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Most Obscure Football Match you have Attended


CostaJambo

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Following on from the most obscure place you have visited thread, what is the most obscure proper match you have attended? I actually did this same thread about 10 years ago but hopefully some posters will have new experiences to share since then....

 

Saying that, mine remains the same as last time! 2006, U23 match in the Asian games in Qatar, Iraq v Syria. Syria had a big support who were singing away, and when the mosques went off for the call to prayer loads of Qatari police appeared from nowhere and made the fans stop singing for a few minutes!

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Soul v Sydney in the Asian champions league, about 20 Sydney fans there and about 10k Soul fans in a huge 60k stadium.

 

Whitley bay v Metalist Kharkiv, friendly match pre them playing the barcodes inEurope.

 

Lechia Gdansk v Arka Gdynia, mental crowd and forest fighting galore, tram tipped over post match

 

Germany under 18's v Albania under 18's in Tallinn

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Maroon Sailor

Truro City v Portchester - FA cup qualifying

 

Truro won 2-0 with two late goals and got Charlton away in the 1st round

 

The Truro goalkeeper that day is now at Elgin and played against Hibs in the Scottish cup a few years back live on the TV.

 

Must be the furthest transfer between two UK clubs

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KR Reykjavik (I think.... could be Fylkir as they also play in black and White's) vs Watford Friendly over 20 years ago in Iceland.

 

I left my wallet in the tent so missed the start. Managed to sweet talk the lassie at the turnstile to accept a reduced ticket price.....Scottish accent did it tbf not my handsome looks.

 

Watford won 2-1. 

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Been to a few crackers in the last few years.

 

Utrecht vs Venlo
Valur vs IA Akranes

Brondby vs Nordsjaelland

Basel vs Luzern

Ferencvaros vs Honved

Viktoria Koln vs Bonner SC

 

Only countries I visited but didn't get a chance to watch a game was France, Belgium and Greece.

Edited by Locky
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Stranraer v Hibs when the Lochend mob were in the first division during 98/99 season. 
I was in Stranraer for the weekend with a mate (he has family down there) and it was always the plan that we would take in a game if they were playing at home. It was just a bonus that it happened to be Hibs. The Lochend tramps won 3-0.

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5 minutes ago, iantjambo said:

Stranraer v Hibs when the Lochend mob were in the first division during 98/99 season. 
I was in Stranraer for the weekend with a mate (he has family down there) and it was always the plan that we would take in a game if they were playing at home. It was just a bonus that it happened to be Hibs. The Lochend tramps won 3-0.

Weirdly stranraer for me as well.  Saw them playing Celtic reserves down there in about 81.  Place was packed as a lot of local Tims.  I can remember passing that bandstand.  

 

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13 minutes ago, Furious Styles said:

Probably hearts vs cruziero 

Seems to be one of the lesser documented Hearts friendlies of recent times. :lol:

 

Wtf were Cruzeiro doing in Scotland?

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Dynamos vs Highlanders in Harare, Zimbabwe.

 

Not terribly obscure but Rayo Vallecano vs Sevilla was off the beaten track a bit. Was in Madrid and fancied something a bit different from the big two. Thoroughly enjoyed it, stadium was like going back in time a bit. Folk openly smoking weed everywhere as well 😂.

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N Lincs Jambo
8 minutes ago, Locky said:

  

Seems to be one of the lesser documented Hearts friendlies of recent times. :lol:

 

Wtf were Cruzeiro doing in Scotland?


And just as importantly how on earth did we actually win that game? We had a very good side back then but they were on a different planet. Still 2-1 to the famous 😎

 

In terms of obscure games I have seen the most obscure had to be Turkey v Yugoslavia in Izmir in Feb 91. Zvonimir Boban actually played for Yugoslavia that game despite him being the Dinamo Zagreb player who kicked the Serbian cop in the infamous Zagreb v Red Star Belgrade game in May 90.

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William H. Bonney
13 minutes ago, Locky said:

  

Seems to be one of the lesser documented Hearts friendlies of recent times. :lol:

 

Wtf were Cruzeiro doing in Scotland?


no idea. Was quite a random friendly. I seem to remember they were very dirty. Kicked our players all over the park. 

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I went to the Australian grand final in Brisbane a few years ago. I was in town working and spotted it was on so got a ticket and went along on my own. It was the same week we beat Celtic in the 2012 semi final. 55k in the stadium, brilliant organisation with free buses from the town centre to Suncorp Stadium. Very different atmosphere to a British game. Something I realised very quickly when a player was brought down in the box and got no penalty. I jumped to my feet and let the referee know my opinion using standard football language and nearly everyone where I was sitting turned round and stared in shock. The next week I went to and Aussie Rules game and felt a lot more at home in the crowd for that. I got the feeling that the football crowd were a bit more middle class than the Rules fans. 

