This just in

It has been a full decade since Club Brugge’s official web site saw its first launch. Reason enough to put the founders of www.clubbrugge.be in the spotlights. Dieter Coysman (30) and Quinten Blindeman (28) have been part of it since the very beginning and ten years down the track, they are still behind the scenes at Club’s web pages.


Text by: Steven FLOIN


How exactly did the web site come about?

Dieter: “At the end of the nineties, it appeared that Club Brugge did not have its own home page, and, given my huge passion for computers, I decided to build a Club-dedicated web page myself. It was all still quite amateur at the time, from transcribing articles to scanning pictures from newspapers and magazines, etc. Besides mine, there were plenty of other unofficial Club web sites. At first, everyone tried to create the best web site for Club, but after a while Dave Beeckman, Mike Schrijvers and me decided to join forces and build one good site. When we managed to do so, we tried getting in touch with Club Brugge. Shortly after, Commercial Manager Evarist Moonen invited us for a talk, and we soon realised that we were on the same wavelength. We averaged at over 1,000 visitors a day, and this sparked their interest. In the meantime, we met with Quinten, who also had his own Club web site. The four of us then received the assignment to build the official web site, bringing it online on Tuesday 7 March 2000, under www.clubbrugge.com. A few months later, we switched to www.clubbrugge.be.”

What was there to be found at first?

Quinten: “Everyone had his own specialty at first, which allowed us to touch upon quite an expansive array of topics on the web site. Mike commented every game, Dieter and me took care of the design and the footage, while Dave mainly processed the news coverage from the newspapers. We had regular contact with Jacques De Nolf for the official news, and we were informed of the sportive news by assistent-coach Chris Van Puyvelde. We also focused on the interactive element of the internet: besides the many downloads, there was also a chat section and a forum. Every now and then, we organised chat sessions with the players. I can still remember chat sessions with a.o. Timmy Simons, Sven Vermant, Dejan Nemec and Rune Lange.”

Dieter: “The fact that we were the official web site of Club Brugge opened many doors to us. After the game, we were allowed in the dressing rooms for interviews. We followed he games themselves as fans, sometimes hundreds of kilometres away in France or Germany, but as Dave was forced to stay home due to illness, we called in to give him a match report. After the game, we all worked until the wee hours in order to get as much as possible online: player’s reactions, pictures and a video with the match report.”

What’s the evolution of the web site so far?

Quinten: “We had a lot of ups and downs in the beginning. It was only two years later, after we found a direct contact point within the Board in Guy Jacobs, that we really started taking some serious steps forward. Luc Verweirder, who initially was Club’s security officer and player’s guide, was also able to focus more and more on communication. Thanks to their past in the media, the quality of our texts was lifted and, after some time he lined up a full team of editors, headed by Hans Noyelle. Later on some translators joined us, offering our visitors a Dutch, French, English and Spanish version of our web site, and we developed some side-sites. At the moment, 35 people work on our web site on a daily basis.”

Dieter: “After a while, the cooperation with web teams of other first division teams started to be more fluent, allowing us to join the team in away games, and to take place in the press stands and the press room. This helped us in keeping the web site up-to-date live, and even bringing some live coverage. As the web team was further strengthened with people who can write texts that are a bit more pleasing to the eye, Quinten and I were able to focus a bit more on the technical aspect. The fact that we have a direct link with the Board in Guy Jacobs, as suggested by Quinten a moment ago, really helped communication.”

After all those years, you are still working for hours behind the scenes of www.clubbrugge.be. What are your tasks these days?

Quinten: “For the past five years, I’m taking care of photographic material. During home games, Jean Leeman and Jan Verbeke make sure the game is well-portrayed, but in away games I’m also the man behind the camera. Other than that, I also take care of programming and lots of technical issues.”

Dieter: “I also mainly take care of programming. Besides the main site, there are plenty of side sites (Clubkids, Allemoale Thope, Club Academy and d'Oude Garde, edit) and I also spend a lot of time in the Club Academy and the Clubkids site. I also keep track of statistics, and manage a number of commercial aspects of the web site, such as the advertising banners. When I come home from work in the evening, I can spend hours building the Clubsite.”

What kind of influence has this adventure had on your personal lives?

Quinten: “The passion for Club Brugge is the first thing on my mind when I wake up and the last thing before I go to sleep. I’m fully aware of the fact that I have been able to further develop my knowledge and experience with and through Club Brugge. The group dynamics throughout the years have helped me in taking some important decisions. Dieter and me also started our own firm two years ago (BlinQ & Co, edit). After ten years, you should know what you can expect of each other in good and in bad times.”

Dieter: “Just like the web site, I have also further developed. As I always wanted to improve the web site, my interest in everything that has anything to do with web sites has only grown. That is why I decided to go back to school and become a web developer. This allowed me to turn my hobby into my work. Being a web master also has its fringe benefits: being involved with Club Brugge from so close by, you start to realise that Club Brugge is so much more than just the players on the pitch. In the past ten years, I have been in touch with players, members of the board, people at Club, making a lot of good friends.”

The web site is revamped every other year. The current layout went live in the Summer of 2008, so I guess there will be a big facelift next Summer …

Dieter: “That’s right. There’s not a lot we can say about it for the time being, but our goal is again to take a good step forward graphically. We don’t have a set release date just yet, but our intention is to go live with the renewed web site before the start of the new season.”