Sparta Rotterdam

Ground: Sparta Stadion Het Kasteel

Visits: 1

Date: 4th November 2016

Match: Sparta Rotterdam - Heerenveen 3-1 (Eredivisie)

Attendance: 10 423

For Friday and Saturday I had the choice of staying in Belgium (and go to Lokeren and Kortrijk) or go to Rotterdam. In the end I decided to spend the weekend in Rotterdam and at 10.26 on Friday morning I left Gent St-Pieters station. After changing trains in Antwerpen I then arrived at Rotterdam Centraal at 13.00. My hotel was only a 5-minute walk from the station and wanting a comfortable weekend I had booked a slightly more expensive room than normally. In Netherlands there are a full round of games in Eerste Divisie (level 2) on Friday evenings. There is always one Eredivisie game on Friday evenings as well and in combination with a Saturday game in Den Haag going to Sparta Rotterdam v Heerenveen was an easy decision. There was a tram stop next to my hotel and from that stop three different tram lines went to within a 5-minute walk from the ground. Founded in 1988 Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football club in the Netherlands. Sparta has won six league titles and three cup titles. Since 1916 the club has been playing at Sparta Stadion Het Kasteel. Het Kasteel means "The castle" and the exterior of the Kasteeltribune somewhat reminded me about Stockholms Stadion. Another interesting thing about the ground is the floodlights being outside the ground. After a few exterior pictures I headed towards the city centre for some sightseeing before returning to my hotel.

Kick-off at Sparta Stadion Het Kasteel was at 20.00 and when the turnstiles opened an hour before I entered the ground. Sparta Rotterdam sell-out most of their home games and this evening was no exception. The away section was about 80 % full and in the 9th minute those travelling fans from Heerenveen could celebrate, 0-1. In the early stages Heerenveen looked the better team. In the 16th minute Sparta equalized though and from then on the home team were by far the better team. In the end Sparta won 3-1. much to the delight of th 10 400 inside Sparta Stadion Het Kasteel this Friday evening. Towards the end it started to rain quite heavily and as I made the walk back to the tram stop I was getting wet. I managed to board the first available tram though and so minutes later I was back in my hotel. I had something to eat and drink in the hotel bar before quickly falling asleep.

rotterdam