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1 hour ago, NANOJAMBO said:

I watched my  local boozer play Trinidad & Tobago in a warm up match prior to them playing Scotland. 

 

So who won, Scotland or the Pub?

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1 hour ago, Locky said:

Been to a few crackers in the last few years.

 

Utrecht vs Venlo
Valur vs IA Akranes

Brondby vs Nordsjaelland

Basel vs Luzern

Ferencvaros vs Honved

Viktoria Koln vs Bonner SC

 

Only countries I visited but didn't get a chance to watch a game was France, Belgium and Greece.

I lived near Venlo for a while , way back. I went to see Sittard v Ajax. Sittard were bottom of the league but still beat Ajax. Interesting bit after the game : home fans were kept in while Ajax fans were taken out literally at gunpoint to their buses and escorted to the motorway. Any fan who intended returning  was to be arrested immediately on orders of the Sittard mayor. 

 

 

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I went to an pre-MLS match in California back in the 90's at San Jose Earthquakes V Dallas Burn. Landon Donovan was playing for the 'Quakes and the game finished 0-0, with Donovan missing a penalty. They then had a beat the 'keeper shoot out from the 1/2 way line to decide the match.

 

I remember that there was a 'live' commentary over the PA and red/yellow cards were sponsored by the local Bail Bond companies, and corner kick by Car Dealerships. All in all, it was a kinda bizzare spectacle, but the $1 hots dogs and beers went down a treat.

 

The match was played at the old Spartan Stadium (SJ University) which is a far cry from the cracking new stadium they have moved to in the past couple of years. 

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When I lived in deepest, darkest Kent in the early 1990's, I'd regularly attend Tonbridge Angels matches in their 3,000 capacity stadium.

720 seats in a single Subbuteo stand.

Everyone else stood at the side of the pitch or behind the goals on piled-up railway sleepers.

Home and away fans changing end at half time.

Club bar was in a shipping container.
Tickets were £2

Burgers were £1 a pop and massive.

Football was hilariously pish but it was something to do on saturdays whilst yer maw was out shopping.

 

Edited by Cade
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Not sure about watching but have played for Hms Fife against Hms Yarmouth on the football pitch at San Carlos water Falkland Islands.

 

Did watch Cadiz against Real Madrid in Cadiz way back in 1981.

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Riddley Walker

Went to watch Asteras Tripoli vs Olympiakos while living in Greece. Think that's the only match I've seen live outside of the UK, except Zagreb v Hearts. 

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25 minutes ago, NANOJAMBO said:

I lived near Venlo for a while , way back. I went to see Sittard v Ajax. Sittard were bottom of the league but still beat Ajax. Interesting bit after the game : home fans were kept in while Ajax fans were taken out literally at gunpoint to their buses and escorted to the motorway. Any fan who intended returning  was to be arrested immediately on orders of the Sittard mayor. 

 

 

Yeah I used to follow the Eredivisie really close a while back and read how bad the hooliganism was.

 

Venlo is right on the German border I'm sure? The game I went to wasn't great in fairness. Not a huge crowd at the Galgenwaard (sp) and a tiny away support from Venlo. Game was 1-0 to the home side with a very late goal but there wasn't a lot at stake so hardly wild scenes. It was last day of the season.

 

We were staying in Amsterdam for the weekend and sadly Ajax were away so it was a toss up between Utrecht and Alkmaar. Alas, Alkmaar won 6-0 in my absence. :lol:

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1 minute ago, Riddley Walker said:

Went to watch Asteras Tripoli vs Olympiakos while living in Greece. Think that's the only match I've seen live outside of the UK, except Zagreb v Hearts. 

Greek is high on my list. Been to Salonika twice now with my Greek mate who's a PAOK fan but sadly we've only been over in the summer, so no games. PAOK vs Olympiakos looks mental.

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Riddley Walker
6 minutes ago, Locky said:

Greek is high on my list. Been to Salonika twice now with my Greek mate who's a PAOK fan but sadly we've only been over in the summer, so no games. PAOK vs Olympiakos looks mental.

 

I'd love to go to that or one of the Athens derbies. 

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Not really obscure but randomly ended up at a Cologne v Werder Bremen game while in Germany on a break. 
 

