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Published: August 21st 2009
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MTK Budapest
The 3 Musketeers at MTK - Magyar Testgyakorlok Kore A tale of two cities - Buda and Pest. It's also a tale of two visits - 1997 and 2001. We arrived on the train down the scenic Danube from Bratislava into the not so attractive greeting point that is Keleti Station. In the days before the internet made having a good look round online before the trip, it was an arrival into the unknown. We opted for the underground metro and took the train to the last station possible in Buda, which as far as I can recall was only about two stops. It probably took us longer to figure out how to buy and validate the tickets, than we spent on the train. However one of the downsides of having blond hair in Budapest is to be a magnet for the plain clothes ticket inspectors that specialise in surrounding foreigners on the system - I reckon it's happened to us on every journey we have made on the system - we took the lack of fine that we had worked it out correctly!
We wandered and looked for cheap room near the tube station and were relieved of some of hard currency in exchange for a fairly pleasant
attic room. We'd got a few Deutschmarks with us and these were the currency of choice to get a god deal. The Old Town of Buda had a good vantage point over the expanse of the more commercial and industrial Pest. We wandered amongst the narrow streets with the views over Pest, where there was at least a basic tourist infrastructure after the take it or leave it mentality in Bratsilava - the Hungarians were definitely more skilled in relieving you of your cash.
The boulevards of Pest were a mirror of the Austro-Hungarian Empire architecture of Vienna, except of course the cake shops and coffee houses were substantially cheaper. As there are so many football clubs in Budapest - well technically Pest then - it wasn't hard to find a game on the weekend. We opted for Ujpest playing a local derby against Vasas. After becoming accustomed to the hype and expense of the Premier League, the spit and sawdust approach of the terraces in Hungary's NB1 was a refreshing change and football as we used to know it as kids. The Megyeri Uti Stadium wasn't the easiest venue to find - an underground train and a bus
was required - and following the crowd was not an option. The crowd was sparse, most of the locals seemed more interested in covering the terraces with discarded sunflower seeds or whatever they were munching on and the only bar seemed to be behind a large fence in the section housing the Vasas fans. The police and stewards were only too happy mind to open up the gate to increase the bar takings - every little helps. A spot of subsequent research has found that Ujpest and Vasas are footballing friends - it is unlikely that the gate would have been opened if Ferencvaros were the derby visitors.
The second visit to Ujpest in 2001 saw a huge transformation. The crowd was still sparse, the sun flower seed sellers were still doing good business, but all were now housed in an all seater mini stadium that was a tribute to all things purple. The inflationary pressures of the construction had taken it's toll on the ticket price which had gone up 700 florints in three seasons! The atmosphere at Ujpest remained carnival compared to their green rivals from Budapest 9, Ferencvaros. We took in their derby against Vasas immediately
before the Ujpest game and there was a definite air of menace. Vasas seemed unlikely to be interested, but Ferencvaros perhaps were too busy believing their own reputation. The ground was no place for the faint hearted - a freezing open all seated affair with electronic turnstiles ahead of their time, but no significant cover in sight. It was as much a tribute to green as Ujpest was to purple.
The tour of the grounds continued with a trip to the Nep - the People's Stadium. The title seemed to be an open invitation to the "people" to use the outside walls as an open air toilet facility. Respect for the national stadium and it's memories didn't seem to be o the agenda. MTK were a friendly bunch of souls - come in, take as many pictures as you like - and one of the groundsman rushed off at speed and returned with a mini penant as a gift of MTK. The neighbours at BKV Elore hadn't mastered the hospitality situation. The security man on the gate, obviously unacustomed to foreign visitors, decided the best way to disuade us from our photographc mission was to point a gun at
Pest
View from Buda us. We agreed that we'd not bother with a piccie of their ground. The clubs, whilst arguably the closest in Europe across the narrow street, were miles apart in their approach. We retreated to the bar across the road from MTK and were somewhat disturbed to be joined by MTK's first team squad who had just finished training for the morning - perhaps this explains why they failed to defend their league champion status that season. The other occupants of the bar were members of the Budapest Fire Service, who having sunk a couple, sped off in their fire engine (but hopefully not to an emergency)!
Whilst the Turkish spa baths at the Gelert Hotel proved to be a more appealing option for some, Sunday morning football at Csepel Sports Club was the preferred venue of others. The concept seemed to be most popular amongst those looking for another drink or just making their way home from Saturday night. The turnstile activity wasn't exactly brisk and nor were the players, which perhaps explains their fall from the dizzy heights of NB1. The stadium was stuck in the past of the old fashioned athletics arena of a communist sports club.
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Patricia
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train game
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