My second game of the trip was in the sixth-tier, Division 4 Norbotten Sodra. It was another Lulea fixture, this time at the Hertso IP ground and featuring Lulea SK against the reserve side of nearby Boden BK.
I had a couple of companions for this one, as two of my colleagues, Frank and Steve, decided that it might be an interesting way of spending a couple of hours outdoors before we adjourned to the pub.
It was the usual 50 Crown admission, but as there were three of us the kids on the gate were happy to accept the 200 Crown note that I’ve been stuck with for a while. There were probably around fifty people there, many of whom I suspected were there as parents of the ball boys.
We initially watched from the open wooden stand on the half-way line and endured ten minutes of light rain before it eased off midway through the first half. The weather, as well as the adjoining forest, seemed to encourage the mosquitos and I soon had bites on my head.
The home side went into the game in second place in the table with the visitors in third. In theory, you’d expect a competitive game, but it didn’t turn out that way. Lulea made most of their attacks down the left and by half-time had taken enough of their chances to go in five-nil up.
Coffee, beer and burgers were available and after buying our snacks we stayed down at that end of the ground for the second half.
The game was not quite so one-sided in the second half. Boden had hooked their right-back at the break and seemed better organized. Despite that improvement, Lulea still managed to add a further three goals for an eight-nil win.
Frank and Steve seemed impressed by the standard of the sixth-tier as I think that they had been expecting jumpers for goalposts. Perhaps they’ll tag along for some future games.
Trail of the Lion King 
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