Looking for Lokomotiva: Another team of Ceské Budejovice

Words: Jakub Bartos

Images: Jakub Bartos

Saturday afternoon. It is raining in Ceské Budejovice, a town in the south of the Czech Republic, two hours from Prague.

Even so, more than 300 people came to watch TJ Lokomotiva Ceské Budejovice vs 1. FC Jistebnice.

The football field is located near the train station. It is hidden between houses.

There is a pastry factory nearby.

©Jakub Bartos/ Terrace Edition. TJ Lokomotiva Ceské Budejovice vs 1. FC Jistebnice.

Lokomotiva celebrates 100 years of its foundation this year. Since then it has played on three pitches, the original one had no cabins, so the players changed clothes in the pub.

The club has been on the current pitch since the 1950s. It is lined with yellow iron pipes.

The biggest club in the region is Dynamo Ceské Budejovice, which today operates in the top competition.

But there was a time when both these black and white clubs were on the same level.

It happened in the 1960s. TJ Lokomotiva Ceské Budejovice was promoted to the second league. In that league they played matches against Slavia Praha, Plzen, Dynamo Ceské Budejovice and Jablonec.

Four thousand spectators watched the derby against Dynamo. Two thousand people normally attended the matches.

But those times are gone, nowadays it's more like dozens of fans attending matches. Today, TJ Lokomotiva operates in the sixth highest competition. We don't play for results, we want to raise talented players and keep the family atmosphere, says Jirí Pecenka, the club's chairman.

Roman Lengyel, a football player, played for Lokomotiva in the past. He has 236 starts in the Czech top competition. He also turned out for Dynamo, Sparta, Teplice and between 2004 and 2010 plied his trade in Russia.

The club has also had some female football players - Lucie Kladrubská and Petra Tauberová.

It is a tough challenge for the club to nurture and use talented footballers. Skilled players often leave for higher competitions or Austria, which Czech smaller clubs cannot compete with financially.

At the end of the games the scoreboard lights up with the score 0:5.

About 350 spectators watched the match in the rain. But it wasn't about points, the club wanted to celebrate an important anniversary.

The rich history of this team is commemorated in the local clubhouse. Above the bar are dozens of flags of clubs from different countries. Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy...

The club collected flags in the 90s after the revolution, when the Czech Republic and Slovakia separated.

TJ Lokomotiva Ceské Budejovice used to travel abroad for friendly matches.

They are now the eighth team in the table. However, its history and facilities can attract football lovers.

Only time will tell if the club will ever come close to the success of the past years.