Groundhopweekend October 2006

This weekend I had a colleague over from the US. When we met in Texas, several months ago, I told him about my groundhops and he really wanted to join me o none of those. So, when he had to be in the region for work, he contacted me in advance and we arranged a nice program for the weekend: four games in four countries within forty-eight hours.

On Friday 27 October I took a train in Antwerp to get to Charleroi-Sud, where I was to meet Z.B. As he doesn’t have a cell phone, it was a tricky affair, but we managed to find each other and around 14.15 we got in his rental car and started our groundhop. First stop: Reims (France), some 150 km south of Charleroi.

Stade de Reims – US Créteil (27-10-2006)

We arrived in Reims around 16.00, well in time of the game which only started at 20.00. So, we killed some time by visiting the imposing cathedral and having a sandwich and a drink. We also walked around a bit, and found out that the stadium is very close to the center of town, just across the river.

Around 19.00 we arrived at the Stade Auguste Delaune, the stadium of Stade de Reims (sounds confusing, I know). Although Stade de Reims is a modest team in the Ligue Deux, it is building a hypermodern new stadium. When we visited it, only half of the stadium was built yet; one side behind a goal, and one long side. For 10 euro we bought a ticket for a corner side, after having eaten an americain merguez, and to our great surprise found ourselves in a pretty full (half) stadium. Our stand seemed mainly filled with kids. As more often in France, the crowd was relatively multicultural; not as much as the city itself, but still a lot more than most clubs in Germany or the Netherlands.

Now, before I describe the game itself, let me enlighten those with little historical knowledge of the beautiful game. In the late 1950s Stade de Reims was a major player in European football. No, really, M-A-J-O-R! They were in the European Cup 1 finals twice, in 1956 and 1959, losing both games against the historic Real Madrid team of that time (which won five cup finals in a row and could therefore keep the Cup).

So, maybe the new stadium is an attempt to bring Stade de Reims back to the glory days. If so, they might want to replace the team as well. Despite the 7.434 spectators, of whom I guess some 40 came from Créteil (i.e. Paris), and a generally good atmosphere, the game never really exploded. The level was acceptable, but the play wasn’t too exciting. Interestingly, I got the impression that the vast majority of players in both teams were French, not some (cheap) Africans and Yugoslavs.

While we enjoyed the experience, we worried a bit about the omen. The first game of the weekend and a 0-0 score… what would await for us the next days?

After a good night sleep in a Formule 1 hotel around Sedan, an hour north of Reims, we drove at our leisure the remaining 260 km to Mönchengladbach, our next destination. As we took time for lunch and a scenic route, we arrived at the Borussen-Park only half an hour before the start of the game.

VFL Borussia Mönchengladbach – Bayer Leverkusen 05 (28-10-2006)

As I had ordered tickets in advance, which they send by mail to your home address, we didn’t have to stress to get into the stadium in time. In fact, I still had time for the most important aspect of a German football game, a Wurst. We had tickets a raison of 23 euro for the Süd Tribune, behind a goal and opposite to the Nordkurve, the side of the diehard Gladbach supporters. The game was almost sold-out with 51.227 spectators. The seats were very close to the away supporters, who, unfortunately, would have the most fun this afternoon. Already after 12 minutes Leverkusen scored after a major mistake in the defense. After that the game remained extremely poor, with Leverkusen being the better side mainly on the account of having at least one good player, the Russian Voronin, who scored the deciding: 0-2. Thus I witnessed the first home defeat of BMG this year.

As I was tortured by the ‘performance’ of my Gladbach long enough, Z.B. and I decided to leave 7 minutes early, so that we could beat the traffic and not get into trouble with our second game of the day. Profiting from German organization, we were on the Autobahn around 17.30 and on our way back to Liège/Lüttich/Luik. Well before 19.00 we arrived in Seraing, an industrial wasteland-town to the south of Liège. We tried to find the center of town for over 30 minutes, hoping to get some decent food, but failed. Or better, we might have been in the center of town, but simply didn’t recognize it as being the center of anything, not even Seraing. Even more problematic was finding the stadium, which is hidden in a remote part of town.

RFC Sérésien – KVK Hasselt (28-10-2006)

Nowadays there is a team in the Belgian Derde Klasse B (Third Division B) that calls itself, and is referred to, Seraing. However, while the team does play at the stadium of the former RFC Seraing, a famous club that went bankrupt and disappeared in 1996, it is not the same team. In fact, the RFC Sérésien is legally the successor to FC l'Espoir de Bressoux, founded in 1901, and moved to Seraing only after the disappearance of the RFC Seraing. That destitute city was happy to have a team again and offered the RFC Sérésien, as it was named in 2006, the Stade du Pairay, the former home of the RFC Seraing.

