Městský Stadion
Lumíra Kota
U Stadionu 1798
748 01 Hlučín
Czechia
Ground Number: 1349
Friday 20th September 2024
Friday 20th September 2024
Fc Hlucin 2-0 Slovan Rosice
Moravian-Silesian Football League
FC HLUCIN - A BRIEF HISTORY
The club was established in 1923 and at the time was known as SK Hlučín, in 1948 they changed their name to Sokol Hlučín following a merger with Sparta Rovniny, then in 1953 to DSO Slavoj Hlučín, in 1959 to TJ Hlučín, then finally in 1991 to FC Hlučín. They played in regional football from 1953 and then in 2004 they were promoted to the third-tier Moravian-Silesian Football League. That has been their home for the most part although they have spent five seasons in the second tier, the longest period between 2005 and 2008, in 2006 they had their record finish of 10th. They were MSFL champions in 2009 and last season they finished as runners-up. A notable run to the Czech Cup last 16 came in 2022/23 when they lost out to Bohemians 1905 but not before beating top-tier side Viktoria Plzen 3-2.
Hlučín is a town in the Opava District the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 13,000 inhabitants. It was the centre of the historic Hlučín Region. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone. It is around four miles from the large town of Ostrava. Hlučínské Lake is on the outskirts of the town. The Opava River forms the southeastern municipal border. The historic town centre is formed by the Mírové Square and its surroundings. The centre was delimited by town fortifications, built in 1534–1535. Most of the town walls were demolished by 1829. Several fragments and seven bastions have been preserved to this day. Werder Bremen and Czech international goalkeeper Jiří Pavlenka was born in the town.
MY VISIT
Back in April, I was forced by my employer to book pretty much my entire year's holiday at work. This was not too much of an issue for me, but I'd imagine it would be a nightmare for people with family to consider. It certainly was when I had a Wycombe season ticket too. Aside from a couple of busy periods, I got my choice of dates, not that it meant much that far in advance. The September trip was first up and for the first weekend, I had a weekend in the North East planned as I do every year. This weekend was most frustrating though. Slowly but surely, the fixtures came out but leagues were exceptionally slow to release details of kickoffs for TV games. It makes the UK look relatively organised. Initially, a weekend in Lichtenstein & Switzerland was favoured with an excellent stadium in Vaduz. However, flight times didn't work out and Saturday fixtures were limited in terms of interesting grounds.I wanted to get something in place so on July 24th, I booked return flights to Ostrava. It would require a bit of give on my part, the 06:45 flight from Stansted was not ideal, but needs must with only one flight a day, A hotel was also reserved for my initial plan of Hlucin on Friday night at the excellent price of £34.
I left it a while to look for options for getting to the airport, a month. Whether this contributed to me having an unwanted drive to the airport I do not know. Public transport was impossible at that time of night. I did have a look at accommodation, including halfway but nothing appealed. I'd have to drive and although Braintree-based Dan offered me the use of his drive, it would add over an hour onto each end of my journey and if I missed the bus, I was screwed with it being such an irregular service. The only real option was to pay £66.49 to park at Stansted, which was not outrageous compared to other prices I've seen but an unwanted expense. It was disappointing for Stansted to have the bulk of flights that I fancied as it was one of the more difficult airports to get to on public transport from my side of London.
My night bus home was very uncomfortable and I had to keep turning people who were too thick to read their ticket out of the double seat I reserved. It was a blessing to be kept away from people but the seat was very hard. I must have got some sleep though, as I felt OK in the morning. I bailed out early at Heathrow and got the bus to Wycombe and then the bus home by 7.30 for £4. Had I gone into London, I'd likely have got home later for more money. Usually, I'd have a nap but I felt fine and had an early start the next day. It was nice to be back home catching up with things. After an early night, my alarm went off at at 3. I took a bit longer than expected, by the time I'd filled up with petrol it was 3.30. A section of the M25 was closed, so that added time to the journey with me getting to the car park (£66.49 pre-booked until Monday evening) at 4.45. It was a bit of a faff finding an open zone but eventually, I was parked up and the bus fairly quick to the terminal. I arrived at the airport with 85 minutes until my flight. Thankfully, security was swift and I had time for a pint of Stowford Press at Spoons. Strangely, after costing £5.50 on Tuesday, it was £4.99 now.
