My second game in Iceland is the next day and is a second-tier game between Knattspyrnufélagið Fram (Fram Football Club) and Ungmennafélagið Fjölnir, commonly known as Fjölnir, the numbers one and three, respectively, of the 1. deild karla (literally First Division Men). I go with the husband of a colleague, who kindly pays but also manages to get me a (generic) ticket from another supporter.
Fram is one of the oldest and most successful football clubs in Iceland, which dominated Icelandic football in the 1980s and 1990s, but fell on hard time in the 2010s, when it relegated to the second level. The club is based at Safamýri, in the Háaleiti og Bústaðir district near Reykjavík city center.
As they are building a new stadium in another part of the city, Fram is playing its games still in the old “stadium”, in a residential area, which has a few old and uncovered seats on one side of the pitch. There seem to be some 250 people, many wearing Fram gear.
There are also some 50 quite vocal fans from Fjölnir, a club from the Grafarvogur area of Reykjavík, so that is not much of a trip.
In the first five minutes Fram has two hard shots that are tipped over by the goalie. Then everything dies down a bit. In the first 10 minutes Fram seemed much better and well organized but after a good start the game became messy and the referee didn’t help, letting too much go.
Only in the 36the minute, after a long and messy period with few chances, Fram has a good attack that leads to a cross being headed through and volleyed in beautifully: 1-0. This is also the half time score.
In the second minute of the second half an Fjölnir attack is headed just over the goal. Some ten minutes later Fram has a great shot in the far corner, but the goalie saves with a beautiful, stretched dive. In the 66th minute the visitor score from a beautiful free kick that is volleyed in perfectly from 5 meters but sadly it was offside.
As we are two minutes in extra time, Fram has a good attack that is easily finished: 2-0. This is also the final score.
Overall a disappointing game, showing that the second level is well below the top flight, which is not stellar either. The ground will not be missed but I wonder how the atmosphere will be in the new ground as very few fans seem to come.
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4 comments:
Covid-restrictions played part in the shortage of fans. The club was only allowed to sell 200 tickets for each end. The home end was sold out the day before (which is probably the reason why they put you in the away stand) but Fjölnir, having a disappointing season on top of last years relegation after not winning a match, had a very poor turnout.
Thanks for clearing that up. Ironically, everyone was still sitting on top of each other. Where will the new stadium be?
The new stadium will be on the outskirts of Reykjavik in the newly built suburbs in the east. So it is not only that FC Fram will be getting a new stadium but also moving into a new part of town, tapping from a new reservoir of fans and youth. This is a highly controversial project and some of the old die-hards hate it and feel that the club is being torn up with its roots, but others (myself included) see this as necessary development, bringing sports to a new and thriving neighbourhood and giving the club access to fresh blood and superior infrastructure. The new area will arguably be among the best in the country with a state of the art stadium and indoor
facilities.
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