We arrived to the Stade de Pairay almost an hour before the game. They only have one kind of tickets for adults at 9 euro a piece. The ticket itself looks like they used to years ago (really retro). From the outside it looked fairly impressive, but once inside it proved to be glory of the past. First of all, only the stands on the long side are used these days, and then mainly only one side. They do have a restaurant/cantina behind one of the goals, but this is for ‘VIPs’ (well, Very Important Persons in Seraing ;-). Unfortunately, for the not-so-important-persons-in-Seraing there was only one snack available: a huge hotdog, which mainly consisted of bread and sauerkraut. :-(

Together with some 400-600 people, of whom some 100 from Hasselt, we watched a highly entertaining game, well, an explosive first half at least. While the football itself was poor at best, incidentally the struggling players would rise above themselves and come up with a nice goal. Around the 20^th minute RFC scored a nice goal, a half volley in the low corner from 20 meters, only to be followed by a direct counter-attack of KVK and the 1-1. Some 10 minutes of poor game later RFC scored the 2-1, followed not much later by the 2-2. About 5 minutes before half time RFC again got ahead: 3-2, also the half time score.

What can I say about the half time entertainment: there was none. And another hot dog was out of the question too. So, we stayed put, got increasingly cold, and hoped the goals would continue. Unfortunately, the poor football continued, but no more goals were scored. Nevertheless, the RFC Sérésien is worth a visit, if only for the destitute surroundings of both the club and the city.

Having returned to Antwerp on Saturday night, I meet Z.B. at his hotel downtown for the fourth and last game of the weekend. We discuss a couple of options, but decide to drive to Enschede despite a possibility that the game is sold out. It takes us just over 3 hours to cross the 250 km to the East of the Netherlands. To our great relief, we are still able to buy tickets at 20 euro a piece for Vak 12, behind one of the goals.

FC Twente – NEC (29-10-2006)

FC Twente is the result of a merger in 1956 of two important clubs of early Dutch football, Enschedese Boys and Sportclub Enschede. The club has a solid support base in the eastern region of Twente, despite competition from Heracles from nearby Almelo. Particularly in the 1970s and 1980s the club was a solid performer in the mid-table, regularly qualifying for the UEFA Cup. The past decade FC Twente has underperformed, but this season they are the surprise team, in part because of the coach duo Rutten-Eijkelkamp, before assistants of Guus Hiddink at PSV.

FC Twente starts like a tsunami, taking NEC by storm. Within 17 minutes they are 3-0 up! Not only does NEC defend poorly, FC Twente plays well and the former PSV youth player, Otman Bakkal, scored twice. Unfortunately, as happens in such games, after that the game slowly died. FC Twente remained concentrated, but not pushing, while NEC remained too weak to challenge the home team. 3-0 was also the half time score.

Together with the 13.225 other spectators we watched the second half go by much the same as the first half, but without the explosive start. While the football was at times quite technical and tactical, they were only sporadic highlights. Shortly before the end the home team scored one last time, making it a deserved 4-0 victory. With this fine victory Twente solidified its 4^th position in the Dutch league. More importantly, with my visit to the Arke Stadion I have now visited all Dutch Eredivisie teams.

FC Girondins Bordeaux – PSV (27-09-2006)

Going to international away games of my favorite team is something special… although I do visit a (new) foreign ground, it doesn’t feel exactly like a groundhop as I am only partly interested in the home team. Sure, I look forward to seeing the ground, feeling the atmosphere, but I will stand with the away supporters and be focused exclusively on the result of my boys.

Around 7 AM I walk to Antwerp Central Station, as always when I am outside so early completely surprised by the number of people in the streets. My friend and fellow PSV-fan J.B. picks me up at Mechelen Station just after 8. To avoid the traffic jams around Brussels we drive via Antwerp and Ghent to France. Just before 10 we cross the border at Lille… only 800 km more and we are at our final destination: Bordeaux in the Southeast of France.

The weather is not too bad and the traffic is mild, so we arrive already around 6 PM in Bordeaux – we only got lost once, around Charles de Gaulle airport (what an unbelievable labyrinth of roads is that). Given that we have more than enough time, and the weather is nice, we decide to go into the center of town to check out the sites. J In the main shopping street we find one of the shops of FCGB and I buy a small pennant. Although their shirts are no longer as beautiful as in the late 1970s/early 1980s, I still think Girondins plays in beautiful colors. We play it safe and eat at the Quick, where we try to avoid some fellow PSV-fans (who are embarrassing us by their behavior), and establish that the term fast food is not accurate for this particular branch of the hamburger chain.

At about 8 PM we park the car at an underground parking close to the stadium – only 2 euro for the whole evening. I am getting increasingly nervous about the game, but we take our time to circle the stadium, which is at the side of an expensive area. Particularly impressive is the entrance of the VIPs.

