The 50000-Capacity Ghost Ground That Came Back To Life For One Final Game

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 มิ.ย. 2023
  • At the back of a car park, a few minutes from the historic centre of Brno, is a giant old stadium, that has been abandoned ever since FC Zbrojovka Brno were forced to move out "temporarily" in 2001. But why did they leave? How has it survived demolition? And what's the story about the former player and the fans who brought it back to life for one final match in 2015?
    VIDEO LINKS
    Boby Brno v Slavia Praha 1996 by ‪@OldZbrojovaci‬ -
    • Brno-Slavia 1:1,44120 ...
    The 2015 Petr Svancara farewell match by ‪@FanKometa‬ - • Stadion Za Lužánkami 2...
    INSTA - / the.tim.traveller
    TWIT - / thetimtraveller
    FACE - / thetimtraveller
    SOURCE ARTICLES AND FURTHER READING
    DNES article about the latest developments between Petr Svancara and the City of Brno (in Czech): www.idnes.cz/brno/zpravy/stad...
    DNES article on the Lubomir "Boby" Hrstka story (in Czech): www.idnes.cz/brno/zpravy/mega...
    "What happened to Boby Hrstka" on Blesk.cz (in Czech) - isport.blesk.cz/clanek/fotbal...
    IMAGE CREDITS
    Lubomir Hrstka by iDNES.cz - www.idnes.cz/brno/zpravy/foto...
    Petr Švancara by David Sedlecký - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
    Karel Kroupa by David Sedlecký - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
    commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...

ความคิดเห็น • 433

  • @vinnieRice
    @vinnieRice ปีที่แล้ว +874

    I was the designer of all the lighting, sound and video systems in the Boby Centrum. It was nuts - 3 discotheques, a roller rink, concert hall, recording studio and a radio station. £1.8M contract. I had to live in Brno for about six months during the build and commissioning. This wasn't long after 'the wall' came down and we all assumed there was some great expansionist plan going on - German money in particular was pouring in. Alas it seems there was no plan. Boby himself was a quiet, small but extremely muscular man. It all went together reasonably smoothly and we got paid. Best gig ever. The Czech people were lovely and two of our crew eventually had Czech wives! The week of the opening we saw Metallica in that very stadium and they did their TV and Press in the Centrum. The 80s - good times.

    • @vacuumdiagram
      @vacuumdiagram ปีที่แล้ว +33

      Nice! Always good to hear some background from someone who was there! 😎

    • @mig25foxbat
      @mig25foxbat ปีที่แล้ว +45

      I love this channel, you wouldn't get this comment anywhere else! Great story

    • @IdoMuffin
      @IdoMuffin ปีที่แล้ว +13

      @@mig25foxbat You absolutely can though! There's an upload of some Amiga music where the original composer commented on the process of making music back in the 80's!

    • @vigilantcosmicpenguin8721
      @vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      As someone who didn't exist in the '80s I really enjoy this slice of life from the time.

    • @poseidon6666
      @poseidon6666 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@vinnieRice you can edit you original comment so more people can read your ramblings if you wish ! it's very intersting and lovely to have such an insight of how crazy it was at the time !

  • @theadamsiegel
    @theadamsiegel ปีที่แล้ว +443

    This city was famously named during the great vowel shortage in the 11th century

    • @imightbebiased9311
      @imightbebiased9311 ปีที่แล้ว +44

      Thghts n pryrs.

    • @XuiLeeEv
      @XuiLeeEv ปีที่แล้ว +45

      Could've saved up for Booby Centrum if they'd just rationed their O's a little better

    • @paveladamek3502
      @paveladamek3502 ปีที่แล้ว +22

      The -R- in the BR-no takes place of a vowel so that the syllable is legit.

    • @theadamsiegel
      @theadamsiegel ปีที่แล้ว +17

      @@paveladamek3502 thank you for intelligently explaining my stupid joke! I love Czechia!

    • @emjackson2289
      @emjackson2289 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      Twinned with Ynswbl

  • @carlspringer2869
    @carlspringer2869 ปีที่แล้ว +331

    The Tim Traveller is the only person in the world who can make me watch a whole video about an abandoned football stadium and really enjoy it.

    • @antoy384
      @antoy384 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Abadoned buildings are awesome. It’s like URBEX, but it’s historybex. Berlin’s 1934 olympic stadium… gives you shills down the spine.

    • @Rutgerman95
      @Rutgerman95 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      And it's weird it happened twice

    • @railworksamerica
      @railworksamerica ปีที่แล้ว

      BENO: am I a joke to you?

    • @Cheeseeatingshark
      @Cheeseeatingshark ปีที่แล้ว

      Me too, I'm not even bothered about football!

    • @JHaven-lg7lj
      @JHaven-lg7lj 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      And look forward to the sequel!

