Monthly Archives: October 2009

Carlsberg don’t do football blogs, but if they did….

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err..I'll have a Carlsberg thenCarlsberg….one of the best words ever invented by man.  Living in Copenhagen gives you a certain amount of pride of their most famous contribution to world culture.  In fact us Brits have been raised on adverts such as “If Carlsberg did Holidays/Football/Flats/Girlfriends etc” or The Danes hate to see it leave which are completely alien to the Danes who have not got a clue when I start going on about “If Carlsberg did football blogs…..”

I’d been over here in CPH for a few months without being able to venture down to Valby to the Brewery, or heaven as its known, and then two opportunities come along in one week.  Firstly as part of a Management awayday we got a “behind the scenes, access all areas” tour down into areas that are never seen by the general public, and then a week later I took the Fuller clan on a public tour which ends with a session in the bar sampling the likes of Jacobsen Dark Lager – classic stuff.  So how about a few facts I hear you ask…Well OK then – here are ten of the best…

Swastika1. The Swastika – An Indian peace symbol.  Long before the rise of the Nazi party in post First World War Germany the Swastika was known as a symbol of peace in many Indian cultures.  Carlsberg adopted the symbol during the 19th century and had it carved into their Elephant Gates at the turn of the century.  During the 1930′s they actually started legal proceedings against the Nazi party to stop them essentially infringing their copyright.  Guess who won???

2. Little Mermaid – Last year when the process of clearing some of the old storage rooms started in Old Carlsberg they came across a room that had been sealed for over 50 years.  In the back of this room they came across a sheet, which hid one of the original five Little Mermaid sculptures which nobody had a clue why it was stored down underground.  The good news is that with the “original” Mermaid due to go on loan to the Chinese next year, Copenhagen needs to bring in a sub and Carlsberg have started negotiations to “loan” the city this one.

The actual bottle made for Winston Churchill3. Special Brew – In 1950 the then master brewer Thomas Marfleet brewed a new beer to commemorate the visit to Copenhagen of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill.  Churchill loved it and Carlsberg produced two crates especially for Winnie.  It then went on sale under the name “Easter Brew” before becoming Special Brew in 1951.

4. Carlsberg – The brewery was founded by Jacob Christian Jacobsen in 1844 on the outskirts of the city in a suburb called Valby.  It was named after his son, Carl.  He was so grateful to his Dad that he soon founded his own brewery thinking that “he knew best” called the Valby Brewery, before changing the name to Ny Carlsberg and moving next door to his Dad’s brewery.

5. Cathedral Brewhouse – The original “brewhouse” in Ny Carlsberg only stopped producing beer just over a year ago.  It is a magnificent four story galleried building and the copper “kettles” still dominate the room.  The next owners of the building are still not known.  A TV station, internet company and another brewery have bid for it but as it is listed no fittings can be removed and so it is becoming quite problematic.

6. Brands – Carlsberg is the 4th largest brewer in the world based on output but the biggest in terms of brand ownership.  Through years of acquisitions it today owns more than 45 brands including such well known ones as Kronenbourg, Holstein, Tuborg and Tetley plus the not so well known Law in Serbia, Kuche Kuche in Malawi and Koff in Finland.

7. Carlsberg Mansion – In the grounds of the Brewery sits the Carlsberg Mansion.  The red brick mansion is home to a number of famous Scientists who have won the Danish equivalent of the Nobel prize.  All winners of this prestigious prize are invited to live at the Mansion, rent free for the rest of their lives AND THEY GET FREE BEER! There are currently three such award winners living a live of permanent drunkenness.  Possibly the best known resident is Niels Bohr the Nobel Scientist who worked on the Manhatten Project.