The Stade Chaban-Delmas is an extraordinary building. It is not really beautiful, but it does have its own style. Particularly the bow at one of the entrances is unique.

After taking all the necessary pictures and circling the whole stadium we show our ticket and get access to the Virage Nord Est Bas, where the circa 200 PSV supporters are gathered. I don’t know, I always look forward to meet my fellow supporters when I attend a PSV away game, yet when I enter the stadium and am enclosed with them, I feel like an alien. Although there were only a small number of PSV fans who had made their way to the south of France, the atmosphere was good and part of the fans kept singing all game long.

The FCGB fans, who were not that numerous either (total of some 26.000), only sang very loudly at the beginning of the games, were the two sides behind the goals were singing against each other. This was also when they showed their banners.

The game might not have been particularly good for a neutral observer, but this was irrelevant for me this time. I was extremely nervous all game long, even if it soon became clear that Girondins Bordeaux does not have such a strong team this season; moreover, star player Johan Micoud just came back from an injury and played only one half and fairly poorly. PSV missed Cocu, Farfan and Culina and that showed. Defensively we played well, but offensively we couldn’t do too much. As a consequence the game was pretty even and without many chances. 0-0 at half time and I went down to visit our friends from the French police. ;-)

In the second half the game remained relatively poor, but PSV got a bit more controle of the game. Half of the fans of our block sang virtually the same song for 45 minutes, but that created more atmosphere than the 26.000 FCGB fans could generate. More and more we started to believe that a victory would be possible, even though very few chances were created on either side. But then, out of nowhere, Väyrynen finally knew where to go, Koné finally provided a good short pass, and Väyrynen finished cool and precise in the far low corner. The 200 PSV fans went crazy, while the rest of the Stade went silent. The last 15 minutes or so we sang our boys through to the end of the game, which indeed finished 0-1. A great result and a great experience, which was only somewhat diminished by the fact that virtually none of the PSV players came to thanks the few fans that had made the more than 1.000 km trip from Eindhoven (or Antwerp for that matter).

After the game we walked to a kebab place around the corner where we ate something and enjoyed the last 30 minutes of the game again on Canal +. After that we picked up our car and drove for two hours to our hotel around Niort. Arriving after 2, we had a good rest and made our way back to Flanders the next morning around 9.30. Traffic was excellent and all went well until just before getting home, when a big piece of clay fell of a truck in front of our car and smashed a hole in the window. Fortunately the window held and the insurance paid, so the fantastic trip wasn’t spoiled by something so mundane as a big chunk of mud!

FCN Sint-Niklaas – SWI Harelbeke (03-09-2006)

Inspired by the OHL-Malinwa game of Wednesday, my friend A.H. and I decided to make another groundhop on Sunday: KVSK United-OHL. We met at Antwerp Central Station where we boarded the train for Lommel. Both excited about the upcoming game, I checked the local newspaper to see the scores of Saturday’s games in Belgium’s second division, when, to our great shock, we noticed that the game had been played on Saturday (incidentally, OHL won 1-2). After a short disappointment, we checked the schedule for today and decided that the only game we could still make was that between FC Nieuwkerken Sint-Niklaas against SWI Harelbeke in the Derde Klasse A (third division A).

Having bought a new train ticket, we entered the train to Sint-Niklaas, where we arrived some 20 minutes later. We asked several people for directions to the stadium, but to no avail. Only after a girl in a hotel has consulted her friend, we were on our way to the stadium… unfortunately, that of RS Waasland, the other team in Sint-Niklaas, playing in the second division (and away that day). After another consultation in a bar, we played it safe and called a cab, which brought us outside of the town of Sint-Niklaas, and inside the village of Nieuwkerken. At the Stedelijk Sportcentrum Meesterstraat we bought a nice ticket for the completely new main stand for 10 euro. Although it was only 15 minutes before kick-off, there were no players on the pitch.

Fortunately, there were several hundred people in the stadium, mainly in the cantina and restaurant (!); we headed for the one small snack stand, where we bought the traditional fast food of Belgian football: hamburger and braadworst (sausage). I guess there were some 500 people in the new but small stadium, some with shawls of the home team and one ‘hooligan’ with a flag.

While still admiring the closeness to the pitch, which reminded me of my youth when I would support the first team of my club (the Velpse Voetbal- en Athletiekvereniging Olympia, VVO), the home team scored 1-0 with a beautiful flying header by the number 10, whose fluoride green shoes indicated his (self-believed) star status. After the goal FCN Sint-Niklaas remained the better team, but few chances would emerge from their play. Harelbeke has a very young team and missed quality. Still, hard work and sloppy play by Sint-Niklaas kept them in the game till some 10 minutes before the end of the game the referee gave the home team a penalty which none around us could explain. I suspect a player of Sint-Niklaas was pushed, but I couldn’t see it. Belfassi scored the 2-0 and that was also the final result.

