RFC Spy; Spy, Belgium

RFC Spy was a delightful little Belgian ground! Playing at the fourth level the highlight was an unsual barrelled bit of cover, which we will come to! My friend Nicolas took pleasure in showing me this ground as his brother Francois plays for Spy. I took these pictures in January 2008.



This is the clubhouse & changing room complex, viewed from the car park outside.



I'd love to know why they have a squirrel as their club crest!



The buildings are behind a goal. This stand is on the right hand side, as we walk round it in an anti-clockwise direction.



With dugouts either side of it.



The stand has suffered a bit of 'wear & tear' over the years, by the look of things.



But it's still a decent size stand nonetheless!



We move on, to behind the far goal, just railed off. You can see a bit of cover on the far side.



Behind this goal is, what seems like, a small farm in a neighbours back garden! It might be perfectly normal in small villages in Belgium, but in you grew up on inner city council estates like me...!



As we walk to the other side we see this railed off 'second pitch' behind the main one.



Here is a look at the stand from across the pitch.



Next up is that strange piece of cover.



Note the barrelled roof. My friend Nicolas, who was kindly driving me round a few grounds, told me that this was built from old railway waggons! Wonderful!



And here we look back to the open end behind the goal, with the bar & changing rooms behind, where we came in.



The scoreboard on the wall of the building.

RAC Leuze; Leuze-Longchamps,, Belgium

This was a nice little ground, home of RAC Leuze, as you can see from the entrance here. They play play in the A section of the Namur regional second division. Fifth level nationally. These pictures were taken in January 2008.




As you walk in there is a clubhouse building, set back, to the right.



Simply roped off behind the goal, but as you can see in the top of the photo there is a stand along the side.



Down the other touchline we look across the pitch to it.



Here is another club building down the side of the pitch, with a fading scoreboard on it.



A look at the dugouts,these ones appeared to be old unused ones, as there were bigger ones opposite.



And here we can see them, note the advert for 'Cafe le Kop'!



Presumably this nice stretch of terrace is their 'Kop'?

ES Boninne; Boninne, Belgium

I went back to ES Boninne on Sunday 5th September 2010, to see them play, winning 1-0 against St-Germain, this was in a seventh level match in the Belgian pyramid; third level in the Namur area.
This time I went the whole way round the pitch, & also took a number of snaps of the game. I am including them here, more action snaps than usual, as I know a couple of the home players through my good friend Nicolas; one of whom is his brother. They will be able to view them on here.



There was a man at the entrance taking the gate money. A mere three euros.



Straight ahead, with the pitch to the left, is the clubhouse, with the changing rooms beyond that.



From the car park area we look across the pitch.



And this is inside the clubhouse.



On the noticboard at the end is the league table 'ladder' on the wall.



Back outside, enjoying the sunshine, are my good friends, & hosts, Danuta & Nicolas.



From here we look across the pitch, as the teams line up before the game, in front of the dugouts.



Here we zoom in on the dugouts before the kick off, once they've got out of the way!



I'm leaving my friends along the side, & start to walk round, clockwise. Here we look down the touchline where the majority of the crowd stood.



Early September, but still warm enough for summer shorts.



The touchline doesn't look so bad from here...



Or even from this angle...



But look directly down it from the flag! ;-)



A small grass bank behind the goal.



Here we look over to the club buildings, standing up on it.



Moving along it's simply grass/dried out mud to the next corner.



The poles supporting the rope have seen better days.



Down the side we look down the other touchline, and a right state of a corner area!



Here we look from the corner across the pitch.



Just 'mother nature' behind the fence. Wouldn't like to stand here in mid winter when it's raining!



Old advertising boards on the floor, toward the dugouts. Presumably to stand on when it is wet.



Here we see the dugouts. Two in one.



From the dugout side we look over to the clubhouse.



Past the dugouts the pitch is railed off to the corner.



It gets very narrow at the end, with fileds & horses the other side!



No standing behind the goal, as it's not railed off. More rural fields behind.



From behind the goal we look back down the dugout side.



And past the goal along the spectator one.



From the next corner we look across the pitch.



Behind us is one of the floodlight pylons.



Now we're looking down the main side, where we started our stroll round the ground. Roped off up to the buildings.



The rest of the pictures are from the game, so no comments with them. They are just for the Boninne people to enjoy.











































At the end I wanted a snap of Francois Lucas, who is the brother of my mate Nicolas, & Thomas, who I've met a couple of times, & has 'guested' with Francois for Dulwich Hamlet Supporters' Team in the UR Namur Supporters' Tournament back in June, with them being the sole reason we never finished rock bottom! Instead I was made to line up in a post-match team photo with everyone! (I'm in the middle of the front row, in case you're wondering!)



And after that it was time for Francois to wind down!



Back 'home' with Nicolas & Danuta I was amazed to find that afternoon's local results on the sports round up!



The pictures now below are my original short posting on ES Bonnine.

A very small ground, ES Boninne play in the fifth level of the Belgian pyramid. In the 2A divison of the Namur region, these pictures are from January 2008.

This was their club building along the side of the pitch.



Just a basic perimeter wall around the pitch,



With a railing down the far side, & roped off behind the goal.