FC Omniworld – Helmond Sport (02-03-2007)

T.M., my brother, is a seasoned groundhopper too. In fact, with regard to Dutch professional football, he has seen it all… well, all, except for FC Omniworld, the newest club in Dutch professional football. The horribly named FC Omniworld (what were they thinking?) was founded in 1997, and was know as the Zwarte Schapen (Black Sheep) during its amateur days. In 2005 the club was the first in years to join the select group of professional football teams in the Netherlands; unlike many other European countries the Netherlands has a strict separation between professional and amateur football and as a consequence there is only promotion and relegation between the eredivisie and eerste divisie, but no teams relegate from or promote to the eerste divisie. So, on a Friday afternoon I headed out to Leiden, where my brother picked me up and we made our way to the ‘sparkling’ city of Almere, driving bumper to bumper for most of the trip, home to… well, FC Omniworld.

After a quick snack at a Kwalitaria (oooh, how we love the play of words) we arrived around 19.45 at the Mitsubishi Forklift-Stadion (I kid you not!). We bough a ticket for the long side of the stadium, which cost no less than 15 euro. What we got for that was a seat at a make-shift aluminum stand with poles every five meters or so. This was our view.

The stadium holds a mere 3,000 people, of who 2,500 can be seated, but for this game only 832 showed up. We were seated behind some Helmond Sport supporters (who sounded more like locals, given their Holland accent) and were seated opposite to the hardcore Omniworld fans. :-)

Before discussing the game, let me first say something about the project FC Omniworld. One has to admire their initiative, if only because Almere deserves something, even if it is only FC Omniworld. I don’t know whether someone consciously designed the team logo and name (lettertype), but if someone did, we do hope the club didn’t pay him. Everything about this club is wrong! The logo is stupid (did someone try to rip off Derby County?), the lettertype is awful (more fitting for a DiY shop), and the color purple they chose is also horrible. Add to this the ‘stadium’, and we have to give them one thing: they are consistent!

The game started out fairly tame, with FC Omniworld having most of the ball, but Helmond Sport looking a little more likely to score. The main attraction was the Helmond goalie, who miss-kicked almost every ball he got. After a while the home team started to show some nice combinations, in which particularly number 9 (Dibi?) showed superior technique; he must be good in futsal too. I must admit, I thought the number 8 of FC Omniworld, Dwight Eind, was the kind of player who creates a lot of attacks, but also screws them up. But I was proven wrong in the 40^th minute, when he set up and finished a beautiful one-two: 1-0 and the crowd went, well, to the cantina. I had already gone for a broodje bal (an unfair translation would be a meatball sandwich), which tasted fairly rubbery (despite the mayo).

The second half was a bit poorer even though FC Omniworld still was able to show some nice combinations. What was lacking was the final ball in the box. It was clearly not my day in terms of predictions, as just two minutes after I had told my brother that Helmond Sport was not going to come back, they scored a sneaky 1-1. The group in front of us went crazy, and we counted some 30 Helmond Sport supporters on our stand and, roughly, some 50-100 in the away stand. Despite increased pressure from the home team, the final score was 1-1.

While walking back to the car, we realized how cold it had become. It was freezing. The whole FC Omniworld experience had not been able to warm us up. Even if the club is able to survive professional football – and in this time of (near) bankruptcies that is far from certain – it still has a long way to go to establish itself in the hearts of football lovers in- and outside of Almere. Our tip: start with changing the name, logo, and club colors!

FC Avenir Beggen – FC Mamer 32 (25-02-2007)

How better to spend a miserable February Sunday than with your groundhop friends at a game in the second round of the Coupe de Luxembourg. Hence, grabbing a quick breakfast at Antwerp Central Station, I made my familiar way to Leuven, where J.B. and A.H. were waiting anxiously for me to get on our way to Luxemburg City. However, before we took off, J.B. and I first honored our Samurai groundhop-friend A.H. with a PSV-shirt, as he will return to the land of the rising sun at the end of next month (but not before we will have one last groundhop on March 10 :-).

But I also got a nice surprise from J.B., who made me official grondhopper business cards. We had been talking about making them before, as we regularly get into conversations with people during our groundhops, and than try to explain what we are doing. This way I can hand the business card out and they can read my report later. This is what J.B. came up with, the wizard!

