Finally in Part 3 of this Belgian adventure we have the pleasure of waking up in the city within walking distance of the stadium and no need for trains. Thus allowing a little more time to wander around the city checking out some of the sites, grabbing some culinary and libationary delights before heading to see Anderlecht take on the mighty RFC Seraing.
2 days after flying into Brussels we finally get to see the great city. Known round the world as the home of the European parliament and to some as the capital of Europe. Brussels is the third region of Belgium after Wallonia and Flanders, just north of the imaginary border line. Historically a Flemish speaking city, but over the last 2 centuries the assimilation of Flemish people, as well as immigration of French speakers has gradually led to French being the main language, spoken by up to 90% as a first language, a phenomenon known as ‘the oil slick’ by its opponents. It is a truly multicultural city with more than a quarter of its inhabitants being born outside of Belgium.
National hero
Despite having such exports as Kevin De Bruyne, Jean Claude Van Damme, Eddie Merckx, we have officially voted Belgiums greatest export to be the inspirational adventuring reporter…Tintin.
If you want to get your Tintin fix then the Comics Art Museum is your place, here you can also see some more Belgian comic greats in The Smurfs, this museum is a short walk from the Grand Place so we swung by en route to the centrepiece of Brussels.
This stunning square has had activity here in one form or another for nearly 1000 years and is steeped in history and beauty. Rather worse for wear we pitched up at one of the many restaurants to escape the searing heat to admire the stunning architecture, take in a bit of people watching and line the stomachs for the day.
Plenty to see
For those with a little more time there are a few other things to see in Brussels, 5 minutes’ walk away you will find possibly the most overrated tourist attraction in the world in the Mannequin Pis, incredibly underwhelming. Much more impressive is the Atomium and a host of museums and tours covering beer and chocolate as well as the city itself, plenty to keep you entertained before trying the city’s world famous fries and waffles and maybe even its most famous export, the great Brussels Sprouts. Overall a great city with plenty of bars, restaurants and clubs to provide entertainment but the real pinnacle is the sheer depth of wonderful beers available, for that specifically check out delirium with a little over 2000 varieties of world beers on offer.
As for Anderlecht itself, it is one of the 19 municipalities of Brussels with its own impressive church dating mainly from the 14th century and a museum about the resistance of Germany during World War 2 which can be worth a visit for a few hours. Given our schedule we were unable to sample these delights but we took the hour long walk from Grand Place to Lotto Park.
Always time for a boiled egg
It was instantly noticeable how multi-cultural this area was with a stroll through the vast ‘Marche de l’Abattoir’ selling all kinds of worldly goods, before popping in to what we discovered to be a Cameroonian drinking establishment for a couple of beers and everyone’s favourite bar snack, some hard boiled eggs that were displayed appealingly in a basket on the bar. It’d be rude not to.
As we finally approached the stadium you could instantly feel the buzz as the fans gathered in the streets with a variety of shops, bars and stalls serving plenty of food and alcohol to compliment the music pumping in the sunshine, it was a great way to get in the mood before being served our final course of Belgian football of the weekend.
So that’s a bit about where we are and how we got here, and now for why we’re here. To see the mighty Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht, formed in 1908 and described by fans of their local rivals as a ‘lift’ team until 1936 when they finally settled in the top division, a position they have maintained with only Standard Liege having a longer run. 12 years later they won their first title and to this day have an incredible record of not finishing outside the top 6 of the Belgian Pro League since then. During the 1960’s they began to really dominate Belgian football with 5 titles in succession, a feat unsurprisingly never matched since. Their dominance showed when in 1964, Belgium fielded an entire Anderlecht 11 in a match vs The Netherlands.
Biggest team in Belgium
In total they are way out in front with 34 league titles, hence the 3 stars on their badge, however a recent dry patch has them without success since 2017 as Club Brugge hunt them down. They have also led the way for Belgium in Europe. In 1976 and 78 they won the Cup Winners Cup beating West Ham and Austria Vienna respectively and followed both up with victories in the Super Cups. More success came in 1983 with a UEFA Cup win, as well as a few other runner up spots this impressively leaves Anderlecht as the 14th most successful team in UEFA competitions sandwiched between Sevilla & Valencia.
