A Benelux Weekend, Part 2.

Benelux means, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands – so having done games in the first two on Thursday and Friday, it had to be the Netherlands on Saturday. The three hours of driving from south of Liege to Rijssen passed without incident. Hidden in the woods on the Southern side of the town is the Sportpark de Koerbelt, home of Excelsior ’31. I paid my €8 to enter (an “Amateur” game in the Netherlands costs more than a “Professional” one in Luxembourg), and picked up the small A5 programme (free). I then went in search of the team sheets. I found an office where several people were writing official team sheets. They were happy to talk to me, and offered me a coffee when they found I had come over from England – but then when I asked which sheet was for the first team, I discovered that this office was only for the other teams. Looking at the tables, I discovered that Excelsior put out 15 full men’s teams on any given Saturday, plus no less than 43 youth teams. According to those in the office, this makes them the biggest club in the Eastern Netherlands. A signpost outside the clubhouse points you towards the six pitches on site – but this cannot be enough, even with staggered kick off times through the day, they must use other fields as well.

The main pitch has a stand for around 400 people, taking up about half the length of the side, and a few steps of terracing to one side of this. The rest of the playing area has a flat pathway all around. The ground raises behind the goal and in front of the club house. The slope is grassed, except for a steps down the centre, with a few benches placed at the top of the slope, (of course, somewhere down one side there is a ramp for disabled supporters – I saw an electric wheelchair pass by at the lower level, and then pass me again at the top of the stairs). There were spectators sitting on the benches and on the grass. Despite a restricted view, around a hundred people appeared to watch the game without leaving the terrace in front of the club house. It seems to be the rule that you cannot take your beer with you down the steps. Well, it was a warm afternoon, so who is to blame those who stay close to their beer?

The Teams Enter the Pitch

As teams entered the pitch, not only did we have the banner wavers above, but also smoke flares and firecrackers. I noticed that all of these were set off from outside the playing area – everything is stage managed in the Netherlands, and the health and safety rules here make the UK seem dangerously lax. With the players not entering the pitch until the official kick off time, the match was five minutes late in starting. The match is part of the Zaterdag Landskampioenschap, (aka the Saturday Amateur Championships), and this is the last season it will be played. Currently the Hoofdklasse, the top level below the Netherlands League consists of three Saturday divisions (and three more on Sunday) with the champions playing off in a round robin, (two home games each) before the Amateur championship final, when the Saturday and Sunday champions finally meet to decide the overall champions. From next season, there will be Topklasse above the Hoofdklasse – providing a national championship for each day, and meaning only one tie is required to decide the overall champions. Barendrecht won group A, Excelsior won group C – but going into this game, the group B champions, IJsselmeervogels held the advantage with a win over Excelsior, and a draw at Barendrecht.

The first half was generally even, with both sides creating chances, but only one being taken – this was by the home forward, Niki Leferink after only 70 seconds of play.

Excelsior 31 are in the Red.

At half time, I managed to get back to the invites only area where I had picked up the teams (after being re-directed from downstairs). More free coffee, and cream cakes as well. The view from the top floor balcony was great, and I might have been tempted to stay if not for the flags.

View from the Top.

The second half changed complexion with 20 minutes to go, when Niki Leferenk was spotted diving in the penalty area. It was so blatant that there was no massive shout for a penalty, even from the crowd – and the referee agreed. But for Niki, the bad news was that he already had picked up a yellow card, so this was his second, and off he went. Still, it was his early goal that separated the teams, and continued to do so. The game moved slowly, as the home side were trying to waste time, and the referee never failed to accept an excuse to allow the trainers onto the pitch, not even demanding that the ‘injured’ players leave the pitch for a minute. With the advantage of a man more, Barendrecht were camped in the opposition territory, but everything they tried was blocked. It appeared to me that their game was too predictable, and that Excelsior were successfully predicting where the ball was going to go. To score a goal, a little pace and some randomness can help, and for all Barendrecht’s fine passing moves, they did not have this.

The only way that Barendrecht were going to score was with a move that was so perfect that Excelsior could not stop it, even knowing where the ball should go. It took until five minutes of injury time had passed to produce this. A free kick about 25 yards out, with the Excelsior wall surprisingly close to the ball, but a rocket of a shot from Alex van Dommelen, straight into the top corner of the net. The 1-1 draw was not really wanted by either side, as IJsselmeervogels remain in the group’s driving seat with a home game against Barendrecht on Tuesday. The slow match – late start, nine minutes of injury time (over two halves) and an 18 minute half time period was not to my liking either. It was already gone 4.30 when the game finished; not bad for a 2.30 start. I needed at least ten minutes more if I was to try and get to Gemert, where their Sunday Landskampioenschap game was taking place on the Saturday, at 6 O’clock. I gave it a good try, but it was more than ten minutes after kick off time when I finally reached Gemert. I did not stop, but went straight on in search of a hotel.

