Antwerp supporter Bob Dejongh went on foot from Kempen to Heysel: “Left at midnight and first made a detour past Bosuil” (Herentals)

Herentals player and fanatic Antwerp supporter Bob Dejongh walked to the King Baudouin Stadium at the Heysel in Brussels to bring luck to The Great Old in the cup final against Union. “It’s a kind of pilgrimage,” he says. “I hope it will help us get the victory over the line.”

Bob started his journey at midnight from his home in Herentals. He hoped to arrive in Brussels around 1 p.m. “I estimate that I will have covered about 75 kilometers,” he says, when we speak to him just a few kilometers from Heysel. “I must have been on the road for about 12 hours. I took another detour via the Bosuil. I mentally lit a candle there. I’m not superstitious. But you can still label this as a kind of pilgrimage to obtain happiness.”

Triathlons

For Bob Dejongh, being out alone has not become a calvary. “I often participate in Ironman triathlons,” he says. “Even then you only train or compete for days. I’m used to this. In any case, I am up for challenges. Normally I would participate in a long walking race with a friend. But he dropped out due to an injury. I thought: I have to go to Heysel. This is a nice alternative.”

Big mouth

Bob has been going to the Bosuil since 1987. “I have remained loyal to the team even in the bad times,” he says. Does he dare to make a prediction? “I hope for a small victory. We’re not going to give Union a beating. It will have to be done in character. I hope the match won’t be decided by penalties. I’m already a terribly nervous supporter anyway. I fear my hair will become even grayer.”

But whatever the outcome, Bob has no plans to walk back to Herentals. “At first I had said out loud that – if we won by more than three goals – I would walk back home,” he says. “But I’m not going to do that. I return in a friend’s car. I have to go to work tomorrow too…”