Telstar v Go Ahead Eagles
Schwabmünchen v Kottern
Heracles Almelo Reserves v Excelsior Reserves
Eindhoven Reserves v PEC Zwolle Reserves
On Thursday evening my weekends football was planned to be a few games around Northamptonshire in the United Counties League. However, finally getting a response from an acquaintance about the world's largest model railway exhibition taking place that weekend in Utrecht, saw everything change for the Friday.
For once I was thankful of the UK's draconian immigration criteria, as work had suddenly called for an audit on right to work evidence, so my passport was in my office drawer, though only with Dutch and German train travel coupons in it, but that still gave me a few options.
So instead of a meeting to discuss a points failure in Hunts Cross, instead I was on an airport bound train from Piccadilly.
Where it was onto the appropriately named Flying Dutchman. I was next to two Scouse girls who consumed an herculean amount of pre-mixed gin and tonic, and then moved onto cans of Heineken from the trolley. My admiration for one of them responding to a call for a passenger called Bromley, by starting an obscure rendition of 'Bromley away', was only bettered by their iron-bladdered nature meaning that despite the amount they had sunk, not once did I get disturbed for them to visit the toilet, which is normally a continual process when you get stuck next to Prosecco driven hen party. I left them in the arrivals lounge, with one of them announcing to the world 'Fuck it, I've forgotten my black bra, the one that pushes me tits right up'.
It was downstairs and onto a Den Haag bound VIRM; Verlengd InterRegio Materieel (Lengthened interregional rolling stock).
These are double deck units, but the upstairs possess windows that are so small, they make Pendolinos look like conservatories.
They have recently gone through a refurb, with the entire spend in first class seemingly having hone on the most hideous and impractical door fittings.
I was off at the first stop, Leiden. It is one of the Netherland's most ancient town, originally occupied because of its slightly raised position, on which fortifications were built. Over time it became an important centre for textile and printing. These days it is a major university city, as well as the European headquarters for human organ donation. So now you know.
The town gave a great opportunity to tick off the Netherlands bingo sheet.
Canals.
Windmill.
Those strange lifting bridges.
All I was missing was a huge colonial caused dressing room divide at a major international footballing tournament, and I'd have had the full set of a Dutch stereotypical scenes. However, what I was also missing was my hotel, which wasn't where it says it was.
A look around the corner revealed this was because it was actually a boat, which appeared to have changed moorings.
And so I prepared for a night in steerage.
Great bathroom signage of our time.
But I wasn't staying nautical for the evening, and it was back to the station for another VIRM.
And a run into Amsterdam Centraal.
With a decent selection of NS traction on show. From left, a VIRM, dubbeldeksaggloregiomaterieel, Intercity Materieel, NS ICE3.
I was out into Amsterdam itself, they call it the slightly bigger version of Leiden.
Now I could have done Anne Franks house, but when it comes to diaries, she is way down the list behind Adrian Mole, and John Heaton's Devon Railways: The Area Manager's Diary 1986-1987: A personal account of how the nationalised railway was operated.
No, my destination was here.
Where I got to see a cow in a bandana.
And read about Dutch 'super cows'.
And guess the weight of different varieties of cheese.
With that excitement over it was back to the station. Look, I know Holland is all about free love, but for 'Tax consultants for Amsterdam based SMEs'?
Eventually I did get back to the ferry/tram/metro/train/bike/bus integrated transport wet dream of Central station.
With one of the new SLT; Sprinter Lighttrain for my next move.
Most double vowels in a thirteen letter station name?
I was into Uitgeest.
Where there was the chance for a quick out and back on one of the last remaining 1700 class turns. These are a 1990s build of the classic French BB 7200 locos. The NS version have steadily been replaced by new units, and these are some of the last peak workings.
Graffiti artists are often devotees of urban music, the one top right is a particularly unique choice.
It was onto an SGM; Stadsgewestelijk Materieel (Suburban Equipment), the original Sprinter units that British Rail named their trains after in the 1980s.
This took me for a few shacks down the coastal line. Before dropping me off at Beverwijk.