For Sunday, it was back to Belgium, and the play offs for a place in the League. I had considered returning to the Antwerp play offs, and seeing the second leg at Houtvenne – but instead chose Herk-de-Stad in Limburg. The simple reasoning was that of the teams at home on the day, this was the one furthest from Calais, and therefore the least likely for me to pick up on a day trip. Most likely, I shall drive a party over and drop everyone else in Herk, and then go off to one of the other grounds I need nearby!! Anyway, I reached Herk easily enough – it is a small town not far from Hasselt. I arrived about an hour before kick-off, and nothing was open in the town, but the clubhouse was already buzzing. Often the clubs are quiet with business picking up only in the last 15 minutes or so before the start, but with a coach load of visiting supporters, this one was busier. It was €7 to enter. No programme and the team sheet was a photo copy of the official handwritten list that has to be given to the referee. The clubhouse takes up more than half of one side, and with windows pitch side, it provides a good viewing area in itself. There is a little shelter erected in front of the clubhouse, but this is mainly to protect the steps up from the dressing room, while a few seats are for officials only. There are two areas of covered standing, a smallish one near the entrance, and a much longer structure diagonally opposite. Both of these have a step or two to increase capacity, whereas the rest of the pitch surround is a typical flat standing. I estimated the crowd around 400.

The fans were in good form, and none of the ‘organisation’ found in the Netherlands. The visitors had brought some smoke flares and firecrackers into the ground, while green and red hats worn by the home supporters (and one or two visitors) gave them the look that they had escaped from some St Patrick’s day parade.

Visiting fans, one wearing home colours on his hat.

Despite the preponderance of black and white shown by their fans, Bievre actually played in a light blue which I wondered how to describe – was it tending to turquoise, or was that an illusion caused by the lime green trims and numbers? Meanwhile a small number of home fans set up a band.

“The Band”

Royal Standard FC Bievre came into the match having finished fourth in the Namur province. They then beat Spy (away) and Yvoir to reach the interprovincial stage – Namur play offs are single games. Herk-de-Stad were second in the Limburg league, and followed this with wins over Koersel and RC Hades – in this case the matches were over two legs. The Interprovincial matches are all to be settled in a day.

Bievre made the brighter start, and seemed well in control for half and hour, although they were finding it difficult to find clear cut chances to force the home keeper to do any work. Herk-de-Stad had lined up a fairly flat five man defensive line, which meant they were outnumbered in midfield, even though one of other of the two forwards kept dropping back to help. Bievre were more standard as a 4-4-2. It was therefore against the run of play when Herk forward Bob Putzeys took a shot from the edge of the area and through the crowd on 31 minutes. The ball stayed low, and the keeper dived too late.

Herk had the better of the play, and looked to be on top early in the second half. I noted that they had pushed a player forward into the more standard 4-4-2 formation and this seemed to suit them better. Just after the hour mark, they had a ‘set back’. Kim Claes, the left back brought down an opponent with a violent challenge that earned him a straight red card. Two minutes later, they withdrew one of the forwards in order to bring on a substitute and play on in 4-4-1.

David Beckers misdirects a header, shortly before being substituted.

To be honest, you would not have realised that Herk were a man down – for the next 15 minutes they continued to dominate the game, and were causing considerable problems to the Bievre defence. Putzeys and attacking midfielder Michiel Derwael causing the problems. With 15 minutes to play, it was clear that Bievre needed to change something to get back into the game – so they withdrew a defender and brought on the improbably tall Francois Toussant to create a three man attack. This caused instant confusion, and within two minutes the defence had messed up on marking duties leaving the earlier sub, Tanguy Daouet to level the scores.

Extra time beckoned. I noticed that despite taking a mid half drinks break in both halves, this game reached 90 minutes at least 7 minutes quicker than the previous day’s effort. I also noticed that while the previous day’s match had consisted of only precise passing, that may have delighted the perfectionist, but led to few chances – this match was a mixture of long and short balls – which meant the defenders had to be on their toes, and there was plenty of goal mouth incident. Naturally, once expected the side with a man advantage to be in command as player’s legs tired in extra time, and this appeared true for a while. When Toussant scored a minute before the extra time break, surely the writing was on the wall.

Panic in the Herk defence. Toussant (9) ends up pulling away to the post, where he scores what is almost a tap in to put Bievre 2-1 up after 104 minutes.

If the writing was on the wall, then I guess it was in French (the language spoken in Bievre) and was ignored by the Flemish speakers from Herk. The half time whistle of extra time came immediately after the restart – for the home teams equalising goal. It was the substitute left back, Jelle Verheyen who had pushed up the field for a corner that scored the goal. This rejuvenated the home team, but with only ten men they were never going to regain dominance. Half way through the second period they were awarded a free kick 25 yards out, but it bounced back off the wall, (perhaps the one with the French writing on it?). The loose ball fell the Kristof Pirlet – the player who had started in defence but moved to midfield when Herk went to 4-4-2/4-4-1. Still from around 25 yards he hit a thunderous shot into the roof of the goal. Bievre never gave up, and came close to levelling the scores again. Remembering that three substitutes had scored in Luxembourg, (and two had already scored for Bievre), I got hopeful when the visitors’ third sub was given the final three minutes, but in fact he hardly saw the ball.

The home celebrations at the end of the game were as if they had won promotion. Technically, they have to win another game, (away to Opwijk, the team attempting to avoid the drop) to do so, or win the play-off losers final, as I have heard of one merger that will cause a vacancy in next season’s league. Perhaps there is more I have not yet heard of, and this match gives Herk a place in the higher league?

Meanwhile, I note from the Kaelijne web site that they went on from the home win I reported earlier, to win 3-0 in Houtvenne and hence they are in the League next season.