The nice thing about going to see third division games in Belgium is that afterwards the busses are not crowded. So, when we boarded the bus in front of the stadium, 10 minutes after the end of the game, we were the only ones. And, by the time we returned to the station of Sint-Niklaas, it seemed like only we knew there had been a football game in town. Next time we visit, it will be RS Waasland.

Groundhopweekend September 2006

It had been in the books for months, and the planning had taken a lot of time, but last Friday it was finally time. At 13.00 I met with my brother and fellow-groundhopper T.M. at Schiphol airport from which we made our way to Wolfsburg in the German state of Lower Saxony. Although the distance was ‘only’ 470 km, estimated at just over 4 hours drive, we arrived at the game five minutes late! This despite the fact that the game had been postponed by 15 minutes because of an unbelievable traffic jam of some 30 km (!) between Hannover and Wolfsburg.

VFL Wolfsburg – Hannover 96 (15-09-2006)

At 20.50 we entered the ultramodern Volkswagen Arena, home of VFL Wolfsburg, still shocked by the inefficient way the bus drives people from the parking lot to the stadium. The Volkswagen Arena is a brand new multifunctional stadium, opened in December 2002, with a capacity of 30.000 people for football games. We had bought fairly expensive tickets for 37 euro a piece at Block 19, where we had a great view and were very close to the pitch. However, I didn’t take up my seat before getting a big German sausage, the main German stadium snack.

The game of the night was against Hannover 96, the other major team in the state. 26.479 people had come to see the Niedersachsen Derby, at least 3.000 from Hannover (despite the traffic jam). Both teams had a disappointing start to the season and were in the second half of the table, with Hannover already sacking their coach the week before. Wolfsburg has established itself in the 1. Bundesliga over the past decade, but has not been able to become a serious contender for European football, despite serious investments in the team and stadium.

Against the general expectation, it was Hannover that had the best of the play from the beginning. This notwithstanding, the game remained scoreless until half time and the overall play was fairly poor. The atmosphere was not bad, although the home fans were not particularly loud. I was particularly interested in seeing two ex-PSV players perform: central defender Kevin Hofland (captain of Wolfsburg) and midfielder Arnold Bruggink (Hannover). Hofland was leading the defense and one of the few Wolfsburg players with a decent performance (except for a stupid yellow card), while Bruggink was fairly invisible in Hannover’s midfield.

The second half started ferociously. In the 51^st minute, out of nowhere, Brdaric (former German international) got the ball just outside of the penalty box to put it beautifully in the net with a volley: 0-1. Just one minute later, Krzynowek equalized with a similar beautiful shot: 1-1. Several minutes later Diego “Klimo” Klimowicz had to leave the pitch injured, which was pretty much the end of the Wolfsburg chances at scoring. Two minutes later Brdaric scored his and Hannover’s second: 1-2. This would also be the final score (to the discontent of the home fans).

Although he Volkswagen Arena comes as close to perfection in terms of architecture and comfort as possible, T.M. and I agreed that this was not the ultimate setting for the groundhopper. Fortunately, this would be more than compensated the next morning… but not before we had driven another 400 km to Szczecin (Stettin) at the Polish-German border, where we crashed in our hotel beds at 3.30.

At 8.30 we were back in our car, heading for the small town of Trzebiatów in the northwest of Poland. Although the town is only 112 km from Szczecin, it takes almost 2 hours to get there.

GKS Rega-Merida Trzebiatów – Kotwica Kołobrzeg (16-09-2006)

At about 10.15 we drove into the town of Trzebiatów, where we quickly found the ulica Sportowa and the stadium. The game we were about to see was a local derby in the Polish third division group 2. Outside of the ‘stadium’ was a guy behind a small table selling tickets for a couple of Zloty a piece (I forgot how much, but probably the equivalent of 1 euro). It’s difficult to estimate how many (or better: few) people came to see the game, but probably 750 is a fair estimation.

We sat at one of the few benches on the long side of the pitch, having an instant breakfast, when the bus with away supporters arrived. Approximately 50 Kotwica had made the 30 km trip from the harbor town of Kołobrzeg, among them some 30 wannabe-hooligans. They did create quite a good atmosphere, however, in part by singing songs with and against the home supporters on the opposite site of the pitch.

The real hooliganism would take place on the pitch, however. From the beginning the number 10 of Trzebiatów, also the captain, got into a kick and punch struggle with the number 20 of Kołobrzeg. While the football wasn’t particularly good, the game was a true spectacle with many goals but even more serious fouls. After 23 minutes the away team got a soft penalty, and the number 10 a yellow card for complaining. They scored the 0-1, but 10 minutes later the home team equalized: 1-1. Not long after that, and at least 4-5 kicks and punches from each side, the number 10 got his red card, and a little later the away team scored again: 1-2 and half time.