The drive from Leuven to Luxemburg is normally one of the more beautiful in Belgium, but now it was grey and raining. Fortunately, the closer we came to Luxemburg, the more often the sun would come through. After some 2.5 hours we reached Luxemburg City and about twenty minutes, and some slight confusion, later we arrived at the stadium. As we had more than an hour still to go, and saw neither people nor eating facilities, we went into town to have a snack at the local Quick franchise, where we met an American (surprise 1) who turned out to be a PSV-fan (surprise 2). We are spreading the gospel without knowing!

Around 15.00 we made our way back to the Stade Rue Henri Dunant, where we bought a (generic) ticket for the price of 4 euro! The stadium is small, but has one covered stand, which would come very much in hand during the game. Some 250 people would find their way into the stadium that afternoon, of which I guess a third were away supporters (Mamer is less than 15 km from Beggen). Although neither team will be very familiar to the untrained mind, Avenir Beggen used to be a serious team in the Luxemburg Nationaldivision (Premier League). FC Mamer 32, on the other hand, is unknown to even the most seasoned football fan. They promoted to the first division in 2005 and to the premier league a year later, through play-offs. As Avenir Beggen has recently fallen on harder times, relegating to the first division, they were the underdog in this cup game.

The game started without much excitement, with Beggen being the more dominant team, but Mamer looking more dangerous. The level of the game was probably comparable to a decent Dutch amateur league, but as the teams were fairly equal (Mamer more skills, Beggen more heart), the game became quite entertaining. The first half was for Mamer, as Beggen didn’t flight enough to compensate for their lesser skills, which scored the 0-1 in the 42^nd minute. This was also the half time score, so we went to the beautiful new cantina, which was full with banners and posters of teams and games Avenir Beggen played years ago. One caught our eye especially.

Given the contrast between the temperature (and dryness) in the cantina and outside, and the fact that they had a bowl of free brownies at the buvette (which were really tasty!), we returned to the game just in time to see Avenir Beggen kick-off for the second time in the second half: 0-2. At that time it looked the game was over, as Mamer clearly dominated the game and Beggen seemed toothless in attack. Moreover, it was raining like crazy during most of the second half, which made playing attacking football even more difficult.

However, football is football, even in Luxemburg, and so the game took a bizarre turn with Avenir Beggen scoring an unexpected 2-1 halfway the second half. The rest of the period was filled with attacks of Beggen and (tame) counters of Mamer. This paid off in the 90^th minute, when the home team scored the 2-2: extra time!

The extra time brought a couple odd chances for both teams, though the best were for Mamer, but none was able to score again. And so, for 4 euro we not only got 120 minutes of quite exciting cup football, but also the ultimate in suspense: a penalty shoot-out. Frozen by the cold and rain all players squeezed themselves into their respective dug-outs to wait for their trainers to decide who were the five (un)lucky ones to take the penalties. In the continuing storm of rain, it would become the day of Philippe Chrismousse, the goalie of Avenir Beggen, who saved the first two penalties of FC Mamer 32 with beautiful dives.

As all other players scored, Avenir Beggen won the game in their fourth penalty, advancing to the third round of the Coupe de Luxembourg. Despite the level of play, this was a true cup fighter game, a genuine treat for any groundhopper. Hence, we returned cold but extremely satisfied. We will be back in Luxemburg soon!

KV Mechelen – Oud Heverlee Leuven (20-1-2007)

I had my good English friend L.M. over for the weekend, and what better to do on a Saturday than combine a tourist trip with a groundhop. Given that he had visited various cities in Flanders already, we decided to go to Mechelen, also because the local KV played that evening. The city was a bad choice, the game was not.

For those now in the know, KV Mechelen was a major force in Belgian, and even European, football in the 1980s. Most importantly, they beat ajax Amsterdam in the Cup of Cup Winners of 1988 – one of the reasons I support them J (I even forgive them for winning the Super Cup that same year against PSV) – as beautifully documented on this t-shirt (which I bought for a mere 10 euro at the Fan Shop).

