AZ supporters want the club board to do something quickly about safety and football fun in the stadium. There is a threat of an ‘explosion’ within the hard core. Part of the new, young guard in Alkmaar would commit destruction and violence, pick fights and use drugs in the presence of children of other fans.
In an email to the management of the Alkmaar AZ, a football supporter describes his concerns today. “I’ve been through and seen a lot in 30 years at this great club, but what’s been happening lately seems to be getting worse and worries me.”
Football violence is a hot topic again. An underage hooligan who is a player of his club attacksthe bleeding wound on the head from Ajax player Davey Klaassen through a lighter from the audience, fighting fans in Volendam and also Alkmaar is not beyond reproach.
Although supporter violence is of all times, several AZ supporters have noticed that since corona in the imposing stadium along the A9, something has really changed in the stands.
For example, it is too busy in the field of the hard core. That is X1 as the central point and on both sides section X2 and W. “I have had a season ticket for years and therefore also a permanent place,” said an AZ supporter against NH. “But regularly has to compete with guests with a loose card who also want to be in that section.”
He blames the pull of the young supporters with hoodies, who, he must admit, also provide a lot of cheer and atmosphere. “Of course it’s more fun standing there. When I go to a competition, I don’t want to sit either. And for songs you have to be in our profession.”
But the discussions he has with boys about his place increasingly result in name-calling, threats or even violence. “It’s getting grittier. There’s no respect anymore.” Another AZ supporter from the very beginning who speaks to NH underlines that lecture.
“I was really not always sweet, sweet Gerritje, but the way things are now? That wasn’t then. It has become much harder and much more.” After last Saturday from the away section of Heerenveen burning torches on the field were thrown in retaliation for an action by the AZ supporters in an earlier game, it became restless in the hard core of the Alkmaarders.
“There is a clear warning that the match will be stopped, but then they light torches again. I think: you don’t learn anything from it either, do you? And when beer is thrown from above as a kind of correction, they come up with fifteen tell a story. Eyes red as bouncy balls, well then you know what time it is.”
“People are scared, it’s terrifying. And soon there could be an explosion”
Drug use in the stadium is a thorn in the side of other supporters. “At first we occasionally heard some snorting behind a toilet door at the supporters home,” the mailer describes. “But these days they just stand in front of my boy stuffing coke up their nose.”
The email says: “I find that the worst. I and many other supporters with me have children who would like to go to AZ and they are increasingly exposed to public drug use.” Another supporters describe that young fans are often ‘drunk as a horn’.
“When I came back from a bathroom break in the halftime of AZ – Lazio, three guests were shouting at our places. They didn’t even remember where they had looked in the first half about the drink and didn’t want to leave, not even when I showed my season ticket to see.” Things have also been demolished from the wall in the stadium. “Because they thought it had cameras in it.”
It creates a wrought-up atmosphere and also unrest within the hard AZ core. “I really hear that around me. People are scared, it’s terrifying. And soon there could be an explosion.”
There are also positive words in the cry for help to the management of AZ. Because conversations do take place every now and then between the club and supporters from different groups. “But if you address others about misconduct a few times, they don’t listen, you’re done with it. Plus, if you hit the wrong person, you’ve got a pot of trouble.”
The call for a quick solution is now louder than ever. “When will AZ take definitive action against it? Stewards are threatened and you don’t see the police. I would say: leave them in the stadium and put drug dogs at the entrance.”
The other says: “Harder punishment. And not in Alkmaar, but a duty to report in another, distant city with a long travel time. So that they cannot cause any misery in the city around the match.”
In addition to frustration about the unrest, it is mainly their club heart that is crying. “This cannot be the intention. My children would like to go to AZ. And it describes itself as a family club. It doesn’t feel that way to me now.”
AZ is investigating expansion of standing places
Supporters coordinator (SLO) of AZ Patrick Ton says that major steps have already been taken in Alkmaar. “Last year there were vandalism in buses and incidents that supporters went to the visitors’ section and that is no longer the case at all. And yes, there is a new large group of supporters that we have lost sight of for a while due to corona, and they are not yet used to how things are in the stands at home and away games. And there is, as in the catering industry, for example, a certain hardening towards stewards, less respect, but we are really working on that. “
AZ director Robert Eenhoorn responds: “Like every club, we are also talking to supporter groups. Throughout the Netherlands, the fanatical subjects are becoming increasingly fanatical and standing hugely popular. Indeed, we see people moving from one thing to another.”
That is why the Alkmaar club has conducted a survey among AZ supporters. “It shows that there is more interest in standing places and we are looking at whether and how we can meet that wish. Or how we can do that with divorces. Only we want to discuss that with the supporters first. This may be something for towards the next season.”
He says about the drug use: “None of that is good. Drugs are prohibited in the stadium and we do everything we can to ensure that people are safe and have fun. That also applies to fireworks. The boy who set off fireworks at the grandstand has had a stadium ban.” Would drug dogs be an option? “Yes, that would be possible.”
Benside Loyals, the umbrella organization of the Benside, declined to comment. The police have a series of questions about possible misconduct by AZ supporters and unrest within the hard core. At the time of publication, they did not yet have the answers.
NH has the data of the people spoken to. They do not want to be named in the article.
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