Brickies take over the Danish media

Recently we told you how Sittingbourne FC had formed a twinning arrangement with Danish club Fremand Amager. Fans from De Blå Engle (Blue Angels) headed to Kent for a visit, and a wonderful time was had by all- and now this is bring reported in great detail in Amager's local newspaper, the Amager Bladet (no, us neither).

Now you can read the entire paper here- although, like us, you might only be able to look at the pictures- or you can see a picture of the front page elsewhere in this article. Or- yes, there's a third option, we spoil you- you can read a translation of the article below, helpfully provided by the Brickies!

ANGELS IN ENGLAND: CHEERS, CHEERS, CHEERS

Football Culture: Fremad Amager’s Fanclub the Blue & White Angels have been on a visit to their English friendship club Sittingbourne FC and are preparing for a return party.

England/West Sundby

The week before last a flock of football happy Amagerkanere visited the little town of Sittingbourne. Members of the Fremad Amager Fanclub the Blue & White Angels represented the club for their first visit to their friendship club Sittingbourne FC.

One finds the club that plays in the ‘Isthmian League South East Division’ - roughly the same level as the Copenhagen series - one hours drive south of London. “The Brickies” which is their nickname was formed in 1886 and play at Woodstock Park with a capacity of 3000. Their biggest sporting achievement was reaching the second round of the FA Cup and three Kent titles. But on the social side the club scores higher which the 15 Fremad Amager fans realised when they visited.

Mascot and the Mayor

Søren Fonsgart and Poul Dudal Madsen from the blue-whites were part of the group which traveled to England where they were picked up by minibus and all driven to the clubhouse where a welcome party had been arranged with live music and food.

“They (Sittingbourne FC) had made a programme for the whole weekend in their little, cosy, workers town out in the Country and now the Vikings were coming. After a fun evening the fans were picked up from their hotel on Saturday and driven to the game. 8 year old Tobias was made mascot and got to run out with the club captain of Sittingbourne FC. We stood together behind one of the goals and sang Fremad Amager and Sittingbourne songs together. When Sittingbourne FC took the lead after 33 minutes we taught them how to say “Skål”. They lost the game but won the third half (what the Danes call after match drinking!). And that is something we can also relate to.

The following morning we met the Mayor of Sittingbourne and then there was a short trip back to the airport on Sunday where we arrived back in time to see Denmark win the World Cup in Handball final.” says Poul, who now has 40-50 Facebook friends from Sittingbourne.

“Following our visit after Sittingbourne FC had lost 12 in a row they won 4-3 and the song “Skål Skål Skål” was sung. I hope this result turns their season around.”

Football love

How can it be that a flock of Amagerkanere (the nickname for people from Amager) find their way to Sittingbourne? Well, Mark Chapman is a passionate Sittingbourne FC fan. He married a Danish girl, got himself a job at the British Embassy and settled on Amager. Football played a part as he found his way to Sundby Stadium and Fremad Amager. It was here that he experienced the same feeling of warmth and friendship as he did back home on England. This was the start of a formal football friendship and one can say that it has already been a big success. The club (Fremad Amager) has simply been bombarded with shirts, scarfs and merchandise from Sittingbourne FC and we sent some in the other direction. There was one fan from Sittingbourne FC who even traveled to Denmark for the home game against Silkeborg. We showed him around the waterhole and he presented some merchandise to Rene Weiss who is unfortunately not with us anymore. He was impressed with our beer holder (a device for handling 5 beers at once) we introduced him to. It was fun and enjoyable and epitomises all we love about football.

Return visit and Friendly match

There are plans for a friendly match between both clubs - most likely featuring Fremad Amager’s reserve team which is a better fit than playing a team from Danish Division 1. On the 17th of May a group from Sittingbourne FC will come and watch football in Sundby (the location of Fremad Amager’s stadium). Big plans are underway to make it a great experience on the island.

And of course this will not be the last time the Vikings land in Sittingbourne..