  • @ThePlebicide
    @ThePlebicide ปีที่แล้ว +343

    More false dawns than a french and Saunder lookalike competition, is my new favourite line from a Tim video

    • @TheTimTraveller
      @TheTimTraveller  ปีที่แล้ว +103

      I'm slightly annoyed, after Googling it, that apparently I'm not the first person to come up with that comparison :D

    • @cheesedoff-with4410
      @cheesedoff-with4410 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      ​@@TheTimTraveller Well I, for one, am going to steal it.

    • @kennethpurscell
      @kennethpurscell ปีที่แล้ว +6

      As a rule of life, I try to only steal the best.

    • @QuantumHistorian
      @QuantumHistorian ปีที่แล้ว +8

      @@TheTimTraveller If imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, then accidentally imitating someone else is also a pretty good form of them flattering you.

    • @OmegaSparky
      @OmegaSparky ปีที่แล้ว +7

      Googles it. 30 seconds later. OMG. 😂
      Didn't realize her name was Dawn.

  • @MikeKey69
    @MikeKey69 ปีที่แล้ว +121

    Hello Tim, I was there in October 1996 during the match. Not as visitor, but as part of teams who supplied the boards with adverts around the playground. I spend all the game close to one of the gates. It was first football match I visited and I was shocked. The crowd was so loud...

  • @tdb7992
    @tdb7992 ปีที่แล้ว +92

    I was just in Europe (I'm Australian) and because of Tim's videos, I made sure that I visited Urk on Flevoland. I also rode on the suspended train in Düsseldorf and saw the Deltaworks. Thanks for all the geeky tips Tim! Urk was a beautiful little town. They had a market on when we visited and my Dutch friend told me all about how the people there are a little... unusual.

    • @MarceldeJong
      @MarceldeJong ปีที่แล้ว +8

      Yeah, you can take the island back onto land, but you can’t remove the island from its inhabitants.

    • @MrFaktenFaktenFakten
      @MrFaktenFaktenFakten ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Should have gone to Wuppertal to ride the real suspended railway 😢

    • @MrFaktenFaktenFakten
      @MrFaktenFaktenFakten ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@teamgeist3328 Bad take! Wuppertal is beautiful

  • @imightbebiased9311
    @imightbebiased9311 ปีที่แล้ว +75

    Dammit, Tim. "You all ready for this?" Now that's gonna be stuck in my head all day.
    (Also, the URL for that concert...could generate some misconceptions.)

    • @insertnamehere5809
      @insertnamehere5809 ปีที่แล้ว +19

      There's No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no there's no limit to that song's catchiness. 😅

    • @MyRegardsToTheDodo
      @MyRegardsToTheDodo ปีที่แล้ว +3

      I guess those misconceptions are intentional, especially considering it's about 90s Eurotrash music.

    • @MyRegardsToTheDodo
      @MyRegardsToTheDodo ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@insertnamehere5809 Hey ho, Captain Jack, hey ho Captain Jack, going down the railroad track...

    • @PiousMoltar
      @PiousMoltar ปีที่แล้ว +4

      90 sexpolosions is a lot of sexplosions

  • @jezzaqc
    @jezzaqc ปีที่แล้ว +213

    Isn’t it time you visited the abandoned railway station of Canfranc on the Franco-Spanish border? The one that looks like it should be a royal and very palatial château worthy of a place along the banks of the River Loire. Plus it’s very close to the Pyrénées so great for hill walking / mountain climbing for you too!

    • @EmsiYTs
      @EmsiYTs ปีที่แล้ว +17

      I've been there, the entire line and the abandoned tunnels are really striking

    • @liamastill6733
      @liamastill6733 ปีที่แล้ว +29

      If you didn't know, the entire station has been fully renovated into a hotel, and a brand new station has been built behind it to serve the Spanish trains (lacking a lot of charm however).
      I think some tracks and the roundhouse are still there but much of the aging rolling stock and infrastructure next to the station has been removed unfortunately. So sadly far less interesting than it once was.

    • @AL5520
      @AL5520 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      There are also talk of renewing the connection to France. It was hoing well untill the French decided that they're delaying the high dpeed connections, that the've been unofficially delaying for years even thogh they are obligatrd to complete by 2030, to Irun (in Basque country) and Barcelona (where there is a connection but still no high speed line between Nimes and Peroignan). They said they'll do it by about 2045. With that the Canftanc talks also stopped. Now the EU is working tommakenthem fulfill their obligations an maybe with that Canfranc will also reconnect to France.

    • @AlvaroLR
      @AlvaroLR ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@liamastill6733 Yeah, sadly the renovation took a lot of the railway infrastructure. Luckily you still have a good chunk of the french side that remains untouched tho. The closest station in the french side, forges d'abel, still has its tracks IIRC.

    • @francisboyle1739
      @francisboyle1739 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@EmsiYTs Also the secret lab! OK, not really secret but well hidden. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canfranc_Underground_Laboratory

  • @sanashi27
    @sanashi27 ปีที่แล้ว +71

    The part about how people volunteered to fix the place up for one last game for a player made me smile. That sounds really nice! I do hope they could permanently rebuild the place to become as good as it once was though.
    And oh... part 2? Interesting and exciting!

