One club, two realities: Léopold’s men top Belgium, Léopold’s women are bottom
Belgian hockey gives you a full Sunday card this week, six men’s games and six women’s games, and one genuinely odd storyline running through both leagues.
Léopold. The men’s team are top of the table, unbeaten, 13 points from five games. The women’s team, same club, are bottom with zero points from five. Same badge, same city, opposite seasons. This Sunday both of them are on the road, and both could do with very different kinds of luck.
Men’s matchday 6, Sunday 18 October
- Braxgata v Léopold
- Gantoise v Orée
- Herakles v Daring
- Racing v Dragons
- Uccle Sport v Namur
- Waterloo Ducks v Beerschot
Léopold at Braxgata is the pick of the men’s card. Braxgata sit fourth on nine points with a game in hand, and they defend their own patch properly. Win this and the top of the table gets very crowded very fast.
Defending champions Waterloo Ducks are third, level on 12 points with second-placed Gantoise, and they host Beerschot at home. Gantoise get Orée, who are eighth but also have a game in hand after their matchday 5 fixture against Braxgata was pushed back to 29 October because of Orée’s Euro Hockey League trip to Eindhoven.
At the bottom, spare a thought for Namur. Promoted in the summer, five games played, five defeats, no points. They go to Uccle Sport on Sunday and the search for that first point is becoming the story of their season.
Women’s matchday 6, Sunday 18 October
- Braxgata v Léopold
- Gantoise v Wellington
- Racing v Dragons
- Uccle Sport v Leuven
- Victory v Antwerp
- Waterloo Ducks v Beerschot
The women’s game of the day is in Uccle, where fourth-placed Racing host the leaders. Dragons are unbeaten, 13 points from five, 20 goals scored, and they look every bit the team to beat this season.
Champions Gantoise are second on 12 and host Wellington, while Leuven, third on 11 and also unbeaten, go to Uccle Sport. Three teams haven’t lost yet in this league. By Sunday night it might not be three anymore.
And then there’s Léopold’s women, pointless and bottom, away at Braxgata. Nobody at the club needs reminding what the men’s team are doing at the other end of their table.
Belgium doesn’t get the noise the Dutch league gets, but look at these two tables. Bunched at the top, desperate at the bottom, champions already chasing. It’s a proper league, and Sunday is a proper round of it.
