Fang Tales of Tran Sylvania (Football In Heaven 3)

After two highly successful organised “Football In Heaven” trips to his home province of Bucovina, Romanian journalist Emanuel Roșu decided to branch out a little further into central Romania for his third expedition. The destination captured the imagination of even more attendees this time, as a total of 37 people from serious photographers, to serious groundhoppers to serious beer drinkers all descended on Sibiu for the first ever organised groundhop in Transylvania!

To access the impact the previous trips have had you only have to take a look at the different nationalities turning up for this tour. As well as the usual healthy contingent of Brits, there were seven Norwegians, two Frenchmen, a Dane, a Belgian and a Pole, a united nations of enthusiasts in search of a healthy balance of football, culture and Dracula!

After arriving late the previous night what immediately strikes you about Sibiu, as dawn escapes through shutters and blinds, is that it really is an extremely pleasant city. Straddling the River Cibin, it has an obvious Germanic influence and is still referred to as Hermannstadt on occasion. Originally a Roman settlement, it was refounded in the 13th Century by Saxon settlers. Subsequently Sibiu fell into the hands of the Ottoman and Habsburg Empires. A tempestuous history has given way to a peaceful, clean and architecturally important cultural city.

Sibiu

Normally there would be no games on a Thursday but with Emi’s negotiating skills the Sibiu County FA president, Traian Marcu, had a game moved to an early evening slot just for us.

AS Bradu play at the named Stadionul Central, a pretty basic venue in a glorious location surrounded by rolling pastures and bounded to the south by the Olt River and the glorious Făgăraș Mountains of the Southern Carpathians with their peaks still sporting their white winter caps. This evenings opponents are Interstar Sibiu primarily an under 21 team but with a veteran utility player, Vasile Armenean, who plays the full 90 minutes in a variety of positions at the incredible age of 59! It’s the younger team who beat the hosts comfortably by four unanswered goals.

Thursday March 21st 2019 – Romania IV Liga (Sibiu County)

AS Bradu 0

FC Interstar Sibiu 4 (Oprișor 33, Standima 65, Dancu 76,90)

Attendance: 48 (at Stadionul Central)

The schedule for Friday was looking particularly memorable and was to conclude with another early evening game this time in neighbouring Braşov county, again moved for our convenience by the local FA man, Octavian Goga. Emi had already teased the group with pictures of a wonderfully decrepit looking old wooden stand so anticipation for the visit to ASC Olimpic Zărneşti was palpable.

But first we had a morning to fill and when you are in Transylvania it is almost unthinkable not to visit Bran Castle, legendary “home” of Vlad III Dracula, better known as Vlad the Impaler, who was the ruler of Wallachia, and said to be the inspiration behind Bram Stoker’s world famous novel Dracula. It is a stunning castle in its own right, overlooking the Bran Gorge. For a few additional Lei you can gain access to Vlad’s torture chamber including replicas of his favoured method of sending a message to invading Ottoman forces, the impaling pole.

Bran Castle

We headed to Zărneşti which was primarily an industrial town with the Celuloza paper manufacturing plant opening in the mid 1850’s and a weapons plant “6 Martie” in 1936. In 1939 the paper factory had a leak of chlorine gas which killed 60 inhabitants. The heavy industry closed down after the downfall of Nicolae Ceaușescu and left mass unemployment until tourism kicked in. However, Celuloza left the town a really magnificent football ground, photogenic from all parts. A bright red dressing room building, the crumbling 80 odd year old wooden stand and rickety bleacher style seating on the opposite side make for a classic ground in a stunning mountain setting. There is a very decent gathering of locals for this game against ACSM Codlea, and there is even merchandise for sale in the form of scarves and pennants. Our Norwegian contingent clear the local bar of bottled beer as we watch the game in early evening sunshine. The home side rise to the occasion and win 4-0, and we all feel a sense of immense privilege of being able to have seen a match in this quite breathtaking place.

Friday March 22nd 2019 – Romanian IV Liga (Braşov County)

ASC Olimpic Zărneşti 4 (Berloiu 26, Dascâlu 39, Mielusolu 51, Simon 56)

ACSM Codlea 0

Attendance: 256 (at Stadionul Celuloza Zărneşti)

Saturday morning arrived and we have a trip south west of Sibiu to FC Cisnădie. I was aware the stadium in Cisnădie was a lot bigger than the little village grounds we had been to so far but was taken aback by the sheer beauty of their Stadionul Textila. Sited next to a carpet factory, the ground has a large concrete stand with a wooden pitched roof. On the opposite side there is a raised bank of uncovered seating with approximately 2,500 seats. Throw in the obligatory mountain back drop, church spires and a cemetery and we have another photographic bobby dazzler on our hands. Today’s opponents are the army reservists of AS Armata Sibiu. They lack fitness and skill and hold out for barely four minutes before they concede the first of 13 goals to a rampant host team. To their credit Armata score two cracking goals themselves before the referee puts them out of their misery by not playing any additional time at all. Cisnădie are wonderful hosts and supply us all with free half time beer, most welcome on a warm day.

