Marloie Sport v Ethe Belmont, Belgium – Provincial Luxembourg
Aarau v Luzern, Switzerland - Schweizer Pokal
FC 72 Erpeldange v Union Titus Pétange, Luxembourg - Promotion d'Honneur
Friday 6th December
Next morning the destination was Namur in Belgium, with a couple of stops on the way. An old IC unit took me to Utrecht for another south to Roermond. The reason for this was to get in a ride on the old Mat 64 stock, for which was the last day of service. These have been the iconic Dutch trains for the last 50 years and are nicknamed hondekop due to their likeness of dogs heads. They have eked their days out on the Roermond-Maastricht all shacks services. This pair was had to Sittard where there was a bonus of an off diagram unit to Heerlen.
From here a bus was had to Gulpen on the river Gulp to visit the excellent Gulpener eco-brewery. Although Gulpener are best known for their fairly average pilsener, they do also brew 20 odd other beers, including, bock, weis and dort. The brewery was rather rushed round, in favour of more time in the tap room where they had 12 of the beers available for tasting.
Another bus took me on to the dull yet historic town of Maastricht, origin of the equally dull yet historic treaty for the creation of the European Union.
As it was a day on the drink, it was a beer and cheese selection on the train to Hasselt…
….for a bit of a track bash, clearing the line to Leuven….
…and Wavre.
On to Namur to check into the hotel, and then back on the train to Marloie, a few stops on the line to Luxembourg. Destination was the Terrain de Marloie for Marloie Sport v Ethe Belmont. The ground was a fifteen minute walk from the station. On the way I was accosted by a youth asking for directions to the ground. I explained I was also on my way so off we headed. He enquired as to why I was going to the game. When I explained I was travelling around, going to a different game each night, he gave me a very non-sensical look. I explained again in more basic language, to which I received the most withering of put downs "it is not your English I don't understand, it is why the fuck you are going to this game". I retreated, well and truly beaten.
By now it was absolutely pissing it down, but eventually the ground was spotted behind a festive Total garage…
…., and the entrance was found in the middle of a mud bound logging site.
Traipsing across the car park, there was little sign of kick off but the kick off time on Soccerway was an hour out.
This meant a very enjoyable hour was spent in the club house, sampling their various Trappist offerings.
Marloie Sport 1 - 3 Ethe Belmont, Belgium – Provincial Luxembourg
Marloie Sport were formed in 1955 after the closure of the original club, FC Bonnetier.
There is pretty much nothing about Ethe Belmont anywhere. I can tell you about Belmont of the Western Australian Football Commission, or Whitstable Town's Belmont Ground, but nothing about the Belgian outfit.
The officials came out to do the most half-hearted warm up ever. This consisted of two runs from the tunnel to the centre spot and back, before heading back to the dressing rooms. Eventually the teams emerged to some absolutely banging happy hardcore.
Most of the crowd stayed in the main stand outside the club house or the raised standing area alongside.
A hardy few made it over to the far touch line for the relative shelter of a wall of advertising hoardings.
On this touch line there was the holy grail of things at a lower league ground; a fenced of area. Bearing in mind at a non-league game, you are never more than six foot away from an obvious source of death, the thought that someone has gone to the effort of fencing it off means it must be either unfathomably dangerous or valuable. So this is either the back entrance to a uranium mine or where the nazi gold is buried.
The Game ended 1-3 and I headed back to the station, where it was an international train, the Basel-Bruxelles which took me back to Namur.
Saturday 7th December
Next day was a long journey south on international train IC91 through Luxembourg, France and into Basel. These used to continue across Switzerland and were operated by excellent Swiss stock with a restaurant car. However, it is now less romantic than endurance as they now only dip their toe into Switzerland, they are now operated by Belgian railways using ancient commuter carriages.
Fortunately there was a 12 minute stop in Luxembourg for a loco change….
….which allowed a dash to a shop up the hill from the station for a few refreshments.
Base for the night was Olten, inbetween Basel and Zurich.
Game was the Swiss cup quarter final between Aarau and Luzern. Aarau was ten minutes on the train from Olten, with the ground being a mile or so out of town. However, being Switzerland, a metre gauge mountain tram linked the ground to the town centre.
Aarau play at the Brügglifeld, which was soon on the map.
The perils of using Emile Heskey to model for the picture on a road sign is that you have to go for a non-regulation shape to take into account his shite close control of the ball. The girl with the bunches isn’t skipping, she is giving it the big ‘how wide, do you want the goal’ chant.
It was located in a maze of narrow suburban lanes with large houses. The appearance of the Luzern team bus signified the ground was close.
Aarau 3 - 4 Luzern, Switzerland - Schweizer Pokal
FC Aarau was formed in 1902 as the club side of a local brewery. They soon became succesful, winning the Swiss championship in 1912 and 1914. They dropped out of the top league in 1933 and didn't return until 1980, but remained until last season, when they were relegated.
Fussball-Club Luzern were founded in 1901. Since then they have had a record number of promotions and relegations for a Swiss club. Until the 1970s, most of their time was spent at the second level, but since then it has been nearly all top league, including winning the title in 1989. They have also won the Swiss cup a couple of times.
