Fly with Easyjet from Gatwick to Bucharest’s Otopeni airport, also known as Henri Coanda. First impressions of the city are that it’s quite scruffy and very heavily congested. Some of the driving is quite hair raising and there are a lot of beggars and roaming packs of stray dogs on the streets. When Ceausescu built his Centrul Civic about 40,000 families lost their homes (and pets). Many of the dogs became strays and rapidly bred. There was a plan to have them all put down, but following an international outcry led by Brigitte Bardot, a spay and release programme was instituted instead. I don’t believe there was such an international outcry for the 40,000 families!

We were planning to go from the airport to the hotel, but seeing the state of the traffic get our pre-booked taxi to take us straight to the first game. This is a regional third division game (Divizia C, Serie 2) between Aversa Bucharest and Steau Bucharest II. Only a helpful e-mail from the Romanian Football Federation notified us of this fixture. The league consists of an 18-team top division, two regional divisions at the second level and six at the third.

Aversa paly at Baza Sportiva Aversa in the eastern Bucharest suburb of Pantelimon. It’s a rundown and fairly small venue but has some character. There is a two-storey building at the near end with changing rooms on the ground floor, and upstairs a clubroom and small viewing area for officials. A covered stand with about 150 seats is located centrally on one side of the ground with 12 rows of open seating on a scaffold-type structure opposite. No admission is charged. The visitors are clearly the better side but only score once, from the penalty spot, watched by a crowd of 120.

Football spread from Hungary into Transylvania, then part of the Hungarian monarchy, before in 1899 a Romanian doctor returned from studying in England to form the first Romanian club, RS Farad. 5 years later, FC Olimpia Rhein in Bucharest, became the first truly Romanian club and they won the inaugural championship in 1910. Between the wars there were four major teams in Bucharest, but the Soviet backed authorities launched a major re-structuring. Giant centralised Ministry sports clubs were formed, principally Steau (Army) and Dinamo (Interior Ministry / Police). Each provincial city was supposed to be represented by a single team.

At international level, Romania competed in the first three World Cups but their best years were in 1990 and 1994, reaching the quarterfinals at the latter tournament with the likes of Georghe Hagi and Dan Petrescu. At club level mainly the same teams continue to gain the honours while match fixing and corruption in general have been major issues.

Locate our base in the early evening. The Hotel Rin Grand is a few kilometres south of the city centre. It is smart and modern and very big, 1,500 rooms no less. Take a taxi, for not too many Levs (4.65 to the £ at the time) into the centre for some food and drink, although the Count Dracula Club is unfortunately fully booked. And we only wanted a bite to eat.

Take the metro for the first game of a Saturday double, metro and a short walk to the sports grounds of Dinamo Bucharest. Located just northeast of the city centre, Stefan Cel Mare metro station is very close. Pick up a Pro-Sport newspaper for the latest information.

Dinamo’s 2^nd team compete in Divizia ‘B’ (second division) and have their own stadium within an expansive area. The complex has an impressive gateway, club shop and various fast food outlets outside and the club name between small towers to either side of the entrance. Walk past the main stadium, open air swimming pool, tennis courts and an artificial pitch to the Stadionul Florea Dumitrache. Capacity was 6,000 but building work was taking place at the time of our visit. Only the rusting supports of former stands remain in many places with new stand supports being installed in others. For the time being there are about 10 rows of open seating at the near end and two small blocks of temporary seating on one side. An old velodrome with a rugby pitch at the centre can be seen beyond the far side.

No admission charge as mid-table Dinamo II take on FC Brasov, runaway league leaders with 16 wins and only one defeat in 18 games. In an excellent game a crowd of around 500 see Brasov take the lead, but Dinamo come back to win 2-1, aided by a penalty and sending off after 20 minutes. Obtain tickets for the following day’s main match and then do the same at Rapid Bucharest before taking a cab for the journey to Urziceni.

Urziceni is quite a small town, about 55 kilometres north east of Bucharest. Have time for a nice meal in the Royal Hotel before entering the Stadionul Tineretului for the top division match between Unirea Urziceni and Universitatea Craiova. The ground is very close to the railway station, but the last train back is 10 minutes before the scheduled end of the match, so a taxi is required on this occasion. The stadium is all-seated and floodlit with capacity of about 7,000. Covered stands line each side with uncovered curved sections round each end. Drinking fountains and drum holders are handily placed at regular intervals along the front of the stands. No admission charge again and this time there is a programme, also free.

