Stockholm - Sweden - 2007

The last trip of the Euro 2008 qualifiers the Buckfast loyal would be going to was the Sweden match in Stockholm. A last minute decision was made, by the two members that went, that the trip was too good to miss. So the flights were booked and off we went.

A long and now routine journey to Dublin for an evening flight to Sweden was taken and we made out way to Stockholm via bus, which included the obligatory sing song (Led by the “Ashfield Loyal”)!!

We arrived in Stockholm and the first impression we had was that it was a bit of a ghost town….. No one seemed to be up for the rip at all, and finding fellow Norn Iron fans was proving to be a bit of a task!

Once we offloaded our bags at the surprisingly fancy hotel (going by our normal standards) we set off in search for a decent watering hole.

One LONG walk later we stumbled upon a pub in the ‘Old Town’ that seemed to have a decent bit of life about it, and sure enough were greeted by plenty of fellow men in green!

A few drinks and a sing song later we decided to head back to the Hotel. It was, after all, the big match day the next day!

Match day came and we met up with some mates from Markethill in “The Bishops Arms”, a great wee British pub that boasted over 150 different single malts, a welcome sign for the Turk, and a huge selection of real English ales!

After a few more drinks we decided to try and find a square that a group of people may be meeting up in, unfortunately with a city of this size it was difficult to get everyone in the one place and the carnival atmosphere was significantly smaller than previous trips.

The day wore on and soon it was time to take a quick underground trip to the stadium, thankfully Swedish transport is as reliable as the Germans and we didn’t have to wait too long for the train, and made our way into the stadium with plenty of time to spare.

A great performance and a great goal from big Kyle Lafferty meant that Norn Iron left the game with a share of the spoils, a good result seeing as only Denmark had taken points off Sweden at home, in the campaign!

With our heads held high we made our way back to city centre and managed to find the team hotel and met up with a few of the players. Super J was in for a treat and met up with his favorite celebrity, Howard Wells.

A memorable trip was had by the two troops that went, and if the opportunity arises again, Sweden will certainly be revisited.