There was this large terracing area lying empty, in an otherwise full house, for about the first 10 mins of the game. (I was in the immediate section next to it). Then all of a sudden, at least a couple of thousand WB hooligans appeared in it having been shepherded there by riot police.
 

The front fence was immediately guarded by riot cops with Rottweilers as the WB hooligans just seemed to bounce around singing an anti-Cologne time and time again, they never let up!

 

A mate I was with thought he was a bit of a customer and went over to the dividing fence to hurl pleasantries. A couple of big lads in leather jackets laughed at him...😂.   Fud, he got pulled back. 

Edited by Debut 4
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Governor Tarkin
3 hours ago, cheetah said:

 

Lechia Gdansk v Arka Gdynia, mental crowd and forest fighting galore, tram tipped over post match

 

 

I used to work at sea with a former Lechia Gdansk hooligan. Proper power-lifting, highly trained gladiator type. Lovely bloke but just loved scrapping. He sadly passed away just a couple of days ago. RIP Jerzy.

 

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Governor Tarkin
2 hours ago, Tazio said:

I went to the Australian grand final in Brisbane a few years ago. I was in town working and spotted it was on so got a ticket and went along on my own. It was the same week we beat Celtic in the 2012 semi final. 55k in the stadium, brilliant organisation with free buses from the town centre to Suncorp Stadium. Very different atmosphere to a British game. Something I realised very quickly when a player was brought down in the box and got no penalty. I jumped to my feet and let the referee know my opinion using standard football language and nearly everyone where I was sitting turned round and stared in shock. The next week I went to and Aussie Rules game and felt a lot more at home in the crowd for that. I got the feeling that the football crowd were a bit more middle class than the Rules fans. 

 

I used to follow Northern Spirit when I lived in Sydney back in the early 2000's. They played their home games at North Sydney Oval on Friday evenings. There was a bar on the terracing which was largely full of ex pats who'd adopted Spirit as their team. The football was shite but the carry on was magic. The casual racism when a Greek or Croat team were in town was hilarious.

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6 minutes ago, Governor Tarkin said:

 

I used to follow Northern Spirit when I lived in Sydney back in the early 2000's. They played their home games at North Sydney Oval on Friday evenings. There was a bar on the terracing which was largely full of ex pats who'd adopted Spirit as their team. The football was shite but the carry on was magic. The casual racism when a Greek or Croat team were in town was hilarious.

The Aussies love a bit of casual racism, it’s like Britain in the past. When I was there there was an article in the press about the chance of a new rugby league team in a part of Sydney with a big Lebanese population. The headline was along the lines of “Will league take off in the land of the falafel eaters?” Imagine an article in the British press about a new team in Leicester or Bradford  referring to the land of the curry eaters. 😀

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Governor Tarkin
1 minute ago, Tazio said:

The Aussies love a bit of casual racism, it’s like Britain in the past. When I was there there was an article in the press about the chance of a new rugby league team in a part of Sydney with a big Lebanese population. The headline was along the lines of “Will league take off in the land of the falafel eaters?” Imagine an article in the British press about a new team in Leicester or Bradford  referring to the land of the curry eaters. 😀

 

The thing was that nobody seemed in the slightest bit offended by any of it, which I found quite refreshing. 

 

After 9/11 and the invasion of Afghanistan there were some classic anti-Taliban ditties to the tune of Oh When The Saints...

 

When a Croat team came to town the chant was 'Oh we'd rather live in Kabul than Zagreb', as Kubul was in the process of being converted to rubble.

 

Nothing really to do with football right enough, but it was in the spirit of ths time and funny none the less. Everybody gave as good as they got and took it in good humour.

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I saw Reál Zaragoza play at La Romareda a few times in the 80s. Sporting Gijón & Málaga were the "obscure" opponents; Barcelona, a bit less so!

 

Jorge Valdano - Argentinian internationalist - was the stand-out player for Zaragoza then before going on to being one of the stars of the Reál Madrid team of the mid-80s.

 

Image result for la romareda

 

Image result for la romareda

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1 hour ago, Debut 4 said:

Not really obscure but randomly ended up at a Cologne v Werder Bremen game while in Germany on a break. 
 

There was this large terracing area lying empty, in an otherwise full house, for about the first 10 mins of the game. (I was in the immediate section next to it). Then all of a sudden, at least a couple of thousand WB hooligans appeared in it having been shepherded there by riot police.
 

The front fence was immediately guarded by riot cops with Rottweilers as the WB hooligans just seemed to bounce around singing an anti-Cologne time and time again, they never let up!

