Today I'm going back 37 years to 1984 and Tottenham's UEFA Cup 3rd Round 1st Leg match at White Hart Lane against Bohemians of Prague in what is now the Czech Republic but which was part of Czechoslovakia at the time. Spurs were the holders of the UEFA Cup having won it in May on a famous night when a penalty shoot out beat Anderlecht in the two-legged Final.
Bohemians are an interesting club if for no other reason than their badge. Being from the Czech Republic it is, of course, a picture of a kangaroo! This is apparently a legacy from a tour to Australia in 1927 during which the club was presented with two live kangaroos. Happily the roos concerned were donated to Prague Zoo on arrival back home. One suspects that the Australians concerned must have wracked their brains trying to think of the perfect gift for their guests, looked out of the window, spotted a kangaroo hopping by, minding it's own business, and decided that this would make the ideal (inexpensive) present. Perhaps the British equivalent might be to make presents out of a couple of rats, badgers or foxes? It's certainly one way of getting rid of a few. Talking of zoos, did you hear about the zoo that only had one animal? One dog. Yes, it was a Shih Tzu (boom boom!).
At the time of that Australian tour, the club was known as AFK Vrsovice but they felt that the Australians wouldn't understand where they were from, let alone be able to pronounce it, and so they changed the name of the club to Bohemians seeing as how they were from Bohemia. On the same basis it is surely time for Arsenal to change their name on a similar basis and Woolwich Wanderers would denote where they are from and the fact that they wandered into North London. It has a nice ring to it don't you think? Anyway, Bohemians are to be found in the Czech top flight today although they have won the League only once ever, in this case the Czechoslovak League back in 1982/3
In the featured game, 27,971 saw Spurs win 2-0 with an own goal from Jan Ondra and a 25 yard pile driver from Gary Stevens. It was a valuable lead against a skilful visiting side and Spurs completed the job in the Second Leg in Prague with a 1-1 draw and a goal from Mark Falco. Sadly Spurs were to progress no further than the 4th Round that season as they drew Real Madrid who went on to win the tie and then the UEFA Cup itself the following May.
CRB Match No. 337
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