The old clubhouse of the Amsterdam football club DWS went up in flames last night. Although the club has not trained at Spieringhorn sports park for two years, many memories are linked to the place, says club board member Remko de Jong.
The fire broke last night around 11pm in the old DWS clubhouse on the Seineweg in Sloterdijk. Flames erupted from the building and it was largely destroyed.
“It is especially painful in the heart,” says De Jong the breakfast table. “We haven’t been there for a while, but it is very sad to see the clubhouse where the club has lived for almost fifty years being so destroyed.”
Fortunately, there was nothing left of the club, which has moved to Sloten sports park because Spieringhorn sports park is being redeveloped by the municipality. “We have now been out of business for almost two years and everything is neatly stored in a storage room. That’s where all the archives are located, and we have handled them very carefully. It is the first thing we moved.”
Squatter
“Unfortunately, it has also been squatted,” says the board member. “So if there had still been stuff there, we wouldn’t have been able to get to it so easily.” The clubhouse would be demolished due to the redevelopment of the area.
The fire brigade announced last night that someone had been taken to hospital because of smoke inhalation. “It is assumed that that was the squatter,” De Jong suspects. The police and fire brigade are investigating the cause of the fire.
Not back
De Jong does not know whether they should still commemorate the burned down clubhouse. After 50 years of history, simply continuing doesn’t feel quite right. For many former players there are a lot of memories here. “I think we should let it sink in for a while and maybe we’ll have some flowers.”
DWS decided last year not to return to Spieringhorn and to stay at the Sloten sports park, because the prospects for growth were greater there. “Ultimately, of course, you want as many children as possible to play football. We would of course have preferred to return, but that was no longer an option.”