    • @DavidRGray
      @DavidRGray ปีที่แล้ว +4

      My club 1. FC Union Berlin built our ground a couple of decades ago and also gave blood to save us financially.

    • @beth12svist
      @beth12svist ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I lived in Brno at the time and actually remember it - I think some of my friends went to help with the cleanup, too. They're not even football fans; it really was an effort to revive a Brno icon and that's why they went. (I can't remember what I was doing that I wasn't there myself, I may have been sick.)

    • @emmastump2157
      @emmastump2157 ปีที่แล้ว

      It reminded me of when the Charlton fans cleaned up the Valley in 1989 during our exile. Part of that ground actually reminded me of our old East Terrace.

  • @papagrounds
    @papagrounds ปีที่แล้ว +12

    6:19 I love that the dog is playing hide and seek with its owner 🤣🤣

  • @luckerhdd3929
    @luckerhdd3929 ปีที่แล้ว +53

    The story is even more tragic. There also used to be a hockey arena Za Lužánkami. Similar story. They just forced the hockey team to leave only about 2 years before the football stadium was abandoned (however unlike Zbrojovka the hockey team hasn't died because of it). Now after more than 20 years city leadership still keeps the entire area frozen to make people forget and once they stop caring they will sell it to unaffrodable housing developers. Petr Švancara planned to rebuild the football stadium to a football academy. His project was extremely popular and it basically became the number one on city's participatory budgeting website. But instead of getting the money it deserves (and has a right to) the city consideres it as "impossible" and they plan to demolish the stadium. Yeah I guess that expensive apartments would be more possible for city leadership members' wallets.
    Injustice. It's unfair and wrong in so many ways.

    • @TheYrthenarc
      @TheYrthenarc ปีที่แล้ว +5

      It's not as simple as city leadership keeping it frozen, there are long standing ongoing legal disputes about the ownership of the land it stands on and some of the buildings. The city leadership is flip/flopping between wanting to sell the place to developers and rebuilding the stadium depending on who gets voted in, but can't really do anything until the legal issues are cleared up. One of the issues about who owns the roads and parking lot standing on the land just recently got picked up by the Highest Court after god knows how many rounds of appeals.

    • @fhlostonparaphrase
      @fhlostonparaphrase ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Zbrojovka died? (which is named after an arms manufacturer I now know)?
      In terms of competing for things seriously you mean then?

    • @CzHanz
      @CzHanz ปีที่แล้ว +1

      ​@@fhlostonparaphrasewell the team isn't dead, but their performance is tragic (i believe they ggot relegated very recently) and they're always short of money.

    • @CptJistuce
      @CptJistuce ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@TheYrthenarc Say what you will about the Soviet Union, but they would've cleared those ownership disputes RIGHT up.
      "Comrade, all belongs to the country. Is communism. If you continue to argue, we send KGB. Very persuasive men."

    • @TrevorMoses312
      @TrevorMoses312 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@CptJistuce 😳😂😂😂

  • @Meg_A_Byte
    @Meg_A_Byte ปีที่แล้ว +26

    This is pretty surreal, I lived 10 minutes walk away from the place and I would have never guessed it's something you'd might visit one day. And here we are! Thanks a lot for the video, you clearly did your research and I'm glad you enjoyed the visit.

  • @zork999
    @zork999 ปีที่แล้ว +116

    The Great Strahov Stadium in Prague is still used as a training pitch for the local club. Or should I say "pitches" as the main field holds more than 6 standard-sized football pitches. At a capacity of over 250,000 (only 56,000 seated though), it is the largest football stadium in the world, even if it has been over 20 years since it hosted a football match.

    • @kytkosaurus
      @kytkosaurus ปีที่แล้ว +27

      Well we don't really count it as a football stadium in Prague. It was built for Spartakiada (giant communist era festivals of synchronised gymnastics) and if there was a league match played there (I don't remember any, but I¨m not a big football fan), it had to be a special event only. The field of the stadium used to be sand, not grass, and the size means that a single football pitch would look lost there. League football (and international matches too) was actually played at Strahov sometimes, usually when some of the Prague clubs lost their home stadium for some reason, but next door, on the Evžen Rošický stadium (capacity around 20 000, similar to the other larger Prague stadiums), now also declared dangerous to use. It was never liked though. For fans, it's quite far (and uphill) from capacity public transport and the players called it Wuthering Heights (for obvious reasons).

    • @insertnamehere5809
      @insertnamehere5809 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      West Ham ⚒️ were training there before the UEFA CONFERENCE LEAGUE FINAL.

    • @Gosudar
      @Gosudar ปีที่แล้ว +7

      @@kytkosaurus It was used for Spartakiadas by the commies, but it was built for the Sokol gatherings in the 1920s.