The latest ever bottle produced - end right8. 18,242 unopened bottles – Carlsberg own the largest collection of unopened beer bottles in the world.  Some years ago they were approached by an individual who had over 10,000 DIFFERENT bottles in his possession but his wife wanted to use his beer room as a nursery (priorities!) and so they donated his collection to the brewery.  The collection includes a bottle from every brewery in the world as well as some special limited edition ones such as the Red labelled Carlsberg (see left) produced to commemorate the Danes reaching the 1986 World Cup finals (the bottle was a flop unlike the football team), a tetra-pack carton of beer, the original Winston Churchill produced Special Brew and the last ever bottle (end one on the right) produced at the brewery in December 2008.  Prior to this Carlsberg produced over 4 million bottles A DAY!  They still produce the very limited edition Jacobsen beer which sells for over 2000 Danish Kroner a bottle (the 2008 edition sells for 2008DKR, this years will be 2009DKR etc) – probably the most expensive beer in the world

9. Workers rights – At its peak whilst producing 4million bottles per day, the brewery employed over 5,000 people on the site in Valby.  Part of their working rights was the right to drink 6 beers per day free of charge.  They could drink these at any time, but amazingly could only have 2 cigarettes a day!  They could also purchase cheap beer in the staff pub.  On pay day the workers wives used to arrive at lunchtime to collect their wages to stop them pissing it all away!  Technically this perk has never been rescinded although few workers today partake in this practice.  Also quite surprising for such a huge operation was the fact that people only ever worked from 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday – no weekends or long nights as the Jacobsen family prided itself on offering all of its workers a healthy private live.

SNV1171210. Carlsberg and Football – “Carlsberg don’t sponsor football teams, but if they did they would probably be the best teams in the world”….Well actually they do sponsor four football teams at the moment and none of them are world beaters!  They have been the main sponsors of FCK (FC Copenhagen – see here for more on their history) for years but apart from one decent season in the Champions League a few years ago they have failed to make an impression on the European stage.  OB from Odense are the other domestic club they sponsor.  OB are the new domestic force and could well take over the mantle from FCK.  Then you have two clubs in England.  No prizes for getting Liverpool as the first one, although that long term deal (18 years) is coming to an end in May 2010 when the Anfield club reluctantly accept over £20m per season from Standard Chartered.  But could you easily get the 4th club?  Well they actually played Liverpool at Anfield in January 2008?  Still no idea? Well it is actually Havant & Waterlooville!  They played Liverpool in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup, losing 5-2.  Of course you knew (liar).

So next time you order a pint of Carlsberg, pause before you down it and think about all of the toil that went into producing that pint….or simply down it and order another one!

The Academy of Football

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We all love West Ham here at TBIR towers.  We actually have three generations of fans, all of whom have been down the Boleyn on hundreds of occasions.  Lolly became the fourth generation of supporter to gain the privilage of a season ticket and now takes up her spot on the Bobby Moore lower each home game along with myself and Football Jo – quite an influence I can tell you.  With Littlest Fuller now showing an interest too since discovering that you can buy a West Ham scarf and gloves set in pink I thought I would educate them at Half Term with a behind the scenes tour of the ground along with ten facts that very few people ever knew about the club….

Shirts 3

Shirts again

1. Claret and Blue as a bet- West Ham started live as Castle Swifts FC, before being taken over by Thames Ironworks FC who became West Ham United in July 1900. The original colours of the team were dark blue due to the owner being a former student of Oxford University, Claret and Blue came a few years later in bizarre circumstances. Father of one of the players Bill Dove had been at a fair in Birmingham, close to Villa Park, and was challenged to a race against four Villa players, who wagered money that one of them would win. Bill Dove defeated them, and when they were unable to pay the bet, one of the Villa players who was responsible for washing the team’s kit offered a complete side’s ‘uniforms’ to Dove in payment of the bet. The Aston Villa player subsequently reported to his club that the kit was ‘missing’.

2. Barrels of beer every 30 seconds – West Ham fans like a beer and in line with the growing trend in new stands/stadiums, the quick provision of alcohol is important on a matchday.  So West Ham have a cellar under the West Stand and employ 2 cellar men.  Most of the week these guys spend their time making beer barrel towers and rolling them down the empty concourses of the stands, but in the hour between 2pm and 3pm (obviously for a 3pm kick off) they have to change a barrel on average EVERY 30 SECONDS!!!  During that period the club will use over 120 barrels of Carlsberg.  And who said we had a drinking culture here in the UK!