Unfortunately, the 1990saw the decline of KV Mechelen and in 2002 the club could barely be saved from extinction by a demonstration (which I attended) and actions organized by Flemish tv personality Marc Uytterhoeven. They were relegated to the Third Division, where they played some world (well, Mechelen) famous city derbies against Racing Mechelen in front of a sell-out 14.000 crowd. Two years ago they were promoted to the Tweede Divisie (Second Division), where they are currently challenging for the title.

Just before 19.00 we arrived at the KV stadium, which despite its new name (Scarlet Stadium, named after the main sponsor) is still fondly known as Achter de kazerne (Behind the barracks). We bought tickets for Block E, standing places, at 10 euro a pop and made our way into the cantina, to warm ourselves up (it was starting to freeze after a mild day). As various other Belgian professional teams, even in the highest division, the KV stadium has a cantina that is reminiscent of those of the amateur teams of my youth. Place where the real fans can still be themselves and where you can feel the atmosphere of football.

We took our place on the stand half an hour before the game started, eating our obligatory stadium snacks (i.e. a hamburger for L.M. and a chiliburger for me), and watching the flag parade enter the pitch. Before each home game of KV, a group of some 25 people, mostly older men but also including a couple of women, come up to the pitch, following a small marching band, and stand in front of the stand with the hardcore supporters of Malinwa (Blocks H and I) to play and sing the club song. Beautiful!

The game started furiously: within 5 minutes it was 1-1. KV scored after a nice combination, but OHL directly afterwards punished a defensive mistake and it was equal again. After that the game calmed down, and KV started to dominate. At times they played excellent passing football, particularly between the three African players, yet it would take until the 33rd minute for KV to score the well deserved 2-1. The good game and result ensured the familiar good atmosphere Achter de Kazerne, even if ‘only’ 7.100 people had faced the cold to come to see the game (of who some 250 from Leuven).

After half time KV remained the better team, but the level of play decreased somewhat. Particularly the three Africans (Issame Charaï, Jean-Paul Kielo-Lezi, and Nana Asare), who had been providing most of the excitement of the first half, were starting to struggle and undermined some potential counter-attacks. This notwithstanding, Malinwa did manage to score one more time.

3-1 would also be the final score of this fine game. In the Monday’s papers everyone was highly appreciative of the play of Malinwa – and, it needs to be said, OHL also played very decent and positive. (Unfortunately, they lost yesterday 4-1 at Deinze, which means that they are again far away from winning the Second Division this season). Whomever considers to watch a game in Belgium should definitely come to KV Mechelen. Not only have they proven their spirit in 1988, Malinwa is also still one of the few (only) clubs in Belgian football that will always provide a real football atmosphere around its (home) games!

Royal Francs Borains – KSK Tongeren (14-01-2007)

Another year, another groundhop. Having returned from the US on Saturday afternoon, after a very tiring 20 hour door-to-door travel, I knew that the best way to ease back into home life is… going for a groundhop with my mate J.B. And so we did. As there was not much on the agenda for Sunday, and we were both not up for a long trip, we chose to stay in Belgium and pick a game in the Derde Klasse B (Third Division B). So, at 13.00 we met up in Leuven and made the comfortable one hour drive to Boussu in the Borinage, close to Mons.

Around 14.15, after a short detour in Boussu, we park our car next to the Stade Vedette – donating one euro in support of the youth program of the Royal Francs Borains. While J. chats with the funny parking attendant, I buy two tickets at 7 euro each, giving access to the whole ground, which counts two stands of unequal size on the long sides.

After a quick stop in the cozy cantina, reminding me off my youth days in the cantina of my (amateur) team V.V.O. in the Netherlands, we made our way to the small stand. The weather was absolutely perfect, some 13 degrees and sunny, and there was a fairly decent crowd of some 400 people (of whom at least 100 were from Tongeren). We took our place between the commentator of the local tv station and the hardcore of the RFB fans, a group of five 70+ fans-for-life.

The game itself was entertaining, but not of high quality. Both teams played fairly defensively and lacked much creativity or technique. The game was played at the edge, but seldom over it. Though there were some chances on both sides, they were few and far between. Fortunately, the weather was very pleasant, as were the atmosphere and company, so none was really bored.

At half time we went to the cantina under the main stand, where we found the same nice and relaxing atmosphere. The second half was much of the same, but with more yellow cards. In the end, the score was the same as at the beginning: 0-0.

