Big Bíteš: Another tick in the Czech fourth tier.

 It's been a quiet start to 2026, but then the start of the year in a footballing sense is almost non-existent around these parts. Barring an excellent Spring Break trip to Belgium, I've barely had time or money to burn with random trips to various towns and cities across Czech Republic and Slovakia. Add to that, a newfound weekend hobby involving darts, in which I'll likely be biding my time between various groundhops and darting tournaments going forward.

In early February, I had considered a return to Trenčín, but my finances had other ideas. Instead, I'd opted to play in a knockout dart tournament, narrowly losing 5-4 in the last leg despite pulling it back from 3-0 down, and having a match dart. Later on in the month, I'd long planned that to be the weekend I'd tick Jablonec off, but given Zbrojovka will likely be travelling there next season anyway, I opted to stay in Brno and win my first darts match - a highly enjoyable 3-2 success. 

With only Zbrojovka's home match against Příbram to end February with (a servicable but by no means enjoyable 1-0 win), there hasn't been a great deal to blog about beyond Belgium. But as the fixture calendar becomes greater and more localised with the return of the third tier and below, the first full weekend of March provided the perfect opportunity to tick off Velká Bíteš of the Czech Fourth Tier Divize D, as they faced Tatran Bohunice.

Coming in from the lengthy winter break in Divize D of the fourth tier, VB have enjoyed a relatively good start, six points off the top in fifth going into the game with Tatran. Tatran, however, are only a couple of points behind Artis Brno B in second position. VB, along with Kuřim probably only have an outside chance of promotion compared to the likes of Artis B, Tatran, and Znojmo, but there is still plenty of football ahead for all teams concerned.

The history of VB as far as the football team is concerned begins in 1932, with the club known as Spartak Velká Bíteš until 2018, when for sponsorship reasons they became FC PBS Velká Bíteš. The PBS in question stands for první brněnská strojírna - a local engineering concern responsible for aerospace manufacturing. 

The club have spent the majority of their time in the lower reaches of the game, with records dating back to existence in the 8th tier back in 1975/76.  The did eventually reach the fifth tier in 1984/85, only to drop back into a sixth tier the club have spent the bulk of its existence until a title win in 2005. The next decade was spent in in the Přebor Kraje Vysočina, until another title win came in 2016. Ever since then, the club have been in Divize D, where last season's fourth placed finish marked the clubs highest ever position.

They are a club I've managed to see once before earlier this season, at none other than Sparta Brno back in October. Sparta emerged 2-1 winners, though it was a close game that could have gone either way. Arguably, Tatran present a tougher proposition, but home advantage could just as easily play an important part. Tatran have the better of VB, winning three times in their five battles over the last few seasons. The other two games were a draw earlier this season, and a 2-1 VB win last season.

Velká Bíteš v Tatran Bohunice

The day began with an 11.25am bus from Zvonarka, which would get me there in around half an hour, and allow plenty of time to explore. That said, I didn't exactly need a great deal of that time - it's very much a small town that you see once and that's probably it, with the greatest of respect. It was pleasant enough, and the church was gorgeous, but beyond that...not much beyond a Lidl and a football ground.

I grabbed some lunch from that very Lidl and sat at the church, the weather being overcast but still a heck of a lot nicer than winter has been. It was then time to make my way to the ground, refuse to buy a 37kc beer because it's Starobrno, and just relax prior to kick-off. The game got off to a fast start, with Adam Krejci scoring for the away side on a rebound six minutes in to give them the lead. It was only Adam's fourth of the season, of which I've seen 50% of them, with the target man having notched in an earlier season game at home to VelMez. 

After the opening goal, VB did turn the screw a little, but Tatran remained pretty dogged defensively throughout, even carving out some chances of their own. It dawned on me while watching the game just how well Tatran did the attritional stuff - they were very much a team of giants, highly effective, but it should also be noted, highly capable of playing some lovely stuff as well.

They were able to hold out for the second-half which somehow went by pretty quickly despite very little happening. They took the points with them back to Brno, and kept some much needed pressure on Artis Brno B, given that Znojmo had lost 3-2 at home to Humpolec earlier in the day. With a few months of the season left to run, Artis B are certainly in the driving seat, but it's not exactly cut and dried just yet.

Five things you didn't know about Velká Bíteš

1. Until 1924, the town went by a very different name. Well, I say that, it was Velká Byteš rather than Velká Bíteš. The etymology of the name is also unclear, though one theory is that it stems from something along the lines of 'place belonging to Vitech'.

2. The aforementioned church is very much the town's centrepiece, originally Romanesque, but rebuilt in the Gothic style in the 14th Century. It is also one of the few church fortresses in the region.

3. The town's biggest annual event is the Bíteš Fest - a festival that involves traditional dress, and of course, dancing around a Maypole, as well as occasionally some famous artists and bands. 

4. Martin Rohác, Czech Republic's historically worst murderer in terms of number of victims, was born and raised in Velká Bíteš in the 1500s. He often killed at random, with confirmed victims said to be 59.

5. Velká Bíteš has historically functioned as a stopover on trade routes from Prague to Brno, and today it still does, with the D1 motorway passing through the town.