The venue for the evening was the 19,000 capacity Lotto Park stadium, until naming rights were sold in 2019 this was known as the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium, positively known for his playing days here as well as managing the national team, he then became chairman of the team. The stadium has been on site since 1917 but during the 1983 rebuild it was given the chairman’s name, however only a year later, maybe struggling to pay for the redevelopment, Anderlecht knocked Nottingham Forest out of the 1984 UEFA Cup semi-final. Forest players knew on the night, and it was later proven that Stock had bribed the referee that night which cleared their path to the Final where thankfully they lost.
Anderlecht are the biggest supported team in the country and they will be looking to give their fans a treat against this seasons expected whipping boys RFC Seraing.
High expectations
For the more than reasonable price of £23 we took our seats at the back of the South Tribune behind the goal. The full house was in great spirits from the start, coming off the back of a midweek win in Europe and facing a ‘pointless’ team who they cumulatively beat 8-0 last season, expectations were high. And we weren’t disappointed as Francis Amuzu took advantage of some dilly dallying in the Seraing defence to convert the cross from lively youngster Noah Sadiki.
4 minutes in and the tone was set for an enjoyable evening amongst the Anderlecht faithful. After just 15 mins the game already looked out of reach for Seraing when Amuzu combined with Rafaelov in a beautiful 1-2 before slotting home to double the lead. It only took another quarter of an hour before more lethargic defending allowed Wolves loanee Fabio Silva to turn on a sixpence and fire home.
The atmosphere was pumping with all parts of the ground singing along with the ultras as we headed out for some half time refreshments. On the concourse we caught up with one of the main conductors of the singing who we had noticed during the first half, a very animated and exuberant bloke, he invited us back for a post-match beer at his friends bar across the road which left us one less thing to think about.
The second half was much less dramatic and memorable than the first with the points already sealed, as is often the case the leaders took their foot off the gas with the only goal coming as a consolation for Seraing.
Free stash
As promised, Mattimauff as we now knew him took us back to Bich Cafeii where fans gathered to celebrate the victory. The next couple of hours passed by nicely with good company, intense music and most importantly a free cap and scarf, another perfect little bar to enjoy pre or post-match.
We headed back into town to enjoy our last evening in Belgium, with flights at 7am before returning to work, Lee and Dave decided it easiest to not sleep at all than risk missing the alarms, quite how they survived the next day I’ll never know. For me it was a night’s sleep before returning to the airport, cutting it way too fine and starting to worry, it needed a full sprint through the airport up to the gate only to see that boarding hadn’t even commenced. All’s well that ends well, a delightful first footballing adventure in Belgium had come to an end, but the trip had not, next stop Krakow.
Is Anderlecht worth a visit for a Footy Trip?
Team Ability – Currently just off the top of the 13th best league in the world and regular participants in Europe– 6/10
Atmosphere – A full house and overall support was good all round, thoroughly enjoyable environment – 7/10
Stadium Quality – Nice stadium, aesthetically pleasing and good bit of character – 7/10
Beer/Food at stadium – Annoying card required, standard Jupiler which was decent, no queueing and possible to drink in your seats– 7.5/10
Tourism in the city – Plenty to do and see in the city with some beautiful sights and cultural delights – 8/10
Accessibility – Very cheap flights to Brussels throughout the year – 9/10
People – Enjoyable atmosphere and very pleasant interactions with everyone we spent time with – 7.5/10
Stadium Surroundings – Surrounded by the beautiful Parc Astrid and a great selection of lively bars and food stalls – 9/10
Club History – Formed in 1908 and dominated Belgian Football for many years and the 14th most successful team in European history – 8.5/10
Ease of purchase/Ticket pricing – Purchasing was fairly straight forward and £23 for a good atmosphere was a bargain, need to be quick due potential sell outs – 7.5/10
Total – 77/100
Accomplishments – Teams in Belgian Jupiler Pro watched – 3/18 (17%)