The Great Old

Royal Antwerp  1  Charleroi  2

Belgian First Division A

Debris was strewn everywhere as we left the apartment just around lunchtime on the Sunday.

The overnight storm had caused a fair bit of damage, so it was more in hope than expectation that we headed the short three kilometres South to the home of KSC Maccabi for what was supposedly an Antwerp Regional League Division Four (I think) game.

After a minor incident involving a cycle lane, some traffic lights and an articulated lorry, we soon arrived having swerved between fallen branches, and parked up at the large Maccabi sports complex. 

We were directed round to the back to the football ground, and were soon informed that the referee had postponed the game on safety grounds. A large tree had fallen in one corner of the ground and taken out a concrete fence and a car!

Despite that, we stayed for a while and were made very welcome, indeed so much so we were shown round the clubs boardroom and given a history lesson alongside it, of a club that serves the Antwerp Jewish community.

This minor blip meant we were not rushing to the main event of the tour, the big game at Royal Antwerp, where our contact Tom Simons had arranged a meet and some match tickets.

Parking was not that straightforward around the Bosuilstadion, the space we originally grabbed turned out to be a restricted zone, so we had to make a move to a car park that served a residential complex. After a very windy walk down past the club lake (yep, it’s true), it was time for a quick shufty around the club shop before heading to the Royal pub, one of the official homes of the Royal Antwerp support.

Jupiler was in plentiful supply, as was some brown coloured stuff for the other lads. Soon the DJ arrived, who was an absolute spit of Les from Vic Reeves Big Night Out. No chives or spirit levels were available to test out whether he was the real deal or not, but crikey, it provided a good ten minutes of amusement for us all.

With hard house banging out and some of the local Ultras in place, it was time to go to the stadium and meet Tom.

The rendezvous point had been agreed with Tom, who was an overseas ambassador for Sheffield FC, and soon, upon meeting him and his Father, we made our way to the seats in the iconic old stand.

The Great Old (as they are known) were formed in 1880, and recorded as the oldest club in Belgium, hence the links with Sheffield FC. The club have been something of underachievers though, despite being one of the best supported clubs in the Country.

They’ve won the League Championship just four times (the last in 1954), and the Belgian Cup twice, although they are famed for being the last Belgian club to reach a European Final when they lost to Parma in the Cup Winners Cup at Wembley in 1993.

They were once known for being a partner / feeder club to Manchester United, with Danny Higginbotham playing 29 games for the club on loan before his huge move to the English giants, Derby County.

The Bosuilstadion is an impressive but changing arena. The old stand is a hugely impressive structure, containing unreserved bench seating, it curves slightly, and has a tall yet deep roof which helps create a fantastic atmosphere. Opposite is the smart and very modern main stand with it’s corporate facilities, while to the right is a more modern seated stand which has a section for visiting supporters.

The end to the left is currently being demolished, once a two tier corporate stand, the seats have been removed leaving just a shell, and that is scheduled to be demolished and replaced some time soon.

In front of a near full house of just over 11,000, fourth placed Antwerp were playing  mid-table Charleroi. Stu did try to explain to me the impact of the result of the game, but it was of course complicated. Antwerp had already made the play offs (the top end) and Charleroi were already in the bottom end play offs. The result couldn’t change that, but apparently any points now gained end up getting halved when it comes to sorting out who plays who and where going forward. I know, I haven’t got a clue either!

Anyway, it was a great atmosphere, helped no end when Amara Baby gave the hosts the lead in the 24^th minute, but within five minutes the visitors had equalised when Victor Osimehen scored from the penalty spot.

Just after half time, Antwerp missed a great chance to re-take the lead when Lior Refaelov missed from the penalty spot, and that proved to be costly as Massimo Bruno got the winner for Charleroi in the 77^th minute.

Two yellow cards in minutes saw Charleroi’s Gaetan Hendrickx sent off, but it proved to be no consolation as the visitors hung on for a victory and subsequent pyrotechnic display!

A disappointed Tom was kind enough to take us round to the corporate section on the opposite side of the ground for a couple of beers and a rave at the techno disco before we bade our farewells and made the short journey back to our base.

It was a time for reflection over a kapsalon and more beer at the Korsakov, about a fantastic weekend in the Low Countries. Massive thanks to Stu for organising and driving, and to Ben also for his organising and research of all things local football. From my own point of view, all I contributed was banter and booze, so no credit coming my way whatsoever!

It was a long day on the Monday, we left Antwerp at 10.30am and arrived back at base just after 7pm, and that with an earlier tunnel. A closed M1 around Luton did us no favours at all.

It didn’t matter though, until next year, Brugge it appears is the provisional location, that should end well shouldn’t it?