Moonlight Over Mechelen: A night at the Racing

Words: Dave Harry

Images: Dave Harry

Maneblusser: The moon extinguishers. The legend is that one evening in the 17th century, a Mechelen man stepped out of a bar and mistook the sight of the moon and low cloud as a fire in the tower of St Rumbolds and on him sounding the alarm, the residents of the city preceeded to attempt to put the fire out only to discover there wasn't one.

To be fair to the fella, a night on Belgian strength beer can lead to all sorts of confusion and pain. Historians debate if the legend is true but what is certain is that the name Maneblusser stuck.

You can see St Rumbolds from the seats at Racing Mechelen's ground, the Oscar Vankesbeeckstadion. Oscar Van Kesbeeck is another Mechelen legend, albeit this time the legend is true and the story a sad one.

A former player of Racing and former head of the Belgian FA, the Nazis imprisoned him in 1942 because of his open patriotism. He was released but died in 1943 from a liver disease as a result of the abuses suffered in the Fort Breendonk prison.

Despite the occupation, his funeral was attended by thousands. The club named the stadium after him in 1973.

Between the tower and the ground lies the Het Anker brewery. Even in a country blessed with superb breweries on seemingly every corner, Het Anker is a gem. A Maneblusser is one of its staple beers but I am drinking a limited collaboration beer tonight. Its superb and engaging in beer talk with the barman, I say it has elements of a lambic in its taste. He agrees. It turns out he is from Brussels and lived near to where I did when I worked there, and we both share a love of Cantillon Gueze (the definitive Brussels beer). I bid my tot ziens and head to Racing.

Its a walk I have done often but it's the first time I remember most. Fresh moved to Brussels, I went to see Union St Gilloise beat Tubize 3-0 at their stunning Stade Joseph Marien and charmed by their ground, their fans and of course the beer, I headed to Mechelen to watch them away.

But when I hit Mechelen Noord and saw the Green Army banners and a main stand that paid a passing resemblance to the one at Home Park (Plymouth Argyle), I couldn't bring myself to go in the away end. Instead I went to watch with the home fans and enjoyed the chants of Come On You Greens and such like.

Racing and Union were the teams I watched most when I lived in Belgium and very diplomatically for me, the sides played out a goalless draw in that game.

©Dave Harry/ Terrace Edition. KRC Mechelen.

I didn't know it then but Racing were enjoying a special period in the third division. They made the play-offs and lost and in my final season there they went better and won promotion to the second. This happened whilst Argyle were going through the worst period in their history, struggling to stay in the EFL and at real risk of going under.

Midway through their first season back in the second division, Racing nearly went bust. They had to release players and what was essentially a youth team saw the season out as Racing were relegated. Just as Argyle were coming out of administration and begining to rebuild, Racing were going the other way.

Currently in the fourth division, on this evening they hosted City Pirates - Merksem when I first saw them, this is Belgium... - and go down to a solitrary goal on the stroke of half-time. The result disappoints but I still love visiting the ground. I enjoyed yet more Het Anker beer in the clubhouse, but though the crowd is decent for this league, it's not at the level it was when I went regularly and the club need a similar change in fortunes to those Argyle finally got when Simon Hallett took over.

I speak to some locals and ask of plans to refurbish the ground. I sense they see it as necessary and in truth it probably is, but like me, they hope there is way of maintaining the beautiful main stand that dates back to 1948 (built after a fire, again parallels with Argyle).

I hope they can make it so. Its not just because I I felt a kind of affinity with Racing but it's also because their loyal and passionate fanbase was among the best I ever came across in watching games at around 80 Belgian grounds - they deserve to re-establish themselves in the higher levels as Union have now done.

Come On You Greens!

You can find Dave on Twitter: @daveharry007

His website is www.floe.pro

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