3. Pizza post match meal – To dispell the myth that all of today’s footballers are shining beacons of health, after each home game the players can tuck into pizza, made by the West Ham chef in the players lounge.  Back in the dark ‘Appy ‘Arry days the post match meal used to be Fish and Chips (acquired via a 3rd party no doubt for a whopping commission for delivery) but Gianfranco loves nothing more than a Four Seasons.

4. Second biggest employer in Borough of Newham – West Ham is now a 24 x 7 x 365 operation when you factor in the Hotel, Learning Zone and Conference Centre.  Since the demise of Tate and Lyall the club (and Compass who the catering arm is outsourced to) have become the 2nd biggest employer in the London Borough of Newham behind the PCT NHS Trust run out of Newham General Hospital.  Including matchday staff, the club employ over 500 people.

5. Ten showers in away dressing room – Not only do the away teams have a smaller changing area, with more radiators that work in the summer and don’t budge in the winter but they are also faced with a big plaque on the wall informing them that “This is Upton Park – Home of the Hammers” just in case any had missed the subtle decor outside the ground.  There are also only ten showers in the changing rooms meaning that either one away player goes smelly or has to patiently wait whilst his team mates play hide the soap on the rope.  Interestingly enough, West Ham has one of the lowest sending off rates from away teams, which just proves they can’t all be desperate to steal a march on their team mates.

Castle

Part of Anne Boleyn's Castle

6. House not a castle- The Boleyn Ground, named after the castle which was home to Anne Boleyn is simply a myth.  There was a decent size house on the site of the ground, and it was home to a Boleyn but not Henry VIII’s plaything and of course, mother to Queen Elizabeth.  Nope in fact it was her brother Dave* who lived here, happy that he was a fair few miles away from his royal relatives.  Although Anne did come and stay for a few nights on her way to Southend for a weekend…probably.

*I am not sure what his name actually was but Dave would be a good name for the King’s Brother-In-Law I think.

7. No ashes scattered on pitch – A few years ago it was the done thing for any loyal fan to have their ashes sprinkled on the pitch of your beloved club.  Nowadays when Pitch Technology is a degree course in its own right most clubs do not offer the fulfilment of this one last request as the picthes are dug up at least once a season and the mortal remains would be shipped off to some tip.  So instead West Ham have created a memorial garden where the ashes are sprinkled….in the players car park!  So when Reg eventually pops off he will be resting in peace next to Porsche’s, BMW’s and Hummers.

8. First ground to have executive boxes that convert into bedrooms – With new stadiums trying to generate more and more off the pitch income, most now offer conference facilities but few can offer a hotel as part of the stadium.  Reading’s Madejski has the Millennium Hotel, Bolton’s Reebok has Whites and the new Twickenham South stand has a 4 star hotel but West Ham were the first, and still only club to offer hotel rooms that double up as Executive Boxes.  Ingenious and a major source of income as there simply aren’t any hotel around the stadium to cater for the conference traffic.  Each Executive box can be converted to a bedroom by one person in 10 minutes.  On a matchday guests have to vacate the room by 7am so the process can begin and they are allowed back in their room at 7pm.  The sliding doors onto the seating area are centrally locked so you cannot sneak out in the middle of the night for a quick game.  The club also do not allow you to hire the box on a matchdy and then stay in bed unfortunately.

It is certainly an unusual situation.  The Reebok offers some rooms that overlook the pitch but there is no sound frm the stadium and you have to promise not to drink any beer when a game is going on as it would be “in sight of the pitch” and thus you could be subject to arrest.  CMF and myself once stayed there and drank beer out of mugs so as to confuse any prying security cameras!

