Behold: The Bosuil stadium, home of Royal Antwerp Football Club since 1923.

With its capacity of well over 60000, it used to be the biggest stadium in Belgium and was the setting for many games between the national teams of Belgium and Holland.

This is what it looks like today:



As you can tell from the differences between the two pictures many things have changed. Amongst others, its capacity has dropped drastically.
Sadly, the years have not treated the stadium well.
In 1998 the mayor of Antwerp (Mrs. Leone Detiège) even forced the club to play elsewhere due to the poor state of some of the stands. This big loss of income was one of the main caused for relegation that season.

Yesterday, I read that the mayor of Antwerp (Mr. Patrick Janssens), together with the minister of internal affairs (Mr. Guido De Padt), have urged the board of the club to take the necessary steps to secure the safety of the supporters on one of the main stands by getting it fixed or else it will not be open for public.
The stand is commonly known as "Tribune 2" amongst supporters. In the picture above, it is the one closest to the top right corner.

Obviously, if safety cannot be guaranteed it should not be open, but Tribune 2 is very special to me.
I was only 5 when I finally convinced my dad to take me to a game. That day, we won against Anderlecht and crowned ourselves "Autumn champions". I don't recall much of that game, but I do remember being overwhelmed by the atmosphere. 40000 people supporting their team, and I was there to participate.. on Tribune 2.

22 years later, we can't crown ourselves "Autumn champions". The only way we can play Anderlecht is in a cup game, and the maximum capacity of the stadium is approximately 16000.
But Tribune 2 is still there, and that's where I'll sit. If they let me.

Hopefully, the board will get it fixed by the start of the season.

Some other pictures can be found here