South to Suduroy

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A two hour sail from the Faroese capital Torshavn will take you on a spectacular trip down past the cliffs of Sandoy, Dimun and Litla Dimun, then round the headland into the comparatively sheltered waters of Trongisvagsfjordur, welcome to Suduroy! Across from the port on the other side of the fjord is the village of Tvoroyri, arguably the home of football in the Faroe Islands as the local side Tvoroyar Boltefelag (TB) are the oldest team of them all, still going strong having been founded in 1892.

I have been following TB’s results for nearly 35 years when they were last Champions, and I got my first chance to pay homage to the clubs old Sevmyri stadium in 2007 (home from 1892 until 2012!), as well as briefly meeting their modern era legend Oli Johannesen, largely a one club man who also captained the National side even when TB were in the second tier! Sadly that visit coincided with International matches and by virtue all league fixtures were cancelled, so it would take another 9 years to finally see them play! Even then, it took a second trip in three months last summer to finally get to see the famous Black and White stripes of TB in action! I was on the Faroes in late May when I thought I would see AB Argir v TB on the outskirts of the capital, but the top tier fixtures all got moved to the Monday at some point between booking the trip and arriving because of Whit Sunday, and with my departure at 17.10, it was too neat for a 3pm KO many miles away from the airport! If only they’d been playing 07 Vestur Sorvagur, they play minutes from the airstrip! Would I ever get to see them I kept asking myself. My Serbian friends Alex and Irena Djordjevic (Alex is an ex-Partizan legend) might live in Klaksvik a good distance from Torshavn but they were so keen that I see TB in any capacity, a convoluted plan was hatched to get me to see the first half at AB before dashing off to the airport!! Alas, work commitments in Klaksvik ultimately put paid to that idea, but given the plane left 20 minutes early, maybe it was a good thing that I hadn’t seen half a game! TB lost 3-1 that day anyway. Wind the clock forward a mere three months, and I was back on the Faroes islands! This time I had cleverly lined up three games in three days, with the crowning glory, a full TB game, but not any old game, a home match, ironically against AB in the return fixture from the one I had missed!

Suduroy has a population of just 4,678 when last counted in 2012 spread through a number of villages the length of the island, which is merely 63.2 square miles. You would think with such a small population the island would merely be home to one club, and in 2017 there was a “trial” two year period for the first ever time, but once more following the demerger, the island has three clubs again, even having 4 teams prior to 2005! It was decided just a little prior to the 2017 season TB/FC Suduroy/Royn, the three island teams would all be merged into one lengthy mouthful of a team playing in Tvoroyri, taking TB’s place in the top tier.   

My hire car and I were at Torshavn harbour in the queue to board the SS Smyril for it’s 7 am departure that August Saturday morning. If anyone is thinking to follow suit one day you don’t book in advance, you just go on board as a foot passenger, or drive your car into its hold and off you go! You don’t even pay?! They work on the notion that you will eventually leave Suduroy, and you will only pay on the way back! It might have been early but the boat was astonishingly busy with the passenger deck full of kids fully kitted out in team colours of other Faroese teams, heading south for a mini football tournament. These competitions are the bedrock of invigorating the Faroese children to play the sport, and keep the production line of potential future Internationalists amongst such a small 50,000 overall population going. Iceland has lit the touchpaper of Nordic advancement, and while the Faroe Islands is considerably smaller, they are getting better and better on the International stage and are no longer an easy fixture.

With the boat docked, I was on the island just after 9am, and with a game to see that afternoon in Vagur in the southern half of Suduroy I resolved to immediately head to the very south and Akraberg, where a lighthouse on the cliff tops that signals the end of Faroese land. Upon arrival there, a fog horn was blasting out, the sea was roaring below, but neither the lighthouse or cliffs were visible, lost in the mists of a drizzly low cloud day. Very close to Akraberg is Sumba, which sounds like a drink, a gym exercise class or an African village more than a Faroese one! This is the most southerly village of Suduroy and with a population of just 251 it is perhaps understandable that they couldn’t maintain a team here, but until 2004 Sumbiar Itrottafelag ploughed an unspectacular furrow no higher than the second tier. In 2005 they merged with Vags Boltfelag, (VB) Vagur to briefly be known at VB/Sumba. A little out of the village of Sumba, the clubs stadium still stands, but unlike other mergers on the Faroes, where the lesser clubs pitch is still used for “reserve” games, it doesn’t seem Sumba is on the football map any more in any capacity, as the artificial pitch is decaying badly and the nets in the goal were full of holes. The quaint club house is still lovingly preserved beside it, and through the windows I could see pennants and framed photos of Sumba sides of yesteryear.

