The bond between Belgium and Britain was forever forged by the Great War of 1914-1918. The senseless loss of life culminating with the eventual liberation of the country by British soldiers is still remembered every night at 8pm in the town of Ypres, at a wreath laying ceremony. At the ‘In Flanders Fields Museum’ in the town, the full horror and senselessness of that war is portrayed through a series of videos and first hand accounts. An extremely sobering but essential experience.
As we travelled around the country by train from our base in Ghent, there were constant reminders as we passed churches and places synonymous with the historical bloodshed. But now that the guns are silent those same fields which were the scenes of mindless atrocities, were now green and full of meadow flowers and crops.
With a superb transport network, over a period of 12 days we visited towns and cities such as Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent, Ypres, Oostende, and Bruges. So many football shirts to search for!
But I’m going to choose our trip to Bruges for this shirt tale.
The compact, picturesque city of Bruges is a destination to which everyone must see at least once in their life. This was our second trip there, the first visit was a whistle stop bus tour in the very early 90’s and the thing I remember most is that everywhere was closed by 10 o’clock in the evening. This time around we arrived from Ghent, a 30 minute train ride away and we could explore in more detail. Although in the limited time we had in that last visit I did manage to find a Club Brugge shirt, purely by chance as my collecting obsession hadn’t manifested itself at that point!
The city centre is a pleasant 25 minute walk from the train station, through gardens and along the outer tentacles of the canal system, set to a colourful backdrop of flora and fauna. You walk past Minnewater, or The Lake of Love, which is a beautiful place for romantics before negotiating the narrow labyrinthine streets which take you to the busy centre of Bruges. There are beautiful churches and museums to visit as well as the natural beauty of the city, but the 2 things that Belgium is most famous for are beer and chocolate. What’s not to like?! For me of course there is a 3rd attraction; football.
Bruges has 2 football teams, Club Brugge and Cercle Brugge, who both play in the same stadium, the Jan Breydelstadion, which is quite a way outside of the centre of Bruges. The only club shops for both teams were at the stadium, so after a few hours sightseeing, it was time to get organised.
There was no subway to take me to the ground and the bus would have taken forever, so I decided that the best option was by taxi. Much to my partner’s incredulity, I walked up to the first cab I saw and asked him how much it would cost for him to take me to the stadium and then back into the city. His English was excellent and a price was agreed so in we got. But there was a problem straight away. The driver informed me that there was a game there tonight, a Champions League 3rd Qualifying match between Club Brugge and Dynamo Kiev, which meant that the Cercle club shop probably wouldn’t be open. We arrived at the stadium car park and I explained that I would be about 10-15 minutes, which he said was not a problem.
So the first job was to go into the Club Brugge shop and conduct a football shop version of supermarket sweep and pick up a shirt and pin badge. That was the straightforward part. I found the Cercle Brugge shop around the corner and the taxi driver was correct; it was closed. But I didn’t let that minor obstacle prevent me from achieving my goal. I could see exactly which shirt I wanted through the window, so I ventured up the steps and entered into the ticket office. After a short pidgin English conversation, and a fair amount of gesticulating on my part, plus once they understood how much money I’d be spending, I got someone to come out of the busy office dealing with customers for that night’s match, to open up the shop.
By this time my partner was shaking her head in part disbelief and part embarrassment. But needs must I’m afraid. So began round 2 of supermarket sweep, as I was conscious that the we’d left the taxi ticking over more than my promised 15 minutes. So 2 shirts and 3 pin badges later, we headed back to the cab, which was mercifully still waiting for us to take us back into town. Mission accomplished. So the total haul from the trip was; Anderlecht, Royal Antwerp, Club Brugge, Cercle Brugge, KAA Gent, and KV Oostende.
The only downside to the 12 days we spent in Belgium was that I couldn’t find a national shirt to buy anywhere. I even took a tram from our apartment in Ghent to a large sports shop on the edge of the city, but to no avail. So that particular search ended in failure, but I think 6 shirts in one trip is a good haul under any circumstances.
Memory added on August 25, 2021
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