True, not a very fiery start of a new groundhop year. But on the other hand, in many ways it was a game to cherish. I feel that 2007 is again going to be a good groundhop year.

Fortuna Sittard-Helmond Sport (22-12-2006)

Less than ten days before the end of 2006, my mates A.H., J.B. and I met up at Leuven railway station to make our last groundhop of the year. But not before we had sampled the goods of Frituur Luc in Holsbeek, definitely one of the best snack bars in Belgium. Full with satisfaction and snacks, we drove the fairly easy 100 km to Sittard in Limburg, the most southeastern province of the Netherlands, where we arrived just in time for the game.

Fortuna Sittard is not a well-known team in Dutch professional football today, but the club has a famous history. In 1968 two clubs from the area merged, Sittardia and Fortuna’54 (from Geleen). Fortuna was the first professional football club in the Netherlands and has twice won the Dutch Cup (KNVB Beker)! The fusion club Fortuna Sittard has played for many years in the Dutch eredivisie (premier league) and has had some famous players – even in the 1990s players like Kevin Hofland (now VFL Wolfsburg) and Mark Van Bommel (formerly PSV and Barcelona, now Bayern München) played at Fortuna under coach Bert Van Marwijk (later Feyenoord, now Borussia Dortmund). But these glory days are long gone. The last years the club has cheated bankruptcy a couple of times, but financial problems remain. Not withstanding the financial problems of Fortuna Sittard, the club moved in 1998 from the destitute De Baandert stadium to a modern 12.500 seater at the outskirts of town. Tellingly, in 2005 the club had to sell the very modern Wagner en Partners Stadion to a project developer to save its existence.

We bought a ticket for Tribune C at 10 euro a piece and took a place at the center of the pitch. There were some 2.300 supporters scattered around the stadium, with an estimated 50-100 from Helmond. Although the “hardcore” home fans were with few, they did show some nice banners.

Around us where some people in the Christmas spirit, which they also really needed that evening.

As Ronse-Waregem the week before, Fortuna-Helmond was a game between the bottom two of the first division, i.e. the Dutch eerste divisie (or in good Dutch “Jupiler League”). The fact that A.H. and I watched the bottom two of the Dutch and Belgian league play within one week also enabled us to compare the two leagues a bit: the Dutch league turned out to be both better and (much) more professional. The Wagner and Partner Stadion, for example, would make many a Belgian Eerste Klasse team jealous. Also in terms of technique and pace the Dutch game was a lot better; in part helped by the fact that both teams had various ex-players from the youth programs of top teams (notably PSV).

While the game was entertaining at times, it was again a fan behind us that made the evening. This time it was a not a voice of irony and nuance, but thé most biased fan I have ever heard. And that, I can assure you, is not an easy job! This guy saw every attack of Helmond as off-side, counted at least fifteen handballs (all for Helmond, obviously), and endlessly called for yellow cards (except the one time a Helmond player got a yellow card, when he demanded a red card :-). He was sitting next to his mother or wife (we couldn’t tell), who not just tolerated him, but actually encouraged him in his overly expressive supportering. My high point was when he, at the end of the game, declared to her in all earnestness, that Fortuna could have been 12-1 up already (in fact, they could have been at best 1-2 down).

Anyway, the game was entertaining, but not really good. Fortuna might have had the better squad, Helmond had the better players. Particularly two of the strikers were too good for the home defenders and created havoc at times. Unfortunately for them, they had little if any support from the midfield, and therefore the 0-0 half time score was deserved. After a cup of weak coffee, but anything hot was appreciated in the winter cold, we returned (to the exact same spot, obviously), to see Helmond unexpectedly score the 0-1. With still 40 minutes to go, everyone still believed Fortuna would come back (our fan behind us disputed the goal and was disgusted by the ‘fact’ that the home team hadn’t scored its many chances). Notwithstanding the last glitches of optimism among the much tormented Fortuna fans, the game remained 0-1.

The last minutes the Fortuna players vented their frustration by fouls and a phenomenal fight on the pitch; which also saw an impressive right hook from one of the Helmond players).

