A Groundhopper's Lament

All groundhoppers have their own "rules".  Among mine is that I don't count a ground unless I have seen a competitive match there.  So when I found out that EB/Streymur were a club from a recent amalgamation, I saw an opportunity for another hopping venue, because a former ground is still used by the club's younger teams.  The EB stands for Eiðis Bóltfelag who struggled as a club to get out of lower divisions.  They merged with their neighbours from Streymnes, also relatively unsuccessful, built an impressive new facility, and have been rewarded with success.  They won their first match of the new season, as I reported a few posts ago.  They have played Manchester City in the Europa League and are the current Faroese Cup holders.

When I saw their ground at Eiði on Monday morning, I have to admit that something obsessive in me took over.  I instantly took a liking to this place, and needed to have it as an allowable item on my list come what may.  I came back on Wednesday afternoon and hung around for a couple of hours in the hope of a youth team fixture (as I knew Wednesday was the most likely day).  No luck, and now a friendly email exchange with the new club has confirmed my worst fears - the leagues for the younger players that the ground hosts do not start until May.

I will probably have to come back here sometime, I just know it.  So there you are, it has NOT been added to my lifetime list, but I took some photographs anyway on my walk.  Enjoy from all angles.

Looking the other way from the same point as the previous pic

Earlier today, I came across the ground of the now-defunct club at Vestmanna.  Looks like there would be a lot of work to do to get the game back into the town.  Vestmanna is best known as a breeding site for a gazillion seabirds, so there is an ideal investment opportunity here for a soccer-loving Arab or Russian oil-producing ornithologist.

Never mind!  It's Víkingur v NSÍ Runavík tomorrow.  The hosts lost their first match 2-1 at EB/Streymur as I mentioned, and it will be my first sight of NSÍ, who opened their season with a 2-1 home win over reigning champions HB. Thanks, as ever, for your interest and encouragement.