9. Why we have a Chicken Run – One of the best known and named stands in football – West Ham’s East Stand is still affectionately known as “The Chicken Run”. The

East

The Chicken Run

closeness to the pitch was always one of the characteristics of the ground and why many away teams hated playing at Upton Park.  The crowd would almost seem on top of wide players and during the dark days of the 70′s and 80′s it didn’t take much of an aim to launch missiles onto the pitch.  The name many think relates to the look of the old East Stand, demolished in 1968 from the mesh that was used to surround the terracing but it is actually related to the farm that once stood on the site of Priory Road.  It is now a very dated stand and only offers seats for 5,000 (in fact the upper tier has some very poor sightlines and some seats do not have a view of anything above head height).  The plan is that at some point soon (and soon we mean a) when the club has a rich owner again, b) when all the talk of a move to the Olympic Stadium nearby has stopped and c) if we stay in the Premier League) it will be demolished and a new two tier stand will be build 5 metres closer to the pitch making the stadium 40,000 capacity.

10. The “new stadium” was opened by the Queen – Betty doesn’t really follow football.  Since her last visit to Wembley in 1966 to see good ol’ England beat the Bosch she has prefered to mix with the common man at the likes of Royal Ascot.  But back in 2003 she turned up unannounced at Upton Park to see what all the fuss was about the new Dr Martens Stand, at the time the biggest club stand in London.  Good job Joe Cole and Jermain Defoe were cleaning boots that day and had time to don a suit, learn how to do up a tie (alas Defoe still cannot manage such a grown up act without asking his agent, or is it his Mum these days?) and to pop down the 24 hour BP to get some flowers for her.  The trip to Upton Park remains her last foray into a football ground in the UK.  Blessed we are (although West Ham were relegated later in the season).

Ocktobeerfest

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Four games, three days, two countries, thirty three people, thirteen goals, forty seven beers, four sausages, sixteen Dutch meatballs, ten hours sleep, six bedbug bites, two Willem’s…..Carlsberg don’t do European Football Weekends, but if they did they would spend more on advertising that we did, but at least we got there first!  full report of the weekend’s events can be found at European Football Weekends.  For now enjoy a few pictures and the official video of the weekend.

It’s in the shops…..

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Passport to footballThe UK locked in a frenzy with the launch of “Passport to Football” .  Thirty chapters, thirty unforgetable trips (well, the bits we can remember in between all the foreign beer) and of course a fair few classic games.  Who can forget Hvidovre v AB, FC Orgryte v Jonkopings Sodra and Akademia Sofia v Radovski Sevlievo – well quite a few of us actually but many will want to remember Euro2008, France v England or Palermo v West Ham.

All your favourites are in here.  The “Jugtastic” CMF, Football Jo and all of her perversions and a cast of literally a dozen.  None of the tales can be found anywhere else apart from in the hallowed pages of “Passport to Football”.  So buy a copy by clicking here – you know you want to!

Well done to Neil Campbell who found an obscure interview I did some years ago and that my first ever game was between West Ham and Burnley from April 1976

It could never happen here…..could it?

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Twenty four miles south of Copenhagen here in the land of the Danes is a small seaport of just under 35,000 people called Køge. It is a pretty little town with some of the oldest surviving buildings in Denmark. For the past few years it has been notable for not really being notable. Until May this year.

Fifty five years ago the town’s football club, Køge Boldklub became the first Danish team outside the capital to win the national league. The club went on to play thirty four years in the top division and won the title for a second time in 1975. The good times came to an end in the proceeding years and in February 2007 the club were made bankrupt, owing money to the tax man and players alike. Sound familiar in this country? Then the club came up with a great idea – merge with local rivals Herfølge, a tiny little village to the south of Køge. They were actually Danish champions as recently as 2000 and played Rangers in the Champions League qualifying round the following season (losing 6-0 on aggregate).

The Danish football association initially said no. Herfølge were in the 1st Division at the time and went on to finish the 2006/07 in 9th place.  Last season they stormed the league and won the championship and thus prepared for a season in the Supa Liga. The club then decided to engineer a “reverse take over” and essentially bought the assets of Køge, who were technically bankrupt still and formed a new club – Herfølge Boldklub Køge to start the new season. Can you imagine a similar situation in England with say Rochdale taking over Accrington Stanley?

