A low winter sun above the stadium roof, facing us, made it hard to see what was going on on the field, without hands above our eyes, the cliché pose of Native American Indians pictured, when they stare across the prairie, facing the sun.
Much to my surprise, Svilar, the coach, finally found the courage and the guts to keep his fellow country man Darko in the dug out.
A quick first goal of the visiting team and game over, or so I thought.
But lo and behold, a second surprise!!
The Reds fought back and won the game.
Darko joined in for the last fifteen minutes, and the extra rest seemed to have worked for him.
I haven't seen that old dog run like he did today. Not this season, anyway.
Tisza performed worse than ever, but scored twice. A clever tactic!

As Gunther refused to show his bare chest, alas, no pictures.
Amarillo again and Sweet Maria waiting.

Fan day at the football club last Sunday.
It's typically a family event and it is child friendly.
The good weather and the holiday season guaranteed a fairly big attendance.



A bit of a fair, a stage with music acts and clowns and animation for our younger friends.
And beer, lots of beer.
Opportunity offered, I got me a season ticket and some new shirts, official club shirts and supporters shirts.
Reports speak of thousands of visitors, which is a lot for this country and a team playing in second league.
And that's no bull.



The downside was a fire incident at the house of our team's coach and former player, Ratko Svilar, who has been held in a ( artificial ) comatose state until Sunday evening.
An incident with the barbecue set caused his house to burn down, destroying everything in it.
People started contributing money and means to help the, now homeless, family out.
As said, as of Sunday evening, doctors ended the comatose state and Ratko is out of mortal danger and doing relatively well.
Our thoughts are with the family.

RAFC stands for Royal Antwerp Football Club.
Our club is the oldest in the country and has close ties with Manchester United.
The shame and frustration of playing in the second league for years now, is hardly bearable for a true supporter.
RAFC should never even have ended up in the second league.
As for the next season, I will be visiting their games again.
The glory days of Antwerp Football Club date from the eighties.
Still, this remarkable club still has a vast bunch of 6000 true supporters.
Thus niumber is not spectacular, but it is a high number here, especially for a team that plays in the second league.;
For a true RAFC supporter, nothing is more important than his club.
As criticising and sarcastic as we can be, no one should dare making a low comment on "our" club.
We can and do that ourselves.
Rumours are being spread about a fusion with another Antwerp club, still playing in the first league.
No true supporter would want to see this happen. Especially since "that" club is our ever and always kknown to be rival, the rats from the south.

I was there when the miracle happened, against Vitosha Sofia. RAFC was behind, 1-3, with only a couple of minutes to play in the UEFA Cup.
That team, with Van Rooij, Lehnhoff, Smidts, Claessen, Quaranta and many others, was the best I have ever seen playing there.
Try to imagine the atmosphere in the stadion, while most were already leaving, thinking the game was played and the dream over.
Suddenly, the miracle happened ...