At one of the three wickets I said: “So what’s the news? Is the match postponed to Easter Monday or Christmas?” The guy in front of me said: “Don’t get angry, old man !Since you came alone, we’ll start at whatever time you want!”
A verse from the well-known club song Anderlecht Champion by Lange Jojo. The singer wants to attend a match of a club other than Anderlecht, but does not see a cat and asks the ticket clerk whether the match has perhaps been moved to Easter Monday or Christmas. Well, if he meant this Easter Monday: the people had clearly chosen Anderlecht. At least five hundred people had come to the open training in the Lotto Park.
An open training is nice when things are going well. Extra encouragement for the players, an extra opportunity for the young supporters to practice their battle cries – a Come On You Mauves! sounds a bit louder when there are ‘only’ five hundred people in the stands. There was a balloon man and face painting stand for the little ones, although even the little ones mainly came for the football. It was a fruitless search for a child who came to the Lotto Park for the first time. Club love that is spoon-fed from parent to child: it is a cliché, but one that is true.
Back in the entrance
This is no different with Guy and Joni Heedfeld. Father and son come from Genk, but their hearts turn purple and white. “I have been coming for more than forty years, I have experienced the very good times. The golden times, so to speak. 80’s, late 70’s. I sometimes have a hard time adapting, but then I get counterbalance from the new generation,” Guy points to his son. “We have of course been much more normal than this. The European quarter-final was the minimum at the time, otherwise it would have been a bad season. Today we would call that a stunt. Oh well, it’s all getting back on track now.”
“It’s nice that they do something like this for the people. Especially after last weekend’s victory,” laughs son Joni. “We will be playing Union here at home within two weeks. A very important match.” If Union immediately drops points in Genk, things can happen quickly, is the tenor of father and son.
“Most people here,” Guy nods. “Anderlecht has been playing considerably better in recent weeks, Union is a bit less. Towards the final round, it is an important fact that the team that hunts always has an easier time than the prey.” Joni agrees: “The pressure is mainly on Union. They had to give a lot back, without Anderlecht having to make an exceptional amount of effort.”
“It’s allowed here, but it’s different for next year,” Guy concludes. “It’s already a lot better than last year’s eleventh place. I had never experienced that before in forty years. That it just keeps going crescendo.”
Derby against Ghent
Andreas, a man in his twenties from near Roeselare, came from the other side of the country. He hardly misses a match, and he also wanted to see the open training.
“It’s something different from a match, such a relaxed atmosphere,” says the Anderlecht fan, who sat relaxed next to three of his peers. When he shares his predictions with us, he is very confident.
“Champion huh. A hundred percent. Those play-offs included? I think that’s a nice addition to the season. Those are ten extra matches that you will see, nice posters too. We can now take the leadership position from a disadvantaged position, while the roles have been different in the past.”
Four Spanish Erasmus students who come to soak up the atmosphere.
At the top of the (lower ring of the) East stand we also heard Spanish being spoken. Fans of Luis Vázquez, Federico Gattoni perhaps? “No, we are Spaniards who are here on Erasmus,” says Miguel. He comes to soak up the atmosphere together with Julia, Cristina and David.
“It’s our first time at Anderlecht. It’s nice, but in Spain football is of course something else. Those play-offs are coming soon, right? Who knows, we might be able to catch a match, we will be here until June,” said Miguel, who wrongly thinks that Ghent is one of the two other Brussels first division teams.