Auri

Auri

So all’s well that ends well? Not really. The season started as a disaster for the club and as the weeks went by it was obvious that their stay in the top division was going to be brief.  But fear not. Highly rated coach Auri Skarbalius, who had steered the club to the top divison of sorts wasn’t going to let a small matter of depressing defeats interfere with his philosophical press conferences, starting with his opening salvo of “We will try to finish as far up the table as possible.” . Inspirational stuff indeed.  He kept the whole of Danish football interested in the progress of the team with his quotes after each game.

Week 1 – HB Køge 1 Silkeborg IF 1 - “My philosophy is that if you have possession of the ball then your opponents cannot hurt you.”

Week 2 – FC Copenhagen 7 HB Køge 1 - “We have sefless players and they have shown what they can do”

Week 3 – HB Køge 0 AaB Aalborg 5 - “We have stars of the future in our team – such as Mads Laudrup, son of Michael”

Week 4 – AGF Aarhus 2 HB Køge 1 - “We never said that we would survive in the SAS league – Nor is it our objective”

Week 5 -HB Køge 1 FC Nordjaelland 1 - “I pay alot of attention to stamina and technique…it’s a shame the players don’t listen to it!”

Week 6 – IF Brondby  6 HB Køge 1 - “Vi har mentale problemer i dag” – which literally means “We had mental problems today”

Week 7 – HB Køge 1 Sondersjke 0 - “We won..we deserved to win….we can win every game from here.”

Normal service returned the following week with another defeat, away to league leaders Esbjerg although they only narrowly lost 3-2.  Defeats followed against Odense BK and FC Midtylland sandwiching a draw against the bottom side Randers meaning that they had picked up just six points from nearly a third of the season.

And so we get to week twelve and the eagerly awaited home tie with perennial champions FC Copenhagen, or FCK as they are more commonly known in these parts.  And those wonderful people at the club had been forthcoming in getting me a pass once they knew I wanted to see Auri for my own eyes.

I had planned another one of my mammoth Danish football jollies.  after the high jinx of Weston-Super-Mare I had packed the female Fullers up north for their pennance and headed over to the flat a day earlier than normal.  As luck (or good planning?) would have it the fixtures were kind to me and I saw a four game day pan out in front of my very eyes.  First up there was KB v Skjold at Frederiksberg IP in the Danish 2nd division (see Cuptastic in DK for my visit there last month).  Then we had a trip out of town to the final resting place of traditional Danish monarchy, Roskilde which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.  Not that we would see any of that as we were heading west of the city to the Idraetspark to watch the first division game between Roskilde BK and Naevstad before heading south for the main event at HB Køge and then finishing off the day with a little bit of Brondby IF action against FC Midtjylland. A classic day of Danish beer, sausages and football.

On a chilly autumn day I landed a day earlier back in Copenhagen, still feeling the effects of the bracing sea air from Weston-Super-Mare some twelve hours before.  A quick change back in the flat and then I was back on the road to KB to see Skjold come away with a two nil game, which was frankly completely forgettable.  Go West, said the Pet Shop Boys, and it is not often I follow the advice of those two, but today I did and fifteen minutes later was wandering through the streets of Roskilde, trying to find the stadium.  Eventually it popped up after following what I thought were football fans to the Danish equivalant of Makro.  Roskilde IP is a very picturesque stadium, surrounded by trees and with the sun shining it was a decent game to watch, as the visitors Naevsted took an early lead, but inspired by the black and white glove wearing forwards, Roskilde came back into the game with a great equaliser and had a number of chances at the end of the game to steal it, and record only their second home win of the season.

But that was just an Entree.  The main dish was in Herfolge and apart from the whole FCK away contingent trying to squeeze on a two coach train at Køge it was a smooth thirty minute journey.  The club had misplaced my press accreditation which wasn’t too surprising as this was billed as the biggest game in their history and things were a bit chaotic.  The press area for once was behind glass, and with the sun beating down I was forced to shed three or four layers of my artic ensemble.  cyril the Swan (on loan from Swansea?) kept the crowd amused prior to kick off and a good old fashion ticker tape welcome signalled the start of the game, live on Danish TV.

