Pakruojis

Ground: Pakruojo miesto stadionas

Visits: 1

Date: 2nd May 2014

Match: Kruoja - Siauliai 1-0 (A Lyga)

Attendance: 300

In 2015 Kruoja went bankrupt and the club was dissolved. In 2016 the club reformed as FC Pakruojis

When it was announced Belarus were to host the 2014 ice-hockey World Championships it meant a chance to visit Belarus without a visa. Since Sweden and Belarus don´t have any diplomatic relations it is under normal circumstances very difficult for me to get access to the country. If you were in possession of an ice-hockey ticket you could, from 26 April to 31 May, visit Belarus without a visa though. I looked at different options and decided to make a 4-day tour to Lithuania and Belarus. On Friday morning I headed towards Copenhagen airport and 08.50 my flight left for Vilnius. Once in the Lithuanian capital I was greeted by my friend Maik and three other groundhoppers (Daniel from Leverkusen, Marcel from Osnabrück and Alexander from Hof). First stop on this trip for the group was Pakruojis in northern Lithuania where the A Lyga match between Kruoja and Siauliai was to be played at 17.30. Since Pakruojis only have a population of around 6 000 there were no buses or trains available and we had decided to rent a car. After dropping off my bag in the hotel we set off for Pakruojis shortly after noon. 2,5 hours later we had reached our destination.

Pakruojis was indeed a small town (village?) and we couldn´t find many places to eat and drink. As we entered Pakruojis we noticed a place looking as a restaurant and after finding the football ground we headed back to the outskirts and it was actually a nice restaurant. I had pike for dinner and around 17.00 we were back at Pakruojo miesto stadionas. The ground was actually better than I had expected with stands on all four sides. The seats behind the goals seemed a bit too far away from the pitch though. Kruoja vs Siauliai is kind of a derby and around 15 away fans were present at Pakruojo miesto stadionas this evening. Not much for them to cheer about though, Kruoja won the match 1-0 and the 300 home fans in attendance could go back home on a good mood. There was also another group of German groundhoppers present in Pakruojis this Friday evening. During the trip I would bump into them at every match. My group returned back to Vilnius shortly after 10pm. Tomorrow the real adventure would start when we are going by train from Vilnius to Minsk and then on to Borisov for the Belarusian cup final. An exciting day ahead for us!

pakruojis