    • @kytkosaurus
      @kytkosaurus ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@Gosudar I meant the present form with concrete stands. This is from the 1970s. The stadium for Sokol gatherings was indeed in the same place (and this present form was used for Sokol gatherings at least once in the 1990s). I know it was also very big, but don't know, whether it was this big.

    • @P3x310
      @P3x310 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Yup, there was a Sokol gathering in 2000 where I performed as a kid. Still remember being baffled at how big it was (and how disgusting it was to march across the whole huge and sandy place in the sweltering heat)

  • @sapital16
    @sapital16 ปีที่แล้ว +39

    Hello Tim! Thank you for the video. If you would plan any next trip to Brno, just hit me up! Not only for the festival, but also for other interesting stuff in Brno and its surroundings.

  • @lesleyb5591
    @lesleyb5591 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    I liked the reference to the newspapers that every year seem to be saying that "next year Zbrojovka Brno will be moving back to their original stadium." I've lived in Essex for more than 25 years and I think that for about as long as I've lived here Southend United football team have been saying they're going to move to a new stadium. They still haven't.

  • @Scruffi
    @Scruffi ปีที่แล้ว +10

    "More false Dawns than a French and Saunders lookalike competition." I had to pause the video for laughing. Well played, sir. Well played. :)

  • @RedMadMichael
    @RedMadMichael ปีที่แล้ว +12

    I'm being kind of self-centered for my nationality but I can't help but feel like you're getting close to Slovakia and I'm excited for the prospect of that happening.

  • @57thorns
    @57thorns ปีที่แล้ว +3

    It is so easy to forget that you really need to listen to the music. But I was not ready for the final music change.

  • @egpx
    @egpx ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Sports Report! That takes me back to the days when I went to football matches. Saturday at five o’clock, in the car on the way back from the game, on came the Sports Report music as a prelude to the football results read by James Alexander Gordon. They might still play the music even now.

  • @Britishgeohistorian
    @Britishgeohistorian ปีที่แล้ว +5

    You have caused my dad so much pain 🤣. Because of your videos on our road trip round western europe, we went to the vennbahn and kneiff. He was confused about what was so special about them

  • @TheAngelsHaveThePhoneBox
    @TheAngelsHaveThePhoneBox ปีที่แล้ว +3

    As a Brno local, this is the most unexpected video on this channel for me, lol. How did it even come to your mind to cover this story? I'd have never expected it would be of interest to any foreigner. People from other Czech cities don't care. I barely care! And here comes Tim all the way from the UK and makes a banger video about our big, bizarre ruin! Great job!
    Btw, as some other people have pointed out, there also used to be an ice-hockey stadium next to this one, the story being very similar. And despite it being closed in 2000 and demolished in 2009, the adjacent trolleybus stop is, to this day, still named "Zimní stadion" which means "Winter Stadium". Probably only to confuse visitors, or perhaps the Swedish army, should it ever try to besiege the city ever again, after their last unsuccessful attempt.

  • @brianeisemann7075
    @brianeisemann7075 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Whaattttt... I was just in Brno and stayed at the crazy Bobycentrum hotel. That stadium is literally at the back of a car park! Such a good description hahaha thank you for bringing the rest of this story to light, which was such a mystery to me!

    • @Okurka.
      @Okurka. ปีที่แล้ว

      Aren't all stadiums at the back of a car park?

    • @TheAngelsHaveThePhoneBox
      @TheAngelsHaveThePhoneBox ปีที่แล้ว

      @@Okurka. Or are car parks at the back of stadiums? Science may never know.

  • @Ailar2209
    @Ailar2209 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    During the whole length of the video, I kept thinking "that pitch is in a surprisingly good state for supposedly being abandoned for years". I'm glad you cleared that up at the end, that mystery really would've puzzled me.

  • @michaelkarnerfors9545
    @michaelkarnerfors9545 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    08:40 That 2 Unlimited reference... 😂
    And they will be playing! 🎉

    • @thesteelrodent1796
      @thesteelrodent1796 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      modern 2 Unlimited has nothing to do with the original group unfortunately, other than the name is owned by a dutch record producer

    • @chantalvanderende515
      @chantalvanderende515 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@thesteelrodent1796 Huh? They do. Ray (i.e. the man of the original duo) is still in it. Anita (the original singer) isn't anymore, they have another singer. They're still playing the same music, with the addition of their only non-90s hit song. So apart from Anita it's still basically the same - you're getting exactly what you're expecting. ;-)

  • @c11p
    @c11p ปีที่แล้ว +1

    LOL at 7:00 - awesome use of the "Don't Dream It's Over" melody for this part

  • @SuperOldShows
    @SuperOldShows ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Interesting one, thanks! The Czech Communists had a thing for building projects that were far to big. Teplice football stadium (still in use) is an 18,000 seater for a town of 50,000 people. And check out the massive Strahov Stadium in Prague (now only used for training).