The second half picked up where the first half had left off. In the 51^st minute Rega-Merida equalized again, 2-2. After that we saw various chances, tackles, elbows, and fights, culminating into a fight and two red cards, evenly spread over the two teams. With 9 against 10 the home team managed to get ahead, 3-2, with only 10 minutes to go. Heroic defending notwithstanding, Kotwica managed to score the 3-3 in the last minute. How about that for a Saturday morning game?! Polish third division: a must for every groundhopper! (at least group 2 ;-).

Happily we jumped into our car to drive the same 112 km back to Szczecin, where we had half-decent food in some mall, and than made our way to the second game of the day.

MKS Pogoń Szczecin – Lech Poznań (16-09-2006)

We parked our car just next to the hill which houses the Stadion Florian Kryger and bought a ticket for 30 Złotych (ca. 7.50 euro) for Sector 6 on the long side of the pitch. We were quite early, the game started at 18.00, so we circled the stadium in search for a fan shop – but to no avail. The Stadion Florian Kryger is an old communist-style colossus that houses (only) 17.783; partly because the area behind one of the goals doesn’t have a stand. Despite the northern Polish weather hardly any part of the pitch has a roof.

We were extremely lucky as this was one of the nicest September evenings Szczecin will have seen. Maybe this was also the reason why so many people had made their way to the stadium: 14.000 of whom some 1.500-2.000 away supporters. Pogoń is known as the multicultural team of Poland, although it could better be described as the team of second-rate Brazilians. Seven of the eleven starting players were Brazilian (and later in the game two others would replace two of the seven). But Brazilians or not, there was precious little samba football on the pitch. In fact, as far as we did some decent combinations, they were from Lech Poznań. Moreover, Lech scored already after 6 minutes the 0-1. This was also the half time score. Pogoń had mainly excelled in poor technical and tactical play, while Lech proved to be a mediocre team.

The second half was not much better. Despite the continuing support of the home fans Pogoń played dismally and never looked close to the equalizer. In the 51^st minute Lech had scored the 0-2 and some fans started to loose hope. Only the most optimistic got hope from the 71^st minute goal of Pogoń, as the 1-2 didn’t lead to a general improvement of the home team’s play. The game did get more feisty, however, which led to a short scrimmage between various players of the two teams. In the 88^th minute Lech killed even the hope of the most naïve home supporter by scoring the 1-3. This would also be the final score.

Sure, the football was fairly poor – and one really wonders why a team like Pogoń Szczecin buys some 12 Brazilians who with one or two exceptions seemed poorer than the average Polish player – but Poland is one of he few East European countries where football still draws fairly large and enthusiastic crowds. In addition, the games are cheap and the tickets (at least in Szczecin) are beautiful and original.

Somewhat shivering, as the warm summery weather has been replaced by a chilly autumn evening during the game, we returned to our car to head back to Germany, where we stayed in a hotel just outside of Berlin. This time we not only arrived before midnight, we could also sleep till after 9!

After a quick breakfast at a tank station we drove the 276 km to the mining town of Aue in the state of Saxony, at the border of the Czech Republic. While the weather was still pleasant, it had turned a bit cooler than the days before. During the more than 3.5 hour drive, partly because of the many building sites at the German motorways, we were getting increasingly excited about what was awaiting us, as Erzgebirge Aue, the team we were about so see, is a true Kult-Klub in Germany and one of the teams my brother and I had wanted to visit for some time.

FC Erzgebirge Aue – SpVgg Greuther Fürth (17-09-2006)

Around 13.00 we started to see a growing stream of Aue supporters in their purple outfits walking to the stadium. A few miles later we passed the stadium and entered the town of Aue. We parked relatively close to the stadium and joined the groups of fans walking to the stadium. A bit worried about it being sold-out, we arrived at the Erzgebirgsstadion, bought a pin and banner, and than for 20 euro a ticket for Block M at the long side of the pitch. You enter the stadium through a stairs with also gives you a great view.

As the game was about to start, we didn’t have time to sample some of the local delicacies (such as spirali with sausage). We took our place at the stand, admiring the various purple shirts of the fans. The stadium is truly unique, both in shape and in location. There is no doubt that for most people in Aue the local football team is their key entertainment. As is so often the cased with these teams of working class supporters, their fans are loyal and expect only one thing: hard and honest work!

Few teams will have changed their names as much as Erzgebirge Aue. They were founded in 1945 as SG Aue, changed it to BSG Pneumatik Aue the next year, to Zentra Wismut Aue in 1950, and to BSG Wismut Aue again the next year. However, in 1954 it not only changed its name, but also its location, becoming the SC Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt. In 1963 the club left Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz) and returned to Aue with its old name BSG Wismut Aue. In 1990 it was renamed slightly, to FC Wismut Aue, and in 1993 it got its current name FC Erzgebirge Aue (although this might already have changed when you read this report ;-).

