The football club Noordster from Oude Pekela has taken a number of unpopular measures to contain destruction and vandalism at the sports complex. “We don’t want Oldambtster conditions here.”
The board of the football association has decided that people who have no business at the complex will be denied access. Own members have been requested to leave the sports park as soon as possible after training. The measures take effect immediately.
“We cannot do otherwise. We realize that these are not popular measures, but we want to prevent things from getting out of hand and that we have to deal with ‘Oldambtster situations’”, Chairman Raymon Drenth explains the drastic measures. He refers to the problems in Winschoten where a youth group causes a lot of nuisance.
Youth worker more often on complex
Drenth lists a number of destructions in recent weeks. “A window was smashed, nine grandstand seats were broken, a pupil goal was destroyed and several goal nets were broken. Football is also played on fields that are being maintained. The damage runs into the thousands of euros.”
In the meantime, Drenth has been in contact with employees at the town hall in Oude Pekela. “I have expressed my concerns and the municipality has indicated that enforcement will be intensified. The youth worker also shows up more often at the sports park.”
Drenth says that the municipality must help prevent vandalism. “Loiterers do not have their own place to come together. Arrange something, facilitate something, otherwise things will get out of hand. This needs to be addressed up front before it gets out of hand.”
The board has not yet been able to find out who the culprits are. “It’s a teenage group, but we can’t prove anything yet.”
The fact is that the gates close faster after training. To track down the perpetrators of the vandalism, volunteers have been asked to keep an eye out and, if necessary, to address people about their behavior.