R.U. Auderghem; Brussels, Belgium.

RU Auderghem is a Belgian club based in the south eastern corner of Brussels. I discovered their ground through the excellent Football Grounds of Brussels' group on Facebook.

This is what the man behind that group,Stephanw Lievens , tells us about the ground:

"AUDERGHEM, Stade Communal
Chaussée de Wavre 1854, 1160 Auderghem

Current club : Royal Union Auderghem (3rd Provincial division)

Stadium of RU Auderghem, product of the merger between the commune's two clubs a few years ago, Union Sportive Auderghem and Association Sportive Auderghem. The ground near the Brussels-Liège motorway has a nice Fifties stand."

I visited this ground in June 2009.



This is the entrance into the ground, the sign above, is next to it. But I had to walk a few hundred yards along to find a gap in the chain link fencing that surrounded their multi-pitch site.


The main road is to the left of these trees, and this pitch is the farthest away, where I gained access. It is not the main one, and is simply railed off, with these old concrete posts.



Further along there are some benches.



Beyond that pitch is this all-weather one, still not the main stadium though.



Here we are still walking along from the previous pitch, trees by the road to the left, and ahead you can see some club buildings, which is where the entrance gate is, also on the left.



This all-weather pitch is fully railed, with hard standing all the way round.



And here we are now at 'Le Chalet', which is their clubhouse.



From in front of it we look over the all-weather pitch once more, over to the dugouts.



This is just inside the gates we saw earlier. Presumably where they take the admission money from.



Walking along past the clubhouse we go up a few steps..and here we are, looking over to the main side of First Team enclosure.



We're going to look at that part of the ground last, so we're going to walk round anti-clockwise. Here we see it is open standing behind the goal, the all-weather pitch is the other side of the grass banking.



There are a few benches at the top.



From directly behind the goal we look over to the side with the stands.



Down the far side it is just railed off, with trees behind, but no hard standing.



Here are the dugouts.



From the halfway line we look over the pitch.



Beyond the dugouts, & past the halfway line it's more of the same, just the rail.



Now we're at the far end, and once more, looking over to the built up side.



Behind this goal is yet another pitch, the last one on the complex. This is the dugout by the side of it.



It is actually floodlit, as you can see on the far side, and is partially surrounded by old concrete posts.



Back on the main part of the grounds, we are heading up the built up side, you can see some open terracing immediately ahead.



Again a couple of benches just above the steps.



And now we reach the main stand, with the club initials at the rear.



Some graffiti is on the side...is the football that bad that even this spectator looks away from the pitch? ;-)



Here we see the initials at the back of the stand.



And from the back row of the benches we look over to the open side.



Behind is this building, which I think are changing rooms, which are a bit further along.



Past the main stand is this covered enclosure, with more benches on the concrete.



Here is the main stand from on the pitch.



With the other one just past it.



Back on the spectator side, we look along the second stand, where we see some more terracing beyond it.



Once more with benches on top.



From the top of the terrace at the end we look back down the seated side.



Still along the side, at the end of the terrace, is this 'tunnel' for the players.



And we finish the tour on the main pitch side of 'Le Chalet'. This is certainly a ground I'd like to see a match at one day.

Burgess Hill Town

Burgess Hill Town is one of those grounds I've been to a number of times, simply because my team, Dulwich Hamlet, are in the same division as them. They seem to have established themselves as an Isthmian One South club, but I can't imagine them ever going higher. It's quite a basic ground, open on three sides, and no separate covered standing, just the seats down the one side. Not a ground that you would go 'wow!' when you visit, but decent enough. It's also-very important in my book!-handily placed for the train station, Wivelsfield being a ten minute stroll.



Outside you can see the lights over the tops of the houses. home to the stupid local NIMBYs, who insist that they MUST have the floodlights turned off at 9.30pm, or face heavy fines from the local council. It's not as if Burgess Hill get big crowds, and-more importantly-surely you know what to expect when you move next to a football ground! Rant over!



This is the entrance to the Leylands Park ground.



The boys are back in town! ;-)



This is the turnstiles from the other side.



Just inside are the programme sellers, and the raffle tickets.



Looking toward the pitch we see the stand on the right hand side.



But we're going to the seats later. We will head left, & go round the ground clockwise. I have no idea why those extra plastic seats are placed outside the bar! I hope it's not a ground grading 'con'! ;-)



The line-ups are helpfully displayed on the side of the clubhouse.



It's open behind the goal, hard standing, but no terracing. you can see the players' tunnel just past the goal.



From behind the goal we look over to other side, open, with plenty of trees behind, where the dugouts are.



Here is the tunnel, with the cover pulled across, as the players come onto the pitch.



The actual 'tunnel' itself, for the changing rooms turn left!



Past the tunnel is the refreshment caravan, with tables an chairs in front.



Sitting down, before kick off here, are Dulwich Hamlet chairman Jack Payne, on the left.
The chap on the right is one of our loyal fans Jack McInroy, on the right, who publishes and edits the excellent magazine 'Hamlet Historian' of which there have now been over twenty issues, two or three times a season. Which reminds me, I must start work on a couple of new articles! I call him 'Jack the Plaque' as he was instrumental in campaigning for a commemorative plaque for our greatest ever player, Edgar Kail, which is on display above the main entrance at Champion Hill.



Past the tea bar is a toilet block.



Open toward the corner.



Time to glance back behind us...



Before moving on down the side.



Lots of advertising hoardings down the side, a few of which are for other clubs and venues.
This one for the dogs at Hove.



Another for the Mid-Sussex League club Lindfield, who groundshare here.



And also one for the local Football League outfit.



Still at this corner it's time for our walk round the ground to continue. Here we look across the pitch, to the stand.



Time to move onwards. Again it's just open hard standing along here.



From this side we look back behind the goal.



And further down we look across the pitch, in a gap between spectators, one of whom I'm guessing may be an injured home player.



Now we have reached the dugouts.



This is how they look from the other side.



Directly opposite the stand we look across the pitch.



And then move onwards, again simple hard standing to the next corner.



More hard standing behind the goal.



Almost at the corner we look over the playing surface.



This is the open end behind this goal.



Here we look over the goalmouth, the stand as a backdrop.



Just past the far post we look over to the stand. The loyalist contingent of the home support encamp in te left hand section of it, as we look. Sadly one of their number wasn't with them today. It's a blow up Homer Simpson, respendant in a Burgess Hill Town shirt!



Still behind the goal we look up the pitch.



We're finally moving on to the stand.



Again the hard standing, until we reach it.



And here we are! Four rows of seating, in club colours.



It stretches quite a way along.



It's a popular place to watch the game from.



Two of our older fans, who really should know better, hijack the press area!



Now we look back down the stand, as we've reached the other end.



Here's another look at the seats, back down the other end, after the match.



This is the officials area, in the middle.



And glancing back down the stand from there.



On the pitch, very smart, with the club name on top.



Stepping back a bit we get a full length shot.



Past the stand is, once more, hard standing to the corner.



One last look behind the goal, where we started, from the seated side.



An 'ugly' photo to finish, but it's a lot nicer inside, for this is their club shop next to the turnstiles.



so it's farewell Burgess Hill Town. As I said at the start, not the greatest of grounds, but it's well kept, and the welcome is always warm.