Standard Denderleeuw; Denderleeuw, Belgium

This small ground is just beyond the training pitches of FCV Dender EV; & I was tipped off about it by Stephen Harris, on the Tony Kempster forum. He wasn't sure of the exact club name, but thought it might be Standard Denderleeuw. I couldn't see the club name anywnere here, so am assuming he was correct in recalling it. I have no idea what level of Belgian football they play at. It is almost correct, it's actually Standaard Denderleeuw.

Edit:Since I posted this the correct name has been posted in the comments of this set of snaps. I have now linked to their website as a result.

Here was the entrance.




Railed off on three sides, with stands and terracing on the other. I'm going to stroll round from the entrance in a clockwise direction.
Here is the open area behind the goal.



From the same corner we look across the pitch ,open on the far side, but plenty of perimeter advertising boards.



As we move along we look down the near side, and look at the small stand, with the club buildings further along. We will come to them later.



Past the goal we have another look at the seats.



Looking across again we see the main club building, with a bit of terracing in front, and more cover past it, further down.



Just a railing, covered with advertising, some broken, down the far side.



They continue down the whole touchline.



At the end we turn behind the goal and see a small covered terrace.



Past that we see another angle of the club buildings.



Here is the covered terrace. Wonderfully ramshackle, like the whole set up, but despite that it does appeal to me.



There are a couple of steps of terracing in front of the club buildings, in between the two dugouts.



Above this, in front of the building, is a nice, hard viewing area.



We are now almost up to the seated area.



And here is a shot of the stand from on the pitch.



Behind it is the club, erm, 'tractor'!



Back on the pitch we see the steps of terrace, at the front, have continued past the dugouts.



Here is a closer look at the same spot.



Two old, punctured footballs fit in perfectly in the battered dugout!



Behind the main pitch is this second, training pitch.



No spectator facilities, but it's railed off down the side as well.



It has it's own dugouts. not the 'free range' local hens on the pitch!



Past this we are now back to the bottom end of the main pitch again, as you can see.



And back behind the goal, before we leave.

FCV Dender EH; Denderleeuw, Belgium.

I'll be the first to admit I'm no expert on Belgian football, & when I saw someone posting on the Tony Kempster forum that Dender versus Anderlecht had been switched to a Friday night television game for my weekend there I must put my hands up and confess I had absolutely no idea who FCV Dender EH were!

The match was a comfortable 2-0 victory to the visitors, who as well as packing the away section, had plenty of fans all over the ground! Two incidents to be filed under 'bizarre': Pre-match one of the mascots fell over in his huge costume & couldn't het up. He was stretchered off! And in the second half the Anderlecht keep was stretchered off injured. Not funny in itself. Nicolas told the next day, from the headline in the local paper shop, that he would be out for at least two to three months with a broken thigh. The 'funny part' was that the stretcher bearers dropped him as they carried him round the side of the pitch! Ouch!

The 'town' itself has practically nothing to see, so if you like combining a bit of sightseeing/wandering with your trips then stay on the train to the next town of Aalst, as I did! My good friend Nicolas Lucas, the number one Paris Saint Germain fan from Namur, sorted out the tickets, with his, & my mate, Laurent Zaldua, who supports FC Bruges.




I arrived in mid-afternoon, so I could try to get into the main stadium & take some photos in daylight, the match itself being a half past eight evening kick off. There were an number of training pitches past the grounds, so I wandered past them.

The first one appears to not be in used, and wasn't 'fenced in' as the others were, so I could walk right by this one. You can see the main ground in the distance.



Dugouts still intact..sort of!



This is one of the proper FCV Dender EH training pitches, I took this through the chain link fencing surrounding it, which you can see along the right hand side.



The next pitch runs at a ninety degree angle to the previous one.



Presumably this is their 'main' training pitch, as it has hard standing & a concrete barrier down one side.



Here's another view of roughly the same spot.



Through the fence behind the goal we can see how close the main stadium is behind.




From here I take a path round to the main ground. This bus has nothing to do with football, something to do with a cycling team. Cycling being a very popular sport in Belgium. I just fancied snapping it to show you all!



Almost there...this must be the right street! ;-)



Yep, right place!



I didn't notice this outside, by the approach road, in daylight, but spotted it just before kick off.



Likewise this sculpture.



This was the ticket office, where we picked up our pre-ordered ones for the open home terrace behind the goal, 12 euros each.



Here is a closer look at the map of the stadium.



There were a couple of stewards staffing the gate when I arrived, busy chatting to each other. Instead of asking their permission, which might have been declined, i just purposely strode past & headed for the television crews, who were setting up for the match!



And walked striaght past them too, and got into the stadium.
Here is the open terrace behind the goal.



This is the stand to the left of that, which is where the changing rooms are, & the players come out from.



From this corner we look across to the newest stand, recently built, at the far end.



Moving behind the goal the end section along the side is where the main bulk of the Anderlecht fans would be situated.



Now looking down the other touchline, as we move along, we see the main stand, with the glass fronted restaurant/executive area behind.



From this part of the ground another of my 'corner flag' shots!



Now I go up into the main stand & we look down it.



And also look back at the open terrace, I will watch the match from the near corner of it, as we are looking at it now.



Now we are moving down the main stand, and this is the 'posh' centre bit.



From where we look across to the dugouts and tunnel opposite.



Moving down the main stand we now get a good look at the stand behind the far goal.



And here we look up to it, from the corner.



Now we turn around & look back down the main stand.



Here is the main stand, from the rear.



It's now almost time for the match, a few hours on. This is the main stand along the side.



My view of the match from the corner of the terrace behind the goal.



This is a 'hold the camera up in the air, hit the button & hope!' snap...



And finally a picture of Laurent! ( I have plenty of Nicolas already) Laurent is a fervent England fan, despite being Belgian, & goes to a lot of their away games. you can check out his photos from them if you look him up on Facebook!