While Erzgebire Aue had a mediocre start to the season, the expectations were high before the game as opponent Greuther Fürth was positioned even worse (12 and 16 in the 2. Bundesliga, respectively). The Erzgebirgsstadion holds a good 16.000 people and for this game some 11.000 fans had turned up, among them a couple hundred from Fürth. As had happened in the last game, the away team scored already in the 6^th minute after very poor defending from Aue: 0-1. After that Aue looked extremely clumsy, while Fürth showed some decent counter football. Not surprisingly then, that the away team scored another in the 32^nd minute: 0-2. This led to much whistling and booing from the home crowd, who were fearing a second defeat in a row.

After half time the game didn’t change much. Aue played dramatic at times and the fans became increasingly angry and cynical. The main call was “Wir wollen euch kämpfen sehen” (we want to see you fight), which had little effect on the pitch however. In the 63^rd minute Fürth scored its third, which was deserved, and people around us got ballistic. After this not much changed, except that every mistake of an Aue player was greeted with cheers and applause by the incensed home crowd. It remained 0-3, the third home defeat in the four games we had seen (are we bad omen?), and we joined the stream of angry and disappointed supporters heading out of the stadium before the final whistle. This notwithstanding, Erzgebirge Aue and the Erzgebigsstadion are truly cult and should be on the wish list of every groundhopper.

At 16.00 we entered the car for the last time, but unfortunately also for the longest drive (720 km to Antwerp). Moreover, as we had to circumvent an 8 km traffic jam and faced increasingly bad weather, we arrived to Antwerp only at midnight (T.M. would safely arrive home two hours later). A seriously tiring groundhop-weekend, not helped by my developing flu and tooth ache, but also a very satisfying trip with four new groundhop points and a visit to the Schachtscheisser of Aue.

Oud-Heverlee Leuven – KV Mechelen (30-08-2006)

On a Wednesday evening I leave work early to take the six o’clock train to Leuven, a university town at some 70 km south of Antwerp. My friend and fellow-groundhopper J.B. had suggested to see a game of OHL before and with “Malinwa” coming to town, this was the perfect opportunity. I have a weakness for KV Mechelen, partly because of their loyal following (see below), partly because they beat ajax in the European Cup final of 1988 (1-0). At Leuven station we were joined by my Japanese friend A.H., with whom I saw some games in Japan last month (see other stories).

We took the bus (line 2) to Stadion Den Dreef in the city district of Heverlee. In and around the stadium red-yellow were the most popular colors: the KV fans had made it a home game. We joined the away supporters and bought a ticket for 12 euro – standing behind the goal, no roof. Fortunately, this was the one dry day of the week, as they had taken my umbrella at the entrance. While the away stand is normally the most empty in the stadium in Belgium, this time it was the fullest. Overall, some 5.500 people came to see the game – a phenomenal number for a second division game in Belgium – and the majority were KV Mechelen supporters. The stand behind the goal was almost full and the atmosphere was good (the quality of the songs, however, as well as the catering, was fairly poor).

The game started well and both teams were fairly equal. Pace was rather slow and the technique of most players not striking, but they worked hard and tried to attack. After some 30 minutes a KV player was sent off for a second bookable offense – harsh but fair – but surprisingly Malinwa bounced back and scored the 0-1. Afterwards the team defended bravely, still leading at half time. The second half was relatively one-sided, with Malinwa being pushed back further and further. Still, both teams got only a few chances. One of the most remarkable events of the second half was a phenomenal tackle on OHL player Boy-Boy Mosai, with an estimated 1.50m the smallest man in Belgian football, as well as an impressive tackle by Boy-Boy (both received a yellow card). Some 10 minutes before the end the inevitable happened after all: OHL scored the 1-1. Fortunately, KV stayed concentrated and in the end got a very deserved point, despite being down with 10 men for two-thirds of the game

BV Veendam – SC Cambuur Leeuwarden (18-03-2005)

Last Friday it finally happened: my visit to the legendary De Langeleegte! My friend M.T. and I had already made the long way to the North before, only to find the game cancelled because of the weather. We had decided than and there that we would come back as soon as we would have the opportunity.

Around 15.15 M.T. picked me up at Schiphol – luckily Easyjet didn’t have a delay this time (I had been in the UK for work) – and we were on our way. Without much troubles we drove through 020 (for on-Dutch, this is the area code of Amsterdam) and entered the Flevopolder. The sky became ever greyer and when we drove into the province of Groningen it also started to rain softly. In other words, perfect weather for a game in the De Langeleegte!

