Chronicles of the Berkshire Pig: Autumn Eurocrankhop

Dynamo Dresden v Armenia Bielefeld, German - DfB Pokal

Next morning and back to Katowice station in the dark.

I was on a Praha bound IC service, arriving just as the light was appearing.

Heading down to the Czech border, this train is the one a day that instead of heading down the main route via Tychy, instead heads through Upper Silesia and Rybnik. This was a major coal mining area, which is currently in steady decline. The run through here was like a two hour tour of Blaenavon Big Pit, except with more anti-Venezuelan, Polish graffiti.

PKP have also gone up market, and instead of a grudging half-smile from the guard, first class international customers now get a complimentary breakfast, which consisted of four different sorts of chocolate, obviously trying to bring the country in line with EU diabetes levels.

After a loco change at Bohumin, we carried on through the Czech flatlands.

Part of the charm of the old Czech railways were these little fellas. Known as 'dusty bins' to British cranks, they are single carriage, four wheeled rail cars, like half a Pacer.

However, they are now being displaced by modern units, or being completely rebuilt with new bodies. Or quite often, the lines they operate on are being closed. As I go after track rather than traction, I have had numerous of them, so it is sad to see them in the scrap line at Česká Trébová.

I was off at Pardubice.

I was massively tempted by this, a rebuilt Dusty hauling three coaches to Liberic.

Or this heritage stock that was in the centre road.

But instead it was a EuroCity service heading for Hamburg...

...having started at 0726 from Budapest.

Football grounds visible from the railway; Koljice.

My river companion today was the Elba, though the Locals have gone all anagram word game on it, it being called the Leba through the Czech Republic.

Into Praha. Probably not it's best side.

And another loco change and some German rolling stock added at Praha Hlavni.

Out of Praha and over the Vltava, the river the city is built on.

From now on, the railway follows the river up through the gorge. Now whilst all this is lovely and scenic, the real benefit is that the villages in the gorge, have to locate any playing fields by the river as it is the only flat land. This gives a multitude of football grounds visible from the railway.

Libčice nad Vitavou Ledky

Dolan

The top of the stand at Zamék, disappointingly the ground was hidden by a sound barrier.

Dynamo Nelaozeves

For a short time we disappear away from the river, as it goes off to join the Elba. However, the combination joined us for the pitches at Roudnice.

Radčice

Dobriń

Donin Zalezly

Hrbitov

After Ústi nad Labem, the gorge closes up so there are no more football grounds. Instead, the Czechs have sited their heavy industry in it.

Over the border and into what was the former Eastern Germany. They had chosen to use the scenic gorge for holiday homes for the Stasi, so there is an immediate contrast as cement works give way to beautiful scenery.

I was off shortly after, at Dresden. The city is best known for regularly having the living shit bombed out of it. Dresden was originally founded in the Neolithic era (bloody beaker folk, coming over here, teaching us to make primitive drinking vessels) as a result of being at the foot of the Ore mountains, and on the river Elba. It was then taken over by the Saxons, but by the Middle Ages was in Polish charge. However, the Prussians fancied a bit of it so they then captured it. Each time it changed hands, the battle to win it and the desire to remove the legacy of the previous rule, meant the centre was largely flattened. By the 1900s, Dresden was a major industrial centre, its focus being cars and cigarettes, which is two thirds of the German way of life, Denim being the only omission. So come WW2, the allies had a few pops at bombing the place, which ultimately led to a massive series of raids in February 1945, the locals somewhat perturbed that there wasn't much industry and infrastructure in the medieval city centre and residential areas that were destroyed. Still, gave the Nazis an opportunity to pretend it had destroyed all their stolen art. Post-war, Dresden became a major industrial centre for East Germany. However, it also became a catalyst for the 1989 uprising, a lot of this due to the draconian actions of the Dresden outstationed KGB superior, a certain Vladimir Putin. The most famous person from Dresden is of course Uwe Rossler, who's fathers father was single handedly responsible for the 1940s aerial assault on leading Salford sporting venues.

After dropping stuff off at the hotel, I was disappointed I had no time for the huge miniature railway run by kids, or the Schwebebahn, the East German attempt at a dangelbahn. Most disappointingly, there was no chance to visit the Communist Museum of Hygiene, which was always advertised in 1970s Thomas Cook European rail timetables, along with the Coventry Climax forklift truck. Instead, it was a short walk to the Dresden Stadion.

It was a cup game, which meant it started earlier as there was the chance of extra time and penalties. However, this meant a lot of people turning up near kick off. After purchasing my ticket on a busy side of a ground, I wandered round to the required entrance, only to find an almighty scrum of people trying to get through the four turnstiles for 10,000 people.

