The new Bohemians football team is slowly shaping up. June 27, 3005 was an important date in the history of Bohemians. The atmosphere that day was festive as after half a year of inactivity, 38 players took to the field in Ďolíček to compete for a spot on the team’s roster. Two hundred fans showed up to watch the first day of the training camp, among them some well known personalities, e.g., Tomáš Rosický (Borussia Dortmund) and Marek Nikl (FC Nürnberg).
The management of Bohemians issued commemorative T-shirts on this occasion. The first batch of T-shirts disappeared so quickly that a few more batches had to be re-made. The management prepared another pleasant surprise for the team’s long suffering fans - it signed an agreement with a Spanish company Kelme to supply Bohemians with new uniforms. Jerseys will have traditional green and white vertical stripes. Fans welcomed the news ecstatically.
While the vast majority of players on the field were not familiar to casual observers, some attracted a lot of attention. Jiří Rosický, the older brother of Tomáš Rosický and former player of Atletico Madrid and SW Bregenz) was one of the star participants. Another one was Jiří Němec, the former captain of the Czech national side, who at 39 years of age gave it another try but it was not meant to be. Němec, who was capped 84 times during his illustrious carrier, decided in the end that it was time to pack it up for good. At the end of the week filled with scrimmages, Zbyněk Busta (coach of Bohemians) selected 24 players who then travelled to the mountainous region of the Czech Republic for a week of conditioning (also known as purgatory).
In the meantime, the Czech Football Association (ČMFS) issued its verdict on what team is entitled to play under the Bohemians name. As reported earlier, TJ Střížkov (another third division club), also filed a claim to the Bohemians name. ČMFS stated in its verdict unequivocally, that the team that is entitled to use the name Bohemians both for legal and moral reasons is our team, i.e., Bohemians 1905. Now if only TJ Bohemians stopped procrastinating and returned the rights to Bohemians logo to the right club!
The newly formed team returned from the conditioning camp in the mountains of Bohemia back to Ďolíček to play the first preparation game against the reserve team of Sparta Prague (Sparta B). The game took place on Sunday, July 10, at 5 p.m. Eight hundred fans went away happy with what they have seen. Although the game ended 1:1, “kangaroos” were more than equal to their second division opponent. Bohemka led 1:0 on a goal by defender Daniel Vilhelm. Sparta tied the score on a goal by Ondřej Herzán.
Early that day, approximately 30 fans brought their tools and considerable skills to Ďolíček to tidy up the old stadium that had not been used for football games for months. Fans repaired and repainted the seats in the main seating section and cleaned up messy areas. Thanks, guys!
