One advantage of the Sobemai game finishing sooner than we’d planned was that we reached the East Flanders town of Wetteren earlier than we expected. The town is most famous for the explorer Émile Pierre Joseph Storms who was born here and did much to open up what is now the Congo to western influence, and expand the Belgian empire in the late 19th century. Continue reading →
WEST EIND & BOOGARDE KERMIS 3 (G-J Savat 39 44 van Waryenberge 60)
Att 42 at Stadion Edelharte de Lille, Maldegem
Entry FREE
Programme NO
I could tell you about how we got up at 5.30am to do this one, or about the fog on the motorway from Luxembourg, and even the guilt that three of us felt when we all fell asleep just after crossing into Belgium leaving an exhausted Lee to drive for 3 hours plus listening to us snoring!
We reached the East Flanders town of Maldegem, diverted to avoid a Sunday Flea Market, crossed the narrow gauge tracks then turned left into the Stadion Edelharte de Lille, just 7km south of the Dutch border. Our collective jaws dropped, leaving any other tale I could tell utterly redundant.
Tonight my game has been cancelled, and it’s too late to find an alternative. So I’ll write the article I’ve been promising Splodge for a day or two.
It’s about our trip to Belgium a couple of weeks ago, and the inevitable stop along the way. If you take either the Channel Tunnel, or the ferries to Calais or Dunkirk, then head north towards Belgium, the first town you’ll reach once you’ve crossed the border is Adinkerke.
Its part of a conurbation with the coastal town of De Panne, and during both World Wars the town saw significant action including many casualties during the retreat to Dunkirk in 1940. There’s a military cemetery on the outskirts of the town, and the pontoon-style bridge does hint at its military past as you enter the town from the road past the oddly named Plopsaland Continue reading →
ROYAL STANDARD DE LIÈGE 2 (Mujangibia 56 Batshuayi 84)
Att 10,402
Entry €20 (terrace)
Programme FREE
Firstly, lets abbreviate those club names, its KV Mechelen versus Standard Liège. I’m all for getting things recorded correctly, but there is a limit! Continue reading →
If you look back to most of my foreign jaunts there’s always a common factor; the thing was it took me until half way across the English Channel to realise what it was.
The roots of this trip lie with Fareham Town secretary Paul “Splodge” Proctor, and his liking for a particular brand of Belgian beer. That necessitated a trip over or under the Channel, and ever the hopper he found two games to take in too! He soon roped me in and with Peter Miles ( The Itinerant Football Watcher) and Lee West (Adventures In Football) we had a full car, and as the midnight ferry left Dover for a bargain £67 return, it dawned on me what we’d created. As far as I’m concerned Lee is the best groundhopping photographer out there, and Peter the best writer. Splodge is one of the most popular and knowledgeable people in Non-League, which just left little old me to make up the numbers! Sat here now typing away, I’m not completely sure why I’m doing this, look at the links to your left, it’s all there already!
From Dunkirk it takes no time at all to reach Belgium, and after a little rest, we found a boulangerie in the beautiful town of Veurne for breakfast, before calling in at it’s not so beautiful twin Adinkerke. That town exists it seems, to sell all those passing through the products you shouldn’t buy such as tobacco, porn, chocolates, and yes Splodge’s beer!
From there the Splodgemobile (his term, not mine!) blasted north-west around Antwerp to the town of Lier. The town has around 34,000 inhabitants, and is the base of the coachbuilder Van Hool. The great Belgian footballer Jan Ceulemans was born here.
What we always had on this trip was time, which allowed us the time to sample that most Belgian of cuisines, the Frituur. These Friteries offer several fried and grilled dishes served with frites, such as hamburgers, brochette, meatballs, merguez and fried chicken. The portions tend to be large, to the extent that all 4 of us had food left over!
But let’s be honest here, we were all we just waiting for the gates to be opened! We’d had a mosey around before we went to eat, and the reports we’d heard were being borne out before our eyes!
Lyra have played at the Lyra Stadion since 1912, and the history is there for all to see. The most obvious is the main stand, originally a small wooden affair, but extended both forwards and lengthways, but with the original features still there. There’s also the terrace and tunnel behind the goal with, to the groundhopper’s eye, an almost indecent curve at the corner.
