Bjärred

Ground: Borgeby Idrottsplats

Visits: 1

Date: 25th May 2017

Match: Bjärred - Lödde 1-0 (Division 3 Södra Götaland)

Attendance: 150

Thursday 25 May was a public holiday in Sweden and most lower leagues had an almost full round of games. I had the possibility to do a double in the Malmö area but in the end I “only” went to the latter of those games, Bjärred v Lödde in Division 3 Södra Götaland. When it comes to Bjärred and football most people think of former Sweden defender Patrik “Bjärred” Andersson who played here as a youth player. He later went on to play for Malmö FF, Blackburn, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Bayern München. In 2001 he won the Bundesliga as well as the Champions League with Bayern München. His dad and brother (Daniel) have also played for both Sweden and Malmö FF by the way. Anyway, Borgeby Idrottsplats in Bjärred is hosting a youth tournament this long weekend and for that reason kick-off was as late as 19.30. Lödde are from Löddeköpinge and with the two clubs being only around 10 km from each other this was kind of a derby. From Kristianstad it took me around 70 minutes to drive to Borgeby IP and (as usual!) I arrived an hour before kick-off. Borgeby IP is quite basic with some kind of running track and the only stand is far from the pitch. As I was taking pictures before the game I noticed someone with a Schalke 04 bag and thought Hmm, he must be a groundhopper. I was correct, Ingemar “Lången” Jönsson from Gothenburg has been to plenty of grounds all over the world and it is not every day I meet someone from Sweden who has been to more “92 grounds” than myself. We had plenty to chat about during the 90 minutes!

With Bjärred having only three points from their opening six games they really needed the three points on offer tonight. To be honest this was to the most entertaining of football games but in the 42nd minute Bjärred managed to score and at half-time it was 1-0 to the home team. The referee had a difficult game and in the second half he was substituted. This was due to an injury though and this injury probably affected his performance in the first half. As an assistant referee he didn´t/couldn´t move but it was difficult to understand why he was standing by the half-way line all the time. Surely he should have been positioned right outside the penalty box where most offside situations take place. The assistant referee who was suddenly in charge of the game had a difficult evening as Borgeby IP as well and for neutrals all the angry comments from both sets of fans/players were more entertaining than the game itself. Bjärred managed to hold on to the three points and are now off an automatic relegation spot. After the game I said good bye to Ingemar and around 22.30 I was back home. Still a very nice evening!