Urziceni are 4^th in the league and have some recognisable names behind them. Viorel Moldovan is Sporting Director, Dan Petrescu Head Coach and the players include Laszlo Balint and Daniel Munteanu. In another decent game, the home side go two up but then fade allowing Craiova to come back to 2-2 and almost win it. Approximately 4,000 spectators are in attendance.

On Sunday morning take the metro to Aurel Vlaicu, then a taxi to Otopeni, about 10 kilometres north of the city centre towards the airport. Second division south CS Otopeni play at the one-sided Basa Sportiva Otopeni that has 1,500 covered seats in the one stand. Admission, programme, even a club hat and tee shirt are all given free of charge to all spectators of which there are about 1,300.

2^nd place Otopeni take on mid-table Sportul Studentesc Bucharest, the club where Georghe Hagi started his career. A good game ensues, pretty even on chances, but the home side’s finishing is better and the students’ keeper probably comes from Transylvania, judging by his attitude to crosses. Otopeni run out 4-1 winners.

Back in Central Bucharest have time to take a look at Ceausescu’s Palace, officially known as The Parliament Palace. It is the World’s second largest building, after the Pentagon and stands testament to the megalomaniac vision of the dictator. After the regime was toppled in 1989, the new Government were going to knock it down, but mainly due to cost, it remains as the parliamentary building and has also been used as a film location.

Take the metro out to Dinamo’s ground, this time for the main 15,000 capacity main stadium. All seated round a running track with the stands shallow and some way back from the action. Most of the seats are in the club colours of red and white with some plusher grey ones in the VIP areas. A small part of the VIP section on each side provides the only cover at the ground. It is a dated looking stadium and not an ideal place to watch football. The best vantage point seems to be had by the patients in the adjacent high-rise hospital who line the balconies in their pyjamas and dressing gowns. The fire brigade spend a lot of time hosing down the running track which we soon discover is to quickly extinguish the volley of flares that come from the Dinamo ultras section. 30 Lev (£6.40) buys a decent seat and although there is no programme, a club magazine can be purchased and a team sheet is purloined from the press area.

The Dinamo club was formed when Unirea Tricolor and Ciocanul merged in 1948. Unirea had won the last pre-WW II league title and taken part in two Romanian cup finals. The first championship was gained in 1955 and in the 1960’s Dinamo established themselves as the main rivals to Steau’s supremacy with frequent league and cup wins. Florea Dumitrache was their main striker in the 60’s, then Georgescu won three ‘Golden Boot’s’ as Europe’s top goal scorer in the 80’s, although there is suspicion that some of the figures were manipulated. Twice semi-finalists in Europe, including the 1984 European Cup where they went out to Liverpool, the club briefly changed their name back to Unirea Tricolor after the revolution. Even though the notorious Securitate of Ceasescu’s era has long been disbanded, Dinamo retain their government and police connections to this day.

The evening game with Farul Constanta is watched by 4,000. Both teams hit the bar and the visiting keeper makes a couple of good stops but Dinamo are held 0-0.

There follows a mad dash in a cab driven by a Steau fan, to Rapid Bucharest’s Stadionul Valeentin Stanescu for another top division match against Polistinta Timisoara. Holding 19,000 in a single continuous slightly elevated seating deck, only the central section on one side has cover, but the stands are steeply raked and most seats are nice and close to the action. A reasonable crowd of 8,000 attend and there are quite a few ultras in evidence. Some recent games had been played behind closed doors due to their misdemeanours. The admission charge is 30 Lev and there is no programme.

Rapid, the people’s team, were formed pre-WW II and under Communist rule, managed to avoid being merged into a police or army side. Much of the support came from railway workers at the nearby main station. The state, in the form of the Department of Transport, did take over running of the side for a while and between 1950 and 1958 the club was renamed Lokomotive. Having regained their old name Rapid had their best spell in the 1960’s before fading and even had a couple of spells in the second division. Post revolution, the club has retained the popular support and are now back challenging for honours. 2^nd at the time of our visit but Timisoara are no mugs and in 4^th place themselves. A reasonable game produces a number of chances, but only one is taken, by the visitors.

See a brief episode of hooliganism on the metro back to the centre, but have a relaxing remainder of the evening prior to a Monday return flight.