Bohemian Like You - The Prague Derby (but not that one)

 

Prague - a city I was fairly close to moving to once my planned move to Portugal was thrown up in the air by visa related jeopardy. As Portugal's doors seemed to close, Czech Republic announced a decision to open theirs, which meant I'd applied for jobs in Brno, Prague and Ostrava. If not for the job in Brno being the most solid choice, I probably would have opted for a move to the Czech capital.

That said, I've often told people it's a place I love visiting but couldn't live in, much like London to a certain extent. I guess you could say it suffers from Capital City Syndrome, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it brings certain issues.

In any case, I hadn't been to Prague for anything other than work or travel purposes since probably a year ago, so a late November weekend seemed the perfect time to make up for that. A couple of good friends offered to put me up, so I travelled down on Saturday morning with the intention of enjoying a cultural day on the Saturday, before returning to Bohemians for the obligatory weekend game on the Sunday - a third visit to the Dolicek.

In theory, it was a tasy one - a Prague derby. Okay, so it wasn't the main Prague Derby, but it was a Prague Derby between Bohemians and newly promoted Dukla Prague - a club only really being kept above the relegation zone by a godawful Ceske Budejovice. Bohemians on the other hand are only four points ahead of their city rivals. Essentially a win for either team could do them the world of good.

Bohemians 3-1 Dukla Praha - A weekend in the city

I had thought about throwing in Sparta v Teplice on the Saturday, but I'd been already. Tickets were also on the expensive side, and as impressive a stadium and atmosphere it is, I didn't fancy rushing to Prague for a repeat visit.

The train was meant to be at 9.39, but of course it was delayed by around half an hour. I was thankful to at least have a seat reserved, meaning I could finish reading Football Clichés in relative peace and comfort.

I essentially would have the afternoon to myself in Prague, until such time I'd meet those aforementioned friends later on for pizza and a film. I opted for a trip to the National Museum, which was simply...okay. They had various artefacts on the history of the 20th Century, as well as a fairly small Olympic related exhibit. It was fine, but probably not 300kc fine.

I then tried to find the Prague Doll store, with Russian dolls from pretty much any sports team available. Google Maps turned out to be incorrect, as I'd ended up finding the store by accident walking back from Charles Bridge after a prior wild goose chase around Prague's most touristic area.

I already had a Stevenage doll from 2018-19 with Kurtis Guthrie at the top for some reason, alongside current boss Alex Revell, assistant boss Scott Cuthbert, legend and nice guy Joel Byrom and a tiny Luther James-Wildin in the middle. I checked the updated version, which for the life of me I can't remember bar the fact it still had a tiny James-Wildin inside. As you can probably tell I didn't buy it, tempted though I was. 

I went to meet my friends at around 5-ish on Namesti Miru, where we grabbed some food and were essentially bullied into choosing a beer by an incredibly stern waitress. I had what can only be described as Czech nachos (Bramborky with a creamy garlic sauce), before we headed to the cinema to watch the new Hugh Grant film, Heretic. It wasn't awful by any means, but it didn't seem to have much point, as excellent as Hugh Grant's performance was.

On Sunday, I had the luxury of sleeping in, which I managed quite well despite the scampering of (highly adorable) cats at my friends' apartment. Then I headed back to Dolicek - a real throwback of a stadium in general and not just as far as Czech football is concerned. The terrace behind the goal feels as close as it's possible to get to watching a game in the 1950s, outdoor urinals being the icing on that particular cake.

If I'm being honest, the first half between Bohemians and Dukla was shite. Nothing happened. Neither team looked willing to take a chance. The second half was a completely different beast, with Dukla taking a deserved lead through Stepan Sebrle - their first goal in over a month.

After the goal, they'd looked almost solid enough to withstand the growing Bohemians pressure, given that the hosts really offered nothing for a lot of the game. That was until Adam Kadlec levelled the scoring with a beautiful strike from outside the box 67 minutes in. Eight minutes later, Vaclav Drchal made it 2-1 with a header, before Ales Cermak sealed the win in the 85th minute. 

Bohemians have always been something of an enigma; they'll either finish in the top four, or be battling relegation with little in between, at least based on the viewpoint of a casual observer like myself. After this win, however, Bohemians find themselves in 8th, with very little between any of the mid-table sides right now. For now at least, a relegation play-off looks highly unlikely, which is more than can be said of Dukla, now on a run of four defeats in the league.

As for the derby aspect, you probably wouldn't have even been able to tell it was a derby based on any aspect of the day. Both sets of fans displayed no animosity toward the other, and nothing really spilled over onto the pitch. That said, it was a great advert for how the Czech game can sometimes throw something good up, though you might need to sit through some crap first...