Usually non league grounds (non Belgan FA related) aren't the lookers. Usually they don't have any stand nor any terracing whatsoever. How charming their football may be, it's usually not our cup of tea. But every once in a while we come across an absolute beauty. This counts for the Zijp stadium in Wemmel, near Brussels. VK Mireille Wemmel is playing there and is a member of the ABSSA, a non league FA for amateur Saturday football.
We couldn't immediately find how old VK Mireille Wemmel is exactly, but with local matricule number 93 they are one of the oldest teams in the ABSSA. We could retrieve the team was already existing in 1987. On their website we could find a slideshow showing an overview from 1970 until 2010, so we have to assume the team started playing in 1970. Articles found online compare VK Mireille Wemmel with FC De Kampioenen, but we feel this is a bridge too far. Yes - it's lower league, but their results aren't too bad. In 2012 for instance they won their last championship.
We mentioned already they are playing in the Zijp stadium, but they haven't always played there. The team started using the Zijp stadium in 2009. Looking at the grandstand, the stadium must be older already, but Google has let us down. We can't find any other information on the stadium, so if anyone can help us out with this, that would be awesome. Nevertheless, the Zijp stadium is an absolute gem! It contains one of the very few still existing Elascon stands in Belgium, although it's a small one.
In 2004 VK Mireille Wemmel did manage to make it to the national newspapers. Their game against Bienvenue completely derailed with a number of people being sent off and one player of Mireille Wemmel being bashed, with a hospital stay as result. Despite all of this, the game was continued and VK Mireille Wemmel won the game 2-0.
Should you ever be near Brussels on a Saturday, the Zijp stadium is definitely worth a visit!
UPDATE
The board of VK Mireille Wemmel could give us more information about the team and the stadium.
The stadium was in fact already existing when Mireille Wemmel started to use it. When exactly it was built is not sure, but it was used before by the football team of company Sibelgas. At one point asbestos was discovered and Sibelgas decided to sell the property to the village as it was too expensive to have everything regulated. The stadium was most likely built during the 70s which would also explain the Elascon.
VK Mireille Wemmel was indeed founded in 1970 and used to have three teams; one A team, one B team and one veterans team. Today only the veterans team is still existing.
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