It was December 2000 when three days of chaos and riots broke out in the Graafsewijk after the death of FC Den Bosch supporter Pierre Bouleij. For footballer Freddy van der Hoorn, then captain of the club, these were days full of misunderstanding, sadness and unexpected responsibility.
“I remember when we were in the stadium to play the match against VVV Venlo,” says Freddy. “We heard there that the match had been cancelled. Because it was the last match before the winter break, we all went home to celebrate holidays.”
Only at home did Freddy hear that the match was canceled due to the death of an FC Den Bosch supporter, Pierre Bouleij. He was shot dead by a police officer that afternoon after a dispute with neighbors. “It was a painful tragedy, especially for the family,” says Freddy, who knows Pierre’s brother well.
“The link with FC Den Bosch was wrongly made.”
For fear of further unrest, mayor Ton Rombouts banned the match. It was precisely because of that decision that riots broke out that evening in the Graafsewijk. “The mayor called me to ask if I wanted to go into the neighborhood with the club chairman. To call on supporters to go home,” says Freddy. Because he had a good relationship with the mayor and the club, he decided to go.
What Freddy didn’t know before he entered the neighborhood was that the group of rioters had grown to about three hundred people. “When I walked through the neighborhood with a megaphone, I noticed that it was not just FC Den Bosch supporters. It was mainly young people from far and wide, purely out to create rubbish,” says the former footballer who still lives in Den Bosch.
According to him, the riots had little to do with the club itself. “It concerned a supporter who had died, which meant that the match did not take place. As a result, the link with FC Den Bosch was incorrectly made.”
“It was not my job to send the rioters home.”
Freddy remembers how he walked through the neighborhood risking his own life. Around him, the riot police were pelted with stones, while cars and buildings were on fire. “It was pitch dark, because most of the lampposts were destroyed. I remember that I almost fell into a sewer. Then you think: what am I doing here.”
Freddy does not regret his actions, but now looks back on it differently 25 years later. “I was just a player for FC Den Bosch. It was not my job to send the rioters home, but you do it because you want to protect your city and try to calm the situation.”
In recent years, residents of Den Bosch have hardly thought about the riots in his city. “Life goes on,” he says as he looks into the street where things went wrong 25 years ago. “It’s something you leave behind and you no longer put any energy into. At the end of the season we were even celebrating again because we were champions. That’s just how life goes.”
Watch our video about the Graafsewijk riots:
