JS Eghezee; Eghezee, Belgium

I'd love to see a match at this stadium, the home of JS Eghezee. A classic ramshackle non-league type ground, with a modern bit, where they overstretched! A Belgian Fourth Division side, playing in the top division of the Namur region. My visit here, on a non-matchday, was in January 2008.

Here is the entrance where I entered the ground.



We're going to walk round in a clockwise direction, & the first part we come to,as we head down the touchline alone the side, is this old wooden terrace, which reminds me of behind the goal at Hitchin Town.



Past this is a brutally modern concrete construction.



With more bucket seats as we continue along.



As we move continue the goal it's just an open end, no terracing.



There is another entrance into the ground from this end.



A bargain to get in, well it was when I took these snaps about a year or so ago, before the pound crashed! ;-)



From this end we get a good look at the concrete seated area, and the glass fronted executive ones above it!



The old scoreboard.



Another look across the pitch, with the groundsman hard at work.



Heading up towards the end we came in, there's another wooden, covered terrace. An absolute delight in the club colours.



Just open standing behind this goal as well.



Presumably this is an open bar area on match days.



And from the corner we came in we look back across the pitch.

Royal Arquet FC; Arquet, Belgium

I loved the ground of Royal Arquet FC as soon as we pulled up in the car park, & we looked down to the pitch in January 2008! I didn't go down to the pitch, you could see all you wanted from up here! They currently play in Division 2A of the Namur region, which is national level five.



And here we look down towards the other end.



Beyond that is an extremly worn second pitch.



Another glance down the steep slope.



Here we look across to the dugouts, with some sort of 'gantry' above it. It's like a 'double decker' dugout!



At the top of the slope, is this very recently built club building.



Although shut we could glimpse this humourous poster in the window. I don't know exactly how it translates, but I do know that 'putain' is a naughty word! ;-)

ES Jamboise; Jambes, Belgium

I didn't take enough photos here at ES Jamboise. Beyond the far end of this stand is an all-weather pitch, where Dulwich Hamlet Supporters' played our Union Royale Namur counterparts in January 2008. The changing rooms were under this stand in the main stadium. I quickly took these shots as we were leaving. I'm not sure of the exact club name, so any help in properly identifying the club will be appreciated. I'm told that UR Namur have previously used this stadium as a temporary home venue.




There are some open blocks of terracing on the far side.



And some curved terracing set back behind the goal & the track.

AS Etoile Bruxelles Capitale; Brussels, Belgium.

'Little Heysel' is a small stadium, right next door to the old Heysel, now the King Badouin Stadium, which I also took photos of in January 2008. Thanks to the but the 'Football Grounds of Brussels' Facebook page I've discovered that it si home to AS Etoile Bruxelles Capitale. Here is what the Facebook group posted about the ground-

"This small but atmospheric stadium is located next to his much bigger neighbour (hence the name). Division 1 football was played here for three seasons in the Eighties, when small Racing Jet Bruxelles were promoted to the top flight. Racing Club Jette was founded in 1944 and merged in 1970 with Royal Stade de Bruxelles to become Racing Jet Bruxelles. The small club never attracted big crowds and in 1988, while in division 2, took the decision to move away from Brussels, in Wavre (about 30 kms South-East of the city), in the Brabant Wallon province. They still play there today under the name of Racing Jet Wavre (currently in Division 4). Moroccan community club Etoile currently plays here, as well as the Ladies team of RSC Anderlecht."

This is one of the entrances, from the main road.



At this end is an open terrace, & as you can see, a stand running down the side.



Scoreboard in the corner.



And a few steps of covered terrace down the other side.



Looking at the stand, through the net.



Here is a nice full length shot down the seats.



Behind this stand, slightly higher up, is a hard surface pitch/training area. Some bricks form some sort of seating, and you can see a small overhang, for some cover further along. You can see the main national stadium behind the pitch.



A closer shot of the covered area.



Back into 'Little Heysel' now...I wonder if the concrete area is 'Mini-Heysel'? ;-)
Here we see the covered terrace at the far end for the first time.



A nice modern concrete terrace.



Here we're in the corner of the seats, looking back up the ground.



And now we're actually on the terraced area.



From where we look at the main stand again.



And finally the covered terrace on the far side, though for some reason I didn't bother to record the length of it.



Lastly, the ticket booths outside, at the back of the covered terrace, behind the goal.

RFC Meux; Meux, Belgium

More night time pictures I'm afraid. RFC Meux are a Belgian fourth division side, but I was here for a Thursday night match for a fifth division regional game, where a local side had hired the ground, as their own stadium was hired out! I can't recall what game it was off the top of my head, but the 'home' team were RAC Leuze when I saw this match in January 2008.

We paid to get in a table, just inside this entrance.



