Questions have been asked about stadium security after Thursday’s (14 May) Belgian Croky Cup Final at King Baudouin Stadium.
The showpiece fixture between Anderlecht and Union Saint-Gilloise was particularly keenly awaited as it was the first cup final derby between the two clubs in the 70-year history of the competition.
It ended in a 3-1 victory, after 30 minutes’ extra time, for Union over their city rivals. Anderlecht lost for the fourth time in a row at the stadium and ended their ninth consecutive trophy-less season. Union now hope to clinch a league/cup double to round off another dominant season.
But for some a lively and entertaining game was partly overshadowed to some extent by events off the pitch, with flares regularly being lit and thrown towards a host of firefighters on the stadium’s running tracks.
Flares hurled from the end of the ground occupied by Anderlecht fans delayed the start of the game by several minutes as players, officials waited for thick smoke which enveloped the whole arena to clear. There was also a short delay during the game itself after Anderlecht equalized near the end of regulation time and, once again, smoke from flares engulfed much of the stadium.
Kurt Deswert (pictured), a Brussels-based author and football historian, told this website that the use of continued flares begs questions about security.
Speaking after the game, he said the image of a fire started in the Anderlecht fans’ end “may well be symbolic of yesterday’s defeat.”
He said: “The result of the (Anderlecht) supporters’ frustration was the fact that 300 seats were destroyed during the final. A metro train in the city was also damaged. As far as is currently known, no Brussels residents were attacked as they were last year (which remains a disgrace).
“However, the enormous quantity of pyrotechnic material once again smuggled into the stadium raises serious questions about the security preparations for the match and, more broadly, about how safety can be guaranteed during cup finals at the King Baudouin Stadium.
“During the match, Union shirts were also set on fire in the same stand where the seats were vandalized. It took the fire brigade a considerable amount of time to reach the scene and extinguish the blaze.
“Despite repeated appeals to keep the stairways clear, they remained packed with supporters throughout the entire match. This too raises important questions.”
The police presence for the game was intense, with officers in riot gear patrolling the stadium, neighbouring streets and the transport network. Fans travelled on separate Metro lines in order to minimise the risk of trouble and it is believed there was no serious disorder outside the stadium, before or after the game.
Deswert went on: “The King Baudouin Stadium is not a ruin, and it should not be described as such. But by design, it is still a stadium that falls well short of modern standards of comfort and safety. The entire renovation and maintenance dossier has been mishandled for years and urgently needs to be brought under control. The cup finals provide proof of that year after year.”
He added: “The issue with the flares was the same as last year. They also managed to smuggle these into the stadium them. There are safety procedures, but they seem not to have been airtight,” he said.
“Some say that they were smuggled in days before the game, (it has open corners as well), but it is difficult to confirm this.”
He said, “In general; these are high-risk matches. There are not a lot of those being organized at the stadium but they have had the experience with the cup final last year and should have been better prepared this year. It seems to be a combination both of a structural issue with the stadium itself and the presence of ultra groups for games such as the cup final.
“Still, pyrotechnics is a growing issue in Belgian football these last couple of years and also during regular competition games,” noted Deswert.
This site contacted both the stadium authorities and the Belgian Football Association but at the time of going to press had not yet received a reply.
On the pitch, Union were deserved winners though they were taken to extra time before clinching another victory over their city rivals.
The game was won a few minutes into the extra period and means Anderlecht, the most successful club in Belgian football history with 34 league titles, still await their first piece of silverware since 2017 when it won the championship.
Last season, Anderlecht lost in the final to Club Brugge – where police had to cope with serious crowd disorder – and again four years ago (to Gent), under Bayern Munich’s current Belgian-born head coach Vincent Kompany.
Before the game, the stadium was a cauldron of noise and colour thanks to fans of both clubs. Anderlecht fans unveiled a huge banner that stretched the entire length of the stand reserved for RSCA supporters. It read 1070, the postal code for the municipality of Anderlecht, and below it, “Cup Fighters.”
The Union fans also displayed a large banner and, as usual, gave great vocal backing to their side.
Reflecting on the game, Deswert, who has written extensively about Belgian football, including the two Brussels’ clubs, said it was a “a disappointing outcome for Anderlecht but Union were the deserved winners.”
He added: “A great deal can be said about the sporting side of things: the lack of leadership and technical fundamentals among some Anderlecht players—poor first touches, inaccurate passing—and the tactics, such as full-backs positioning themselves too high and too wide when possession is lost.”
“Above all, the match highlighted a difference in maturity on the pitch. The new sporting director at Anderlecht will have to examine many aspects of the club.
“That is the “easy” part. The difficult part is finding solutions that lead to success and, once again, to attractive football.
“After ten years without a trophy and with no apparent stable improvement, frustration among Anderlecht supporters is continuing to grow.
“After losing their dominance over Belgian football, are they now also losing their supremacy within the city itself? It may be too early to say that there has been a shift in power; that is something that needs to be assessed over the longer term. But yesterday was certainly not an encouraging sign.
“The team was also booed by a considerable portion of its own supporters after the match—or at least by those who were partly responsible for the damage. Significantly, the defeat was not due to a lack of effort, but rather to a lack of quality within the squad.”