Saturday March 23rd 2019 – Romanian IV Liga (Sibiu County)

FC Cisnădie 13 (Cotofan 4,72, Dragomir 23, Cocos 33, Coman 36,42, Bratima pen 48,87, Andrei 66, Rodean 76,86,89, Anghel 80)

AS Armata Sibiu 2 (Trasca 12, Raulea 45)

Attendance: 84 (at Stadionul Textila)

We then travelled north west to the incredible mountain ground of AS Cindrelul Gura Râului who were hosting a Romanian Cup third round game against the team from the neighbouring village, AS Silvatex Orlat. Once again the ground itself is nothing special, a caged 3G pitch with one stand of wooden bleacher style seating. Behind the stand was an almost vertical cliff face, which of course didn’t some some scallywags (and Norwegians) climbing up for a loftier vantage point. The rest of the ground is surrounded by a lunar looking mountain landscape. I have never been to a place quite like Gura Râului. On the field the two fifth level sides bludgeon each other and all three goals came in a crazy three minute spell early in the first half. The winner for the hosts coming from a comical own goal, a Silvertex defender completing an fantastic goal line clearance only for the ball to hit a team mate on the backside and cannon into the corner of the net.

Saturday March 23rd 2019 – Cupa Romaniei (Faza 3)

AS Cindrelul Gura Râului 2 (Ruse 16, Damaschin og 19)

AS Silvatex Orlat 1 (Topîrcean 17)

Attendance: 198 (at Stadionul Comunal)

We had the option of basketball at the Sala Transylvania on Saturday night as local side CSM Sibiu had a game against CSM Oradea, a team from near the Hungarian border. Some of the party are keen to go especially as its only 15 lei (£3) to get in. It turned out to be a really thrilling game with the home side come from a sizeable deficit to almost snatching victory with one second on the clock remaining.

For the Sunday we had two games planned and the first was at Unirea Miercurea-Sibiului with attractive opposition in the shape of LSS Voința Sibiu. This is a fan owned club arisen from the ashes of the bankrupt Liga I side CSU Voința Sibiu. Unirea have decent ground just off the main square, with a stand with uncovered seating and around 30 away fans who sung, waved flags and let off firecrackers throughout the 90 minutes. Unfortunately for Voința, the home side didn’t read the script and eased to a 3-0 win. The away fans were exceedingly friendly and explained that want to perpetuate the legend of Sibiu’s historic club, Șoimii Sibiu, who folded in 2001.

Sunday March 24th 2019 – Romanian IV Liga (Sibiu County)

ACS Unirea Miercurea-Sibiului 3 (Roman 36,71, Albean 62)

AS LSS Voința Sibiu 0

Attendance: 155 (at Stadionul Orăşenesc-Miercurea)

Our sixth and final game of the tour promised to be really interesting and a total antithesis of the scenic mountain and sleepy village grounds we had visited so far. We were heading to the tragic town of Copșa Mică. Before Chernobyl this town was the most polluted town in all of Europe, thanks to years of unregulated industrial emissions. Most guilty of polluting Copșa Mică were Carbosin, who produced a black powder dye used in the rubber industry and Sometra who processed non-ferrous metals in huge smelters. To this day a nasty black sludge can be seen on the terracotta roof tiles of the towns’ houses. Lead emissions were 1,000 times over agreed international limits, and the factories belched 10 tons of carbon soot into the air on a daily basis.

The ground is surrounded by old industrial chimneys and the pitch is more like straw than grass. The visitors are ACS Păltiniş Raşinari who are riding high in the table but it’s the hosts that take a shock second minute lead. It doesn’t last though and the visitors score four times leaving this sorry, dirty old town with all three points.

Sunday March 24th 2019 – Romanian IV Liga (Sibiu County)

AS Copșa Mică 1 (Getner 2)

ACS Paltinis Răşinari 4 (Nasta 37,45, Chirila 40, Ganea 73)

Att:Attendance: 116 (at Stadionul Orăşenesc)

We had left our base in Sibiu on Sunday morning with our bags ready to spend the night in the UNESCO World Heritage city of Sighişoara. En route we have a pit stop at the delightful town of Biertan and its famous Lutherian fortified church. It’s dark when we get to the superb Mercure Hotel in Sighişoara but you can see this is a really special place.

