Have they gone mental? Cricket? Yes, it's a cricket ground. But it hasn't always been a cricket ground. Before the Antwerp Indian Cricket Club started using this ground, it hosted football. And some hard investigation learned us that KSC Maccabi was the team that used to play their home games at the Sneeuwbeslaan.
As we knew already, KSC Maccabi only moved to their current ground in Hoboken in the early 60s. The investigator in us was immediately triggered to learn where they played before and if it was still existing. We do this almost always, and most of the times we are disappointed to find out the old or former grounds are already demolished in the meantime. Since it became clear Maccabi was founded in Wilrijk we immediately checked into this ground. It was on our target list for a number of years waiting to find a link with football.
The team was kind enough to assist us and after a couple of weeks we received confirmation; KSC Maccabi had indeed started playing football at the Sneeuwbeslaan before moving to their current absolute gem in Hoboken. Finally we had found the football link. Unfortunately we had to wait a couple of months to finally visit this ground as the cricket season is during the summer months. But as soon as it started, we went over there to pay the AICC a courtesy visit and enjoy the wonderful wooden grandstand.
We are not sure if this stand was already existing when KSC Maccabi was playing there. It seems to be dating from the same period as the current Maccabi ground in Hoboken. But we definitely like to believe it pre-dates it. The wooden structure is absolutely amazing. The AICC is also very friendly and welcomed us with open arms, although they didn't seem to know much about the history of the ground themselves.
We're sure a lot of groundhoppers had their eyes on this one and we truly hope we've been able to satisfy many of our followers cravings with this one. We sure fulfilled ours... Absolutely amazing to find a treasure and a great story like this.