I was now heading for some evening football, and their was another station close to the ground, but instead this was a walk down a dark cycle dual carriage way, dodging various youths on unlit mopeds trying to set land speed attempts.
The reason for coming this way led at the end of it.
This is the Velsen ferry, crossing the Noordzeekanaal.
Which was to take me to Velsen Zuid, where the floodlights of the intended game were directing me in.
This used to be the main way between Velzen and Ijmuiden, but a road bridge has now been built, so we were devoid of any vehicle traffic. Instead, a very healthy load of mopeds and bicycles.
I headed down to the ground.
Which was here. However, there didn't seem much activity and on enquiring at the reception, I was informed that the game didn't kick off for another hour and three quarters, as I'd managed to get both the start time wrong and then fail to take into account the clocks going back. So how to kill 105 minutes on the outskirts of a secondary North Sea ferry terminal?
Well I climbed the embankment behind the goal and watched a veterans game, which promptly ended after about thirty seconds.
So I went for another round trip on the ferry.
Looked downstream of the North Sea Canal, built in the 1860s to link Amsterdam to the North Sea at Ijmuiden.
Discovered that there are companies that just move ship's masts.
By the time I found myself trying to translate the difference between the seven different car wash programmes, I realised that even by my standards, I was wasting my life, so went off to see if the gates had opened yet.
Telstar 3 v Go Ahead Eagles 1, Jupiler Eerste Divisie
Telstar were formed in 1963 when local sides Stormvogels and VSV merged, the name comes from a satellite that was launched the same year, though I'm not sure of any connection other than tenuous symbolism. The new team carried on from its predecessors in the Eerste Divisie, the second level of Dutch football, though immediate promotion took them to the top Eredivisie. They stayed there until the late 1970s, and have steadfastly finished mid table in the Eerste ever since.
Go Ahead Eagles are from Deventner, in the north East of the Netherlands. The city grew up as a crossing point of a trading route, specialising in Norwegian dried haddock. However, the silting up of the river prevented ships reaching it, but this was offset when it was found the silt contained iron ore, so it became an iron producing area. The football club were formed in 1902 as Be Quick, but the Dutch Football Federation decided this sounded too much like a teachers response to a pupil asking to go to the toilet, so instead they became Go Ahead. The Eagles suffix was added in the 1970s by then head coach Barry Hughes, with marketing strategy apparently one of his many talents, just take a look at his singing career. The club had a lot of early success, winning the Dutch title four times in their first three decades. Since then they have had a more mundane existence, with long spells in the two professional divisions of Dutch football.
The Schoonenberg Stadion was opened in 1948 and was home of Stormvogels, the storm birds.
The main stand was rebuilt in 2009, with the replacement having a unique wood and canvas roof.
The seated stand on the opposite touchline was refurbished at the same time, but with less architectural adventure.
The north end terrace is no longer used, hosting advertising hoardings instead.
At the opposite end, a smaller cover was erected in 2010, for away supporters.
However, the dug outs seemed to be forgotten about, just being a few pieces of white plastic garden furniture.
I still had half an hour to kill, so spent it looking through the programme, where the nautical location of the club meant in the advertising, on the same page you could order a pizza, find a local pest control provider and get your ocean going crude oil tanker repaired.
I then researched what English phrases there isn't a Dutch equivalent for. A particularly specialist advert for wind farms informed me that they are; Shutdown Management, Site wide Construction Services, Factory to Foundation and Rapid Response. Who knew.
Pre-match entertainment consisted of a bloke in a sheepskin jacket, with Telstar stickers on his guitar, miming along to a couple of Elvis songs that were blaring out. Which got the crowd marginally more frenzied than the wind farm adverts.
The teams emerged.
The opening exchanges were ok, if a bit sloppy.
However, Telstar then suddenly decided they were Brazil in the 1970 World Cup finals and scored this goal.
The bloke in the sheepskin jacket waved a bit of card which was both in Dutch and upside down. Perhaps it was for a rival wind farm supplier.
Followed by this.
A decent @keepers_towel for the away goalie.
Into the second half and Telstar added a third.
