Next Gueuze Wins // Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, Brussels' undisputed brewers football club
The untold story of the brewers behind Brussels' phoenix club
Let’s try that again, shall we?
Over on Brussels Beer City, I’ve just published an in-depth feature into the community of Brussels brewers that support Royale Union Saint-Gilloise. Here’s a sneak preview, and head over to the blog now to read the whole thing…
Sunday, 17 January 1960. President Eisenhower is visiting Moscow, there’s snow on the Côte d’Azur, and Brussels football club Union Saint-Gilloise hosts Beringen, a miner’s club from Limburg coal country. Any other Sunday, and Pierre Van Roy and his son Jean-Pierre would motor on the family Lambretta to the club’s Stade Marien home in Forest. With Union challenging for the title and Beringen in relegation form, they’d expect a routine home win.
But it’s -2°C outside today, and Pierre doesn’t fancy it. Jean-Pierre isn’t put off though, swapping the scooter for the number 90 tram to Place Albert and then a walk through the snow to the stadium. He’s not the only one undeterred by the bad weather; the Marien’s north terrace—the populaire—is packed as usual.
On a white pitch with red painted lines, Union scores twice in the first 12 minutes, only for Beringen to score two of their own within three minutes. The visitors escape out of the cold at half-time with the score 3-3. Union take the lead again in the 65th minute before a late goal by Union’s “tremendous” inside-left Paul Van den Berg finishes off Beringen. “I still remember it,” Jean-Pierre says, 63 years later. “Now, that was plezant.” It would have taken something worse than snow for him to abandon his Sunday ritual, because long before he became one of Brussels’ most famous brewers, Jean-Pierre Van Roy was born a Unioniste.
