Big night in Stockholm

Tonight is a big night in the Swedish capital. I know the national opera is putting on The Barber of Seville, but it's not the reason for the importance of this evening. Nor is it the much awaited appearance of Brit post-punk band The XX. It's not even the much acclaimed exhibition of Pre Revolutionary Film Poster Art in Iran that is setting the capital alight. Strangely enough it is the visit of a mediocre hockey team from the deep forests of Dalarna that is making people leave the comfort of their sofas in Stockholm, this city of cities - centre of the known Universe and epicentre of Culture and Refinement etc etc.

Missed the Film? Don't worry - the poster is better.

Johanneshov is once again going to have a bumper crowd. when Leksand comes to visit. This will bring much needed money into the coffers of AIK - and if the tradition from the last couple of years is to be upheld, three points to the team. One can only wonder why AIK only manages to be 8th(!) in the attendance table when the team is challenging for a place in the top league. It is rather shameful when you see Bofors drawing bigger crowds than AIK.

The Solna outfit has this year a disappointing attendance average of 2.343. The biggest game of the year so far has been the earlier game versus Leksand where 6.028 came to watch. Compare this to 1.036 (Oskarshamn) and 1.054 (Almtuna) which are their lowest figures, you see this is in fact an important night in Stockholm.

Reasons listed for not going to watch the games has been as many as the empty seats in section A3. The most prevalent being '...but there is sooo much to do in Stockholm.' Yes, of course, you can't miss the exhilarating 'Tvättstugan' exhibition or go to see 'Kimono Fusion' to learn about the changing role of this important traditional Japanese costume. With this as competition and with a catchment area covering only an aproximate amount of 1.5 million people, you can see the struggle faced by 'We are everywhere'-AIK.

Seconds after this shot, the crowd went completely mental as AIK scored.

I sadly can't join them, but will once again be seated in front of the computer, spending money on a shit broadcast, listening to some overrated once-managed-to-hit-a-puck expert while watching two - at the best - mediocre teams. But then again, there isn't too much else to do in London tonight.