NETHERLANDS: HVV 't Gooi (1920-1965, 1971-1989) / FC Hilversum (1920-1969) / HC&FC Victoria (1920-±1935) / SC Gooiland (1965-1971)

Gemeentelijk Sportpark-Soestdijkerstraatweg, Hilversum (formerly HVV 't Gooi / FC Hilversum / HC&FC Victoria / SC Gooiland)

Netherlands, province: North Holland

December 2009 & March 2019 / no match visited

Note 1: Hilversum's Gemeentelijk Sportpark is one of the Netherlands' most remarkable football grounds. Commissioned by the local town council, architect Willem Dudok designed a Amsterdam School-style multi-purpose stadium, of which the main stand - constructed in 1920 (which makes it the country's oldest stand), renovated in the mid-1990s - still exists today. For some seventy years, the ground hosted matches of several Hilversum's football clubs: Victoria, FC Hilversum and HVV 't Gooi-Sportclub Gooiland (the two last-mentioned clubs also played professional league football here between 1955-1968 and 1955-1971 respectively). Away from football, the Gemeentelijk Sportpark hosted the equestrian disciplines of the 1928 Olympic Games. Nowadays, the stadium is home to GAC, the local athletics club; the building opposite the grandstand is Nike's headquarters in the Netherlands. Since 1989, no official football matches have been hosted at the ground.

Note 2: On a sad note, the stadium was perused by the German oppressors in October 1944 to huddle together a group of several thousand boys and men from Hilversum and surroundings (including dozens of radio musicians, most notably arranger and conductor Dolf van der Linden) who were subsequently deported to German labour camps; a monument at the entrance of the ground honours the memory of those amongst them who did not make it back alive. 

Note 3: below, a compilation of photographs of two different visits: pictures 1-16 = March 2019 / picture 17 = December 2009.

All photos: (c) W.B. Tukker / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author

BELGIUM: Beerschot VAC (1920-1998) / Germinal Beerschot Antwerpen (1999-2011) / Beerschot AC (2011-2013) / KFCO Beerschot-Wilrijk (2013-2019) / K Beerschot VA (2019-)

Olympisch Stadion = 'Het Kiel', Antwerp = Antwerpen = Anvers Kiel (K Beerschot Voetbal Antwerpen, formerly Beerschot VAC / Germinal Beerschot / Beerschot AC / KFC Olympia Beerschot-Wilrijk)

Belgium, province: Antwerp

26 XII 2009 / Germinal Beerschot Antwerpen - KRC Genk 1-0 / Belgium, Nationwide Division 1 (= BE level 1)
1 II 2014 / FCO Beerschot-Wilrijk - K Groen-Rood Katelijne 1-1 / Antwerp, Provincial League 1 (= BE level 5)

BELGIUM: R Charleroi SC (1939-2001) / RSC du Pays de Charleroi (2001-)

Stade du Pays de Charleroi = Stade Mambourg, Charleroi (R Sporting Club du Pays de Charleroi, formerly R Charleroi Sporting Club)

Belgium, province: Hainaut = Henegouwen

23 XII 2009 / Sporting Charleroi - KV Mechelen 2-5 A.E.T. / Belgian Cup

19 VIII 2012 / Sporting Charleroi - R Standard de Liège 2-6 / Nationwide Division 1 (= BE level 1)

Note 1: Charleroi Sporting Club, founded in 1904 (matricule 22), became a Société Royale in 1929. In 1939, the club moved into their current ground, which was extended and renovated several times. A name change took place in 2001, with RCSC becoming Royal Sporting Club du Pays de Charleroi. Prior to my first visit, a third tier which was added to the western side of the ground to raise the capacity of the ground to 30,000 for the 2000 European Football Championships held in Belgium and the Netherlands, had already been deconstructed - and given a second life beside the Vélodrome de Charleroi in the western suburb of Gilly. In 2013, one year after my last visit to the ground, the second tiers - except for the one in the main stand - have also been removed, resulting in a current maximum capacity of 15,000.

Note 2: Below, a compilation of photos of three different visits: picture 1 = non-matchday visit, July 2010 (taken from Montignies-sur-Sambre, the part of Charleroi just east of the city-centre) / pictures 2 = non-matchday visit, October 2007 / pictures 3-22 = match visit, August 2012. No pictures of my first match visit at Mambourg (in December 2009) have been included.

All photos: (c) W.B. Tukker / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author