I lived in Holland for a year in the 1990s and used to enjoy going to games where Go Ahead were the away side as they used to have a pitch wide banner that proclaimed 'NEVER GO WHERE EAGLES DARE!'. I'm not particularly sure what it meant, but I still use it at least once a month as a bewildering managers comment in a staff appraisal. Unfortunately, it appears the banner hadn't survived the twenty five year period since I last saw it.
Go Ahead got a consolation goal and the game ended 3-1.
After the game it was back to the local station.
And onto an Amsterdam bound local unit.
Where the ornate platform buildings at Haarlem were the cue for me to switch to a Den Haag bound VIRM.
Which dropped me back at Leiden.
With the windmill all lit up, as was the adjacent cement silo.
With the windmill all lit up, as was the adjacent cement silo.
With the Zijlpoort city gateway looking very smart. As it has done since 1667
And my floating hotel awaiting.
The next morning it was breakfast in the galley.
Back through the city gates.
And back to the station.
This picture was intended to show you how great integrated travel is when it works, with an my Amsterdam Central - Vlissengem service on the left, making a cross platform change with a Schipol - Den Haag service on the right...
...then both departing concurrently.
However, it was at that point I realised I'd got the two trains the wrong way round, so I had the unexpected bonus of a round trip to Den Haag, home city of darts legend Co Stompe, if you were wondering. Anyway, here is the same pair of trains 45 minutes later, with me now getting on the correct one.
Which took me to my intended Interchange, Rotterdam Central, where it was onto a DD-AR. These are strange double deck units, as they have the motor equipment on the bottom deck of one of the driving coaches, which also means it has three bogies.
This was taken across to Utrecht, where it was a walk across the road to the National Exhibition Centre.
Which was hosting Eurospoor, Europe's largest collection of adult virgins, or to give it its correct title, Europes largest model railway exhibition.
And what a diverse collection of layouts there were. Windmills and 'ferkeltaxis'.
Polish bridges in TT gauge.
Paper plates and Z gauge.
Working lifting bridges.
An ironing board.
Das Boot.
A ride on train.
An LGB narrow gauge carrier wagon transfer.
The days @nonleague_train offering.
A model of Liverpool Lime Street in its entirety, which wasn't very prototypical as the whole station didn't have to come to a stand still to get the late running down Virgin service into PPM.
These blokes had got the cab from a real loco and wired it up to control the loco on their layout. No doubt they immediately demanded a technology payment, and refused the shift as it went a minute over the one hour movement allowance.
Next to him, his mate had built proper signalling controls. They have probably fallen out already as the driver has been asked to leave his cab and check some points for trapped ballast, whilst the signaller is worried he's going to be moved to route control in Didcot.
Almost everyone here looked like this bloke.
For those with a strong desire to recreate 1914 air travel, you could by an HO scale Zeppelin.
But I was all modelled out. So I looked into football. Now I could have done a revisit to a Dutch ground, as I'd cleared them all to step 5 when I lived here. But I had a German coupon burning a whole in my pocket, so it was the opportunity for something more adventurous.
Which was the 1505 ICE on an Amsterdam to Frankfurt run.
Taken through to Köln.
For the endurance of another ICE move. DB have just completely lost the plot these days. Liberalisation of the railways is part of EU law, and this requires that the infrastructure be separate from the train operator, and there be unrestricted access for companies to operate on it. When this happened, DB tried to protect its power base in Germany by going on the offensive and opening up operations in other countries, with attempts at muscling in on the French freight network, and buying Arriva, the UK train and bus operator. However, this has massively backfired as the complexity of its business elsewhere, means DB has completely taken its eye of running the German rail network, which in the meantime had turned to complete rat shit. Major engineering projects are over running for time and money, and there is no focus on the previously hugely disciplined day to day operation. This means there are emergency timetables all over the place, staff shortages, and those that are left, don't seem to give a shit. This has meant that the tendered operations are being haemorrhaged to other operators, as no council wants anything to do with DB as they are so piss awful. They have a monopoly on the inter city network, but there is significant pressure to look elsewhere for that, because of how badly DB are doing with that. Still, the bus that Arriva Yorkshire Tiger operate between Halifax and Rochdale runs ok.
