After the investigation into the state of stands at sports clubs, the municipality of Amstelveen still does not know whether the public can safely use them. The reason for the investigation was the collapse of a grandstand on the grounds of baseball and softball club De Vliegende Hollanders (DVH), in which six gymnastics students of Keizer Karel College were injured.
A day after the accident, alderman for sports Herbert Raat told media partner AAN! that he thinks that sports clubs in the municipality should inspect the stands ‘much more critically’. “Because it always goes well, of course, until it doesn’t go well,” he said then. As a result of the accident, DVH had all stands removed from the site.
‘No in-depth investigation’
Nevertheless, the research that Raat had carried out by AmstelveenSport is superficial, according to the report requested by NH Nieuws. AmstelveenSport submitted a four-question survey to ten Amstelveen sports clubs.
The research shows that four associations have grandstands. The associations also had to indicate how many playground equipment or similar structures they have on their site, and, just like for the grandstands, answer who owns this and whether the inspection is done by an external company. The year of construction, the current condition and the maintenance schedule were also asked. The municipality has not checked the state of the stands itself or had it checked.
“This is indeed not an in-depth investigation”, Raat admits after questions from NH Nieuws, “but for us as a municipality it is the most important thing that this topic is on the agenda. We wanted to raise awareness.” The alderman emphasizes that the responsibility of the state of the grandstands lies with the sports associations themselves.
At the time, NH News made the report below about the collapse of the DVH grandstand. Text continues below video.
Six injured after grandstand collapse
The football clubs Amstelveen Heemraad, Sporting Martinus, NFC and Roda ’23 still have stands. These stands are of a different type (e.g. concrete) than the stands on the DHV site, made of wooden planks held together by steel uprights.
In a letter to the city council, they describe the conclusion that the mayor and aldermen draw as a result of the investigation: “The inventory shows that the sports clubs use the stands and maintain playground equipment yourself and inspect it weekly. Outdated playground equipment will be replaced.”
That conclusion comes out of the blue. The AmstelveenSport report indeed shows that none of the associations have the inspection carried out by an external company, but only Sporting Martinus indicates that it checks the stands themselves on a weekly basis. Other sports associations also say they carry out inspections, but do not indicate how often they do this.
“You care about your club, the accident has been a good lesson”
Nevertheless, the research gives the council enough confidence ‘that residents can exercise and exercise in a safe way.’ “We now know that there are no stands in the same condition,” says Raat, despite the fact that they have not been checked and no inspection report has been added by the sports associations.
The alderman especially hopes that the sports associations will be sharp again. According to him, the motivation to check material properly must be intrinsic. “If they have not reported that something is wrong, when it is, I find that very strange.” He does not believe this to be the case. “You care about your club, don’t you? The accident has been a good lesson and everyone immediately said: ‘We also have to take a good look at that.'”