    • @beth12svist
      @beth12svist หลายเดือนก่อน

      Possibly the most absurd instance of that was the gigantic statue of Stalin, a project so big it only was finished after Stalin's death... which meant soon after it was finished, or maybe even about the same time, Stalin came under criticism by Khrushchev, and the statue was eventually demolished again only seven years after it was finished.
      The story of the place where it once stood is also a great example of the maxim that temporary measures end up not being temporary. In 1991 the art installation known as the Metronome (actually named The Time Machine) was installed there. It was supposed to be temporary during a big centennial expo. It's still there. Not only has it been there longer than the infamous statue, it has now been there longer than the plinth had previously stood empty... 😂 It only has nine years to go to surpass the whole of the Communist era!

  • @christopherbentley7289
    @christopherbentley7289 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    This was an utterly fascinating and very well-presented video, Tim and thank you for that. I spent a week in Brno back in October 2018, but there were all sorts of places I wanted to visit within easy travelling distance of the city so I didn't get to see much of Brno itself for the amount of time I was there, in total. There was one day (the Sunday) on which I didn't do any rail-travelling out from Brno, using the late morning/early afternoon that day to explore the wooded hillside to the west of the River Svratka - that I could see from my hotel, the Garni, on Vinařská in the Masarykova čtvrť - which reminded me of my native Derbyshire, the Svratka there bringing to mind the River Derwent. After having watched the epic steeplechase, the Velká Pardubická in the afternoon in my hotel room I set off to explore Brno's other (big) river, the Svitava, between the Zderadův most and the railway bridge over the river, the ageing industrial architecture around there having the same atmosphere as the Lužánky - very different from the leafy valley of the Svratka! I liked that so much in its own way I even dropped back there on my return from a trip out to Česká Třebová on the Monday! While in Brno I purchased a street plan where the Lužánky stands out, marked as 'býv. stadion' ('fmr. stadium') and I have, ever since, wondered half at the back of my mind what the place was all about.

  • @SynchroScore
    @SynchroScore ปีที่แล้ว +6

    I particularly like how you introduce Boby with what everybody thinks of when you say "circus music", "Entrance of the Gladiators", which was, appropriately enough, written by a Czech, Julius Fučík.

    • @iankemp1131
      @iankemp1131 ปีที่แล้ว

      Knew the piece, didn't know the composer. Announcers seem wary of mentioning his name. I wonder why :)

    • @Starkiller935
      @Starkiller935 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      @@iankemp1131 if that's a joke about his name sounding like the F-word, it really doesn't if you pronounce it correctly, it's not even that hard for English speakers, just imagine it's spelled Foocheek

    • @iankemp1131
      @iankemp1131 10 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@Starkiller935 Well, most of these puns don't work if you pronounce the names precisely correctly. That's the essence of that aspect of humour, almost to imagine what it's like if it wasn't quite pronounced right.

    • @beth12svist
      @beth12svist หลายเดือนก่อน

      Apparently, thanks to his great output of marching music and probably particularly that one, Fučík is one of the most played composers in the world...
      ... which I've just found out while trying, instead, to confirm my theory of what his name means.
      Which I now finally have, and yes, it's from the verbs "fučet / fičet", which is something like "whizz", and Fučík is supposed to be someone madcap. Which is quite fun for someone most famous for composing "circus" music. 😉

  • @dewaldbotha122
    @dewaldbotha122 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Tim! I hope you stick around for the public transport days of nostalgia! Sure Andrew told you, in a few weeks time, DPMB / IDS JMK roll out all their museum pieces of beautifully restored vehicles, and you can travel on them on selected routes! 🚋🚎 Welcome here in Brno. 😊🇨🇿

    • @LadyAnuB
      @LadyAnuB ปีที่แล้ว

      The San Francisco Municipal Railway runs historic streetcars on the E Embarcadero & F Market & Wharves lines

  • @Squato
    @Squato ปีที่แล้ว +1

    No one has said it, but thank you for the perfect use of Don't Dream It's Over by Crowded House for the last game.

  • @kassistwisted
    @kassistwisted ปีที่แล้ว +3

    "more false dawns that a French and Saunders look-alike competition" slayed me. Thank you, Tim! Always lovely to see your videos.

  •  ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Ahhh... lovely to see my born city. Born in 1983 in Brno, I experienced all the raise&fall of Boby Centrum. First, as a young teenager, we spent hours and hours at the "Roller-skate"... later on, as an older teenager, spent many.... MANY nights at Techno parties in the Big Hall...
    It was a megolomaniac project from the start. Everyone knows the history. Everyone knows that Hrstka never payed the bills - a father of my school mate, he was an interior designer, also a friend of Hrstka. He designed all the interiors for the Boby place but never got payed...
    On one side, all this project was really "forward thinking" (it's necessary to understand the historical connotations)... On the other hand, all the project was one big fraud from the very beginning.
    90s was a "wild-east" time...

  • @maartentoors
    @maartentoors ปีที่แล้ว +3

    8:48 that gave it a bit of a Dutch vibe as well..
    Aw, I miss my 90's. 🥲

  • @jacquesmertens3369
    @jacquesmertens3369 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    I love stadiums built on artificial hills. They have a natural feel to them. They make you part of the landscape.
    Unfortunately there aren't many left.