Five hours later, and forty minutes late, it was into Ulm, almost three weeks since I was last here.
Next morning, a bright and early start with a unit move heading south. These are class 612s, and are in essence two car diesel pendolinos, who's tilting capability was intended to speed up journeys on winding secondary routes as they can go faster around corners by leaning into them. In practice, they just break down a lot and make people travel sick, so they are now confined to basic branch line work.
Passing the stabling point and a warren of Rabbits eking out their final days as they are due to go by December.
At the model trains, I'd picked up long time travelling companion and ever longer time notorious liar, Jacko, the only person from the Underwood estate to have ever made it out of Gwent.
We were off at Kempten, which was one big unit fest.
Which soon turned into a rabbit fest, as a pair of 218s arrived on the Munchen-Zurich SBB service.
Where it was into a very convivial part of the first non EU stock of the tour. Obviously post Brexit this is what the 0708 Sowerby Bridge - Manchester Victoria will look like, rather than the full and standing class 142 that Brussels dictates for it to be operated by at the moment.
We were intrigued by the 'Young and trendy on-board catering concept'.
So we had croissants and coffee.
This is the only IC of the day to run this south route via Immenstadt, which is incredibly scenic. Not that you'd know from my photos as I wanted to include the locos in the shot, but couldn't be arsed to get up, so here are some blurred photos through a dirty window, of a hillside...
...a lake...
...an alpine town...
...a viaduct...
...and a golf course.
This isn't actually a blurred photo, it's the causeway into the Bodensee which was incredibly misty.
We were off at Lindau, where the rabbits were cut off.
And a Swiss class Re 421 dropped on the other end...
...to take it round the lake into Austria and then onto St Gallen and Zurich.
I had a while before my departure and there was a single class 218 on a Stutgart, which was thrashing away nicely.
Nice enough to do a one shack spin on it. As you're probably bored of hearing now, these locos are called rabbits because the roof exhausts look like bunny ears, but these ones were kicking out some fine clag.
We had a four minute fester, where we found a sculpture made out of signal components.
And one which had some signalling components I've certainly never seen before.
To top it all, it was mega thrash of a single car class 650 for the run back into Lindau.
During which I was witness to some affectionate yet graphic condensation graffiti.
We dropped back into Lindau with a couple of coaches of East German heritage on the left.
These belong to private operator Alex, a portmanteau of Alpine Express. They run between here, up to Munich and then along the border up to Dresden and also over to Prague. They were set up as the opening forray of Arriva into the European rail market, but when they were bought by DB, they had to sell them and are now owned by FS, the Italian state railway. How come every country in Europe except Britain has a state railway that operates mostly in other countries?
The stabling point was active with a couple of rabbits and another Alex loco.
As well as the unit fuel point.
Lindau's location on an island in the Bodensee saw it overrun by all the religious nuts, a monastery, a nunnery and various churches. It then became a convenient port and trading point, but these days is very much a tourist resort.
The normally quaint streets were hosting a fairground. It was good to see that even though it was abroad, the stalls were still manned by surly pensioners chain smoking lucky strikes.
However, it did mean the views out to the lake were blocked by a giant Anthropomorphic corn on the cob.
However, the boats were moored up until next Easter.
Well, apart from some enticing Fondues specials.
But eventually we did get an uninterrupted view of the harbour.
A view into the Bodensee. EU Austria is on the left, with the blazing sunshine and prosperity of independent Switzerland on the right. Incidentally, the English name for it is Lake Constance, which my phone spell checks as 'Late Cunt Stains' which isn't a particularly pleasant reflection on words I've added into the dictionary.
With not particularly rateable traction on the streets...
With the same pair of rabbits had earlier dropping onto it.
Having uncoupled the other end, the shunter arrives on his push bike to couple up.
Jacko and his maybe partner were heading off to Hamburg and then to Norway, so I bid them farewell. Jacko took this shot of my train departing Lindau.
My journey towards Munich was on the route via Memmingem, which is much less scenic. I was off mid point at Buchloe, having travelled in the panorama car but without too much to see.
I sight I didn't want to see wad rail replacement busses in the car park, as I needed the next line.