Biertan

We have the morning to mooch about the cobbled streets. The 13th century clock tower is just stunning and the old citadel is dominated by the Church on the Hill. It’s a fitting end to a superb tour and we are whisked off on the fifty mile trip back to Sibiu airport for our flights back to normality. I have said it before and I will say it again, Romania is a vast untouched beauty. Do yourself a favour and visit Romania at least once in your lifetime.

Sighişoara

A greatly expanded version of this review can be found in the June 2019 edition of Football Weekends magazine

 

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Bucharest Days (Romanian Groundhop 2)

It seems impossible that a year ago 14 groundhoppers from the UK, Germany and Denmark headed to Bucharest for Andrei Otineanu’s first Romanian Groundhop. We witnessed so much to celebrate about this amazing hobby and also saw the incredibly sad side of football when Dinamo’s Cameroonian player Patrick Ekeng passed away in front of our eyes. Much has changed in the interim, Andrei’s idea of promoting sport in Bucharest for his thesis has seen him move to Łódź in Poland to continue his studies and the undoubted stars of last years hop, Fratia, have disappeared amid allegations of cooking the books. The Brotherhood of rejected players is no more and those that wanted to carry on playing have found other clubs.

So could Andrei organise a second Groundhop from his new base in a foreign country? Would it be too much work without being present to chase people up and get enough interest for it to happen? Of course he could! His energy and enthusiasm plus the help of his good friend Alexandru Fieraru on the front line in Bucharest meant all the second edition of the Romanian Groundhop needed was hoppers!

Eventually the number of attendees settled at a creditable 21 with 18 from the UK, Juergen Schneider and Carsten Pikulik from Germany and France’s very own Pierre-Julien Pera who runs he excellent Eastern European-centric website Footballski.fr

With the hop due to start at Comprest on Friday afternoon many flew into Bucharest on the Thursday to afford a bit of time for sightseeing. Then, as is the wont of Eastern European football, the Comprest game got moved. As luck would have it another game, the second tier game at CS Balotești got moved as well to Friday morning!

Balotești were hosting Olimpia Satu Mare who endured an arduous ten hour, 352 mile, coach ride from their home close to the Ukrainian border. To the delight of Balotești’s unexpected foreign guests the club issued a small four page programme for the game and these were snapped up in double quick time. With the hosts just one place above the relegation spots and Olimpia in seventh in the table an away win was expected. Maybe it was the ridiculous journey that took its toll on the visitors but they never got their act together and Balotești earned a much needed win with a terrific header from Alexandru Eugen Nica separating the sides.

Liga II – Friday May 5th 2017 (11 am)

CS Balotești 1 (Nica Eugen 22)
Olimpic Satu Mare 0

Att:117 (at Stadion Central Balotești)

So with the unexpected bonus game out of the way, Andrei duly appeared with the bus at 4pm ready for the first official game of the hop the First Liga game between FC Voluntari and ACS Poli Timișoara. Voluntari were formed as recently as 2010, the short termism of clubs in Romania is frightening!
Voluntari play at the Stadion Anghel Iordănescu, a burly and prolific centre forward for Steaua and Romania, which was built in 2010 for the new club in what appears to be a new town to the north east of the city. The hosts took the lead but were pegged back when visiting centre forward, Pedro Henrique, successfully conned the referee into awarding a penalty. Justice was done, however, when the hosts bagged what proved to be the winner just after the break.

The home team had been backed throughout by a small band of ultras in our sector. What made them special was that their average age must have been well into their 60’s. They banged drums and yelled through megaphones for the whole game with the elderly “capo” resplendent in a sailor’s cap! We had noticed our bus had been well and truly been boxed-in in the car park which made the 35 minute trip to the 8.30pm kick off at Concordia extremely tight with just a 45 minute window between games.

Liga I – Friday May 5th 2017 (6 pm)

FC Voluntari 2 (Balaur 9, Popaduic 49)
ACS Polu Timisoara 1 (Pedro Henrique pen 26)

Att:960 (at Stadion Anghel Iordănescu)

We arrived in Chiajna with six minutes elapsed into Concordia’s bottom of the table clash with bankruptcy bound ASA Târgu Mureș. With 8 games of the play out series completed both sides had only managed one win and seven goals between them so we hadn’t exactly missed much. The game looked nailed on as a 0-0 until the hosts unexpectedly scored twice in eight minutes mid way through the second half. The Stadionul Concordia was opened in 2007 and luckily had a 3G surface so the massive thunderstorm that broke out did not threaten the game. It’s a traditional English style ground with four rectangular stands and has the Biserica Sfântul Nicolae as an imposing backdrop.

