Union Lovenjoel 1-3 BX Brussels
Terrein Lovenjoel
28/07/13
Att: 113
'We start from scratch'
Recent times have seen Twitter over react to pretty much everything, but to the most part they are ambivalent to issues within football unless they are in England or one of the super clubs across Europe. It's to know great shock that when I woke up in the morning people were too busy counting down 'to the start of football' to notice elsewhere that competitive football had already begun, indeed if this very fixture was played in England I'm sure that the majority may have heard of it due to the history of the visiting team.
To understand the full extent of why this is so I'll have to go over the history to the extent of my understanding and research. Bleid were a struggling team in the recently expanded third division of Belgian football, surviving relegation due to Racing Peruwelz fielding an ineligible player meaning that they were forced to forfeit 8 games. In March of the same season (2009/2010) the club considered filing for a winding up order such was their financial situation, instead they changed their name to Bleid-Gaume in an attempt to draw in more fans. The following season was a slight improvement, but it was not enough as in October 2011 the entire board announced the impending bankruptcy of the club and subsequently resigned. In December of the same year a pair of French investors took over the club and announced their intention for second division football within three years and appointed former world cup winner Lionel Charbonnier as the manager. This wasn't to be as once more the club found themselves teetering on the edge, the club declared bankrupt. The clubs registration number and position in the third division were put on sale for anyone wishing to buy it. In the end it would be Racing White Daring Molenbeek who would buy the club, who under the ownership of Michel de Wolf, hoped to restore the former Belgian champions to greatness. The problem was that RWDM were further down the Belgian pyramid. Following this 'merger' the club moved over 200km from Bleid to Molenbeek. They officially kept the same name, although they were now known as Bleid-Molenbeek. Between this point and April 2013 the clubs fortunes didn't improve and were relegated to the fourth division, although there was to be another spin in the tale. In March 2013 it was announced that Manchester City player Vincent Kompany would take over the club. This happened to be FC Bleid, as a result there was a series of changes in the off season that resulted in a vote that determined this 'new' club to be called BX-Brussels, playing at Jette.
Fast forward to this game and BX would be playing their first competitive match, and being as curious as we are it was an opportunity we couldn't pass up. Camera in hand we headed to the small farming town of Lovenjoel. The home side, Union Lovenjoel, are a team in Provincial Brabant 2b, 6th tier. Their ground, while not as developed as I thought it would be, still proved to be interesting. There is little either end except for a small path, with training ground beyond, and overgrown trees the other. Along the 'car park' side was the moderate sized club house which had unrestricted views overlooking the pitch, while next to it a small covered terrace. The opposite side had a strip of covered terracing either side of the dugouts. It was on that side that the visiting supporters stood, many adorned t-shirts proclaiming the same message as BX's website; 'We start from scratch'. The floodlights were odd, looking like streetlights rather than your traditional variety. I was curious as to a corner of one terrace with a sign that had 'De 10en man' written upon it, while that was not particularly strange, next to it was a series of horns along with a pair of adidas football boot hung from the roof.
In terms of the game it was to be a victory for the debutantes. For the first 20 minutes it was hard to decide who'd go onto win the game in that it was so level, both sides lacking the extra yard to get on the ball. In the end it was to be BX that opened the scoring in the 20th minute. After making the break on the left Agorkaris lifted the ball over the home keeper to score the clubs first goal. After this there was very little in the way of action as BX struggled to make that crucial final ball, and as a result both sides went in level at half time.
The second half was to continue in much the same fashion, while not being dull, there wasn't too much in the way of genuine chances for either side. Ultimately it would be the home side that bagged the next goal, and equalized. A long ball caught the defensive line napping as the forward beat the onrushing keeper to poke the ball into the back of the net. In the 70th minute BX scored again, this time through Serge, when a nice move down the right was finished at the back post. The victory was secured with one of the last kicks the keeper bundled down a player and from the resultant spot kick Enzo blasted the ball into the bottom corner past the keeper. BX are through to the next round of the Belgian Cup.
To understand the full extent of why this is so I'll have to go over the history to the extent of my understanding and research. Bleid were a struggling team in the recently expanded third division of Belgian football, surviving relegation due to Racing Peruwelz fielding an ineligible player meaning that they were forced to forfeit 8 games. In March of the same season (2009/2010) the club considered filing for a winding up order such was their financial situation, instead they changed their name to Bleid-Gaume in an attempt to draw in more fans. The following season was a slight improvement, but it was not enough as in October 2011 the entire board announced the impending bankruptcy of the club and subsequently resigned. In December of the same year a pair of French investors took over the club and announced their intention for second division football within three years and appointed former world cup winner Lionel Charbonnier as the manager. This wasn't to be as once more the club found themselves teetering on the edge, the club declared bankrupt. The clubs registration number and position in the third division were put on sale for anyone wishing to buy it. In the end it would be Racing White Daring Molenbeek who would buy the club, who under the ownership of Michel de Wolf, hoped to restore the former Belgian champions to greatness. The problem was that RWDM were further down the Belgian pyramid. Following this 'merger' the club moved over 200km from Bleid to Molenbeek. They officially kept the same name, although they were now known as Bleid-Molenbeek. Between this point and April 2013 the clubs fortunes didn't improve and were relegated to the fourth division, although there was to be another spin in the tale. In March 2013 it was announced that Manchester City player Vincent Kompany would take over the club. This happened to be FC Bleid, as a result there was a series of changes in the off season that resulted in a vote that determined this 'new' club to be called BX-Brussels, playing at Jette.
Fast forward to this game and BX would be playing their first competitive match, and being as curious as we are it was an opportunity we couldn't pass up. Camera in hand we headed to the small farming town of Lovenjoel. The home side, Union Lovenjoel, are a team in Provincial Brabant 2b, 6th tier. Their ground, while not as developed as I thought it would be, still proved to be interesting. There is little either end except for a small path, with training ground beyond, and overgrown trees the other. Along the 'car park' side was the moderate sized club house which had unrestricted views overlooking the pitch, while next to it a small covered terrace. The opposite side had a strip of covered terracing either side of the dugouts. It was on that side that the visiting supporters stood, many adorned t-shirts proclaiming the same message as BX's website; 'We start from scratch'. The floodlights were odd, looking like streetlights rather than your traditional variety. I was curious as to a corner of one terrace with a sign that had 'De 10en man' written upon it, while that was not particularly strange, next to it was a series of horns along with a pair of adidas football boot hung from the roof.
In terms of the game it was to be a victory for the debutantes. For the first 20 minutes it was hard to decide who'd go onto win the game in that it was so level, both sides lacking the extra yard to get on the ball. In the end it was to be BX that opened the scoring in the 20th minute. After making the break on the left Agorkaris lifted the ball over the home keeper to score the clubs first goal. After this there was very little in the way of action as BX struggled to make that crucial final ball, and as a result both sides went in level at half time.
The second half was to continue in much the same fashion, while not being dull, there wasn't too much in the way of genuine chances for either side. Ultimately it would be the home side that bagged the next goal, and equalized. A long ball caught the defensive line napping as the forward beat the onrushing keeper to poke the ball into the back of the net. In the 70th minute BX scored again, this time through Serge, when a nice move down the right was finished at the back post. The victory was secured with one of the last kicks the keeper bundled down a player and from the resultant spot kick Enzo blasted the ball into the bottom corner past the keeper. BX are through to the next round of the Belgian Cup.