Nobody is involved with Willem II for longer than Peter Année (91). The club icon has had many functions within the Tilburg professional club in 83 years. As long as his health allows it, he keeps coming to the King Willem II Stadium and preferably for competitions in the Eredivisie. “But we are now seriously in the danger zone,” he also knows.
Année grew up in Rotterdam, but at the age of 8 his parents opted for a move to Tilburg during the war, because of the bombing. “I was taken up there after a few weeks by a father of a boyfriend. He was a former player of the first team and secretary of the club. At first I often went to the now bankrupt RFC in Rotterdam, but Willem II became a very important part of my life.”
At the age of twelve, he started playing in the youth for Willem II: “In the field I was a defender and later midfielder. I was not a talent, I soon found out.” He then held various positions within the club. For example, he has been a goalkeeper coach, but also referee, board member and 36 consecutive stadium speaker. He has also been press chef and wrote match reports for the club for years.
Willem II achieved second place in the Eredivisie in the 1998/1999 season and with that the club played Champions League for the first time in its history. “In my reports I wrote a lot about tactical matters and the then trainer Co Adriaanse always read my texts. He used them if necessary for his preparation for the next games.”
The fact that Année is loved by Willem II is evident from the fact that the press room is named after him. In the room where the journalists gather for every game, there is a large photo of him. In addition, every year at Willem II the Peter Année-Award goes to the volunteer of the year. In 2017 even a biography about his life was released.
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Above all, Année is supporter of his club. Nobody has seen as many matches of Willem II as he. Every home game he is in the King Willem II Stadium and until a few years ago he was also there during matches. The championships stayed with him the most, as in 1952 and 1955 when the Tilburgers were the best in the Netherlands. “We have also been promoted and degraded several times, I never forget that. And unfortunately we also played in the first division for about twenty years.”
“I can really swear.”
For Willem II, the current sixteenth place means playing football in the play-offs. But given the shape of the Tilburgers, their own supporters have little faith in enforcement. “In everything, Willem II is an Eredivisie club, except with the game,” concludes Année. “We are in the puree again. In all those years I am used to a bit, but I can still swear. My wife has to calm me down. Whether we will make it? Predicting is completely nonsense in football. Hope it will work with the new pope,” he says laughing.
But that his beloved club has to compete for enforcement is not surprising. “We only have a few players with a good basic technique, who can determine the speed of the ball well. Most players cannot do that. I prefer a good game of football than Tobbers, but that is the fate of every club in the middle bracket or below. Willem II has too little money and can never compete with wealthy clubs.