Gerard van den Brink is a bit tense, if he parks his white Ford Transit bus for the main entrance of Gelredome on Saturday evening. In the transport box in the trunk, his American sea eagle Duke II. “She is always ready,” Van den Brink, Valkenier by profession, had already said earlier in the week.
But still, it is more than four months since she flew her traditional round here shortly before the kick -off. The bird of prey is the club symbol of Vitesse – a double -headed eagle is incorporated in the logo, just like in the Arnhem flag. But after withdrawing the professional license of Vitesse, the work of Hertog II seemed to be over after more than fifteen years-debut January 2010 at Vitesse-PSV, after the death of Hertog I. “She’s retired, right?” A fan asks on Saturday when he sees the bird.
Van den Brink (49), himself Vitesse-Fan, had already resigned himself to that the bird would no longer return. “They had made such a mess of it.” He received many e-mails and phone calls from supporters after the Court of Appeal in Arnhem at the beginning of September against expected that Vitesse can continue to play professional football for the time being. Would they come again? Not long after, Van den Brink was also called by the club management with that question.
Because a home game from Vitesse is only complete with the tour of the sea eagle. She is popular, fans regularly ask Van den Brink for a photo of the bird as a blueprint for a tattoo. For the cup final in De Kuip won in 2017, the first prize in club history, she also flew a round. “The Gelredome is difficult because of the corners, a round stadium is of course much easier,” says Van den Brink. “But she knows the Gelredome perfectly.”
The game against Helmond Sport, however, cannot be compared with previous, so passionately the resurrection is celebrated. Excited cheers sounds like an hour and a half before the kick -off the gates to the stands open. It is already rows thick.
“Completely sold out, 24,000 people,” says an employee in ticket sales, exceptionally much for the first division. A young boy asks if there are still season tickets available for the fanatic South stand. The counter is on Saturday evening at 12,157 annual tickets, a club spokesperson said.
They are encouraging developments for a club that looked like death three weeks ago. There was only a small team on the field, contracting players tried to find shelter somewhere else, The offices of Vitesse became extinct.
But after the judgment of the Court of Appeal, a selection was put together within a few days. Many players come from the second or third professional level in Germany, others flow from the youth academy. With that poor selection, the first game was lost 4-0 at Jong AZ, on which a first point was achieved last Tuesday at RKC (1-1).
“You don’t want to miss this”
Much revolved around the first home game. Captain Alexander Büttner had left RKC on Tuesday with a so -called ice bone, but wanted to play this Saturday, he told Omroep Gelderland. “If necessary, a spray of half a meter goes into it. You don’t want to miss it.”
Bombastic music is used ten minutes before the kick -off, when Van den Brink rises the field with a large glove around his left hand. High on the main stand, from a sponsorship, his wife Bettine releases the sea eagle. Cheers sounds when she flies around. After two minutes, Hertog II lands at Van den Brink, who rewards her with turkey leg. He is relieved that things went well. “But now I am nervous if they are going to win.”
Valkenier Van den Brink – who irreparably damaged one eye with a grinding tol – doubted whether he still wanted to do it, through the “bullshit” in recent years. The low point was that, in his own words, he was asked by former interim director Edwin Reijntjes to do it for nothing because the club had to cut back. While he got “a fart and three marbles” for it. When asked, Reijntjes says he will not remember this. Van den Brink annoys that Vitesse later had to pay a bonus of 75,000 euros to Reijntjes, as Omroep Gelderland reported in March.
Vitesse is all about football again
The fact that Van den Brink De Arend now lets her round fly again on the return of Vitesse is mainly because he found “it was a pity for the bird” if it ended. Although he also finds it very beautiful. Last week he trained with her for the flight through the stadium. “I noticed that she was increasingly looking forward to it.” He mainly feared fireworks, because she was not calculated for that – that is not forthcoming.
Worn by the home crowd, cheerfully hopping in the stands, the team fights for every meter. The positive thing for Vitesse is that again fully revolves around football – and not about the legal and financial survival struggle. Vitesse is struggling in phases, gets two penalties against, but goalkeeper Maximilian Brüll stops one. And wins 3-1 in the second half, partly due to a beautiful final chord from Adam Tahaui: a shot from the twist in the top corner.
Due to an earlier punishment from the KNVB license committee, Vitesse started the season with a point number of -12. In the meantime, Vitesse can look up very carefully, by four points from two duels. Although the club is still stiff at the bottom in the first division. But on Saturday evening nobody seemed to matter.