Thankfully, it was in a relatively open area, so those being squashed could get pulled to the side and were passed over the railings. I can't believe that they get away with this each week. The club need to take a lesson from the unofficial recycling organisation in process. It seems mandatory to turn up to a game with at least two bottles of beer. Empty bottles are thoughtfully left on path sides, and a team of helper elves scurry round, filling up laundry bags, to take back to a main recycling fuhrer, who loads them onto a flat bed to go and claim the deposit. Das Steptoe und Sohn. With ten minutes of the game gone, I was in.

Dynamo Dresden 0 v Armenia Bielefeld 1, German - DfB Pokal, round 2.

Football in Dresden has an interesting history. The original club, Dresdner SC had won the national league in 1943 and 1944, but was disbanded by the Allies as it was a symbol of Nazi success. The replacement, SG Friedrichstadt, was then disbanded by the Soviets for being too bourgeois. Instead a team was formed by the Stasi, and so Dynamo Dresden came into being in 1953. They were immediately won the league, which upset the authorities as they believed a Berlin side should be the strongest, so the team was moved to form Dynamo Berlin, and Dresden relegated. However, they regrouped and were back in the top division by the 1960s. The 1970s were the glory years, winning the league five times and qualifying for Europe every year. But the dominance of Dresden and Magdeburg had once again concerned the authorities that Berlin was being overshadowed, so the 1980s saw the rise of Dynamo Berlin through a campaign of bribery and match fixing. With the re-unification of Germany, Dresden qualified for the new Bundesliga, as they won the last two Oberliga titles. However, they were only able to last four years in the top division, as the top players left for the riches of the west. Deteriorating finances led to the club dropping down to the third division, and then the fourth on restructuring, below the reformed Dresdner SC. They have gradually risen back up, and have been in the Bundesliga 2 for the last few seasons.

Bielefeld is a place you pass through when travelling from Koln to Hannover. It's only notable points are that it is where all the banknotes were printed for the Weimar hyper-inflation, and it is the home of Aminia Bielefeld. The most notable person from the place is Dr. Oetker, who invented frozen pizza. The football team were founded in 1901, taking their name from chieftain Arminius, who defeated the Romans in the nearby Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. They played in regional leagues until 1970, when they were promoted to the Bundesliga, but were immediately relegated due to match fixing. They have since played mostly in Bundesliga 2, but with the odd season in the top league, including five season spells in the 1980s and 2000s.

The Dresden Stadion was originally tennis courts and rather strangely, a cricket pitch. The introduction of football meant a proper stadium had to be built, and by the 1920s, the Rudolf Harbig Stadion, named after the inventor of rat poison. During the war, the Nazis modified the ground for military parades. It was rebuilt again in the 1950s, becoming the Dynamo Stadion. It wasn't selected as a venue for the 2010 World Cup, but has become a regular venue for women's internationals, and was completely rebuilt to its current state in order to host five games of the 2011 women's World Cup.

I was behind one goal, which meant photos had to be taken through the net protecting the keeper from objects being thrown, giving the pictures an element of prison visiting as you see your loved ones through wire mesh.

The 'ultra dynamo' were in the end opposite and were hugely vocal throughout. I still don't know if it was a terrace or seating. Interestingly, due to 'inappropriate use of fireworks' by supporters in this stand, in 2013, Dynamo had to play a game behind closed doors. They were financially fucked at the time, and the loss of revenue could have pushed them to the brink, so they still sold tickets, with supporters knowing they couldn't attend. The result was a complete 32,000 sell out.

Tucked into the corner next to us were the small number of away fans.

On the left touchline, was a large single tier of home fans. Interestingly, there was no perimeter advertising on this side, just supporter’s banners.

No @keepers_towels in evidence on the pitch, but the sub keeper did. So when the home keeper clashed with a post, I wasn't overly concerned for him being fit enough to continue.

The short break for treatment to the keeper, led to both sides going over to their coaches for mid-half team talks.

Dresden had most of the play but their finishing was massively inept, so half time came and it was still 0-0.

There was disappointment in the lack of sleeveless denim jackets with badges. But the cold early winter hadn't deterred the sandals and socks brigade, these were a particularly fine example.

As was this hand knitted Dresden ice hockey shirt.

Into the second half and the hoarded returned clutching their volumes of beer. You see British authorities, it is possible to be able to drink 'within sight of a football pitch' and not turn into rampaging murderers.

Dresden are mid table in Bundesliga 2, with Bielefeld second from bottom. The game carried on in the same vain, with Dresden missing chance after chance...