  • @KapitanPisoar1
    @KapitanPisoar1 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Brno is a butt of many jokes in the Czech Republic. And here you can clearly see, why... You made a great job making this video and sharing the story of the stadium!

  • @btox571
    @btox571 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    awesome video as always!
    a place that might interest you as well is the airport schwerin/parchim in northeastern germany. a chinese investor planned to build a huge city and one of the biggest airports in the world there, as it's position in the centre of europe is ideal. fair to say this whole project failed massively because of many factors, one of them being that the region is just straight up dead. there's a really interesting documentary about it, which is called "parchim international" it's a great film!
    the whole place is quite eerie to check out. after the project failed, the airport was used as a small cargo airport and also as a graveyard for airplanes. you can still check out the tower, terminals, etc. and its quite interesting. the last time i've been there, i saw a bunch of cars just parked on the runway, but i couldn't find out why.
    it's also quite hard to get to. from the city of parchim it's still a 1 hour walk and i believe that there are no busses going there, so going by car would be best i guess.

  • @malthuswasright
    @malthuswasright ปีที่แล้ว +5

    You could add the old National Stadium in Warsaw to the list. Another massive concrete bowl that got abandoned when a modern stadium was built, but I was part of a team that played a local side there. Walking out in front of (I think) about 100,000 empty seats was weird - but very enjoyable.

  • @mauritski3844
    @mauritski3844 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    hello Tim, have been following your channel for the past few years, just wanna say thank you for the effort and time you put into making your videos

  • @jacksonmacmanus1001
    @jacksonmacmanus1001 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    The French & Saunders joke was pure comedy genius

  • @mrkenny6817
    @mrkenny6817 ปีที่แล้ว

    Hello, Brno citizen here. So the current state of the stadium is that Brno government want to tear the stadium down for safety reason, based on shady static report. Czech online newspaper Seznam Zpravy actually leaked the report, and it basically looks like this video - just a bunch of photos from inside the stadium, lol. As we all can see, the stadium is not dangerous, like there were kinda big music festival (not the 90s one) two years in row and nothing happened. Fortunately, backlash was so strong that the city was forced to order a new static report, which is currently being made by the local technical university.
    I'm pretty sure that they won't be able to tear down the stadium and build flats there, but I don't think that it will ever be renovated.
    Amazing video!

  • @Sim0nTrains
    @Sim0nTrains ปีที่แล้ว +12

    Really nice video Tim and nice to see it still standing.

  • @robfenwitch7403
    @robfenwitch7403 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    A new Tim video and a new Jago video! Today has been a good day.

  • @cianoreillycork
    @cianoreillycork ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Always great to see a new Tim Traveller video!

  • @DaveTexas
    @DaveTexas ปีที่แล้ว

    The "more false dawns than a French & Saunders lookalike competition" made me spit out my drink! Now my iPad is a mess. Thanks, Tim…

  • @MusicalMercenary
    @MusicalMercenary ปีที่แล้ว +1

    You're awesome my guy, and you inspire me regularly to get out and explore history

  • @platypusfrenzy
    @platypusfrenzy ปีที่แล้ว +2

    The Swedish word for mullet translates to "hockey haircut" and the Polish one is "Czech footballer", so Czech hockey players are indeed the confluence of mullet-ness. Jaromir Jagr back in the day.. now that was a mullet!

    • @jankapaa3074
      @jankapaa3074 ปีที่แล้ว

      So was Jan Suchopárek :)

  • @L0REN0R2Z0RR0
    @L0REN0R2Z0RR0 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I spontaneously went to that stadium last week and expected it to be abandoned for 10-20 years already. Interesting to hear that they played one game there just 9 years ago. Doesn't seem like they'll ever play football there again, but it would actually not be a bad location. Since I blacked out and blew my PhD school interview, for which I was there, I don't know if I'll be back in Brno more than once or twice in my life, but I'll closely watch this development.

  • @JohnChapman7
    @JohnChapman7 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I can't wait for the September update!

  • @officialmcdeath
    @officialmcdeath ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I'm definitely ready for this - there's no limit \m/

  • @DavidRGray
    @DavidRGray ปีที่แล้ว

    As well as the Dawn gag the lead into the 2 unlimited track was inspired. Keep up the wonderful work.

  • @dansummers2965
    @dansummers2965 ปีที่แล้ว

    I, for one, was not ready for this. Good transition.

  • @jirinovotny1061
    @jirinovotny1061 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Hello, thank you for the video. Just for clarification: the first game on 5. 11. 1953 was Dynamo Moscow against DSO Baník = Baník Ostrava + Baník Kladno (league clubs with coal mining background).

  • @rockerjim8045
    @rockerjim8045 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    had a look around the new ground before an afternoon flight out of the Airport

  • @weerwolfproductions
    @weerwolfproductions ปีที่แล้ว +1

    "More false Dawns than a French and Saunders look-alike competition" I would have choked on my drink if i were having any!