There wasn't a huge amount of time before my flight so it was just the one pint before making my way to gate 56. Boarding was fairly efficient and we took off on time. I had some bloke who spent the whole journey asleep and kept invading my personal space so I christened him Colin PoCzech after my good friend and fellow groundhopper. Security was very quick and I was out of the airport in 20 minutes before another 30-minute wait for the first bus of my journey. Ostrava has a very easy-to-use system, just tap your contactless card and you're done. Sadly, Poland Tomorrow was a bit more fiddly with their own proprietary payment system, several badly rated apps or paper tickets that you can't buy on the bus. It'll require some planning but I will get there. My accommodation messaged me with details of self-check-in, so I decided to go straight there. The transport system was very good, save for Google Maps coordinates being off slightly for one of the stops I had to change at. I was there around 12.30 and was really chuffed with my accommodation for less than £34 a night with it basically being an apartment.
I dropped my bags and spent around 20 minutes in the apartment. I then went out at 1 as I needed to do a few things. Most important was to visit the town museum to pick up a bottle of cider made there. Then to the Billa Supermarket for lunch, a cheese pastry, some tangerines, crisps, a chocolate bar and a drink The mustard crisps were especially good. After getting some cash out for tonight, I headed back to my room, the cider went into the fridge. It was superb when I had it later, one of the best I'd had. I spent the afternoon looking at some of the suggestions that people had given me for games tomorrow in Poland. There were some nice rustic grounds and a lot of the teams are pretty helpful on social media. I left the room at 4.45 and ordered dinner on an app before heading to Triangl Pizzeria. I fancied trying something new and so went for chicken in garlic sauce with homemade gnocchi. The service was great, the taste was good and the portion was large for the £6.43 I paid. I was in the ground at £5.35, entry, programme and a klobasa with bread coming in at little over a fiver for the pair. I also picked up my merch from friendly club official Dusan, my scarf and training top around £20 for both. It was a really good experience overall.
Hlucin were 8th in the table with mixed form. Last game they had lost 1-0 at home to Unicov and by the same scoreline to Slovacko B. But they had won 1-0 at Hodonin and 4-1 at Hlobina whilst also drawing 1-1 with Trinec. Slovam Rosice were in 6th and on an unbeaten run. They'd drawn 3-3 against Kromeriz and 2-2 at Hodonin. They'd beaten Ndjomo 2-1 won 4-1 at Frydek-Mistek and 3-1 against Slovacko B. The home fans created a good atmosphere but it was pretty even errly on, though the hosts did hit the bar on 20 minutes. Rosice started the second half brightly and forced a good save out of the Hlucin keeper three minutes in. On 57 minutes, the hosts had a golden chance, the striker getting away from the defence but chipping over the bar under pressure. A couple of good saves prevented Hlucin going ahead but it was just a matter of time. A free kick from 30 yards was tipped wide on 70 minutes but the corner came to nothing. They would hit the bar again before taking the lead on 83 minutes, Andrej Moucka poking the ball home. The game was confirmed on 90 minutes as Slovan Rosice pushed for an equaliser, Hlucin broke and Muhammed Abdoulkarim slotted home. The game ended soon after much to the delight of the home fans. Both teams went and shook hands with the fans which was nice to see and it just added to the convivial atmosphere.
THE GROUND
THE METSKY STADION is a great venue to watch a game at. There is just thew one stand although this is large, holding around 2.000 plus standing at the back. There is a small standing area behind one goal but two sides of the ground are closed. There is an excellent range of merchandise listed on the website and you can order and collect at games. Food is sausages and bread, these are very nice and good value compared to the UK. There is a small shed selling beer, absinthe and soft drinks. Otherwise, the compact town of Hlucin has plenty to offer and is well-linked to Ostrava with buses.
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