Checking the website, it said the game was all ticket so I had rather travelled in hope. I enquired at the ticket collection point as to the availability of tickets and they pointed me to a hut which seemed to be selling returns for 21 Swiss groates (£14), half the face value. So with a ticket rather surprisingly acquired I headed into the stadium.
FC Luzern have always been one of the bigger Swiss teams, and certainly since their move to a new stadium in 2011. Aarau is one of their local derbys. Their was an impressive attendance from the away support, who were all in blue rain macs and with some odd banners at the front.
However, shortly before kick off all was revealed as giant letters were unveiled to spell the team name.
However, they didn’t as some clown had got the last letter the wrong way round.
This was eventually sorted to the bemused heckling of the home support.
Aarau had been in the top league since 1980, but their annual fight with relegation was finally lost last season, and they are now in the challenge league. Their offering for kick off seemed less impressive, just some cardboard being held aloft.
However, all was revealed at kick off, and I think it is spelt correctly.
Aarau won the cup in 1985 under Ottmar Hitzfeld in his first coaching position. The dream was on again when the scored in the first minute.
However, Luzern, managed by Markus Babbel, soon equalised to start various carnage in the away end. Notice that they have erected a 50 foot scaffold tower behind the goal to hang the cup banner from.
Programmes were free from a dispenser on the concourse.
Half time and the concourse was like a German market. I had cheese on toast from the Raclette fondue stall on the left.
Aarau scored again just after half time, but Luzern then scored three, before Aarau got one back with the last kick of the game.
It was then back to Olten for a wander round the inevitable woodern bridge and floodlit church.
Sunday 8th December
Next morning was an early train to Basle, just as the sun was coming up.
A Corail service was taken to Strasbourg, for this heap of junk on the 90 minute journey to Metz.
I was staying in Metz and my memory of the station was that the south entrance stank more os piss than piss does itself. However, I had it mixed up with nearby Nancy and instead it was a very picturesque scene. Metz has these moody trams, which are actually multi-formation bendy buses.
Reason for staying in Metz was to head for the Walibi Schtroumpf park where they have the last ever Bill Cobb woodern roller coaster. However, the park was closed, citing some rights issues with the smurfs. The mind boggles. So here is the ‘Anaconda’ from the passing train.
Destination was Luxembourg for the Kleinbettingen service...
….to Bertrange Strasse for Sporting Bertrange v Yellow Boys Weiler.
Ground was located behind what looked to be allotments on google earth, but was actually a cemetary.
A rather jovial entrance sign.
However, my treck across the graves had obviously upset the gods as the ground was deserted…
…. pitch looked in a state and the pitch was in a state.
Bertrange are in division 1, the second tier of Luxembourg football, but the ground was well developed by local standards.
Back at the station, and the wait for a train back to Luxembourg gave an opportunity to take in the graffiti, which consisted of a half Nohab diesel loco in CfL colours/ half elephant…
….and the text from one of the more surreal memes.
There were two options now. Either head back to Metz for the wide selection of bars they have. Or head north to the only other game that was on, near Ettelbruck.
Somehow the football won. On the train a bloke tried to communicate with me, wanting to know what I was doing. However, he didn’t speak English and I don’t speak French so we did our best to communicate in a shared knowledge of about five words of German. I showed the bloke the fixture, to which he tried to give me directions to the ground, as it was in the next village from the station. His directions seemed very basic; Panzer, Rapunzel, Ass (with accompanying braying noise).
I headed off in the vague direction of the ground, and was shocked to come across this tank…..
….then a fairytale castle….
….and then these donkeys.
From now on I will dispense with maps and rely on international charades to find grounds.
FC 72 Erpeldange 2 - 2 Union Titus Pétange, Luxembourg - Promotion d'Honneur
FC 72 Erpeldange are a Football Club, from Epeldange, and were formed in 1972. Or maybe 1872.
Petange is in the South West of Luxembourg and were formed in the summer by the merger of the two clubs in the town; Club Sportif Pétange and Fc Titus Lamadelaine.
When I arrived at the game it was half time, and the club house was doing brisk trade.
The ground is part of a school and had very basic facilities.
Petange had their own ultras, complete with giant flags and a bloke with a completely unnecessary megaphone. Obviously a status thing.
The total amount of the seating and covered standing at the ground. The game finished 2-2.
Heading back to the station, I went back to the tank and found that it was actually a memorial to General Patton as he led US troops to the liberation of Ettelbruck on Christmas Day 1944, after it had been taken by the Nazis in the battle of the bulge.
It was then back to Luxembourg, for the Sundays only couchette train to Port Bou, which I took for the first 30 minutes of its 18 hour journey to the Spanish border.
Monday 14th December
Not having a TGV reservation, and requiring some track around Reims, I was on the 0704 via Charleville-Mézières to Epernay….
….for a man-of-steel +3 make onto the 1036 Corail to Paris Est.
Into Paris, and a short walk, past the most bizarre petrol station….
…..to Gare du Nord.
And the Eurostar back to blighty. This was one of Eurostar’s new e320 trains, my first run on one and not impressed as there are no tables in the bar.
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