HB Køge 0 FC Copenhagen 2 – SEAS-NVE Park, Herfolge – Sunday 18th October 4pm

The FCk fans getting bored?

The FCk fans getting bored?

Sometimes you need to just rip up the form book.  FCK were evens favourite for this one but the opening exchanges all went in favour of the home team.  An early corner caused some chaos in the FCK area and then Roberto Saraiva skipped past a few challenges before shooting over the FCk bar on nine minutes.  With the strong sun causing a major issue for the home team it came as a surprise that it took then eleven minutes to get the ball into the HB penalty area for the first time.  The first quarter was pretty open, although you could see FCK slowly taking the sting out of the game and sure enough in the twenty first minute they went ahead when Mikael Antonsson rose highest in the area and headed home. One became two ten minutes later when ex-Chelsea winger Jesper Grønkjaer jinked past a defender on the edge of the box and then his shot squirmed under Lars Bjerring in the HB goal.  HB came straight back at FCK and nearly got one goal back when a free kick flashed past the wall and missed the far post by inches.

The second half was more of the same.  Lots of effort but very little end product.  The most exciting moments came when the FCk fans lit flares in unison and then started aiming them at the HB keeper a la Ukranian fan style.  In truth HB didn’t look that bad and despite the poor start they could have enough in the tank to escape relegation at the end of the season.  The crowd certainly enjoyed the day and created quite a noise until the final whistle.  I stayed behind to hear the pearls of wisdom of Auri, happy to miss the first half of the Brondby game, and he did not disappoint:-

“We lacked sharpness last, and I demand that we become sharper. When we meet Monday and evaluate the match, we must talk about what we can do to be sharp.  A woodcutter does not go to work with a bluntaxe, for he would not be able to feed his family. He sharpens his tool every day.  We need to sharpen our tools so that when we go to work we score goals” – Forgive me if my Danish isn’t 100% yet but it’s getting there…slowly

So it was left to get a train back into civilisation.  I figured that the police would not want 1,000 FCK fans to be hanging around the station at Herfolge for nearly an hour, but this is the land of the illogical sometimes.  I arrived at the halt – it can’t even be seen as a station, and the fans were cold and bored – not a good mixture.  Within ten minutes they had started laying on the track, throwing stones at the police and generally acting in a way that would have seen the riot police arrive in the UK.  Forty minutes later a two coach train arrived, we all crammed on and 3 minutes later we were back in civilisation.  How hard would it have been to have put a train on to do that some forty five minutes earlier.  So in the end Brondby was a bridge too far.  I buttoned up the coat and headed back over the bridge for my flat, and a night of Danish X-Factor.  Another strange combination, but that is for another day.

About the SEAS-NVE Park
A mish-mash of a ground, located just outside the village centre.  The biggest stand sits behind the north goal and houses the main press and team administration.  Down one side is a traditional single tier covered seated stand which offers some good views and then behind the south goal is a shallow open terrace, reserved for the away fans.  It is the fourth side that is unusual.  Bits of terracing, some executive boxes on stilts and then a sport centre all compete for space.  Very strange.  Views are good from all parks though and the home teams fans do go out of their way to generate a decent atmosphere.

How to get to the SEAS-NVE Park
The stadium is in the village of Herfolge, a few miles from Køge.  If you are coming from Copenhagen then the easiest way to reach the ground is to take S-tog line A to its southern end at Køge (approx journey time from central station is 35 minutes) and then cross the platform and take a regional train one stop south to Herfolge (in the direction of Naestved).  On exiting the station follow the rural road southwards to the main road and then turn left.  You should see the floodlights ahead of you and the entrance to the ground is 150 yards on your right.  Bus 502 also runs between the two stations.

How to get a ticket for the SEAS-NVE Park
Whilst the stadium has a capacity of 7,500, the visits of some of the bigger teams will result in sell outs this season.  Ticket prices for Adults for the bigger games (v FCK or Brondby) are 120DKR and 60DKR for Children over 7 (free if they are under).  For B-grade games it is 100DKR and 50DKR respectively.  Tickets can be reserved by emailing brit@hb.dk.  They currently do not have an online facility to order them.