And folks, if this appeals, then take heed, this is the last season of this wonderful edifice. Already the narrow terrace opposite the stand has been demolished, to make way for, would you believe, a new Police Station! Here’s what the terrace used to look like.
The club will groundshare for around 2 years, while a new ground is built, but the stalwarts aren’t happy. One said “Our President…..” and made the throttling gesticulation. And if the Lyra stadion isn’t sufficient to convince you to pay the club a visit, the club officials will well and truly convince you. We were standing open-mouthed on the terrace when an official tapped us on the shoulder, and presented us with copies of the club’s centenary brochure, and when we decamped to the raised bar area, despite the fact that the key to the club shop couldn’t be found, merchandise was found including copies of the club anthem, “Lyralied,” on 7″ single no less. I hope they enjoyed they enjoyed our company as much as we enjoyed theirs.
With no badges available on the day, the club found a young lady that spoke excellent English to organise posting them over to us. She said she’d email us when she’d sent them, which she did, and her surname proved to be interesting! She is Jan Ceulemans’ niece! It’s a small world isn’t it? The great man sometimes comes to watch Lyra but at the moment he’s coaching 3rd division outfit R. Cappellen FC.
Which left the vexed question of the game! After all that has preceded it, it had to be an anti-climax didn’t it? Well, actually it wasn’t, with Lyra in the 4th tier Promotion League Group C, having just that little bit too much for their visitors plying their trade in the 6th tier Antwerpen Provincial League 2nd Division.
The game kept us all royally entertained, and it was with genuine regret that the final whistle went, and it was time to bid this magnificent ground, and its gallant officials goodbye. They are great, and please use these words and pictures as a reason to pay them a visit, the 4 of us owe them that for a quite wonderful afternoon.
After leaving Aachen,and warming up in Lee’s car, it was just an hour’s drive, clipping the edge of the Netherlands, before arriving in the Flemish city of Sint Truiden. Author Aldous Huxley briefly lived here.
With the temperatures falling still further, I don’t think any of us quite believed that the fixture would take place, even though the sage of Belgian football, Peter Abbott, had informed me that the pitch was state of the art 4G, and that it had passed an earlier pitch inspection. There was also the vexed issue of actually getting a ticket, as top flight Belgian games can have fairly stringent ticketing arrangements. We walked into the ticket office, brandishing our passports, and Lee’s details were taken, but otherwise the process was straightforward. We commiserated with the staff, as the heating in the club offices had failed. I used the visit to take pictures of the club banner and the East Stand, where I was to sit later.
We then checked into out hotel in nearby Hasselt, and enjoyed watchng the smokers’ dilemna at the entrance. Feed your addiction and get cold or stay in the warm and withdraw. We used the time at the hotel to load up on coffee, and put on every item of clothing we possessed. Twenty minutes later, back at the car we looked like 4 Michelin men!
I discovered from the Yearbook that the reason for the new pitch is that the club have dug down from the old pitch to build an underground car park. With that in place it’s taken the strain off the street parking, and the pitch played perfectly despite the freezing conditions.
It was quite biblically cold. My camera lens could only take around 5 seconds worth of exposure before freezing up, and needing to return to the warmth of my pocket. I couldn’t resist checking the temperature on my iPhone, in a state of amused horror!
Stayen is a stadium in progress. The club offices, and some shops, are held within the fabric of the modern north stand, which frankly doesn’t look like a football ground from the outside. We sat in the modern East stand, which almost unbelievably, featured a disco in the concourse! Opposite, the old West stand has been demolished, with just a tiny terrace on that side while the new stand is being built. For the groundhopper, the reason to visit Stayen is the narrow double deck stand behind the goal. Terrace below, and seats above, its the one remaining part of the old Stayen, and long may it survive.
There’s no reason for it to go, because STVV are marooned at the bottom of the league, and I saw nothing about them in this game to suggest that salvation is just around the corner. Once Igor Vitokele nodded home from a corner just after the half hour, their fragile confidence was shattered, as passes went astray, and the crowd began to get on the players’ backs. It wasn’t a bad game, and I wasn’t that cold, the layers of clothing worked well, but I couldn’t see how STVV could get back into the game. That was for two reasons, firstly because STVV offered so little, and secondly due to the freezing fog sweeping the ground, putting the fixture in some doubt.
