Following our exploits in Deinze the day before, waking up on Sunday morning became something of a more arduous task than it really ought to have been. A night out in Bruges had succeeded the football the night previous, and Belgian beer is notably stronger than the equivalents sold in England. As a direct result, not that I'm complaining, my headache was considerably stronger than its English equivalent.
I'm a trooper however, and so we quickly went about discussing the events of the night, recalling three or four episodes of Einklatschen 'The Icelandic Clap', alongside a rousing rendition of 'You'll Never Walk Alone' in a packed nightclub at near enough 2am. Conveniently, 'YNWA' happens to be the club anthem of the home side in my next footballing adventure, Club Brugge, a side we would watch against Lokeren later on that Sunday. Goes some way to explain why everybody in the club had arms aloft whilst belting out the famous tune.
Cusack's dad, Sean, was due to be driving down from England for the game and so we sorted ourselves out before his arrival, a period of time that saw me throw my phone down three flights of stairs. They say phones are troopers, just like their owners, but I was more than shocked to find it intact having watched it go bouncing down the hard wood steps. Sean kindly offered to take us to one of his favourite restaurants in the city, Amon, which advertises itself as offering quality Lebanese food. An 'Africa 2' was recommended by our new accomplice, and we politely obliged. A combination of meats and salad and sauces were placed before me, and it's got me licking my lips just writing about it. No wonder it was recommended, it was gorgeous!
I'm a trooper however, and so we quickly went about discussing the events of the night, recalling three or four episodes of Einklatschen 'The Icelandic Clap', alongside a rousing rendition of 'You'll Never Walk Alone' in a packed nightclub at near enough 2am. Conveniently, 'YNWA' happens to be the club anthem of the home side in my next footballing adventure, Club Brugge, a side we would watch against Lokeren later on that Sunday. Goes some way to explain why everybody in the club had arms aloft whilst belting out the famous tune.
Cusack's dad, Sean, was due to be driving down from England for the game and so we sorted ourselves out before his arrival, a period of time that saw me throw my phone down three flights of stairs. They say phones are troopers, just like their owners, but I was more than shocked to find it intact having watched it go bouncing down the hard wood steps. Sean kindly offered to take us to one of his favourite restaurants in the city, Amon, which advertises itself as offering quality Lebanese food. An 'Africa 2' was recommended by our new accomplice, and we politely obliged. A combination of meats and salad and sauces were placed before me, and it's got me licking my lips just writing about it. No wonder it was recommended, it was gorgeous!
Suitably fed, the five of us headed over towards the ground, with a good two hours or so to spare before kick-off. Sean and Rob both hold season tickets at Club, as they visit regularly, with the former needing to pick up his before today's fixture against Lokeren. Small Rob and myself took the opportunity to purchase a scarf each, coming in for a very reasonable 15 euros a piece. We soon found ourselves wandering over towards the main platz that a large number of Club fans use for their pre-match drinks. There was a friendly atmosphere around, with the Cusack's saying hello to old friends, and the beer going around as easily as it had been the night previous. We soon learned that it's very difficult to stand with Bruges fans and not have a beer on the go, and so I ended up with at least two in my hand for long periods whilst we chatted with the locals before the game. Again, not that I'm complaining. Soon enough, we were heading over to the Jan Breydel Stadion for the game, and Thom continued his hospitality by kindly showing us the way to our seats. |
The Jan Breydel is shared by Club with city rivals Cercle, but it was prominently blue for the afternoon as a crowd of just over 26,000 watched the home side struggle past their opposition, 30 year-old Lior Refaelov scoring the only goal of the game with a cheeky Panenka penalty in the 22nd minute.
The ground itself is a fantastic place to watch football, sitting to the south-west of the city. Its four stands, all-seater from what I could see, match well, and it's actually still retained some of its character having been erected in 1975. I'm told that before its use in the Euro 2000 championships, renovation work needed to be completed, and that included adding more seats where many wouldn't have seen it possible. During that time, passing between seats became something of a tight squeeze, for obvious reasons.
The ground itself is a fantastic place to watch football, sitting to the south-west of the city. Its four stands, all-seater from what I could see, match well, and it's actually still retained some of its character having been erected in 1975. I'm told that before its use in the Euro 2000 championships, renovation work needed to be completed, and that included adding more seats where many wouldn't have seen it possible. During that time, passing between seats became something of a tight squeeze, for obvious reasons.
Cusack and myself were placed in the season ticket seats opposite the dugouts, with the vocal ultras to our right, Andy and small Rob in the gods in the top corner. There was a good atmosphere throughout the game, with the ultras singing through the duration of the 90 minutes, with the crowd joining in on occasion. Getting a beer is just as easy in the ground as it is in the bars down the road, simply buy 10 euros worth of tokens for example, and hand those in to the counter each time you want a beer. Saves messing around with change, which is convenient and a shame that it's a system not more widely used in England.
The game itself wasn't the greatest of spectacles, a single goal from Refaelov was enough to be the difference between the two sides. Club played some attractive football, but never really threatened to extend their lead, but the three points were what they deserved on the balance of play. Having predicted he would score before the game, I was naturally disappointed to see Jelle Vossen somehow manage to hit the crossbar of an open goal from a mere six yards. He won't be going on any of my anytime scorer bets ever again. |
Following the game, we headed back to the main platz where the drinking continued, I've given my liver a couple of weeks to recover following the weekend, don't worry. This, as it usually does, turned into a second night out, with another level of silliness that I hadn't previously anticipated. I want to describe it to you here, but I don't think it can be put into words, so I'll leave Andy's snapchat to tell the story. You guys can work out the rest of it for yourselves.
As you can see, it really was a bit daft. Thom and his wife kindly offered us a lift back into central Bruges, and to this day, I don't know why this happened. All I know is that Andy ended up in the boot of the car with building gear on. Bruges was brilliant over the course of the weekend, and I really hope to go back again some day in the future. It's brilliant for culture, a relaxed weekend away, and even drinking if you're that way persuaded. It's brilliant for football as well. You've got the option of the Jan Breydel each weekend as the likelihood is either Club or Cercle will be at home, there's a couple of lower tiers sides in the city, and there's plenty of other options within an hour's drive, so you would never go short of action if planning a football weekend. Cheers to the three lads that I spent the weekend with, and of course, Sean having spent the Sunday with us. Cheers! Sheridan |