Green gives the impression of having lost the fight against brown. The grass gives way to the mud. After Anderlecht in the Cup this Thursday, Antwerp, Union, Charleroi, Mechelen and Westerlo will still have to travel to Beerschot in the Pro League by the end of the classic phase, at the very end of winter. Are they condemned to stuffing themselves with a field of potatoes? “We hope that the worst is behind us and that things will get better in January.”replies Dirk Kuyt, the Antwerp coach.
This has more to do with prayer than conviction. This season, due to work on their training ground, the Beerschot players often had to prepare during the week on the stadium pitch, inevitably damaging it much faster than all the others in D1, even that of Bruges with the numerous meetings of the Club and the Circle.
The Beerschot training center was due to open in June… 2023
Hope lies in the end of the work and the return to their training ground in Wilrijk. But will this make it possible to find a Kiel with a playing surface worthy of the name? There are doubts. Firstly because the players have made the journey to Tubize several times to train at the national center, rented for the occasion. This was not enough to spare the lawn sufficiently.
Jupiler Pro League: financial concerns for Beerschot banned from transfers by the Licensing Commission
Then there is the human material. At the start of the season, the gardener left, after a disagreement with the owner of Beerschot, United World. An external company now manages the lawn but spends less time on it. Which is not forgiving at this level. We would need very mild weather conditions to hope for better, but winter has only just begun.
United World had also promised a brand new training center at Beerschot. The news can still be read on the club’s website. With the promise that players could take possession of it for the start of the season… 2023-2024. But a year and a half later, we are still waiting for the groundbreaking. The project is officially “on hold” but no one believes in it anymore in Antwerp.
While waiting to debut their new pitch from Italy at Lotto Park on Sunday in the Topper against Bruges, Anderlecht will therefore have to bite on their quid again by playing on a pitch unworthy of the professional level. Crossing my fingers that no one gets hurt.