  • @CzHanz
    @CzHanz ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Hi Tim! I'm from Brno and I must say, that over the years I've enjoyed quite a few foreign travellers show my beloved town in many different ways. But you're surely the first one to choose one of its worst eyesores for your video 😂 I hope you enjoyed the rest of Brno better than the stadium. Would've been lovely to meet you 🙂

    • @WhereWasItLastTime
      @WhereWasItLastTime ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I had the pleasure to watch the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra last September when they visited Edinburgh Scotland. A marvellous evening with some wonderful artistes, up until then I had no idea where Brno was. It seems to be becoming famous!

  • @jtd8719
    @jtd8719 ปีที่แล้ว

    Brilliant writing and music, as usual, Tim!

  • @christophereul6023
    @christophereul6023 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Love it, that you're posting more content from more eastern locations! I wonder if one of the next videos might be about Cierny Balog in Slovakia 😃

  • @bungaIowbill
    @bungaIowbill ปีที่แล้ว +22

    Boby somewhat overestimated the power of induced demand, huh

    • @AKuTepion
      @AKuTepion ปีที่แล้ว +3

      We have many more stories like this from the 1990s. After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, many famous and rich people (singers, sportsmen) got into entrepreneurship only to go bankrupt. The opposite happened too and some people became very rich very quickly -- sometimes by starting legitimate businesses, but that usually doesn't make you a billionaire in a few years. There was a lot of corruption (especially when the government was about to sell some valuable property), organized crime etc. Luckily, the country stabilized fairly quickly and is now one of the safest countries in the world, at least when don't take the war in Ukraine (and the risk of escalation) into account.

    • @Carewolf
      @Carewolf ปีที่แล้ว

      Induced demand is legend by people who doesn't understand naturally growing demand.

    • @vigilantcosmicpenguin8721
      @vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 ปีที่แล้ว

      Seems to have overestimated the power of himself.

  • @KatieAngelWitch
    @KatieAngelWitch ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I was not expecting a video on something I live dangerously close by to pop up, but I am glad it did!

  • @gui18bif
    @gui18bif ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Amazing video !

  • @narekpoghosian4506
    @narekpoghosian4506 ปีที่แล้ว +13

    In armenia we have nearly the same situation with the hrazdan stadium

    • @TrevorMoses312
      @TrevorMoses312 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      South Africa also has this issue sadly.

  • @Impoigness
    @Impoigness ปีที่แล้ว +8

    Do you plan on visiting Tempelhof Park in Berlin? It could make an interesting video! I can also offer you a tour 😅

    • @marcelwiszowaty1751
      @marcelwiszowaty1751 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Ah yes! I went there on my last Berlin visit in 2019. As I understand it the authorities wanted to use the land for housing but there was a significant backlash from citizens. Hence its current use as a park... and interesting because the runways still exist.

  •  ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Glad to see you in Czech Republic again 👋

  • @DysClaimer
    @DysClaimer ปีที่แล้ว

    That lineup. That show sounds amazing!

  • @Tinu-1987
    @Tinu-1987 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Live festival stream! Yes!

  • @gyatanya
    @gyatanya ปีที่แล้ว

    I have never been so excited to see a TH-camr upload

  • @garethgay9133
    @garethgay9133 ปีที่แล้ว

    More false dawns, made me spill my tea, thank you. lots of love xxx

  • @R2k2
    @R2k2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Once again, another cool video!

  • @PeterFabian
    @PeterFabian ปีที่แล้ว

    10 minutes ago, I had no idea I would be going to a 90s festival in Brno, but now... Now I'm looking up tickets.

  • @Olleetheowl
    @Olleetheowl ปีที่แล้ว

    As usual, Brilliant Tim (especially the “False Dawns” quip 😂🤣

  • @vyshi
    @vyshi ปีที่แล้ว

    great vid.
    the stadium was partly cleaned by volunteers and used for filming "Zatopek", 2021 movie about famous czech athlete.

  • @jandavac
    @jandavac ปีที่แล้ว

    Oh wow, Tim is in my hometown! :) Instant like :)

  • @IslandHermit
    @IslandHermit ปีที่แล้ว +6

    I always enjoy your content. It's amazing how many of these little oddities you're able to find. Keep up the good work!

  • @Sucharush31
    @Sucharush31 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    Hey! You're in the city where I'm currently in uni. If you're looking for any more places in the area to see there's the Brno Ossuary (The second largest in Europe outside of the super famous one in Paris), the Sedlec Cathedral in Kutna Hora ("The Bone Church"), and there's a smaller town near Brno called Třebič that has a locally famous Jewish quarter if you're interested in seeing a little of what Moravia was like back when it had a significant Jewish presence.

    • @beth12svist
      @beth12svist ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Třebíč is actually a UNESCO site. It does not only have the Jewish quarter but also a very impressive medieval basilica. Yet despite that it remains just "locally famous" and even lots of Czechs have never been there...

