More on the Den Haag hype

Dutch stadiums prepared for the coming of Den Haag

The championship game VVV – ADO Den Haag which was to be played in Venlo , will be played in the Zuiderpark. Is that a sign of things to come, when Den Haag returns to the Eredivisie?

DEN HAAG | One thing is for sure: with Den Haag in the Eredivisie next season there will be a lot of meetings. But the fear that matches will be banned continually and as a result of that turned around isn’t justified.
These are the words of Rob de Leede of KNVB. “One by one, the stadiums of clubs in the Eredivisie are capable of handling large groups of supporters” The demands to receiving supporters of Den Haag aren’t different from the demands to receive Ajax, feyenoord or PSV supporters. The number of visiting fans has been determined and the clubs have no trouble with those numbers”

Friday is the first time in Dutch professional football that a home match has been arranged on the field of the opponent. It’s new, but not that exceptional that a reocurrance needs to be feared.

There were special reasons for this decision, according to De Leede. In the first place the phase of the competition (a few matchdays from the end). Besides that there’s the practical impossibility to reschedule the match within four weeks. Luckily, the KNVB rules offer a solution for such problems: the match is turned around. Mayor Schrijen of Venlo had banned the match against Den Haag and he also didn’t approve with moving the match to Sunday. He was afraid of disorders because of the renovation work being done in ‘De Koel’ stadium.

Formally the home club is responsible for the organization of a match. They are expected to make arrangements with the visiting club. The script is known. About 6 weeks ahead both teams have to contact each other to discuss ticket allocation, visitors transportation and the employment of police and stewards. Local government and the police are also involved in the talks.

The mayor is still responsible for the public order. Like what happen Sunday may 11th in Deventer at GA Eagles – Den haag. De Leede “The organization was done in such manner that the game could proceed. That the city had to be sealed off for people who weren’t wanted is inevitable.”

Article 16 of the regulation of games in professional football which makes it possible to turn matches around is only in existance for seven years. It was started in a period where mayors across the country put a ban on match after match. In Amsterdam nor Eindhoven it’s considered reasonable that a match is sure to be canceled because the mayor put a ban on it. Marleen Nieuwenhuis, spokesperson for the Amsterdam mayor: “Never say never, a match has been banned in Amsterdam in the past, but we’re cautious with that. I also remember cases where visiting fans were sent back, but as a rule matches planned in Amsterdam will go on en the same will go for Den Haag if all goes well. Unless there are extraordinary signals, but even then… Banning a match is very severe thing. Sure, the mayor has that authority, but at the moment we’re not thinking: oh god, Den Haag is coming. We’re not getting ahead of ourselves”

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Nice article. But it’s BS. Someone from the KNVB telling us that everything will be allright. Things haven’t been allright for a few years (Ajax has played three matches where the supporters weren’t welcome, the semi final of the cup against feyenoord in Rotterdam gave a lot of trouble, den – hag psv was played on a wednesday afternoon, etc, etc) and now we’re supposed to believe things will get better when Den Haag comes?
Funny thing is, I don’t believe there’s any country where there is so much trouble around the organization of matches. It’s ridiculous.

 

Sounds like a good idea to me.

 

The trouble is that in Holland every thing that even reeks of hooliganism gets so much attention in the press that people who never visit the stadium but love to talk about it have something to complain about.

Besides that we have people like Frits Barend and Jack van Gelder who have zero knowledge on the subject but also love to show how much they hate anything THEY think is connected to hooliganism.

The fact that hooliganism hasn't been too serious (save maybe 6-10 medium to big incidents total) since 1997 doesn't seem to matter. Nowadays any fanprotest is considered as 'hooliganism' by the media.

The fact that Dutch fans have no option but to block highways, playersbusses, railways or stuff like that to get attention for problems is always ignored.

Den Haag has a very big name in Hooliganism because they were responsible for a lot of trouble in the 80's and early 90's. The 1987 riots in the Zuiderpark at Den Haag - Ajax (if anyone's interested I have some reading material on this) were considered the worst ever in Holland until 1997. From that match on Den Haag went down (losing sponsors and later also relegation) and never got back up again until now.

What's a docking point?

 

Organization stuff (ticket allocation, stadium ban policy, match organization, etc)

What's a docking point?

 

No, not all the trouble is caused because of this. It was just an example of how things get turned around by the media.

Ajax supporters have protested at Zeist (where KNVB is). KNVB answered to some demands later on... the answer was that they don't talk with supporters. Before that answer came the police already said they wouldn't join the talks. There is the SOVS... the national supporters comittee so to say... but they're not really listened to either.

So.... nobody wants to listen. And we have a saying i Holland for that: 'People who won't listen will have to feel'

We don't have docking points... it would be ridiculous.

(And Den Haag would rip the Oaklanders apart )