RRC Boitsfort; Brussels, Belgium

I would have had no idea whatsoever who play at the Trois Tilleuls Stadium, if it wasn't for the excellent Football Grounds of Brussels group on Facebook by Stephane Lievens. His site has been a HUGE help on me locating grounds to photograph whenever I've been to Belgium over the last year or more, & he has been a superb, always replying when I've messaged him.

When I looked at this ground in February 2009 I couldn't see any mention of which club used it as their ground, & it was through his Facebook group that I know it is RRC Boitsfort. They appear to play at the second level of the local Brussels area leagues. I'm not a fan of running track grounds for football, as regulars will know, but this one has some magnificent old terracing, as you will see.

Here is what Stephane said about the stadium on his Facebook group:

"WATERMAEL-BOITSFORT, Stade des 3 Tilleuls Avenue des Nymphes 1a, 1170 Watermael-Boitsfort Current club : RRC Boitsfort (2nd Provincial division) www.rrcboitsfort.be The stadium was built in 1948 and could host 40000 spectators. Famous Racing Club de Bruxelles moved here from their Uccle home but in 1954, they were forced to leave as they could not pay the rent anymore. It was an ambitious plan as the stadium hoped to host international matches (they hosted a few) but the location in a corner of South-East Brussels difficult to reach by public transport and the lack of parking space (the ground is located in a residential area) meant that it never fulfilled the ambitions. Today, it is mainly used as an athletics stadium and is the home of local side RRC Boitsfort. "

This appears to be the main entrance to the ground, it looks impressive already!



This is the view of the stand from behind.



There is this sculpture behind it, there was a small plaque on it, though i'm not sure what it's supposed to represent.



I'm going to walk round the ground, clockwise, from the main entrance, going to the grandstand last of all. Here we start on the large terrace, which stretches round three sides of the stadium.



This area is directly behind the goal.



From here you see how impressive the stand is.



Up on the terrace behind the goal we look across the pitch.



There is a raised area in the centre, not being 'au fait' with athletics tracks, I'm not sure of its significance.



Standing on this balcony we look over to the stand again.



Now we get our first proper sight of the huge bank of terracing along the side.



The dugouts seem a long way away!



We see them here, as we look across the halfway line.



Here we reach the curved bank of terrace behind the other goal.



Before anyone asks... this photo is deliberately wonky! It was one of my attempts at an 'arty farty' snap! ;-)



Another angle of the main stand, this time from the third side.



Another shot, but one that shows the expanse of terrace.



Now we reach the stand itself. There is some graffiti on the side, but this appears to be 'official' artwork.



But up in the stand this IS graffiti.



The curved concrete roof impressed me. There are no seats, I don't know when the old ones were taken out, or if there are plans to replace them.



From up here we look over, & see how steep the terrace is.



Up in the stand we look over to where we started our tour around the stadium.



Behind the stand is an all weather pitch, & other open air sports facilities. I don't know, but presume, this is part of the same complex. I didn't go down to this pitch, but took a couple of snaps from the footpath above it. Railed off down one side, with a small stand in the middle.

Sippelberg Stadium; Brussels, Belgium

No club currently uses this stadium, according to Stephane Lievens, of the 'Football Grounds of Brussels' Facebook page. So I am, once again, grateful to him for the location & information on this ground:

"MOLENBEEK SAINT-JEAN, Sippelberg Avenue Mahatma Gandhi 5, 1080 Molenbeek Saint-Jean Current club : none (sometimes used by the reserves of FC Brussels) This was the stadium of Molenbeek's second team, Crossing, who in 1959 moved here from Ganshoren. In 1969, while bigger neighbours Daring were relegated to division 2, the team was promoted to division 1. They never played top flight football here though, as they then moved to Schaerbeek after merging with RCS Schaerbeek (and became R Crossing Schaerbeek) Today, only bits of terracing are surviving and the old stand is gone. Local teams are now playing here, although this season none in the Belgian FA."

This was the only decent sign I saw, on the sportshall, part of the site.

When I approached the ground i wasn't sure if I would be able to gain access, so I took a couple of snaps from outside, through the perimeter fence.

I'd seen photos on the facebook pages, so knew there was some steps of old terrace on the far side.

You can see one of the bits of terrace between the two buildings. Presumably it used to run the full length until the changing rooms in the middle were built.

Presumably the name of the ground? This was on the side of the newer changing room block, in the middle.

Pitchsdie, we look across, there is no spectator area down the far side.

Here we see the first area of terrace.

And another plaque at the far end of the building.

Grass banking set behind the fae goal, in was from the corner, where you see the floodlight pylon, that I took the snaps from outside.

This is the terrace at the other end of the spectator side.

Behind the main grass pitch is this all-weather one.

Railed off down one side.

The building in the background, with the green dome, is the National Basilica of the Sacred Heart.

Up a few steps there is another all-weather pitch, making it three pitches in total.

With the tower blocks in the background I could almost be back home in inner city London!

This one had a small modern stand.

RFC Grace-Hollogne; Grace Hollogne, Belgium

A low level club from the Liege region. If I've searched them correctly they appear to play in the second level of the Liege area leagues. A merger of two local teams, I think, the ground is very basic, simply railed off. I was here in February 2009, & was due to watch their reserves, who my friend Nicolas plays for, but it was postponed when the opposition failed to show. Grrr!!!




This is the main building, as seen from the car park. This houses both the bar & the changing rooms.




My good friend Nicolas. Top bloke!




Past the club building, as we looked toward it from the car park, is this second pitch.




To the left of this is the main pitch, which we see here from the corner, the bar being right behind us as we look.




A game was just finishing, here we look down the touchline, dugouts side.




From just behind this near end touchline we see down the side, with the dugouts clearer.




Here we look back down the line, from the other end of the pitch.




Not even railed off behind the goal, just fields behind.




The railing continues down the other side.




A few advertising boards, not in the best nick!




Across the pitch we see the dugouts. What looks like a small shelter in between is in fact in the field/paddock behind.




Looking behind us you see that this ground/town is up on a hill, looking down to a bigger town, not sure which one. Maybe the outskirts of Liege?




Now we're back behind the goal, and look down the railed off touchline.




Back to the corner where we started out.




An attempt, not a good one really, of an 'arty' snap of long shadows.




A glance across the pitch, during a hastily arranged training session across the pitch for the frustrated reserves, instead of a proper match.




A club flag proudly hangs up in the bar. This is not a Flemish region! ;-)