  • @GuyChapman
    @GuyChapman ปีที่แล้ว

    Excellent! Ticks many Tim boxes.

  • @lauraketteridge324
    @lauraketteridge324 ปีที่แล้ว

    You take us to places we would never think of going, and we happily tag along for the ride.
    Must say, I am planning a trip to the Netherlands, and a visit to Urk is on the cards. :o)

  • @Froobyone
    @Froobyone ปีที่แล้ว

    I like that you shine a light on places that would hitherto remain in my life's shadows.

  • @Harwen3260
    @Harwen3260 ปีที่แล้ว

    One thing about Brno - they have the best (nicest) fans, both football and hockey. Even their sworn enemies from Prague can't argue with that.

  • @CaeserOct
    @CaeserOct ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Great piece of Brnography

  • @nojbik
    @nojbik ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Tim if You are so interested by old abandoned stadiums, You should also visit a Prague's Strahov stadium, which is that huge that 8 socker playgrounds fits into it, and it is "mostly" abandoned...

  • @davidpotter8297
    @davidpotter8297 ปีที่แล้ว

    That was an absolutely fabulous reference.

  • @shaun5436
    @shaun5436 ปีที่แล้ว

    I stayed in the hotel last year and stumbled across the stadium while there, so great to see it in a video and learn its history 🙂

  • @ZGryphon
    @ZGryphon ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Huh. The football club must have been affiliated with the old state armory in town back in the day. "Zbrojovka Brno" used to be the name of a quite famous, now-defunct arms factory (for example, it's where the BR in the name of the WWII Bren machine gun came from, the EN being for Enfield). The phrase Česká Zbrojovka, "Czech Armory", is where the name of the modern-day arms company CZ comes from--formerly another state arsenal in Uherský Brod.

  • @paulyiustravelogue
    @paulyiustravelogue ปีที่แล้ว

    Always love your subtle humour, cheers 😂

  • @electron8262
    @electron8262 ปีที่แล้ว

    I love that Tim's done a video about two random Czech guys buying a football stadium

  • @MrGreatplum
    @MrGreatplum ปีที่แล้ว +44

    Wait, I thought we weren’t meant to talk about Brno…

    • @Carewolf
      @Carewolf ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Wel, Brno in Czech, Brunn in German, and while it would make sense to meet in the middle and say Bruno in English. Current naming conventions in English sides on using the Czech form.

    • @beth12svist
      @beth12svist ปีที่แล้ว

      ​@@Carewolf It would not make sense because the German name is actually Brünn. Different vowel. 😊

    • @Carewolf
      @Carewolf ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@beth12svist Brüno would still work as a pun ;)

  • @CheshireTomcat68
    @CheshireTomcat68 ปีที่แล้ว

    You just keep finding these places!

  • @sakr-el-bahr272
    @sakr-el-bahr272 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    They can make this work, they just need to open the Czech book!

  • @hairyairey
    @hairyairey ปีที่แล้ว

    Nearly couldn't hear the end of the video because of my own laughter at "Are you all ready for this?"

  • @michaelscaplis
    @michaelscaplis ปีที่แล้ว +1

    That looks like a cool line up for that festival!

  • @profkluk
    @profkluk ปีที่แล้ว

    Great story!

  • @paveladamek3502
    @paveladamek3502 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    There is something special about Tim visiting your city.

  • @MrTomovka
    @MrTomovka ปีที่แล้ว

    Not sure if you'll read this but 1) if you'd like some old photos from the time it was in use lmk (mostly interior). 2) the city council recently decided to demolish the place and free up the area for development, instead investing in the other stadium. According to experts its beyond repair.

  • @Gez-C
    @Gez-C ปีที่แล้ว

    Looking forward to the festival video already 😂

  • @unshallowifyable
    @unshallowifyable ปีที่แล้ว

    Appreciated the nod to Private Eye with “Pedantry Corner” to avoid the debate of pedants’ corner to pedant’s corner to ped’ant’s’ corner 😂

  • @ndemers
    @ndemers ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Lordy, looking at it on Google Maps, the stands are half filled with greenery. It's kind of pretty!

    • @TheTimTraveller
      @TheTimTraveller  ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Indeed! I shot this video back in early March, and in hindsight, it would have been better to film it in summer, the extra greenery really makes a difference.

  • @JacobHeldt
    @JacobHeldt ปีที่แล้ว

    Brilliant !

  • @tomas_necas
    @tomas_necas ปีที่แล้ว +2

    My hometown Brno!!! 😍

  • @martinneumann7783
    @martinneumann7783 ปีที่แล้ว

    Lovely weird… Thanks Tim and Andrew.

  • @mccobsta
    @mccobsta ปีที่แล้ว

    Out of all travel yourbers Tim your the best no bubbly over the top happy influencer going to places everyone has heard of screaming about their sponsors every minute just a top bloke with the topic it's brilliant