Football - Romanian mountain style - great scenery and generous hosts

Sunday 30 September 2018, ACS Bradu Borca 1 FC Speranţa Răuceşti 6 - Romania IV League

followed by

AS Bistriţa Broşteni 1 AS Forestierul Frumosu 1 - Romanian V League

Now we in the 'real' mountains, the first game really showed us why the trip was titles 'Football in Heaven' - everywhere you looked were mountains, lush fields and even the sun came out, The football game was also exciting if slightly spoilt by the short pitch.

The second game was the lowest level of football we saw on the trip, the ground was not great but what we did get was a brilliant welcome, made to feel part of the club and what we did still get was greats scenery and a home team that played in shirts donated by a Gaelic Handball team! Not a great match but certainly it will be a club we will never forget.

Mountain air and the railway track stand

Saturday 29 September 2018, ACS Șomuzul Preuteşti 3 AS Amatorii Rarău Câmpulung 1 - Romanian IV League

followed by

FC Pojorîta 6 ACS Viitorul Vereşti 1 - Romanian IV League

We arrived at out first game and first thoughts were a good pitch, nice dig outs and a score board but not much else however we then saw chairs taken from the clubhouse and next door night club and placed on the adjoining railway track!

Do not worry we were told, the last passenger train was 2 years ago , however an occasional freight train does still use the line!!

Good game between two of the top teams in the division and a free Jack Daniels at half time, a good start to the day - loved it in the railway track stand!

 

Next game and we did not get the best of the mountain views as the rain came in, teams were from the same division as this morning but this time both were mid table and it did show that they were not as good players as those we witnessed in the morning however unlike at Preutesti, we did get a proper stand and impressive it was and fortunately for us, did a good job of keeping the rain off.

Finish it one day

Friday 28 September 2018, CSM Pascani 0 Gloria Buzau- Romanian III League, Stadionul CFR Paşcani

A group of us from England ( and one from Germany) arrived in Romania, in the north east of the country in Bucovina. this ground hop had the great name of 'Football in Heaven' and at the end of the trip all of us would agree with the title - from the breath taking scenery to the generosity of all the locals we met.

Our first game was south of  Suceava, where we had an early Friday evening kick off from the Romanian third division game, the highest level game we would see but certainly was not one of the best we saw.

The away team ran out easy winners but the stadium is what most of us will remember, they seemed to have started building the main stand but stopped just after the first bits of concrete were put in place. However this did not stop it being used as a stand, seats bolted on the bare concrete and there you go, a sort of finished stadium.

But it may only have looked half finished but it still looked far more complete than the pitch next door, with overgrown terracing and a home made stand!

the trip had started and this first game had just wetted our appetites.