Directly after the game we made our way to the car for our drive back. Somehow, I feel I would have enjoyed De Baandert more. Still, it would be a shame to see a club like Fortuna Sittard disappear and I sincerely hope they will finally get their act together. At about 23.00 A.H. and J.B. dropped me off in Antwerp. My last groundhop of a very successful year. Groundhop-tally at the end of 2006: 257 clubs in 35 countries. Ambition for the end of 2007: 270 in 36 countries! Watch this space!

SK Ronse Renaix – RC Waregem (17-12-2006)

As I wanted to finish this top groundhopping year in style, I decided to see two more games with my grounhop-buddies: both between the number last and second from bottom in the first division. On Sunday 17 December the Japanese Übergroundhopper A.H. joined me for a trip to the language border of Belgium: Ronse-Renaix. We met at Ghent Sint-Pieter railway station to take the (two-hourly) train to Ronse, where we arrived hours before the game. It was a cold but clear winter day and we spent a couple of hours walking through the picturesque Flemish town, enjoying the Christmas atmosphere (including a Christmas stall with live animals, see below), and buying some family gifts at the Christmas market.

Some 30 minutes before the start of the game we arrived at the Stade O Crucke Stadion (underscoring the bilingual character of the club). We bought a ticket for the Tribune A-B-D-E at 15 euro a piece at the wooden “ticket office” and made our way to the cantina in the hope to find some food. Unfortunately, this must be the only stadium in Belgium that does not sell any snacks, not even the obligatory sausages and hamburgers! A bad start!

Somewhat hungry we took a place at the main stand and prepared ourselves mentally for a game between the numbers 17 and 18 of the Belgian Tweede Klasse. I guess that there were some 300 people in the stadium. The setting was as expected: amateurism everywhere. We were particularly charmed by the groundsman, whom we learned from cheering around us was called Cyrille, who kept the official balls in a laundry basket.

Other interesting aspects of the SK Ronse ground were the fact that the pitch was not level, but rather hyperbolic, the small cement building (with the name of main sponsor Bocova on it) with the police officers in it (who never came out), and the “Kantien” for the away supporters, which was basic, to say the least. All in all, a unique setting.

Politie-Police

Kantine-Cantina

Now to the game itself. You might be surprised to read that the game was not of the highest quality. In fact, the pace was very low and the passing poor. The teams were equal in terms of quality and performance and neither had more than two decent players. Still, it was quite entertaining to watch. And it was made even more rewarding by the commentary of the fans behind us; clearly locals and lifelong SK Ronse supporters. One in particular had us laughing over an over again, with his ironic comments on players, referee, and everything else. All in good spirit (so lacking at the stands of many big teams). Anyway, this was all appreciated the more as the half time score was 0-0 and there was no reason it should have been anything different.

At half time we escaped the stadium to visit the Frituur (snack bar) next door, which turned out to be closed… only for this short period of two weeks! Even more hungry and somewhat frozen we returned to the stand, made sure we sat again in front of the funny guy, and dived into the second half. This period the game did bring a winner, i.e. the home team, who scored twice, quite late in the game, to get a deserved 2-0 home victory against their main rival. This even satisfied our favorite fan behind us, and so we could all happily leave the stadium and get back to the winter cold.

We were just in time to get the train back to Ghent, which saved us a two hour wait, where A.H. and I parted ways. A. caught the train back to Leuven, whereas I decided to take a later train and sample some local food establishments in Ghent instead. Around 19.30 I arrived back in Antwerp, happy to have seen the battle of the bottom two of the Belgian Second Division

Hannover 96 – Arminia Bielefeld (9-12-2006)

Call me an addict, but I am not yet willing to close the groundhopping books for the year 2006. So, I convinced my buddy J.B. to go for another trip this Saturday, which wasn’t difficult at all. Presenting him with a list of options in Belgium, France, and Germany, he chose Eintracht Frankfurt-Werder Bremen. However, as the website said that there were only some 1000 seats left in the away stand, we decided to play it safe and go to Hannover 96 instead. I ordered tickets through their fantastic website, where you can even choose your exact seat: Südtribune, Block S13, Reihe 7, Platz 17 und 18 at 19 euro each (plus 1 euro booking costs).