Around 18.45 we arrived in Veendam, in the north of the Netherlands, and after a not too subtle meal of shoarma, we bought a ticket for the Promenade stand for 12 euro. Nowadays De Langeleegte looks quite cosy, actually – the stadium reminded me of the old stadium of RBC or (the new one) of FC Zwolle. Probably because the match was the northern derby against SC Cambuur, there was a decent crowd. The stadium was half full, I think, with some 2.500 people, among them a good 200 from Leeuwarden (in the neighboring province of Frisia).

The game started like a storm and after 6 minutes it was already 1-0. After that the game deteriorated rapidly, increasingly resembling a pinball match. The BV Veendam clearly wasn’t able to do much more, but SC Cambuur had some decent players. At half time it was still only 1-0, despite the fact that Cambuur was the less bad team. The whole second half the visitors remained the better team, but they were only able to score in the 70th minute. 1-1 was also the final score.

Despite the bad football we enjoyed the pleasant provincial atmosphere in De Langeleegte. Secretly I was a bit disappointed that it had been so busy and buzzing, as I had hoped to see such a legendary game in front of 350 supporters and in the pouring rain, for which De Langeleegte was famous in the eighties. :-)

AC Parma – Cagliari Calcio (06-03-2005)

For my work I had to be in Bologna on Friday and Saturday, so I decided to stay a day longer to see a game. As Bologna FC played away, and I had seen them already the last time I was in Bologna, I took the opportunity to go to Parma, one of the few teams in Italy I like. On the way there the train took only some 50 minutes – on the way back, on the other hand, it took a good 1.5 hour!

Around 13:30 I arrived in Parma and started walking north without having any clue where I was going. The weather was cold, but with regular sun, and still some snow around me from previous days. Very good weather for a walk through a nice Italian town and… because that’s what’s life really about… to see a game. A good hour before kick-off I arrived at the Stadio Communale Ennio Tardini, home of AC Parma, which is positioned in the middle of a housing area. The tickets are not cheap – I bought a ticket for 25 euro at the Distinti Laterali Nord, in the corner of one long side. It turned out to be an temporary stand, but that didn’t kill my enthusiasm.

Culinary tip: if you ever visit a home game of AC Parma, and you really should, eat a macaroni al ragu in the restaurant next to the stadium. Delicious!

After a good paste and the obligatory football snack (in this case the Italian version of the hot dog) I entered the (temporary) stand. With the exception of the Curva Nord, where the Parma tifosi are standing, the stadium was only moderately filled – I would estimate some 12.000 people, but it was really difficult to estimate. Parma is having a very bad season and suffers greatly under the bankruptcy of its biggest sponsor Parmalat. In addition, it was cold and they played an uneventful mid-table team, Cagliari, so the low turnout was understandable.

I didn’t know much about the two teams before the game (but then again, I don’t follow Italian football). From AC Parma I only knew Paolo Cannavaro, ‘the brother of’ (Fabio, the central defender of Juve and the Azzuri). But at Cagliari was a pleasant surprise: Gianfranco Zola, the small ex-star of AS Napoli and Chelsea. For the rest I didn’t know any of the players.

Let me come directly to the point: the game was un-Italian. Boy, did I enjoy myself! After 1 minute the Cagliari goalie (Iezzo) made an excellent safe on a shot from only a couple of meters and after 5 minutes it was 0-1, after a half-chance of the visitors. Parma kept coming, however, and after 10 minutes it was level, 1-1. Another 5 minutes later Iezzo had to make his second great safe, but shortly after it was 2-1 after all. At times Parma played some beautiful combinations and particularly Azzuri striker Gilardino impressed. The only dissonant was the pseudo-star Morfeo, on bright yellow shoes, who did see a nifty backheel hit the post. Half time 2-1 and I have seldom seen so much attacking football in the Serie A.

Even more surprisingly, the second half started where the first half had left off. Already in the 48^th minute Parma hit the crossbar and less than 10 minutes later Morfeo was able to miss the target from less than 10 meters and completely unmarked. Despite the clear dominance of Parma it remained 2-1 and Cagliari sneaked back into the game. In the 65th minute Parma goalie Frey fouls a player outside of the box (unnecessarily) and gets a well-deserved red card. Parma defends heroically (you might notice some slight bias creeping into this report ;-), but in the 88th minute the disaster strikes nevertheless: a soft goal and 2-2. Completely destroyed the audience watches the last minutes… squandered a safe three points after all. But than, in the 91st minute, a counter through the impressive central midfielder Simplicio, who shoots out of sheer necessity the bal from over 20 meters at the goal… directly in the upper corner!! 3-2 for Parma, the referee whistles, game over, we all go crazy!

Seldom have I enjoyed a game between two teams that I do not really support so much. Or should I say did not support, as I have been so entertained by Parma that they have deservedly claimed a special lace in my football heart. The atmosphere was also really good… much singing, next to me three fanatical old men, and a very impressive applause when Cagliari player Zola was substituted. Fortunately, this is also still possible!

