Mayor Depla strongly criticizes NAC Breda. Last Sunday, Depla did not give permission for the canceled NAC match against SC Heerenveen to be played in Breda. “They really think that the whole world revolves around football,” he says in the podcast De Bestuurskamer.
The game in the Rat Verlegh Stadium was finally stopped on Sunday after fireworks ended up on the field for the second time. Shortly afterwards, the mayor decided not to play the remaining eight minutes.
In the podcast The Boardroom general manager Ferry de Haan of SC Heerenveen said he was extremely surprised by the mayor’s decision. Both the Frisians and NAC wanted to finish the match on Sunday evening, if necessary in an empty stadium. The KNVB would also not have been negative about this.
No telephone consultation
However, Depla did not give permission because he could not guarantee safety. According to De Haan, the mayor could not be reached by telephone and communicated only via messages. Jan Bluyssen (competition leader of professional football, ed.) of the KNVB and NAC director Remco Oversier also had to make do with apps. “He was too emotional,” the Heerenveen director said in the podcast.
The mayor expressly denies this and says he has been busy restoring public order around the stadium. “They really think that the whole world revolves around football,” he responds fiercely.
According to Depla, the priority at that time was entirely the safety of supporters, police and emergency services. He emphasizes that the mobile unit was conducting an operation around the stadium and that several suspects had to be arrested at the same time. “It’s as if we are wondering whether that match can still be completed.”
Death threat to mayor
The mayor also contradicts that he was absent out of unwillingness. He said his safety in the stadium could not be guaranteed. In March of this year he received death threats from certain NAC supporter groups. A banner reading ‘Depla dead’ was hung on the facade of a café.
He also defends his choice to respond in writing to requests from the KNVB and NAC director Remco Oversier. In doing so, he wanted to prevent statements from being taken out of context later.
According to Depla, a resumption of the match in Breda was simply not feasible. This would have required further police deployment at very short notice, something that could no longer be organised.
So NAC had to travel 400 kilometers to Heerenveen on Monday to finish the remaining eight minutes of the match. The score that was on the board when the match was stopped also remained the final score: NAC won 2-0, but did not achieve anything. Due to the results on Sunday, NAC had already been relegated.
