Orgryte IS - Gamla Ullevi

Orgryte IS

Gamla Ullevi

Ullevigatan 5

411 39 Göteborg

Sweden

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Ground Number: 1316

Sunday 2nd June 2024

Orgtyte IS 3-0 Gefle IF

Superettan

ORGRYTE IS - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was founded in December 1887 by Willhem Friberg and participated in the first official football match in Sweden on 22 May 1892; football had been brought to the club by lacemakers from the Newmilns club in Ayrshire in 1891. A memorial on Heden in central Gothenburg exists to commemorate the event. The game saw them beat Lykkan's Soldiers 1-0 in the Gymnastics and Sports Festival at Heden. They dominated the early years of Swedish football, and in 1926 they beat English side Aston Villa 5-2 in a friendly game. They were three times winners of the Swedish League but the late 1930s the fortunes began to decline for the team. They finished 10th out of 12 teams in both 1938 and 1939, and avoided relegation. In 1940 Örgyte IS relegated from allsvenskan to Division II Västra. During the 1940s and 1950s, the team played in Division 2 but would enjoy greater success in the 1950s.  After having financial issues Örgryte Fotboll AB went into bankruptcy in February 2011. The upshot of the bankruptcy was that Örgryte was relegated to the third Swedish division, Division 1 Södra. They've since recovered to climb back to the second tier.

Örgryte IS have won 12 Swedish championship titles and in 2000, the Swedish Cup. Their home arena is Gamla Ullevi. According to a recent survey, Örgryte IS is the third most popular team in Gothenburg, with 11% of the football fans supporting them. The other local teams with a notable following are IFK Göteborg, GAIS and BK Häcken. Their biggest rivalry is with IFK Göteborg. The derbies between the two teams have attracted some of the highest attendance in Swedish football. The fixture attracted 52,194 spectators in 1959, an all-time Allsvenskan record. The other big rivalry is with GAIS.

MY VISIT

With limited football in Malmo on Sunday, I would need to decamp to another part of Sweden. Originally the plan was to go to Norway on Sunday but this was not practical at least by road or rail. Various options were explored and in the end, I decided to go to Gothenburg.A Flixbus was booked for around £15 and would get me into the area just after midday. A decent hotel, the cheapest of the weekend was booked and all in all, it looked like a good trip. My original game choice was BK Hacken but when I checked a fortnight before, Orgryte IS had a game scheduled. This was around a 20-minute walk from my accommodation and had a potential bonus game nearby.

I awoke around two hours before my 7.15 am alarm on the day of the game. I soon got back to sleep and woke when it went off, in fact I'd have liked a little more sleep. I got ready and got my things together before going down for breakfast. It wasn't as good as Scottish or English breakfast but it was still a nice selection of items. The herring and brownies were the highlights. From there, I went and picked up my bag and headed to the Flixbus stop. It was only a few feet from my hotel and 20 minutes ahead of time, it was there waiting for me. This was a relief as in the past I've missed connections through my own choice (snow in Nottingham, opting to take a later train), because of lockdown and when I finally did board a service from Tallinn to Riga, it was an hour late. We were away on time and there was plenty of space to spread out.

We got to Gothenburg well on time and it had been a great service for the money. It was a 20-minute walk to my hotel which was actually a boat. I could only leave my bag for now and not check in. Compared to the building site I'd walked through, it was very pleasant. As it was a locked room, I decided to leave my smaller bum bag in there too even though it contained all of my valuables and passport. I had lots of time to kill, so I headed to BrewDog for lunch. It was on the pricier side, but stuff it, I was enjoying myself. I went for a Group Hug cider which was superb. For food, I went for the Spicy Deluxe burger. Plus another local cider. It came to £36.30 once I'd left a tip but I wasn't fussed as it was all nice. The last day of my 2023/24 season deserved to be seen off in style. From there, it was easy enough to walk the 20 minutes to the ground, I was there and in 30 minutes before kickoff.

Orgryte were rock bottom of the table. They'd lost three in a row, the latest a 3-1 defeat at Sandviken.Their sole win had come against next-bottom Varberg BoIS. Visitors Gefle were in 9th and had won three of their last four games. They'd beaten Orebo 3-1 in their last game. Orgryte had decent home support behind them and dominated early on. It was two goals in quick succession that got them on track. Firstly a penalty from Johnathan Azulay on 21 minutes. Then, a little over a minute later, Edi Sylisufaj got in the end of a move to finish from close range. The game petered out in the heat of the afternoon sun, and Gefle were especially disappointing. Orgryte made sure on 72 minutes, a swinging cross from the left was slotted home by Viktor Lundberg from around ten yards out. That was it as far as scoring was concerned but Orgryte could have added to their scoreline.

THE GROUND

GAMLA ULLEVI is a smart and modern stadium. It has a capacity of 18,500 of which 15,000 are seated. It's not the most attractive stadium but it is quite a practical one. The terraced accommodation is low down behind each goal. A reasonable range of drinks is available, including Rekorderlig Pear Cider for 80SEK. Food is a little more basic although outside are various chains including burger outlet Max. Merchandise is quite limited for Orgryte, just a table with a few random items on and no price list.