Thus, there can be only one conclusion: if you ever find yourself in the neighborhood, you should absolutely visit the Stadio Communale Ennio Tardini. It is no San Siro, there are no big stars, but you will have a delightful football afternoon!

Groundhop Weekend 25-27 February 2006

Man, oh man, what a bizarre weekend this was. It was C-O-L-D!!! And never before have I seen such snow storms in the Low Countries. But this all notwithstanding, I have had a historic groundhop experience this weekend.

Hannover Scorpions - Iserlohn Roosters (25-02-2005)

Friday afternoon I was picked up at Schiphol by my brother T.M. and his friend SdB. At the schedule for that evening, a game between the Hannover Scorpions and the Iserlohn Roosters in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (German Ice Hockey League, DEL). Having circumvented the traffic jams in both the Dutch Randstad and the German Ruhrgebiet we arrived more than an hour before the game at the beautiful, brand new TUI Arena. For ice hockey games the stadium can hold 10.600 spectators, which makes it one of the larger halls in Europe. This game was attended by some 6.000, among which surprisingly many women and girls. The atmosphere was traditionally good, as always with sports events in Germany. The hockey itself was a lot less impressive, particularly the home team was poor. After 6 minutes they were 0-2 down and they never had a chance at getting back. The end result of 2-6 for the regional rivals was therefore more than deserved, despite the fact that Iserlohn didn’t play that fantastic either.

After a short night in a Formule 1 hotel we decided to be ambitious and drive to Luxemburg to see an afternoon cup game between Progres Nierderkorn and Dudelange, and than to continue to France to see an evening game of Raon L'Etap in the French Championnat National. During the drive it regularly snowed, while the environment was covered with a thick layer of snow of the past days. After a long drive we arrived some 40 minutes before kick-off at the Stade Jos Haupert, where the first team was practising at a small pitch. After inspection of the empty stadium and the snowed-under pitch, we decided to also skip the French game and try to play it safe. And thus we drove at a relaxed speed to Sint-Truiden in Belgian Limburg.

K. Sint-Truiden VV - KAA Gent (26-02-2005)

After a quick stop at Frituur Juliette we drove to the stadium Staaien to see whether we could also buy tickets without a Fancard. The security was very strict: Fancard, identity card, or… just state your name. J Having bought the ticket, we spent the last 60 minutes before the game in the Cafe Stadion watching the game Hertha BSC-HSV.

It was ice cold in the “Hell of Staaien” (as is the nickname of the stadium), but fortunately the game was less boring than the last time I was here. This was particularly because of the performance of AA Gent, who already within minutes scored 0-1. After that the visitors remained the better team, but this was also because the home team was extremely poor. Benji de Keulenaar is the best player (he left the team after that season), but obviously he cannot do it all alone. In the end “the buffalo’s” won 0-2 and we went back to Antwerp with frozen toes.

KV Kortrijk - Excelsior Virton (26-02-2006)

Having slept in, and having enjoyed a good cup of coffee, we left well-prepared for a double-pack on Sunday. The first game of the day was KV Kortrijk against Excelsior Virton, two mid-table teams in the Belgian Tweede Klasse (second division). We knew it was going to be cold again, but when we got into a genuine snow storm just after Ghent, we started to worry about whether the game would be called off. Fortunately the snow storm turned out to have been very local; it hadn’t even snowed in Kortrijk.

At 14.15 we arrived at the ruinous Guldensporenstadion of KV Kortrijk. We saw almost none, except for a bus with green-white supporters. They turned out to be Walloons from Virton, so we decided to share Tribune 4 with the ca. 25 green-white away fans. All in all there were not even 500 spectators in the freezing stadium. A shame, as the game wasn’t bed at all. After 5 minutes Virton was 0-1 up and 5 minutes later it was already 1-1That was also the half time score, but in between there had been some nice football, particularly by Virton. In the second half both teams got tired and the play of Virton especially deteriorated rapidly. Around 15 minutes before the end of the game the away team faltered, having one player sent off and getting two goals after individual mistakes. End result: 3-1 for KV Kortrijk in this ‘six-points game’.

LOSC -- Stade Rennais (26-02-2006)

Direct after the end of the game of KV Kortrijk we got into our car and drove to Lille to catch our second game of the day one hour later. The last time I went to a game of LOSC they played in the center of town. This season, possibly because of the rebuilding of the own stadium, LOSC played at the Stade Metropole, a typical athletics stadium. L

I will keep it very short: cold, COLD, C-O-L-D!!! Jezus H. Christ, we were cold! And a 0-0 game at that?! This notwithstanding, I recommend all groundhoppers a trip to Lille: the football is of a good level, the atmosphere is good, and the merguez americaine greasy. But do go when the weather is a bit better!