Friday 19 November 2010

SK Kosmonosy; Czech Republic

'Part Two' of my Saturday trio of matches on my October 2010 visit to the Czech Republic saw me three kilometres past the centre of Mlada Boleslav, at SK Kosmonosy, who apparently play down in the seventh level of the Czech pyramid. I found out about this fixture, & what level, thanks to a contributor called 'Sigma', who posts on the brilliant Tony Kempster (RIP) English groundhopping forum, as well as the modern thing that is known as Facebook. (At my age, I know!) Sigma is always a great help when I try to plan my Czech trips, & the least i can do is plug his own Czech grounds blog.

I suppose this 'ground' is very basic, with just some benches down one side, but it was good game, even for the low standard, & a really enjoyable afternoon. A great advert for minor non-league football.



This is the first sight of the ground.



The entrance is through these gates, the man at the table taking the admission, no programmes though.



Local fans 'pour' in!



The pitch is basic railed off. To the right of the entrance it is only railed off to just before the goal. No standing directly behind it at this end.



The other direction, to our left, is the clubhouse, & changing rooms. The bar is on the first floor, up those steps.



In the corner, behind the goal, is this raised balcony area, outside the bar, which is to the right.



Inside the building there is a long corridor, with lots of club history on the walls.







There are also some sort of plans to do up the ground on a noticeboard.



This is inside the bar. The balcony is through the glass doors to the left.



Here we look to the balcony from on the steps up to the club building.



Note the club name on the railings, now covered on the other side by advertising hoardings, which is a pity.



From up here we look over the pitch.



Back on the staircase, we are on our way down to the 'main side', from where we will do our circuit of the ground, clockwise.



Stepping back a little, to the corner where we came in, we can see the fans are above the pitch, on this side.



From this corner we look over the pitch. It's certainly not a built up area!



Hard standing along this side, as you can see. Maybe they ran out of the new, fancy bricks, I don't know!



From this side we look back behind the goal.



Moving along, there are benches at the top of the slope at this side. You can also see the rail by the steps where the teams go down to the pitch.



Here we are at the top of the steps, with another old style stretcher.



A couple of players going onto the pitch.



A long row of benches continues along this side.



At the halfway line, we see the players' pre-match line up.



As they shake hands we can see this is the edge of town!



As I said, no programme, but I got a snaps of someone with an official teamsheet, presumably a club official, or reporter, as he was taking notes on it.



Sausages & football. What more do you want in life?



The 'dirt track' continues to the corner, beyond the benches.



From here we look back along the 'popular' side.



Open behind the goal, where you are still above the pitch.



Note the horserider, stopping to watch the game!



From this corner another angle over the pitch, setting sun behind us.



Up behind the goal.



Looking down the pitch ,through an old training goal.



here we are, directly behind the real goal.



From up here we see along the next side, where the dugouts are.



Moving along, another glance down the pitch.



At hte next corner now, you can see the rail down the side, as we look to the second pitch next to the main one.



One of the goals on pitch two.



Here we see down the next touchline.



Down at pitch level, at last.



From here we clearly see the slope behind the goal.



The pitch rail isn't the most secure, as we head toward the dugouts.



This is one of them.



Almost at the halfway line, we look across to the club buildings.



And onward, now past the dugouts.



Almost at the end by the road, ugly container to go past.



And here we are, now looking behind the non-railed off part.



From this corner I try a snap looking directly into the bright setting sun.



A bit clearer, turning away from the brightness.



Netting, and a little bit of rail, as we move closer to the goal.



Directly behind the net now.



Now for some action shots. This one I totally mistimed, but kept it in, as you could see how open it was beyond the dugouts.












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