Liga I – Saturday May 5th 2017 (8.30 pm)

CS Concordia Chiajna 2 (Grădinaru 71, Cristescu 79)
ASA Târgu Mureș 0

Att:672 (at Stadion Concordia)

The Satuday morning game took us to the small town of Snagov. Until 2016 FC Snagov had been plying their trade in the third tier of Romanian football before suffering relegation. Then in the summer of 2016 FC Snagov found themselves taken over lock, stock and barrel by Metalul Reșița.

This season has been tough for Metalul having to field a very young side and today’s opponents where FC Brașov, a club with a decent top flight and European pedigree. After the opponents dominated the first half they held a one goal cushion, and a comfortable away win seemed on the cards until one of Metalul’s more experienced players, Mihai Dina, delighted a modest crowd (despite free entry) with a high quality equaliser on a bobbly surface at the otherwise excellent Stadion Voinţa.

Liga II – Saturday May 6th 2017 (11.30 am)

CSM Metalul Reșița 1 (Dina 63)
FC Brașov 1 (Răchişan 24)

Att:155 (at Stadion Voinţa)

After lunch we toddled over to the ground of FC Metaloglobus to see the second string of FCSB (the preposterous new name of Steaua, long story) take on Atletic Bradu. As we arrived the adjacent ground, the Sport Complex Ion Tiriac, was hosting a fifth level game between CSM Unirea Dobroești and VK Soccer. It had not long kicked off so the majority opted to sit in the sun and watch a 3-0 win for the home team.

Liga V – Saturday May 6th 2017 (4 pm)

CSM Unirea Dobroești 3 VK Soccer 0

Att:58 (at Complex Sportiv Ion Tiriac)

Metaloglobus have won promotion to the second tier for next season and its no surprise Steaua opt to use their excellent facilities for their reserve team matches. FCSB dominated the game with a slick passing game, but couldn’t find the net leaving the visitors with a single goal victory.

Liga III – Saturday May 6th 2017 (6 pm)

FC Steaua București II 0
Atletic Bradu 1 (Ruţă 36)

Att:86 (at Stadion Metaloglobus)

Sunday began with an 12 o’clock kick off at Stadion Spartac, home of Progresul Spartac ’44 who we had seen on the hop last year when their first team played at the excellent Electromagnetica ground. Today is a fifth tier clash between Progresul’s reserves and the optimistically titled Power Team. Progresul’s ultras, who we had so enjoyed their company last year, turned up en masse for this one and blue smoke bombs were let off for the occasion. The home side won easily, 7-3, in a stadium that has been decorated with the ultras cartoon versions of themselves.

Liga V – Sunday May 7th 2017 (12 pm)

Progresul Spartac II 7 (Diț 11,14, Georgescu 36,Cirdeiu 43,53, Calancea 49,60)
Power Team 3 (Burlacu 50,80, Gheorghe 65)

Att:57 (at Stadion Progresul Spartac)

The hop ended by kind of going full circle with a game at AS Romprim. Much of the disbanded Fratia set up that won our hearts on last years hop have moved here including their coach from the Congo, Aime Lema, and Tudorel Mihailescu, the 51 year old goalkeeper who still plays in the fourth tier despite only having one arm. Sadly today they are no match for AS Tricolor who field a beast of a striker and his hat-trick paved the way for an easy 5-1 win as lightning crackled alarmingly close the ground during a heavy thunderstorm. The Stadion Romprim is excellent with sizeable stands on both sides and, wait for it, a bar that sells beer during the game! It also boasts an old school scoreboard at one end of the ground.

Liga IV – Sunday May 7th 2017 (5 pm)

AS Romprim 1 (Batchabi 83)
AS Tricolor 5 (G.Pristoliam 19,28,62, Ologeahu 70,Parvu 78)

Att:45 (at Stadion Romprim)

With a great mix of stadiums and games as well as eating and drinking like kings the second Romanian groundhop was a tremendous success and enjoyed by all in attendance. Young Andrei is a knowledgeable and likeable host who puts tremendous effort into these trips. You cannot fault his enthusiasm either as he has announced the date of the third Romanian Groundhop already! It will take place in and around Timișoara with the date being the weekend of September 22nd to 24th 2017.

An expanded version of this post will appear in a future edition of Football Weekends magazine. To order your copy please visit:
https://www.footballweekends.co.uk/about-our-mag/