 

A mate I was with thought he was a bit of a customer and went over to the dividing fence to hurl pleasantries. A couple of big lads in leather jackets laughed at him...😂.   Fud, he got pulled back. 

Had a bit of a similar experience to your mate when I went to the Schalke - Dortmund derby a couple of seasons back. Stepped off the train in Gelsenkirchen just as a train full of noisy Dortmund fans was emptying a couple of platforms away. As I would in Scotland, I decided to give them a right, good 'get it ****ing up you' with my middle finger proudly in the air.

 

Next thing I felt a hand on my shoulder and some big, 6'5 German police man fully clad in riot gear was just scowling at me. Just whimpered a rather petty apology and walked away. :lol: 

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Two.

 

FC Marbella v Gibraltar Select.  Tiny but lovely wee ground, belting hot weather and, the most memorable thing was that FC Marbella had the same badge as Atletico Madrid.  The Cruzcampo was delish, mind.

 

An 8th or 9th tier French club called Rapid Menton v OGCNICE.  At that time, I think Nice had a goalie that had played for Rangers but I can’t recall his name.  Maybe something like Charbonnier?  🤷🏿‍♂️

 

 

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Professionally, I watched a Phoenix FC USL match at a rec complex called Reach 11 after the club's stadium deal failed and the team were about to go bankrupt, so they were forced to play wherever they could afford rent. There were maybe 150 people there. This is extra relevant because Darren Mackie, once of Aberdeen, was supposed to be our saviour—early in the season, he skied a penalty a good ten feet over the crossbar :lol: He was an absolute disaster.

 

Non-professionally, Arizona State University women versus Rice University women. I was the stadium announcer.

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A robust centre forward

Went to see Fort Lauderdale Strikers back in the late 70s (soccer is just a kick in the grass) playing against New England Tea Men. Lots of famous players in show hearing the end of their careers, including Gerd Muller, Teofilio Cubillas (Ally Mcleods bnemesis)

Re previous posts on our friendly v Cruzerio and why they were playing us,I think their tour had something to do with their main sponsors at the time, Coca Cola

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Víkingur Reykjavík 1-0 Fjölnir Reykjavík 

21 July 2014

 

90th minute goal from Igor Tasković.

 

Two notable things for me.

1. I got lost after coming off the bus on the way to the game. Wandered about for a bit, saw some guys working on a car, asked for directions to the game and one of them gave me a lift to the ground.

2. Found a sports bar in the centre-ish of Reykjavík after the game where, thanks to happy hour, I had pints (or demi-litres, to be pedantically accurate) for cheaper than I'd pay in any pub back home.

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Samuel Camazzola
6 hours ago, Furious Styles said:

Probably hearts vs cruziero 

I was at this too. I believe I still have the programme somewhere. 

 

On the random front, I was at a Skonto Riga league game 2008/09. Jankauskas and Marian Pahars were playing for them and after the game, met them at a 'sky bar' in my hotel. 

 

6 hours ago, Furious Styles said:

 

 

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58 minutes ago, Justin Z said:

Professionally, I watched a Phoenix FC USL match at a rec complex called Reach 11 after the club's stadium deal failed and the team were about to go bankrupt, so they were forced to play wherever they could afford rent. There were maybe 150 people there. This is extra relevant because Darren Mackie, once of Aberdeen, was supposed to be our saviour—early in the season, he skied a penalty a good ten feet over the crossbar :lol: He was an absolute disaster.

 

I seem to recall a video on YouTube of a few fans turning upto greet him at the airport. :lol: Was particularly amusing as he wasn't thought very highly of in this country.

34 minutes ago, Boof said:

Víkingur Reykjavík 1-0 Fjölnir Reykjavík 

21 July 2014

 

90th minute goal from Igor Tasković.

 

Two notable things for me.

1. I got lost after coming off the bus on the way to the game. Wandered about for a bit, saw some guys working on a car, asked for directions to the game and one of them gave me a lift to the ground.

2. Found a sports bar in the centre-ish of Reykjavík after the game where, thanks to happy hour, I had pints (or demi-litres, to be pedantically accurate) for cheaper than I'd pay in any pub back home.

Reminds me of when I was in Reykjavik. Couldn't believe how expensive a pint was, even in happy hour! I drank mainly in a place called 'The British Pub'. Not normally a thing I'd do, but despite it's name, it sold mostly Icelandic beer. Unlike some round it though, it was a bit more chilled out and showed the football.

