Marienlystcentret, Mid Season Friendly, 7/2/23
Me 264
Boldklubben Marienlyst
Founded – 1922
Nickname – BM
Honours – Fune Football Championship – 1937/38, 1939/40, 1979 and 2007
Random Fact – The original clubhouse was an ice cream parlour owned by one of the club members. This only for the initial two years from foundation.
With my company having a policy where you cant take a flight home on the same day as your chopper due to the snafu that is choppers in Denmark, I was at a loose end last night. Obviously there were plans to have beers, that goes without saying but I didn’t want to just sit in the pub. A quick search of Soccerway and I found a mid season friendly around an hour away on the train and within 45 minutes of jumping off the helicopter, I was on a train to Odense. Not to see the top flight team though. To see the 5th tier Marienlyst taking on local neighbours Naesby who reside a division above.
After rushing about checking in to the hotel and running to the local “Craigdon Sports” type place to get a jacket as it was set to be freezing I was in plenty time for the train. Set with 5 cans and a sandwich I was all set for a new city and a new ground. The train journey was a breeze and I just watched the world pass me by as I looked out on the incredible flat land that is Denmark. I am train geek. Being on them though, not spotting. There is something magical about a train journey in a different country. To be honest this was the highlight of the trip as what was to follow was nothing to write home about. On Odense I found it very similar to Esbjerg, a port, with a malty smell with the local grain factory and a massive fuck off lum farting out what ever its farting out into the sky just like Esbjerg’s power station located next to the office. After a wee half an hours wander I was in search of fitba and let me tell you its not the easiest place to find. Its hidden in a residential area. The club name comes from a local street in said residential area for the record.
The Marienlystcentret is a tidy place. A decent sized clubhouse complete with bar selling scarves (I am fast approaching my 100th ground abroad and 100th scarf). There are some lesser pitches with the main 3G pitch being the centrepiece. With a quality old fashioned wooden seated “stand”. A typical Danish set up as I have found over recent escapades. The game was a bit dire in all honesty. That is maybe understating it too. The better team winning with a first half strike. Naesby retained the ball better and were clearly the superior team. The first half was almost played entirely in Marienlyst’s half with Naesby knocking it about well. To be honest there is no much more to say about it than that. Not a spectacle at all. The rest of the story is, I scoofed a heap of beer and ate a bag of Haribos. The sweeties being the highlight of the game.
After the match and doddling back into the city centre I treated myself to a few amber delights before slumping(tolerance takes a hiding after a trip offshore) on the train back to Esbjerg where I fell asleep. A luxury I could afford as the train terminated two minutes from the hotel and there was no chance of waking up in some sort other outpost of Jutland. Poor game yes, but my love of Denmark grows. It really is a fantastic country filled with fantastic people.
Not a game that would ever make it into a book or ever be talked about. But its another scarf (complete with quality cartoon like badge which I love) to the collection and a my 90 oddth foreign adventure(need to check the actual numbers). A couple more incoming across Hadrian’s wall soon with training incoming.
Entrance – Free
Attendance – 32
Pint – 30 DKK (around £3.50)
Pie – There was food and I should have partaken to line the stomach but I did not.
FITBAWBAG 