Belgium
Brabant Provincial 2B A.C.F.F.
Sunday 10th February 2019
Kick Off 15.00 Actual 15.04
Union Sportive Ophain 1 R.F.C. Grez-Doiceau 0, attendance 75
17’ 1-0
@ Stade Communal Ophain
Rue De Lillois 19
1421 Ophain-Bois-Seigneur-Isaac
No Admission or Programme.
Having stayed overnight, our intended match today was at U.S. Beauraing ‘61 in Namur Provincial 1. However, at around 12.30 we found out it had been postponed. The only other top level Provincial ground all three of us hadn’t visited was R. Entente Rechaintoise in Liege, but we decided against risking this (it was played) as the rain was heading in that direction. After a bit of discussion we decided it was better to head for a second tier Brabant Provincial match, as we were only just south of Brussels at this stage and chose what looked to be the best match on offer, where second in the league table Ophain were hosting third placed Grez-Doiceau, who were level on points, both trailing leaders R.C.S. Nivellois by eight points.
On arrival at the ground it soon became obvious that the match was in doubt. The home club officials certainly didn’t think the game should be played, as they were concerned with how badly the pitch would be damaged if the game went ahead, but the decision would be left to the Referee. He arrived about 14.10, but rather than inspect the pitch, joined one of his assistants in having a cup of coffee instead. He said he’d have a look at the pitch in five minutes time. Meanwhile the third match official arrived and all three then headed off to the changing rooms. At 14.30 the Referee came out, but lit up a cigarette, rather than check the pitch, although he then headed off to do the inspection……. at 14.35 he decided….’game on’. The decision certainly didn’t go down well with the home club. Even if he had called the match off at this late stage, we still had a back up match at the same level, which was only 18 minutes drive away.
The pitch didn’t really affect play at all and actually dried out quite a bit and the sun even appeared briefly during the second half. The match never really got out of first gear and Ophain won it with an angled shot into the far corner of the net after 17 minutes. Grez-Doiceau did enough to deserve at least a draw, in a match where both defences had the upper hand.
We were back at The Tunnel in ample time for our 20.20 return, but actually got on the 19.50 instead, although it did leave a couple of minutes late. We did have a bit of drama at the French Border Control, where during a routine check for drugs and firearms, there was a bit of a commotion when an immigrant was found in a car three places behind us!
