Torn

Ground: Tornvallen

Visits: 1

Date: 12th May 2012

Match: Torn - Halmia 0-5 (Division 2 Södra Götaland)

Attendance: 265

The big match this day was the Swedish Championship final in handball at Malmö Arena. My local team (IFK Kristianstad) had the chance to win the first title since 1954 and with Kristianstad by far being the most supported team in Sweden between 8 and 9 000 made the trip to the 12 000 capacity Malmö Arena. By all standards a very impressive following from Kristianstad. The final started at 6pm and when I found a Division 2 match at 2pm I was more than pleased. Torn play in Stångby (near Lund) and with Stångby being on the railway line from Kristianstad to Malmö it was an easy trip for me. Torn have been promoted three times in four years and 2012 is their first ever season in the Swedish 4th tier. Today´s opponents Halmia are from Halmstad and for this top of the table clash Halmia brought around 30 fans, very unusual for this level. Unfortunately those fans were greeted by really bad weather. It as 9 °C, a very strong wind and rain for most of the match. In total 265 turned up and this is a very respectable attendance. A couple of dogs showed up as well and one of them (see picture below) found the singing Halmia fans interesting and ran up to them in the only stand. The dog was warmly greeted and the Halmia fans started to sing "He is one of us", "He is one of us". The owner then pointed out it was a female dog! A big smile on my face.

The match was, despite the weather, quite good and both teams created plenty of chances. In the end Halmia won by 5-0 and even though Halmia were the better team 4-2 or so would have reflected the match better. Tornvallen is a small ground with only one stand but for most matches the only stand and the benches around the pitch will be more than enough to host the visitors. As I left the ground it was raining more and more but the walk to the railway station only took 5 minutes. 30 minutes later I was in Malmö and the handball final.

(Kristianstad lost the final but the fans will hopefully be back in Malmö Arena next year!)

tornvallen, entre