DJ’S JOTTINGS – NUMBER 33 (Moldova & Transnistria)

 

 

Matchday images (8) https://picasaweb.google.com/footballgroundsinfocus/MoldovaAndTransnistriaFootball

 

 

An interesting part of Eastern Europe beckoned in November, providing the chance to visit Moldova and the self-governing territory of Transnystria (Is that a bracketed country tick??). The magnificent seven of us head out early doors from Heathrow with Austrian Air, to Vienna initially, then via a connecting flight to Chisinau. Scheduled flights are a rarity for us, so it makes a pleasant change to have reserved seats and free refreshments (for those still awake anyway).

 

You cannot exchange money until arrival, but there are numerous bureaux offering ‘leu’s’ at very similar rates when you get there. We avoid the hordes of taxi touts and get the regular minibus service for the 14km run into the city centre, costing about 25p.

 

Stay at the Manhattan Hotel. It should have been ‘The Flowers’ but that is closed for refurbishment so they re-located us. It’s a good quality establishment though, just have to watch the extremely low ceilings in the bar / breakfast area.

 

Moldova was part of Romania and the Austro-Hungarian Empire up to 1940. Post World War II it became part of the USSR. When the Soviet Union broke up Moldova was one of the quickest to gain independence in 1992. It is one of Europe’s poorer nations, bordered by Romania, Ukraine and the Black Sea. The thorny issue of Transnystria (more on that later) is a barrier to joining the EU.

 

Chisinau, the Moldovan capital, is located on the River Bac and is a major industrial and service centre with a population of almost 1 million. Formed in 1436 as a monastery town by Stefan Cel Mare, it was fought over by Turks and Russians before becoming part of Romania in 1918.

 

Plenty of time to acclimatise before the football action starts. Find the home brew ‘Beer House’ which also serves good food and stroll into the centre of town. There are numerous casinos, jewellery and mobile phone shops, a little square with stalls selling paintings and other handicrafts and a very chaotic bus terminal. An ‘A’ bus takes us to the first game, only a few kilometres south of the centre on the road to the airport.

 

FC Zimbru Chisinau play at the 10,500 capacity all seated Stadionul Zimbru. It is a smart modern ground only opened in 2006, shared with FC Dacia and also used by the national team. There are 2 tiers of seats on each side, the main stand joined to the end stands, with a smaller separate stand on the remaining side. 40 Leu (£2.25) provides VIP seats, the cheapest can be had for the equivalent of 85p and there is a free 4-page programme.

 

Moldova only joined FIFA in 1994 and the fledgling League was dominated by Zimbru in the early years of independence, winning 8 of the first 9 titles. FC Sheriff have taken over as top dogs since those early days. Our match sees Zimbru scramble a 1-0 victory against Gagauziya Comrat, watched by a crowd officially given as 700. Home forward Herpyv, having earlier fallen over when clean through, scuffs the ball home from a yard out for the only goal.

 

Eat after at La Placente restaurant, sincerely hoping that Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has nothing to do with the place, then decide against comparing the market and return to barman Aleksander at The Beer House.

 

For the Sunday we hire a minibus with driver, costing 20 Euros each for the full day, to take us on the 70km journey to Tiraspol in Transnistria. Transnistria is a self-governing territory although the only places that officially recognise it are 2 other breakaway republics from the old Soviet Union. It is only self-governing in name really as Russia controls it to a large extent. After independence from the USSR, Transnistrians did not want to become dominated by a Romanian state, while Moldovans did not want to lose the heavy industry and the bulk of their electricity supplies that the area provided. A bloody civil war ensued from 1990 to 1992, this followed by an uneasy peace, maintained by Russian troops.

 

The journey is interesting to say the least. The roads are unmarked and full of potholes, with people overtaking two or three abreast. At the border there are 4 checkpoints to cross with a no-mans land in the middle. Our driver Viktor fields most of the questions. When the word football is mentioned the guard’s eyebrows are raised with incredulity, but we successfully have our passports stamped and get issued with 24-hour passes to enter ‘the country’. Also have to change some money into Transnistrian roubles. There is generally little difference from the rest of Moldova, apart from some evidence of Russian influence. One building has a large statue of Lenin outside and the ‘national’ flag includes a hammer, sickle and red star. The area seems quite poor, besides the FC Sheriff complex that is.

 

Victor Christian is a sort of Transnistrian Abramovich. He is head of the Sheriff company that has supermarkets, banks, petrol stations and a television station among its interests, as well as the football club. The Sports Complex Sheriff was constructed about 8 years ago and includes a main 13,460 capacity stadium, a 9,300 capacity second stadium, an indoor arena with full-size artificial pitch and seating for several thousand, 9 other outside pitches, a hotel, tennis courts and state-of-the-art academy centre.

 

FC Sheriff ‘2’’s second division match against Ursidos Ratus kicks off at 2pm on Pitch 3, a grass surface within a green mesh cage of a type more normally associated with artificial pitches. Park type benches line one side. They normally play at the second stadium (Malaya Sportivnaya), but unfortunately the pitch had been dug up and was in the process of being re-laid at the time of our visit. The match, between the sides 3rd and 2nd in the league, is pretty good however, Sheriff making the most of a defender / keeper mix-up and going on to win 3-1.

 

The main match between FC Sheriff Tiraspol and Olimpia Balti commences at 5pm in the Bolshaya Sportivnaya Arena. The ground is shared by fellow top division club FC Tiraspol. Separate single-tier all-seated stands are connected by stairways in each corner. Glass-fronted VIP boxes sit to the rear of the seating decks along the sides. Entrance is free and although there is no programme we obtain copies of an issue for a recent Europa League game from the club shop.

 

The Sheriff club was only formed in 1997, but soon made its mark winning the Moldovan League title for the last 10 seasons. Our match sees the third placed home team take the lead against their second in the table visitors in bizarre ‘What Happened Next?’ fashion. The referee curries no favour by awarding a very dubious penalty against Balti. The goalkeeper makes a fine save from the spot-kick and another from the follow-up header. He then drops the ball down to kick it out without realising that a Sheriff forward was lurking in pantomime fashion behind him. The grateful forward proceeds to tap the ball into an open net. Balti do manage to level in the second half and withstand late pressure to gain a merited point. The crowd is estimated at 1,500, although officially given as 2,500 and includes a very entertaining band that would give Sheffield Wednesday’s a good run for their money.

 

Just a few border questions later return into Moldova proper and a fine time at the Bier Plaz, a Bavarian style establishment where we indulge in schnitzels, strudels and weiss bier.

 

Have a morning stroll prior to our flight back, taking in two old grounds. The Republica Stadium was where England played Moldova in the late 90’s. Now it has been reduced to rubble apart from the perimeter wall and impressive entrance arches at either end. Dinamo Chisinau’ s ground, including a nice old stand, appears to be only used for athletics now. The pitch is still there but in a very poor state.

 

Overall, a very enjoyable trip, Transnistria in particular being a most interesting experience and three high-level football games for a total entrance cost of just over £2 cannot be too bad.

 

 

contributed on 09/06/11