Vagur is the next sizeable conurbation heading north (population 1361), and was the venue of that afternoon’s second division match (1 Deild) at the Vesturi i Eidinum Stadium. VB/Sumba decided to change the club name in 2010 rather controversially to be called after the whole island as FC Suduroy, but if they hoped that the name would attract a spike of enthusiasm on the island, they reckoned wrong! While they might have had a couple of promotions to the top tier in that period, their return was immediate on both occasions, and upon my arrival they weren’t close to going up even as early as August with the two slots having been as good as claimed by EB/Streymur and O7 Vestur. It is ironic that VB Vagur in their own name before any of these mergers or name changes were the last Suduroy Champions of the Faroes as recently as 2000.

The visitors that August day were B71 Sandur who had endured a journey and a half to get to Vagur. They are the sole team on Sandoy, the next island north of Suduroy but with no ferry connection between the two, they needed a 30 minute ferry north to the mainland, then drive to the capital before the two hour ferry trip back down past their own island!! B71 were having a wretched season and were almost guaranteed to be going back to the third tier, and yet it hasn’t always been that dark for B71. They were only formed in 1970 and remarkably won the Faroese championship themselves in 1989, even more incredibly they did so unbeaten throughout the entire season! The coach from that success, Piotr Krakowski, a Pole is rightly became a folklore legend on Sandoy and he was still managing B71 that day! A veteran of Faroese football who has seen more downs than ups with B71 since, but just before their 2017 3rd tier campaign started Piotr was replaced by Gambian born coach from Odense in Denmark, Bokary Bojang, who has become a friend of mine, even though he is back in Denmark now.       

Coming into Vagur from the north or the south, as the village reaches the bend in it’s U shape round the fjord, you want to take the road to the left or right depending direction of approach, and the stadium is a few hundred metres up that road on the edge of the village. The ground is flanked by steep mountain sides, and even more spectacularly it is not more than 200 metres from the cliffs of Vagur. When I arrived at the stadium the home sides youth team were playing B68 Toftir youths so I took the opportunity to stroll up to the cliff edge before heading back for the main event, albeit, due to a late KO in the youth game, FC Suduroy v B71 started nearly 30 minutes after its billed start, but hey who is rushing in this magnificently timeless haven. That said, B71 had quite a reverse trip to undertake! Oddly, after the youth game, parents drifted away and the crowd for the “big” 1 deild fixture went down! I counted 70, and not one of us paid!! Perhaps given the clubs league position, enthusiasm was at a low ebb. Vesturi i Eidinum has a 3,000 capacity, with 330 uncovered seats in two rows running the length of the field opposite the clubhouse/changing rooms. It is unlikely to ever really be a “sell-out”, but even if it was, there are many places you could stand and watch perfectly without stepping into the ground!

Faroese teams, even at this level like to have almost “trophy” foreign “stars”. FC Suduroy had two Georgian players, and B71 had two Africans from Senegal and Liberia! The Georgians were hard working, and Valerian Iobashvili in defence looked as though he could easily play at a higher level, but B71 could surely have done better with local lads than these two “star” players who were obviously less than enamoured being in a team regularly getting thumped! Despite the imminent relegation, B71 proved stuffy opponents in the first half and should have been leading but their Senegalese forward fluffed his one real chance to score when he found himself one on one with the keeper. FC Suduroy eventually ran out 3-0 winners with three second half goals as B71’s confidence and resistance dropped.

The next day had been red circled in my diary since I booked my return trip in late May. TB Sunday! But having stayed the night in Tvoroyri (population 1,875) and walked the length of the village the evening before, Sunday started by heading north up through the oldest tunnel in the Faroe Islands, a single track tunnel to Hvalba, home to third tier Royn. At Hvalba the island narrows and you are no distance at all from both coasts! The western cliffs there certainly rival Vagur for spectacle, and the eastern view is out toward Litla Dimun, an amazing little dot of an island. Royn have been a marvel surviving as a club in a village of just 723 and while the third tier was about as good as it got, they had leapt into the top flight in the “experimental” merger, but while they started life on their own once more in the 4th tier, they won that Championship and will be jousting with FC Suduroy and TB II this term.

And finally it was back through the tunnel and down to Trongisvagur, the adjoining settlement to Tvoroyri where TB have moved out to since their 118 year old ground in the village was deemed unsuitable to host top flight football. The old stadium is now an astro-turf camping/caravan park! The Vid Stora Stadium (by the grand river is the translation-although it doesn’t seem so “grand” in August!) is a well appointed stadium, as fine as any in the Faroes (ok I am bias!), and if pushed it can house 4,000 with adequate seating undercover for a few hundred. The view from one end of the TB stadium looking back toward Tvoroyri and the fjord is spectacular, and personally, after such a lengthy wait it felt amazing to be there! In light of the subsequent merger, I am so delighted I got the chance to see TB in their own black and white striped kit, as the merged colours of dark green tops and black shorts, was not representative of any of the merged teams colours, or ticking boxes with me.

