ÖSK mot Djurgården Fotboll

Bam Bam... Bam Bam Bam... Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam... SVART VIT!

So led the chants as Örebro's newly dubbed "proleague" team ÖSK played Stockholm's largest soccerclub Djurgården.  The hooligan in the pic above was standing right behind us in the standing-only section of the stadium.  To his right was a fellow beating a tom-tom to the beat of whatever chant was being sung at the time.  While the cheers were a little foreign to me... the most impressive aspect by far was that they chanted for nearly the entire game.  It was a constant wave of songs, insults and yelling at the refs...

ÖSK stands for Örebro Sports (K)Club.  Their colors are Black and White hence the Svart and Vit in the cheer at the start.  This game was important for them because they were just admitted into the premier league in Sweden and were playing one of Sweden's largest teams, Djurgården.  Djurgården is named for a small island in Stockholm harbor.  The name means "animal garden."  We speculated today that the royals most likely used this island as a hunting preserve or for raising livestock in the past.  The Djurgården colors are dark blue and white.  One thing that was hard to miss was the number of fans that had made the 2 hour journey from Stockholm to Örebro to support their team. 

If you look closely in the photo above you will see that Robert and I were recipients of some free sports merchandise!  That is right... we got complimentary ÖSK vs. Djurgården scarves!  How appropriate for Sweden...

It is worth mentioning how plesant the match was.  The stadium is very intimate.  Think smaller than the Cajun Field... and the weather was perfect.  With sun until 10PM the stadium was bright and sunny through the entire game. 

Robert and I also noticed that unlike many American stadiums, walking to and from the game was a pleasure because there was no parking lot.  Outside the stadium were bikes and busses and about a 5 min walk to the city center so people just walked.  Very pleasant evening.  I would recommend this to anyone interested in european soccer but not interested in large crowds, expensive tickets or a hassle. 

FINAL SCORE 0 - 0.  ÖSK dominated the game and proved their worthiness for the premier league.

Below are some action shots from the game...