not yet seen one in a regular competitive fixture this season – Stevenage’s second string away to Peterborough Sports in a July friendly doesn’t count here. The Uherské Hradiště side played host to Sigma Olomouc in a game between two fairly solid defences. The result should have been no surprise really on that basis alone.   Offensively, neither team offered a lot, with the hosts dominating the ball without really creating a clear cut chance. Sigma thought they’d had the lead just before HT, only for VAR to rule out the only moment of interest in the whole game. It was drab, lifeless, and Baltic weather-wise. The half-time flurry of snow, brutal though it was, happened to be the highlight of the whole game, in that the pitch became white instead of green.   I regret to say, dear reader, that it was one of those . Even the half-time klobasa was ruined by that...

Okay, so this one is neither Czech nor Slovakian, but a weekend jaunt to Katowice allowed us to take in something a little different on football’s long awaited return to this corner of the globe. Besides, this blog is about exploring all kinds of grounds from my wonderfully located host city of Brno, so expect some ventures through Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Slovakia, Germany, and countless others in 2023.   I’d had a pretty good start to the year in fairness, with the small matter of Stevenage seeing off Aston Villa as if they were a poor man’s Woking, but football returning to its weekly re-occurrence was certainly welcome. That said, I’m still not entirely convinced Villa away actually happened.   Temperatures were expected to be around -2 degrees (at best), which meant wrapping up warm was the order of the day for most of the weekend, though nowhere more so than Piast Gliwice’s delightful ground, Stadion Miejski. It actually bore a resemblance to its near namesake...