Groundhopping24

Despite planning to complete a quadruple of games over the Easter weekend, I could only muster up a pathetic two  - both on Velk ý Patek (Great or Big Friday if you will). That said, I refuse to let that ruin a perfectly amusing blog title referring to a film I’ve never actually seen. In any case, it gave me the excuse to at least highlight the footballing potential of a city like Brno, which is perhaps more of a hotbed than you may realise. I’ll briefly talk about the two games I attended (and the two I didn’t) before going any further, as they don’t warrant too much discussion. The first was a first visit to Moravská Slavia Brno in Štýřice , as they hosted Olympia R áječko. It was an 11am kick-off with a brisk Spring breeze wreaking havoc with my long hair. It was also a pretty drab affair, with Olympia nicking the three points at the death. Frankly the game deserved to remain goalless though. I had planned to grab some lunch somewhere and then take the 12 tram to Komárov to wat...

As with last week’s trip to Chrudim, this weekend brought with it another amusing auto-translation courtesy of third-tier outfit Slovan Rosice. Where Chrudim had generated ‘I cringe’, Rosice automatically translates to ‘the dew’. How accurate is it? Not the foggiest… Okay, bad jokes aside (impossible in many ways), this was to be one of few trips to watch a third-tier game, given that the weekend brought with it the inevitable March international break. So I spent it in Rosice, still glowing from Jamie Reid’s debut international goal on Friday night. The mighty dew would play host to struggling Uhersky Brod, though only five points separated the two teams prior to kick-off - 16th to 18th are relegated from the MSFL, with Uhersky occupying 16th and Slovan up in 13th. So while neither were on course for the second tier anytime soon, it still had the potential to be an interesting match-up. That said, their last match-up ended goalless in Uhersky Brod back in August. Otherwise it’s a fair...

When looking up Chrudim for this particular blog, auto-translate had amusingly changed the town of around 23,000 inhabitants to ‘I Cringe’. Having asked my student if this is an accurate translation, she had no idea. In any case, it was highly amusing - almost as much as Vlašim becoming ‘my hair’, and Příbram becoming ‘I’m gaining weight’. In any case, it’s clear technology still perhaps has some catching up to do with regard to the auto-translation of towns or surnames, as well as AI. Just take a look at some of the badges here for living proof of that. Yeesh. Up Zzroovvka Brrno I guess. In fact, Zzroovvka Brrno (I’ll go back to their real name next time I promise) were set for a 10.15am KO in Chrudim one Saturday morning, which six of us decided would be a good idea to attend, even in light of some of us attending the previous week’s drab goalless draw at home to Tabor. Something to do, I guess. We did the only natural thing in this scenario and hired a minibus for the sub-two-hour j...

  Problém Zbrojovky - How a decade of malaise is finally coming to a head in Brno Football is crap isn’t it? Some of you may have read my blog last week celebrating my lack of goalless draws so far this season. It’s only natural that it would end with the very next fixture. It’s not often that both my beloved Stevenage and Zbrojovka draw blanks and keep clean sheets on the same day, but both Fleetwood and Tábor managed to earn what they would probably see as solid points on the road. That said, Tábor will feel a little hard done by, with Viktoria Plzen’s loanee goalkeeper Dominik Sváček and some excellent last ditch defending at times keeping them at bay. In truth, they were the better side, and it was clear as to why they find themselves just above Zbrojovka in the league standings. That said, given the difference in resources between the two clubs, it was indicative of a decade-long malaise in the heart of South Moravia which shows little sign of ending if Václav Bartoněk contin...

Last year, I attended one of the worst games ever in Jihlava, as Vysočina Jihlava laboured to a 0-0 at home to Chrudim one particularly chilly Friday night. The temperatures really can drop come nightfall up in the Czech highlands it would be fair to say. Though it wasn’t my first goalless draw of last season, it’s always a bit of a disappointment when you make the effort and don’t actually see any goals.  In fact, last season had four goalless draws for me in total - Peterborough Sports v Stevenage, Slovacko v Sigma Olomouc, the aforementioned Jihlava game, and Zbrojovka 0-0 Zlin - a game result that sent the hosts down to the second tier. The weekend’s game of choice saw a close shave with goallessness between Líšeň and Žižkov, in which the away side left it to the very last kick (or header) of the match to win in stoppage time. It was a much needed win for the Prague side, in danger of falling away and dropping back into the third tier after an impressive promotion. As for Líšeň...