Belgium, province: Hainaut = Henegouwen
3 X 2021 / RFC Gilly - AS Morlanwelzienne 3-1 / Hainaut, Provincial League 1 (= BE level 6)
Note 1: FC de Gilly saw the daylight in 1948 after the demise of predecessor club RUS Gilly (matricule 139, 1921-1947). In 1998, the club became a Société Royale, hence taking on the name RFC Gilly. For a long time, the club's activities took place at two different grounds in Gilly, Stade Léopold Tibbaut at Rue Irma Pirmez for first team football and the two pitches at Rue des Vallées for lower team football and training purposes. In the summer of 2021, however, after the main pitch at Rue des Vallées had been equipped with a new 3G, the decision was taken upon to centre all activities there, including first team football. As a result, the Stade Tibbaut was abandoned.
Note 2: Adjacent to RFC Gilly's main pitch at Rue des Vallées is the Vélodrome de Charleroi, a cycling track which was inaugurated in 2000 - coinciding with the European Football Championships taking place in the Netherlands and Belgium. For that tournament, Charleroi's largest football stadium, the Stade Mambourg (or Stade du Pays de Charleroi, to give it its official name) was enlarged with a third tier on one side of the ground to lift the total capacity to 30,000. This third tier, however, turned out to have been constructed without a building permission. Moreover, this highest part of the stadium's west stand resulted in the houses in the street behind it being deprived of daylight. Also because Sporting Charleroi's home games never drew a capacity crowd, this third tier was taken away shortly after the 'Euros'... and given a second life at the Vélodrome in Gilly. The second part of the photo series below (= pictures 18-28) has been dedicated to the Vélodrome. Climbing the old stand, I was struck by its sheer steepness - how intimidating a climb up the stairs must have been while it was still part of Stade Mambourg! -, but also by how dilapidated it has become. Meanwhile, there are no longer any cycling activities taking place in the Vélodrome de Charleroi and the track as well as its stand are slowly being taken over by nature.
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