Photographer Madeleine Petit in the thick of it with the Ultras of Belgian football club Royale Union Saint-Gilloise.
Being a football fan is a funny old thing.
Ask most supporters why they love their team the way they do – with all that passion and commitment, often with little obvious reward or payback – and you’ll most likely get an answer that goes something a long the lines of – ‘I don’t know why. It’s too hard to explain.’
Which perhaps why photographer Madeleine Petit chose to call her photo documentary on the Ultras of Union SG (as they are more commonly known), “Ne me demande pas pourquoi, l’amour ne s’explique pas”, translating to “Don’t ask me why, love can’t be explained”.
Not yet a football fan herself, Petit set out to try and understand what exactly it is that drives millions of fans around the world to religiously follow their chosen team.
“I was precisely seeking to discover a world I didn’t know at all, and see what pictures would come out… It was quite a challenging experience for someone like me who basically had never been to a football game in her life before.”
Petit chose to focus her project on the Union Bhoys, the Ultras of Union Saint-Gilloise.
Founded 125 years ago in 1897, Union SG are one of the oldest and most successful football clubs in Belgium. They won eleven championships between 1904 and 1935, making them the most succesfull team in Belgium pre World War II – and despite not winning the title since then, they are still placed 3rd in the table for all time top flight wins, behind their fiercest rivals RSC Anderlecht (34 titles), Club Brugge (18), but ahead of Standard Liège (10).
In 2021, after a 48 year absence, Union returned to top flight Belgium football, and would go on to finish top of the league table that season – the first team in Belgian football history to do so the season after promotion. Ultimately, Union would finish 2nd in the champions play-off behind Club Brugge, but would qualify for the preliminary rounds of the UEFA Champions League.
This giant had woken and Petit saw and opportunity too good to pass up, working to get onside with Union’s fanatical supporters.
“During the second half of the 2021/22 season, I followed the Bhoys, during home games but especially on the road…
“I ended up focusing my photography project on the ultra community particularly, but had the opportunity of photographing many different moments during the 7-8 months where I spent time doing this project.”
A popular football team with the working class communities of southern Brussels, the Union Bhoys traditionally take their place in the all standing Tribune East (East Stand) of the Stade Joseph Marien, which has a capacity of just under 10,000, making for an intimate and intense enviroment.
“I ended up absolutely loving the experience, the atmosphere, the people that all knew each other and shared their passion for the club…
“It has completely changed my views on football, and even though I grew up in a bicultural French-British environment, if I had to chose one team to sing for, it would be without any doubt Royale Union Saint-Gilloise.”
Sometimes love simply can’t be explained, nor can being a football fan.
If you enjoyed that, you may also like Francesca Scandella’s photo documentary on Inter Milan supporters, An eye for the Ultra.
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