 

Was in one night as Hearts were on the TV and got tanked up during happy hour. They had one of they spinning wheels behind the bar where you can potentially win a free pint. I won 8 on one spin. :ninja: next thing I know, the place is rammed, there's live music on and I've got 8 full pints in front of me still as I've only just finished the one I bought when I went up to spin the wheel. The rest is a blur until kicking out time and it was almost broad daylight outside again.

 

Got the head down for a few hours and went to the Valur game rough as anything.

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Doctor FinnBarr

Bridlington Trinity v Leeds in the mid 70s when I was on hol, turned out to be a Leeds XI with no big names on show, think they won 3-1 though.

 

Hearts v Wigan on the IoM mid 80s, played on what was no more than a public park. I watched the 2nd half from the clubhouse window with George Cowie as it was pissing it down, ended 1 each I think.

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32 minutes ago, Locky said:

Reminds me of when I was in Reykjavik. Couldn't believe how expensive a pint was, even in happy hour! I drank mainly in a place called 'The British Pub'. Not normally a thing I'd do, but despite it's name, it sold mostly Icelandic beer. Unlike some round it though, it was a bit more chilled out and showed the football.

 

I went with trepidation as I was expecting 2nd mortgage prices for a pint and was floored when I discovered it was the equivalent of a fiver for 2 pints - had to buy 2 each round as it was a BOGOF happy hour :lol:  The 'hour' seemed to last all night - it was a Monday night, I suppose. 

 

Looking on Google Maps I reckon it must've been that British pub place - like you, one I'd normally avoid!

 

Fell in with some lads from Brittany who were interested in yarning about the upcoming Indy vote.

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I was on a midweek night out with lads I worked with 4 season ticket holders at Easter Rd I met them down leith and my plan was to sit and watch the scores come in the pub with my non football supporter mate who was going to join when they went to Easter Rd for Hibs v Aberdeen . He got held up and was going to meet us in town . I ended up getting a spare season ticket card from my mates dad instead of sitting in a leith boozer on my Todd . Was in the Famous 5 stand finished 2.2 Hibs were in white for some reason I spend the majority of the match watching the scores come in on the tv . I think Hibs were 2,0 down at one stage . Just had no interest what so ever just felt rotten 😂 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_prem/8505956.stm
 

funny I mention this 11 years ago yesterday 😂

Edited by Stu_HMFC
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jambo in iraq

Iran vs USA World Cup 1998, Iran fans were absolutely fanatical! Burning effigies. 
 

another random game I went to was Erbil vs Dohuk in an Iraqi Cup Semi final. Football standard was actually pretty good!

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Carl Fredrickson

When I was wee we went on holiday to Creetown at the start of July. Creetown FC were in a cup final when we were there so we went to watch them. I watched the game sitting on top of my dads Ford Cortina Mk3 as everyone parked their cars around the pitch. 

 

Early 80s went to see Blyth v Hearts round about the time that we signed Henry and a few others. Mind loads of fans on the pitch - might have been at half time - having a kickabout 

 

The day we got 4 sent off at Ibrox I was at Boghead with a good mate at the time, to see Dumbarton v Aberdeen. We were due to play Aberdeen at Tynie soon after and I viewed it as a scouting mission :)

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Myself and a few mates ended up going on a wee trip to Carlisle vs Cambridge on one of the international weekend.

 

Uche played and it was an awful game. The game finished 0-0 we ended up in the pub across from the ground after and it was just full of Hearts Hibs Rangers and celtic fans the same idea as us. 

 

All four groups pretty much had a friendly  sing off and we were all politely asked to leave 😂

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Dr. Sheldon Cooper

Lanzarote v Fuerteventura whilst on holiday with my parents. Proper lower league Spanish stuff. 0-0 draw and a distinct lack of quality. Lanzarote had a player whose playing style reminded me of Mehdi Taouil who spent the 90 minutes falling over as soon as an opposing player came near him.

 

Highlight of that game was a very angry Spanish man spending the vast majority of the game standing at the front, shouting at the players very aggressively and constantly banging his hand off the advertising board he was leaning over.

 

Also went to MTK Budapest v Diosgyori VTK whilst on my mate's stag a couple of years ago. We got there about an hour and a half early and had the place to ourselves until everyone else turned up. We got tanked up before and during the game on the cheap beer and the journey back into town is a bit of a blur. MTK won 2-1 but the biggest cheer of the day came when we got a notification through on our phones of Uche Ikpeazu putting Hearts 2-1 up against Aberdeen.

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