At 8.30 I leave my house to walk to the station to take the train to Leuven. At 10.00 J.B. meets me there and we start our long journey to Hannover, some 475 km, over the (mainly German) Autobahn. Hannover is the capital of the state Niedersachsen (Lower-Saxony), in the center-north of Germany. Fortunately, the weather is good and the road is not that busy, except for the (various) parts where they are working on the road, and we arrive in Hannover more than an hour before the start of the game. After a sample of snacks, including fresh Erbsensuppe (pea soup), which is a delight in the winter, we pick up our tickets at the Ticket Office, try to enter at the Nordtribune, and end up circling the stadium to get to our stand.

The AWD Stadion is one of the many modern stadiums in Germany. It is the completely refurbished Niedersachsenstadion, originally built in 1954, and was used during the World Cup 2006. It holds 48.933 spectators, although it is seldom sold-out. As most new stadiums today, it holds the name of the main sponsor and is high on comfort, but low on character. Hannover 96 is one of the most commercialized clubs I have ever visited though: food and drink in the stadium could only be paid with a special “Rote Karte” (Red Card), while every single event in the game was sponsored by someone, usually a local furniture shop (corner kicks, last 15 minutes, free kicks, last 5 minutes, etc.). At the same time, non-VIP supporters can only visit the main fan shop after the game! Fortunately I was able to buy a small pennant at a small fan shop at the Südtribune.

And, now that I am complaining about commercialization anyway, what is up with calling the team “Die Roten”?! Awful! Hannover 96 has traditionally the beautiful color combination of green-black-white (see its beautiful logo!) – hence the friendly relations with Borussia Mönchengladbach (who sport the same colors). However, since a few years Hannover has been playing in red-black and have been merchandizing themselves as “the reds”. I don’t know exactly why, but the fact that major sponsor Tui has red as its main color will not be a coincidence.

Ok, to the game now. We sat behind one of the goal, on the second tier, where we had a fantastic view over the seemingly broad pitch. There is no denying that the stadium is beautiful inside, even if the atmosphere is a bit stale. Not willing to buy into the “red card system”, we did have to watch the game drink- and Wurstless, however, which diminishes the Bundesliga experience (it also felt we were the only ones in the stadium who watched the game Wurstless ;-).

We were sitting almost next to the two blocks occupied by the away fans, but even around us at least one quarter of the fans were from Bielefeld (‘only’ 100 km away; this makes Hannover for them the closets away game; together with Dormund). As always, the atmosphere is a German stadium is friendly and pleasant, with supporters of different teams mingling without any problem. There were some 34.000 supporters for this game between two small teams that do relatively well this season (both hover around position 10 at this moment).

Unfortunately, they didn’t get a good game today. The first half remained 0-0 and there were virtually no good chances for either team. Jiri Snajder, the main player of Hannover, had an off-day, which meant the team had virtually no power up front – the Dutch player Arnold Bruggink, ex-PSV, as always excelled in technically beautiful passes and complete invisibility. At Bielefeld I hardly knew anyone – the Albania Vata didn’t play (he is probably getting too old, but he is crafty little devil) – and the game didn’t change anything.

After half time, where we mainly walked around a bit too fight the increasing cold (around 5 degrees Celsius), the game pretty much continued where it had left off. Few chances, few good passes, much fighting against each other and themselves. In the 67^th minute, truly out of nowhere, Ndjeng makes the 0-1 for “die Arminen aus Bielefeld”, to the great delight of the blue-red (they haven’t betrayed their colors…. yet?) supporters around us. To be fair, it wasn’t really deserved, although we were already happy to see a goal. Two minutes later, it was already 1-1, by the substituted Brdaric (the only time he wasn’t offside). After that, both teams were so shocked that they actually started to play football. ‘Fortunately’, this only lasted for some ten minutes, after which everything went back to the same old, same old. 1-1 was a deserved final result, and actually two goals better than the level of play indicated (a 0-0 would have fitted the play).

After the game we ran to a stand to buy a Wurst (well, I did, J.B. is a vegetarian-but for the rest a normal guy). On the way back we were led through some villages to the Autobahn, a detour which added further to our already long way back. And, to top it all off, we were drafted in a alocohol check by the Belgian police, which J.B. passed with flying (green-black-white, not red-black!) colors. Around 22.00 he dropped me off in the center of Antwerp. A long day, maybe not too good football, but a Bundesliga game is always worth the trip.