After half time the STVV side was rejigged, but to little effect. The fog relented a little, although I note that the club have offered all those there a free ticket for their next home game, on the basis that you couldn’t see this one!! STVV huffed and puffed but at no stage did they look like even getting even an equaliser. I felt for them, as they were easy to deal with, a friendly club, but relegation looks certain.
The East Stand
Outside of the North Stand
About an hour before kick off, the East and North Stands
The wonderful South Stand
The Cercle Brugge goal
A bit nippy!!
Rather unfortunate shirt sponsors on the picture at the back
Back to another Belgian Division 3 game, and this time in an atmospheric town centre ground. Plenty to like here, including the typically Belgian touch, the bar that you can see the game from. Friendly locals too, I showed my ticket at the wrong gate, and the steward informed me, in Flemish, that I needed to use the middle entrance. I understood, but the locals, realising I was not local, admonished him for not telling me in English. Definately not necessary!
I took my seat in the stand and immediately spotted a problem. Behind my left ear a small boy with a high pitched voice was shouting his support for Hamme, and to my right a middle-aged man and his wife seemed to be indulging in a see who can chain-smoke the smelliest cigarettes! Small irritants, because this was a great game to watch, two good sides, but Bornem always looked just that little bit fleeter of thought, and it was that little extra competitive edge that allowed them to prevail. Janssen’s thunderbolt free kick was worthy of a bigger stage, and whilst I was sad to see friendly Hamme lose, it did keep the little boy quiet!
So 4 games, in 3 countries, in 2 days, with 1 Countrypoint, and all down to the efforts of Peter Ford. Many Thanks mate.
I wonder if one of these people is called “Michelle?”
Back to another Belgian Division 3 game, and this time in an atmospheric town centre ground. Plenty to like here, including the typically Belgian touch, the bar that you can see the game from. Friendly locals too, I showed my ticket at the wrong gate, and the steward informed me, in Flemish, that I needed to use the middle entrance. I understood, but the locals, realising I was not local, admonished him for not telling me in English. Definately not necessary!
I took my seat in the stand and immediately spotted a problem. Behind my left ear a small boy with a high pitched voice was shouting his support for Hamme, and to my right a middle-aged man and his wife seemed to be indulging in a see who can chain-smoke the smelliest cigarettes! Small irritants, because this was a great game to watch, two good sides, but Bornem always looked just that little bit fleeter of thought, and it was that little extra competitive edge that allowed them to prevail. Janssen’s thunderbolt free kick was worthy of a bigger stage, and whilst I was sad to see friendly Hamme lose, it did keep the little boy quiet!
So 4 games, in 3 countries, in 2 days, with 1 Countrypoint, and all down to the efforts of Peter Ford. Many Thanks mate.
Now, there’s a Geel, and there’s a Meerhout, and they’re fairly close to each other. So with a team named after both, where’s the Stadion de Leneun? The answer is Geel, although the club offices are in Merhout.
Yes folks, this is the wonderful world of Belgian football, and to be honest I was beginning to get something of a complex about it. In March, Lierse refused to sell me a ticket for a night game like this, as a rule was in force that you couldn’t buy a ticket after 12pm, so when this one kicked off I was please to collect the Country Point!
This division, the third in Belgium is known also (in Flemish) as the Derde Klasse, and is split along regional lines, imaginatively known as A and B. Both are of equal status and to my untrained eye seem to be on roughly Flanders and Wallonia lines.
The ground is modern, well appointed and frankly a little bland. I won’t complain too much as the view was excellent, and my Fricandel at half time was delicious!
The game, well, oh dear. For 80 minutes it had nil nil written all over it. Neither side had a decent forward, and Tim Renier in the visitors’ goal was having an inspired evening. Then two things happened to change the pattern of play. Firstly Kenneth Stoclet got himself needlessly sent off, Temse were no longer able to stifle the game, and Geel-Meehout took full advantage, Thomas Frederik firing home at close range. Then, Michael Lacroix came on as a substitute, and had a point to prove. He found space that simply hadn’t been there scored within a minute of coming on. He then set up Mohammed Riyani, himself on for only a minute!
The last 10 minutes’ action saved the game as a spectacle, and gave Peter and I something to smile about on the short drive back to out overnight accomodation in Retie.
Note the centre of the terrace painted in club colours
Stoclet watches the collapse that his dismissal started…from the stand
Football: Wherever it may be 