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| Zsolt Nemeth greets the Bridgwater cupholders (sic) |
Neville
Chamberlain once described Czechoslovakia as a far away country of which we
know little. Well Hungary is a bit further
on still, cross the Danube and then take a hard step to the right.
Hungary’s political solutions are all somewhere in the past. The Fidesz Government
of Viktor Orban is blindly chasing some Thatcherite vision of unbridled
capitalism as the country teeters on the brink of becoming another Greece and
the second largest party Jobbik are an unlovable bunch of uniformed Empire
revivalists whose symbol is a map of Hungary expanded to include chunks of
neighbouring countries. And of course there’s elections coming up.
This was
pretty obvious when when our little group of about 40 Czechs and Brits turned
up for an Internationalist football tournament. Every year Bridgwater
International and Uherske Hradiste based stairlift manufacturers Altech do a
joint trip somewhere to promote International Friendship via the medium of
football. This year it was the Hungarian partner town of Sarvar.
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| Castle of the Bloody Countess |
Clear as mud
Sarvar-translating
romantically as ‘city of mud’, also was the hometown of 17th century
mass murderer Elizabeth Bathory who
bathed in the blood of peasant girls to maintain her eternal youth.
Today there’s a wellness spa and fitness centre. But these things seem very
popular with Hungarians. That’s, er, the wellness centres I mean…
The
centrepiece of Sarvar is in fact Bathory’s castle which is centrally located,in
a park where the former moat would have been, and accessible by a bridge.
Inside during our visit there were plenty of Hungarians in varying degrees of National
folk costume ranging from leather boots and hunting garb to 19th
century military chic, again largely leather and the occasional medieval man at
arms in chain mail and plumed helmet. Presumably with an element of leather
somewhere beneath. Adorning the occasional
medieval jerkin and Habsburg Huszar chic, a surprisingly large number of Jobbik
symbols. It’s nice to have a hobby.
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| Goulash roasting on an open fire |
The 'other Hungary'
Beyond the
old city walls and through a covering of
trees we find the other Hungary. On the edge of the city park is an area of
communist era tower blocks with a smattering of parked Ladas and Trabants amidst
an array of community facilities such as children’s play grounds, sports areas
and a boating lake. Again nostalgically evocative, but compared to the other
philosophies on offer, decidedly more modern.
It was here
that our football tournament was held. An alliance of left leaning parties (and it wasn’t hard to fall into this category
considering how far right the 2 main parties were) had organised a festival for
the more internationalist minded people of Sarvar featuring dozens of gigantic pots
of goulash cooking in the open air over kindling, street entertainment for the
kids plus beer and palinka made more desireable by helpings of chewy bread covered
in lard.
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| SmedHeadGoalNet Bridgwater v Czechs |
Footballing grates
But the
highlight of this festival of the people was the international football. That
was why we were here. A 6 a side tournament featuring 5 local teams and 2
foreign teams.
The Brits
and the Czechs had already played each other the day before in Uherske
Hradiste and Bridgwater had won 4.3 in a
hard fought game which turned on a penalty brought about by one of the Czech
players literally standing on striker Steve Miles and putting his right foot
out of action for the rest of the
weekend . Two classy goals from the Arthur Mullard of the footballing world,
cllr Smedley, one bouncing in off his
glasses-less head, and a winner from Jason ‘Crouchy’ Mantyk turned the
tables on the increasingly desperate Czechs.
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| Bridgwater (in bibs) v MSZP |
The
football was looking good and so it was with that air of confidence that we set
off next day on the Czech coach, with a slight stopover in the Slovak capital
Bratislava, to take on the Hungarians.
Sacrifice
But then
things went wrong. Ah England was it ever thus. Miles’ foot had not improved,
yet with teams of 6 required and with a squad of, er, 6, the brave Captain
Oates had no option but to sacrifice
himself for the team. And so went in goal. Smedley went off to goal hang, but
without his glasses was last seen somewhere in the vicinity of Ljubljana and regular keeper Ian ‘Stoner’ Stone was
given an unwanted outfield role, the momentum of his first fearless run at the opposition
taking him not only clean through the penalty area and the goal net but across
a gravel path and into a tree before
crashing down to earth on a bunch of innocent picnickers.
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| Brits head for the Goulash and lard |
Our first
game, against the MSZP (Hungarian Socialist Party) set the tone. Despite an
early Smedley goal the team went down 3.1.
By game two
the Brits had recovered some composure and playing against a local village team
of mere youths we held them to a 2.2 draw. 2.0 down for much of the match ,
Bridgwater pulled back a goal through Jamie Reade and finally a brilliant
through ball from the energetic Phil Rogers set up Crouchy to get the
equaliser.
The final
game came around and the opposition were all over us. Losing 4.1, and possibly
distracted by their goalkeeper constantly adjusting and re-adjusting his hair
style throughout the game, Bridgwater signed off.
Charitable bottom
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| Czechs on the sidelines |
The Czechs
fared even worse losing every single one of their games despite having a squad of almost 20 to chose
from and finishing a charitable bottom of the tournament.
The MSZP
went on to deservedly win the trophy (and hopefully the election in October)
although the Brits did have a go at showing them how to pose with it before anyone
noticed…
The Sarvar
project was organised by Zsolt Nemeth and Lajos Szabo and both made speeches
of internationalistic goodwill at the social held at the Nadasdy restaurant
afterwards. Altech boss Antonin Machala brought 2 barrels of the best Czech
beer, Mr Nemeth handed round the Palinka (his home made brandy) and the Hungarian
chefs appeared to try to fit 2 entire meals onto each plate
.
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| Phil takes the ice bucket challenge |
The Brits
decided to devote much of the tour to drowning themselves in ice cold water.
50% of the group were taking part in the viral ‘ice bucket challenge’ to raise
money for charity and Phil, Jamie and Ian all helped add to that mystique of
Brits abroad being a bit bonkers by
having people pour icy water onto them in broad daylight in public
places.
When Sarvar
was over we tried to find some other places between there and the airport at
Vienna. A gigantic Tescos was the first Sunday morning stopover. The sleeping
city of Szombately the next. And finally the attractive medieval fortified town
of Koszeg before venturing into the Hapsburg
capital itself.
Sarvar,
population 16,000, is officially twinned
with Uherske Hradiste and is on Bridgwater’s list for consideration. It’s not as
far away as you might think, apart from maybe historically and ideologically,
but with a bit of a swing away from the failed ideologies of chauvinistic
division and a move into the bright sunny (left-leaning) uplands it could get a bit closer.
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| All friends together |
Bloody marvellous - wish I had been there!
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