In 1927 Bohemians Prague received an invitation from Australia to play in a set of exhibition matches against local sides. As a gift to their European tourists the Australians presented the club with the odd gift of two kangaroos. These animals were taken back to the Czechoslovakia where they lived their lives out in Prague Zoo.

Over the next 70 years they established themselves as one of the most important sides in Czechoslovakian football, their most successful season coming in 82/83 when they won the title and reached the semi finals of the UEFA Cup where they lost to eventual winners of the competition, Anderlecht.

It hasn’t been such a successful story recently. In 2005 they faced financial difficulties that led to the club going bankrupt and being relegated to the third tier of Czech football. At this point another Prague based club (Střižkov) saw an opportunity and bought the Bohemians brand. The Bohemians fans were obviously aghast at this act of commercial opportunism and rather than follow these “fake Bohemians” they instead set up their own football club named Bohemians 1905 (the year the original club were founded). The fans club continued to play at Dolicek (the original club’s home stadium) and wore the same traditional green colours with the famous kangaroo adorning the shirts.

The fans’ club, backed by club legend Antonin Panecka, rose through the leagues finally taking their place in the top flight of Czech football: The Gambrinus Liga. Despite his role as president of Bohemians 1905 Panecka is more famous for his remarkable winning penalty in the 1976 European Championship penalty shootout.  With the score at 4-3 and with only one penalty left for Germany , Panecka stepped up casually and chipped the ball deftly into the centre of the goal, fooling the already diving Sepp Maier. No international tournament has ever been won

This season is the first that sees both Bohemians clubs (Strizkov and 1905) in the same division. This has led to what must be a unique situation in world football, two clubs with almost identical kits, badges and names going face to face.

Unfortunately a rather unseemly law case ensued between the two parties with Strizkov claiming universal rights to the image of the kangaroo and the name of Bohemians. In a decision that surprised those who, like me, are rather cynical of the business side of football the fans’ club won out and have permission to continue using the Bohemians brand. Bohemians 1905′s club shop now stocks t-shirts with “THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE BOHEMKA” alongside soft toy kangaroos and the normal tat you’d expect in a football club shop.

In the build up to the first meeting between the two sides the Stizkov club had originally claimed that they would not face Bohemians 1905 (due to their annoyance with the law case ruling). However this threat was never taken too seriously and on the 4th October the two clubs squared off against one another. Nonetheless Strizkov still made the cynical decision to up the ticket prices for the trip of their namesake rivals. However, this didn’t put off a large band of Bohemian 1905 fans marching on their foe’s stadium with banners, megaphones and even a guy dressed as the famous Bohemka kangaroo.

As is often the case in these high intensity games it didn’t live up to the pre match hype. The game fizzled out into a 0-0 draw. A result that wasn’t particularly useful for either side as they battle against relegation.

Bohemians Strizkov are currently bottom of the Gambrinus Liga with the “fans club” Bohemians 1905 a few places ahead of them. The two sides meet again next April 9th at Dolicek, the spiritual home of Bohemians, it’s likely to be an even more fiery encounter with both teams places in the top flight likely to be under threat.

Written by Steven GabbcloseAuthor: Steven Gabb Name:
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Tags: Bohemians Prague, Czech Republic