But indeed it was 'Ersatz' action towards Bobingen.
Well, it was for me and the one other person on it.
I alighted at the only stopping point, Schwabmünchen.
Whatever this places history was, and current economic activity is, it was shut.
However, I was reliant on this place being open.
There seemed to be a fair variety of sports on offer, especially for those without a torso. Archery was in the background, and I still have no idea what is being depicted bottom left.
The players were warming up on an open field outside the ground, which generally is a good sign as it means they are looking after the pitch for the game itself.
Schwabmünchen 1 v Kottern 0, Oberliga - Bayern Süd
TSV Schwabmünchen were formed in 1863. It has perhaps the most frank assessment of its past 'for most of its history the club has been a non-descript amateur side in local Bavarian football' then in 1968 two seasons in the Landesliga before 'The club remained undistinguished after that from 1970 to 1998'. The website sounds almost disappointed about the subsequent promotions that have taken it up to the Oberliga.
The Ivo Moll stadium is named after a local judge, but is currently sponsored by Domus Regiobau, estate agents in the town. The ground has recently been upgraded with pitchside railings and paved hard standing.
Centrepiece was this very attractive woodern stand.
With lots of bench seating around the perimeter.
This gave it the look of a Yorkshire club cricket ground.
The teams emerged. Well a few players did, then tried to get whatever shelter they could until the officials made their way out.
But eventually they braved the lashing rain.
Everybody shook hands.
And then they played football.
Wet weather surprisingly only saw one @keepers_towel.
Those with any sense took sanctuary in the main stand.
Those with umbrellas braved the open.
I stood in various woodland. This one gave a great view of everything apart from one of the goals.
This one gave a view of that goal, but you had to duck down under the advertising boards to see the other.
This bloke took a corner.
By now the rain was so heavy, my body was struggling to keep functioning, let alone my phone camera. So I retreated to the open veranda of a steak house to watch e game. Here is the build up to he only goal, the home side winning 1-0.
Programme adverts at half time was for spit roasted whole pigs.
Second half and a goal for the home team.
The game ended 1-0.
Afterwards it was back to the station where there were still no trains.
So another bus move.
Through to Bobingen...
...where a unit was shuttling to Augsburg.
As ever, all the IC trains were late, with my two options to Koln being either a direct Dortmund service that was +40 due to 'a police investigation' or a +6 Berlin that involved a +6 connection at Mannheim, where I have never ever made a booked connection in all my years.
The current fiasco is tunnelling works they were doing on a new high speed line in the Stutgart area, managed to dig straight into the existing railway tunnel, so the fast line to Mannheim is closed. So we staggered on the classic line through the hills. Now, the timetable has been adjusted with my train leaving forty minutes earlier from Stutgart. However, this doesn't factor in the crew having to smoke at every station, delaying stops by an additional five minutes. This meant my +48 at Mannheim became a -4 onto a Swiss run train, and SBB quite rightly aren't being dragged down by the uselessness of DB, and had already gone when we finally rolled in.
So I rejoined my Berlin bound service, instead hoping to make a connection at Frankfurt Main, just as long as we didn't lose another forty minutes in the meantime.
Fortunately, we were only delayed by another 36 minutes and therefore I made what should have been a 180 minute connection by a very comfortable seven minutes.
Where an uneventful spin down the non HSL route got us to the bridge over the Rhein four minutes early, and Hauptbahnhof 200 yards further, seven minutes late.
Still, at least the scaffolding looked nice. Pity the Cathedral always gets in the way.
Monday morning and one of the great views from a hotel bedroom being Köln Hauptbahnhof.
I was onto seemingly the only on time train on the whole departure boards, an all shacks class 425 to Mönchengladbach.
Seeing the error of their ways, the signallers held us outside Nippes for ten minutes. There was the usual ultra keen DB staff work ethic. The guard spending the whole journey talking to the driver in the cab, carefully watching a group of four of us having to man handle a wheelchair onto the train.
A slight vegetation management issue on the platform at Rheydt.