The stadium is the most modern on the islands, inaugurated in April 2012 with 1-0 win over IF Fuglafjordur in the Formuladeildin (top flight). History repeated itself five years on when IF were TB’s opening day fixture for the 2017 campaign, and the newly merged club got off to a winning start with a 2-1 success! The Scottish connection increased significantly that day, as the new season started with the first manager of the merged club being a bold appointment of ex-Glasgow Rangers player Maurice Ross at the helm, following a 4 year managerial stint in Norway, including back to back promotions with Sola FK. While TB did briefly drop into the second tier after the 2013 campaign, they commenced 2017 for a third successive season in the top flight, and the hope was that the merged team could start to look up, rather than fret about relegation. This was Maurice’s remit for achievement and success as the first manager of the entire islands team. TB have never as yet had an opportunity to play in Europe, and that would be a fantastic dream, and I would be there, wherever should such a European tie might arise!! After all, TB are the fourth most successful team in the Faroese league history with 7 titles, albeit the last one was back in 1987, and the majority were in the early days of the league structure which started life in 1942.

TB and AB were the teams I would watch that August day, and these two had a recent history by virtue of a day AB will want to forget! On 11th October 2011 even though they won handsomely that day 6-1 at home to fellow “suburban” outfit Giza/Hoyvik! Remarkably they were pipped on goals scored by one solitary goal following TB’s spectacular 11-0 success away to EB/Streymur reserves to join FC Suduroy in being promoted in a double island celebration! It left some bad blood at the time, but AB would get promoted the following season to rekindle the relatively modern fixture between the two teams! In this most recent encounter TB were on form, and they set about AB with gusto in the early period of the game. All the goals were in the opening 30 minutes with Edu scoring what transpired to be the winner just after AB had pulled level, and yet while it remained only 2-1, and with AB really needing the points, things got a little nervy, but TB held firm for an important win. This win was the moment the club could relax knowing top flight football was all but assured for another season. I was thrilled to have seen TB win on my first visit for a game.

The experiment wasn’t a success, but on an island with less than 5,000 population, it made sense to try and bring the clubs together, it probably made economic sense too! It certainly has started well as going into the International break at the end of March 2017 they had followed up the 2-1 IF win by beating 07 Vestur 1-0 at Sorvagur and sat proudly two points clear at the top of the league with a mere 25 games to go!! It fell away badly after that, just staying above the relegation slots that year and in 2018 too. I saw the merged team lose at Klaksvik 4-1, but playing in green, but with rumours flying about a permanent merger in the name of Sudaringar were rife, I felt bereft and my support was edging towards cheering B71, but whisper it quietly. Thankfully TB and the black and white stripes are back.      

While I am hardly TB’s most famous fan, some at the club know I am a supporter, and Andre Dalfoss who was the Chairman until 2013 recognised me at the game and introduced me to Oli Johannesen and Bjarni Nygaard at half time which was very kind and a real pleasure, affording me the chance to leave a Football Weekends magazine with a board member!

I know the merger left a few heavy hearts on the island, but starting the 2019 campaign as TB again will please the doubter, and ironically AB are in town for the season’s opener. I know resources are tight and the player pool is light, as FC Suduroy who will start in the third division have taken players too, not to mention Royn! Survival in the top league will be TB’s only concern

The ferry back to the mainland that August 2016 day was scheduled to be fairly soon after the game, and as I sped off in my car to catch it, but I should have realised there was no rush as the AB players also got on board, it wasn’t going to leave without them! This might be useful info for anyone thinking to head to Suduroy merely as a foot passenger and for a day trip to see TB, as the stadium is no more than a 15/20 minute walk from the ferry terminal. A further note of caution, the island has limited tourist accommodation, and limited places to eat, even less places to catch a beer in the warmth of a bar, but while Torshavn caters for all of that in abundance for a small city, Suduroy is a lovely, peaceful escape from city life.

Back in Torshavn for one final night of an amazing wee trip, I had the great pleasure in meeting ex-Universitatea Craiova goalkeeping legend Eugen Voda and his wife Adriana. Eugen was a goalkeeping coach on the Faroes, and on the Friday evening prior to my trip south I had watched his Vikingur side take a considerable giant step to winning the title with a 3-1 win at IF Fuglafjordur. I subsequently had the pleasure of being his guest in their Torshavn home on my next visit, and he very kindly drove me to Klaksvik for the TB/***/Royn game.

It is fabulous that the game is back post Covid on the Faroe Islands, and the league/teams will perhaps never have stirred such interest and curiosity as now. I have watched the opening three games and sadly it hasn’t started brilliantly. Defensive errors have been ruthlessly exploited and opportunities in front goal have been few and far between, but it’s only three games gone so no one is pressing any alarm bells. Another team I cheer for in Argentina, Racing Club have the motto, “to support Racing is to suffer”, and in following TB the same applies here! Good luck to TB for the rest of the 2020 season, Koyra TB,