So, How Do the Experiences Add up?



Although I am biased to CSKA I wondered how the 2 experiences of the weekend matched up against each other, and will try to remain disinterested:


The Football

Unfortunately, there is no competition here, Knyazha are on an upward march and CSKA are on a downward spiral. We were happy to chat during the CSKA game, but the Knyazha match held our attention from beginning to end

CSKA 0 Knyazha 1


The Stadium

Although Chapaevka holds a certain charm it's still a training camp and has plastic pitches. The ground at Boryspil is fit for the Premier League and the seats are in a lot better condition than at most Vische Liha grounds.

CSKA 0 Knyazha 2


The Fans

The CSKA fans are a bunch of nutters and have some misguided views, but they are friendly, know their football and get behind their team. One Knyazha fan actually asked us which team was Knyazha, which would have been daft enough even if it didn't have it written on their shirts.

CSKA 1 Knyazha 2


The Atmosphere

The CSKA boys made some noise, any noise at the Knyazha game was drowned out by techno remixes of Depeche Mode coming from the AIDS awareness festival in the park behind the stadium.

CSKA 2 Knyazha 2


The Booze

Chapaevka has a shop where you can buy beer and it might be hit or miss if they don't keep enough coldies in stock. The kiosks near the ground at Boryspil suffer from the same problem, however Chapaevka has a pub opposite, which is pretty welcoming to foreigners. In Boryspil the only pub I saw was in a cinema, which is never a good omen.

CSKA 3 Knyazha 2


The Programmes

Easy enough to come by and of reasonable quality at Knyazha. At CSKA we didn't get any, as you had to negotiate with the toothless buffoon. Also they looked fairly crap and like more rubbish glorifying hooliganism

CSKA 3 Knyazha 3


The Facilities

Stadium Kolos used to have the worst toilets known to man. They have built some new ones, but by the end of the game they were getting pretty rancid and most people couldn't be bothered to wait in the queue. Where as CSKA play at dynamo's training camp and only the finest porcelain will do when you are faking those pesky UEFA drug tests.

CSKA 4 Knyazha 3


So, there we go Knyazha scores higher in most of the categories that matter, but CSKA win on the strength of their bogs.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Boca Juniors shirt history

Image
The first game that I will be at on Sunday sees Boca Juniors take on Paris Saint Germain. I have always wanted to go and see Boca Juniors and I can't see me getting over to Argentina any time in the near future, so I am going to have to make do with seeing them in North London. On my travels I have met plenty of Boca fans, but funnily enough they have all been Russian or Ukrainian. I am a bit disappointed that Martin Palermo has now retired, but I am still looking forward to it. Obviously to do justice to the club history of Boca Juniors I'd probably have to write a book, so here's a quick history of their kit and colours instead. When Boca were formed in 1905 they originally played in pink, but obviously came round to thinking that this was a bad idea and changed to a light blue colour later in the year. They didn't stick with this shirt for very long either and for the 3rd time in a year decided to change the shirt colour, this time to black and white stripes. The fol
Read more

shirt history AS Roma

Image
Roma were the club that I followed in Italy and although they are most famous for wearing red and yellow, hence the nickname giallo rosso the club didn't always wear those colours. AS Roma were formed in 1927 by a merger between SS Alba-Audace and Fortitudo-Pro Roma SGS with Italo Foschi being the driving force behind the merger. AS Roma could also trace their lineage back to FBC Roma who were formed in 1901 and who wore red and yellow, but the first shirts they wore took the red, white and blue of Fortitudo-Pro Roma. Roma soon established themselves at the top table of Italian football and in 1931 finished runners up to Juventus and by now had settled on red and yellow as their colours. However, you'll have to take my word for it because the picture below shows Attilio Ferraris in black and white. In 1942 Roma went one better and won their first Scudetto with Amadeo Amadei scoring 18 goals to help them secure the title. Pictured below he is wearing the change shirt with a repl
Read more

Sud Tribune, Dortmund

Image
The Sud Tribune at Westfalen is famed for the noise and support that it gives the BVB team. They started up early and carried on until well after the match had finished despite the poor result. At the end the team looked suitably disappointed when they thanked the fans. Nobody apart from the Hannover fans probably expected 96 to win. Hopefully better times for the Sud Tribune are just around the corner.
Read more