I had a plus five at Mönchengladbach, we arrived +7 but my onward connection was still there. I thought it had been held for the late running connection from Munster, but it was only because it was awaiting the single line that service arrives on and as soon as the signal cleared, off we went, giving the passengers off that train a great view of the train that they now have to wait another hour for, with some even getting the chance to fruitless press the door open buttons.
We rattled onwards, across the border and into Venlo, though no longer do the German trains have to coast into the station as they can't cope with the Dutch voltage.
A less than convenient three minute connection between these two trains as the subway is right at the far end by the Arriva unit on the right.
I lived in Venlo for a year doing a masters degree, for which I received an EU Grant which was mostly spent on clearing the top 4.5 tiers of Dutch grounds and also attending all the Eurocop stages of the 1996 Tractor Pulling season.
I was heading for Alemo in north West Holland, but I hadn't made the connection onto the Arriva unit which cuts the corner across, so instead it was some IC moves, firstly across to Eindhoven with the Phillips Stadion now somewhat different to the deckchair stand I remember of old.
It was up to Utrecht where I was off.
And onto a Groningen bound ICM.
Across the flatlands of central Netherlands.
Which took me to Zwolle, with a mad dash onto a Wadloper.
These diesel units were built for the Roermond-Venlo-Nijmegen route when I lived there, but were found to be too wide for a local t of the platforms, so have since migrated north. This one was bound for Enschede, with me alighting at Almelo de Riet.
Almelo is a former textiles town in the east of Holland. The industry attracted quite a large influx of workers from the likes of Spain and Turkey so there is quite a lot of diversity in the 72,000 population. These days, the town is the focus of Hollands nuclear industry, with a particular speciality in uranium enrichment.
Behind an unusual thatched house, was the first glimpse of floodlights for today's game.
Further walking looked like the main access route on the map, but instead was a churned up bank of a drainage ditch.
But across the training pitches and a tractor trailer, the stadium appeared.
It is amongst quite a sports complex, with it also housing SV Almelo, who play in the Vijfde klasse Zondag, fifth class Sunday.
As well as AVC La Première, who play in the same competition.
But most importantly, this place.
Which is the Polman Stadion, home of Heracles
And also in one corner, a Plus Cornelis supermarket, making it the Normid/Burnden Park of the lowlands.
Make up your own pithy comment about the opposition turning up and parking the bus.
I wasn't sure how easy it was to access reserve team games abroad, but there was an open gate through which a pensioner raced though on a moped, and I dutifully followed.
Heracles Almelo Reserves 1 v Excelsior Reserves 1, Netherlands Reserve League - Group A
Heracles were founded in 1903 and are named after the demigod son of Zeus, who I am sure it doesn't need me to remind you was 'a paragon of masculinity, the ancestor of royal clans who claimed to be Heracleidae (Ἡρακλεῖδαι), and a champion of the Olympian order against chthonic monsters'. Tiny cock though. They won two pre-war league titles, but then settled down to a life of obscurity in the second division. However, a new stadium in 1999 saw the club gain momentum and promotion up to the Eredivisie for the last ten season, as well as a cup final appearance and also a season in the Europa league.
S.B.V. Excelsior are the third club in Rotterdam after Feyenoord and Sparta, and were founded in 1902. They have always struggled in the face of competition from the other clubs, and these days exists largely as an off-shoot of Feyenoord. The loan of players has helped Excelsior to a number of stints in the top division, where they are at the moment.
The Polman Stadion was opened in 1999, replacing the very basic Bornsestraat, which still exists out to the east of the town.
Initially the stadium only had the lower tier, but an upper one was added to the main stand in 2005...
...and the rest of the ground in 2013, which increased capacity from 6,900 to 13,500.
A tiny standing enclose exists at one end for the home ultras.
The second dutch ground of the trip and the second improvised dugouts, in this case a selection of wicker armchairs in club colours, with an official arranging a variety of soft furnishings on them.
After a final water of the 4G pitch...
...the teams emerged.
Even at this level there are waves to the crowd and handshakes.
But the game got underway.
Which almost immediately saw a screaming goal by the visitors.
And an equaliser from the home team.
And then 80 minutes of centre halves passing it to each other. Total football.