It was open behind the goal, with the clubhouse & changing rooms behind, a 'raised path'' doubling up as a sort of one step terrace, towards one side of the goal.



Down the side, to the left of the bar, was a small covered terrace.



Here is a view of the 'shed' from behind the goal.



On the opposite side it was open, with this scoreboard



Here is a dugout, with no benches!



Now at the very open far end we look back across the pitch.



This is behind that far goal, just one step & hard standing.



And here we turn the corner, to head back past the covered terrace, & the bar area



Our last snap is from inside the shed, a one step terrace, but enough to protect you from the elements.

RC Schaerbeek/FC Kosova Schaerbeek; Brussels, Belgium

This is the Crossing Stadium in Brussels. It appears to be/have been home to both
RC Schaerbeek & FC Kosova Schaerbeek. I took these photos in January 2008, after being told it was worth a visit by a couple of regular posters on the Tony Kempster forum. At the time the stadium appeared to be closed down, but the pitch was marked out. Some of the history of it is mentioned on the superb 'Football Grounds of Brussels' Facebook page, run by Stephane Lievens, & I copy the details here:

"Current club : Racing Club Schaerbeek (3rd Provincial division)This big stadium located in the Parc Josaphat in Schaerbeek used to be the home of Crossing. The club was founded in 1913 in Ganshoren, in North-West Brussels. In 1959, they moved to Molenbeek, playing at the Sippelberg. In 1969 they were promoted to Division 1. This is when they merged with CS Schaerbeek to form Crossing Schaerbeek and play here. After 4 seasons in the top flight, they dropped down the divisions and moved to the village of Elewijt, well outside of Brussels in Vlaams-Brabant. The still exist under the name of KVV Crossing Elewijt.Today, the Crossing stadium is in a neglected, sad state. Everything is crumbling and even the dressing rooms are insalubrious. There are various plans to redevelop the site, but as it stands, this is how it looks nowadays. Imagine that in the Seventies, Bob Dylan performed live here!Nevertheless, local side RC Schaerbeek are somehow still playing here."

I saw the stadium from the passing tram, & already I was getting excited. I tried not to raise my hopes...as the walls looked imposing, I was unsure if I would find a way in.



This is the back of a stand behind one of the goals.



I continued round, taking some shots of 'urban graffiti', a changing art form that sometimes appeals to me.



More high walls along the side.



A disused entrance of some sort, with a hole in it to 'tease' me!



This is a 'close up' of the 'window'.



More graffiti art as I continue round the outer walls.





And to the far side, where there's a closed clubhouse, & empty car park.



The entire ground is fenced off with this temporary wire mesh.



A supurb old tiling, in Schaerbeek colours.



With FC Kosova above another entrance.



An attempt at a glimpse inside, as I lift my camera up in the air, from one of the corners.



Tantalisingly close to an entrance.



And finally on one of the corners, I manage to squeeze past the mesh fencing, where it's not totally secure next to another wall.
And I'm in! Yes!!!!
I come in at a corner, there is a terrace behind my goal to the left, and this-the main stand- to my right. I am going to walk along this stand, and take you round the ground in an anti-clockwise direction.



Here is the big open terrace behind the goal, where we will finish our tour later.



Back to the main stand. Totally derelict, But enthralling. I want to close my eyes & take myself in a time machine back to whenever the glory days of this stadium were.



Left to rot, yes. But you could rennovate this grand old place fairly easily, with the right funding, I would have thought.



From here we look over to the terracing on the far side, getting our first look at the covered standing area.



Behind the other goal is this shell of what must have been a superb stand when built.



Here is another shot of it, further up in the main stand, from the old press box area.



And from the back rows we look over to the open terraced end.



And directly into the over opposite.



Now we are looking at the far corner, where we see the stand 'merge' with the terrace.



Here we lok directly into the stand behind the goal, in a very sorry state, but again not beyond hope of renovation.



Under all that tatty tarpaulin the benches don't look in that bad nick.



From this end we look back to the main stand.



And now we're round to the terraced side.



At an angle here, so I can get the other terracing behind the goal in the same picture.



Old scoreboard still on the wall.



From the corner of the covered area we look behind the goal.



And here we look back along the covered terrace, with the large stand in the background.



Parts of the terracing are becoming overgrown.



And we are finally back behind the goal, almost back to where we sneaked in.



The main stand, through the goal net.



Up on the terrace now, ignoring the fact it's fenced off, & presumably out of bounds, we look down to the terraced side.



And directly across the pitch.



As well as the main stand side, to complete the panoramic set.



With a remaining shot to show how steep this open terrace is.



With this picture to show how it's 'shifting' & why it's unsafe & fenced off.



A last look at the terrace, from the bottom this time.



Now we're 'safely' back behind the fences!