IFK Uddevalla

Ground: Kamratgården

Visits: 1

Date: 17th May 2014

Match: IFK Uddevalla - Skövde AIK 1-2 (Division 1 Södra)

Attendance: 109

In the mid 1920s IFK Uddevalla played two seasons in Allsvenskan but since then they have mostly been playing in lower divisions. In 2013 the club were crowned champions of Division 2 Norra Götaland and were promoted to Division 1, the third tier in Swedish football. With the biggest club in Uddevalla, Oddevold, already playing in Division 1 Södra the derby was of course the match I looked out for when the fixture list was released. Unfortunately for me the Uddevalla derby was played two weeks ago, when I was in Belarus, so I had to look at other fixtures. In the end I decided to go to Uddevalla on Norway´s national day (17 May) for the match against Skövde. With the weather forecast suggesting 20 degrees and sunshine I knew I would have a nice drive along the west coast of Sweden. Uddevalla is about 350 km from Kristianstad and with a break for lunch the drive took me around 4 hours. Kick-off for the match was at 16.00 and around 14.20 I was outside Kamratgården, the home of IFK Uddevalla.

The ground has an artificial pitch and two stands on the north side of the ground. The ground is surrounded by rocks and on the south side there are plenty of natural view spots. You can even stand outside the ground, on top of the rock behind one of the goals, and watch from there. As I was taking a few pictures of the ground I spoke to an elderly home supporter and he told me the weather was too nice and people are at the sea and won´t come to the match. As kick-off approached I realized he was spot on, a very low attendance (109) for this match. The match itself was actually quite entertaining. Skövde took an early lead from the penalty spot and shortly before half-time it was 0-2. IFK Uddevalla hit both the post and the cross-bar but no goals from them in the first half. The second half was not as exciting as the first but when IFK Uddevalla made it 1-2 with 12 minutes to go we were in for a great finale to this match. No more goals though and the match finished 1-2. IFK Uddevalla are second from bottom in Division 1 Södra and are in need of some wins in their upcoming games. Despite the low attendance I was quite pleased with my day in Uddevalla. I have now re-completed Division 1 Södra and sunshine is always better than rain, at least for groundhoppers.

kamratgården, entre