For a game taking place early afternoon on a Monday, there was a fair sized crowd of a very varied cross section of the population.
There were a few other chances, but it finished 1-1.
I was most excited to see another Mark 4 Cortina, which seem to be making a comeback in Europe.
It was back to the main station.
Where it was onto a Koploper.
For a short hop across to Deventer.
With a class 1700 on a Amsterdam - Berlin intercity.
However, my steed was a refurbished DD-AR. These were upgraded in 2009 to intercity status.
The refurbishment was described as 'the upper decks will be quiet, meant for working purposes whereas the lower decks will be for fun and enjoyment'. I forewent the fun and enjoyment, but did get another classy bronze door handle.
Across the Waal at Nijmegen, with the sun setting.
And on through to 's Hertogenbosch, the Duke's Forest.
I saw Oasis at a sports centre in Den Bosch when I lived in Holland. It ended with a huge ruck between a group of Southend supporters who'd got a bus over to the gig, and some local bikers. Today was less eventful, being a five minute dwell before a Maastricht bound VIRM 'buffalo' arrived.
I was off at Eindhoven, and outside to the bus station.
Where a short journey dropped me off at the university campus in the south of the city.
Which is also home to the Jan Louwers Stadion.
Which is home to these.
Eindhoven Reserves 1 v PEC Zwolle Reserves 6, Netherlands Reserve League - Group B
FC Eindhoven were formed in 1909 as EVV Eindhoven, four years before upstarts PSV. EVV were initially the biggest club in the city, but PSV had eclipsed them by the 1950s. The former jumped around the various leagues and had a 1930s cup win, but the 1990s saw the de-facto EVV drop out of the professional leagues, but a new set up called FC Eindhoven carrying on in their place in the second division, and are seen as a continuation. They have carried on the staunch adherence they have had to the Eerste Divisie since the 1970s.
Zwolle is located in north east Holland, it being on a slightly raised area meaning it was a very early settlement that developed into a fishing and trading city. PEC were formed in 1910, and became the middle class side of the three clubs in the city. They have the most convuluted set of initials, PEC being short for PH (Prince Henry) EDN (Ende Desespereert Nimmer - and never despair) Combinatie. They played at the second tier before eventual promotion to the Eredivisie in the 1970s. The 1980s saw a monied benefactor rebuild the stadium and bring in players like Johnny Rep, however success ended with bankruptcy in 1990. However, a steady regrouping has seen a return to the top flight, where it has been since 2012, and a 2014 cup win, beating Ajax 5–1 in the final, and qualifying for their first ever European campaign, being knocked out by Sparta PRague.
The ground was open fields when it was first used in 1934. It was renamed the Jan Louwers Stadium in 1994, after an iconic player from the 1950s.
Here is a blurred photo of the main stand.
A less blurred stand of a very similar stand opposite.
This end stand is neither similar nor blurred.
The final end is just the wall of a sports centre, like Meadow Lane in the 1980s.
Whilst getting a shot from outside the ground, I'd managed to both get hit by a wayward shot, and then miss a goal for the away side.
I was in prime position to see the home side equalise.
And PEC retake the lead.
And watch this bloke take a corner.
Intot he second half and Zwolle added some more goals.
Some blurred players ran past a mat with a logo on it. I'm flagging a bit after 200 odd photo captions.
More goals for the visitors.
Monday night, second division Dutch reserve team football is a great way to not meet like minded people. Which is how I like it.
The game ended 1-6.
I was back to the bus stop.
Which returned me to the very convenient bus/rail interchange.
Where unfortunately it was the Schipol bound VIRM on the left, rather than the loco hauled on the right.
This took me to Amsterdam Zuid for my hotel for the night.
Very early the next morning it was back to the station.
For the short hop to Schipol.
And my awaiting flight back to Manchester.
With the added excitement of a bloke spraying our wings with antifreeze.
And back to Manchester in time to get to Network Rail's North Western headquarters for 0900 and the reality of finding that the actual Liverpool Lime Street has been trying to operate to a timetable that doesn't take into account that it has had a platform missing since recent engineering works. Life is so much simpler in model form.
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