Downtown derby

Djurgårdens IF DFF v Hammarby IF DFF, Damallsvenskan Round 5
7 maj 2011, Östermalms IP, Stockholm
Weather: Sunny, warm, beautiful
Pictures

Summary: Sunshine, I skip Bieber-fever, flying balls endanger a little girl, Hammarby score a field goal but it doesn't count. 1-0 (1-0)

Normally a derby like this, between two big-city sides with a long-running rivalry in all sports, should attract many more fans than might normally attend. Today, however, there is some stiff competition for the attention of Stockholmare: yes, that's right, it is Bieber-fever. The point of Bieber-fever is to try to get a critical mass of fans to show support (?) and to try to get him to come to Stockholm. The less said about that, the better.

The Djurgården hymn is played over the PA system, the lyrics to which has thoughtfully been provided in the program, including instructions that all supports should know the song and stand up when it is played and sing it loudly with pride. Oddly, no one seems to be doing that. Shortly thereafter the ball girls are introduced, each of them by name, which is something I have never seen done before. They trot out proudly to the center circle, while the two teams walk out more soberly after them. It is rather hard to see them. The field is quite far away, and also quite large, certainly towards the far end of regulation. In the off-season, it is flooded for bandy. Obviously American football is played here too, as the field is striped with lines marking out a much smaller field, and there are goalposts just behind the goals. They are unpadded. I hope therefore that no one ends up rushing into either net, because they could hurt themselves.

The game starts, and almost immediately endangers an audience member. A tiny, tiny pink-clad girl is fooling about at the railing at the base of the stands. She is being closely guarded from falling, but not against balls flying in from the field. already in the third minute a Hammarby defender has to clear a ball and it shoots up into the stand, missing her by about a meter or so. Just one minute later, she is in peril again, this time from behind. A boy in a Djurgården tracksuit sitting just to my left, in the top row of the stands, is fooling around with a ball he's brought to the match. He loses control of it, and it bounces down the steep steps, gathering momentum, and nearly hits the little girl from the other side. He might have preferred it if it had, even though then he would only have had to deal with the irate father of the little girl. As it is, the ball bounces over her head and the railing, still picking up speed, hits the grassy slope beneath the stands... and rolls out on to the pitch. He is mortified.

Fortunately for his pride, Hammarby is managing a little spate of offensive effort, so play is not interrupted because it's going on at the other end of the field. A match guard trots out onto the pitch to retrieve the errant ball, and then tries to stuff it into a trash can. The boy is torn. He wants his ball back, of course— it's autographed— but that will mean that he will have to admit that it is his. His father takes pity on him and goes down to the rail to ask the guard to hand the ball up.

Meanwhile Hammarby are actually doing pretty well for themselves. In the 10th minute Jessy Sharro takes a hard shot that goes over the goal, but does manage to go through the uprights of the American goal. I raise up both arms and yell "three points!" I can't help it. Americans are conditioned to respond in this manner to any non-American-football item going through an American football goal. It doesn't happen very often and so when it does we think it's funny.

In the 11th Djurgården's Mia Jalkerud receives a nice long ball from Alexandra Höglund. Jalkerud takes it down deftly, then takes 2 or 3 touches, ditches her defenders and is now alone against Hammarby goalkeeper Minna Meriluoto. She shoots it to Meriluoto's right, low, and into the corner of the goal. 1-0. Soon thereafter Djurgården have a good effort again, but the shot goes over and Meiluoto is letting it be known that she is not happy with her defenders. Hammarby's highlight on offense comes in the 22nd, when Mami Yamaguchi takes a great shot from distance. It's low, and Djurgården keeper Gudbjörg Gunnarsdottir has to make a long dive to save it. It bounces off the post and then out for a corner kick. The rest of the half is rather evenly played, with both teams having some decentchances.

At halftime, we pay tribute to an 85 year old Djurgården fan, who is given a jersey that is signed by the whole team, and gets the traditional 4 hurrahs from the audience.

Apparently Djurgården's strategy for the second half is physical intimidation, and they do it well. In the 47th, a Djurgården player pushes Yamaguchi down hard, but there's no call and unfortunately she does not enter into my notes again until she is taken off in the 71st. Meriluoto makes a difficult catch, right into the sun, and I applaud. Hammarby's Tempest-Marie Norlin has some good work, to get around the defense, and has a one-on-one with Gunnarsdottir and tries to nutmeg her but Gunnardottir makes the save, kicking her heel inward. Djurgården's Caroline Sjöblom has rather obvious push on a Hammrby player who's about to break away, and I and other Hammarby partisans holler and she gets a yellow card.

Both goalkeepers continue to make decent saves, but somehow the action feels slow and uninspiring. At some point, a Djurgården youth player sitting nearby, out of the blue, observes "Det är ingen som går på" and she's right, it seems that neither team is following up their offensive efforts. Perhaps it is the unaccustomed warmth of the day, perhaps it is the size of the field, but everyone looks tired far before they should. As the game nears its end, each captain (Matilda Agné for Hammarby and Gunnarsdottir for Djurgåren) is named as player of the match, and then there's a burst of effort and emotion. In the 89th, Hammarby's coach suddenly starts hollering like crazy to his team, waving his arms for emphasis. Gunnarsdottir has to handle the ball in the 90th, and is not pleased about it and screams "Ta det lugnt!" at her team, which is funny because her voice and manner are anything but calm.

The game ends, and Hammarby players slump about looking depressed. They have a huddle on the field, and obviously they're getting some sort of pep talk because when they break up, the coach is laughing. But he's the only one. Yamaguchi is limping, and I have to admit that I'm not feeling too positive about the rest of the season.

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I was a little dubious about Östermalms IP, mostly because I am a creature of habit and Djurgården's usual home field Kristineberg or Hammarby's homefield Kanalplan now feel like old friends. But I was wrong; Östermalms IP was very nice, and I rather hope to go back again this season. The boy who lost the football fled to the cafe soon after the incident; he came back with a basket of fries that really looked good. Next time I will be sure to make a proper cafe visit.