Hvetlanda

Ground: Heds Arena

Visits: 1

Date: 23rd June 2015

Match: Hvetlanda GIF - Myresjö/Vetlanda 0-2 (Division 3 Nordöstra Götaland)

Attendance: 1 634

My ambition is to have attended a match at every ground in the top three divisions in Sweden. When Piteå were promoted to Division 1 Norra at the end of last season it meant I had another trip to northern Sweden looking forward to. Once the schedule for Division 1 Norra was published I was delighted to find out Piteå were to play local rivals IFK Luleå at the end of June. With Piteå being around 1 350 km from where I live I had to visit in the summer and a game against IFK Luleå should, if the weather is ok, attract a big crowd. I then looked at other fixtures and decided to make this a 6-day tour of Sweden. First up on my trip was the first Vetlanda derby in 34 years, Hvetlanda GIF vs Myresjö/Vetlanda, on Tuesday evening in Division 3 Nordöstra Götaland. Having lived in Vetlanda for two years (1995 to 1997) this was of course also a chance of revisiting the town itself for the first time since I left in -97. At 11.02 my first train of the day left Kristianstad and after two changes, in Hässleholm and Nässjö, I arrived in Vetlanda around 14.00.

The weather forecast for Vetlanda said rain, heavy at times, until midnight and as I left the train it was indeed heavy rain coming down. Fortunately for me my hotel was across the street from the train station. Kick-off for this historic derby was at 19.00 and shortly before 5pm I met up with a friend of mine, Henrik, and we then headed towards a nice restaurant close to my hotel. As we left the restaurant, an hour before kick-off, we were both surprised (and delighted) to find out the rain had stopped. Heds Arena, the home of Hvetlanda GIF, is a ground I have actually visited before. It used to be the home of the bandy club in Vetlanda and in those days the ground was called Tjustkulle. A couple of years ago a new indoor arena for bandy was built in Vetlanda and Tjustkulle was transformed into a football ground, with an artificial pitch, instead. The ground has a capacity of around 4 000, there are two relatively large stands on both sides. In the middle of one of them there os a covered stand. This used to be the "Heating Stand". Bandy is played during the winter, in Vetlanda there are normally proper winters, and this stand used to have heaters in the ceiling. As kick-off approached more and more people entered Heds Arena and in total 1 634, a very good attendance for level 5 football in Sweden, showed up this evening. Even though there were a few rain showers during the game the fact the rain had stopped probably added 6-700 to the total attendance.

Myresjö/Vetlanda is merger between Myresjö IF and Vetlanda FF. When i lived in Vetlanda Myresjö played in the second tier in Sweden but that was a long time ago. The actual match this evening was quite ok to watch. Myresjö/Vetlanda were the better team and won 2-0. Both teams could have scored more goals but all in all a deserved victory for Myresjö/Vetlanda. After the match Henrik drove me back to my hotel. Tomorrow I continue my journey northwards when I go to Stockholm for Karlberg vs Sundbyberg

sapa arena