Leon Kerssens and Danny van de Griendt of the FC Den Bosch supporters’ association have nothing good to say about the organization of their club’s match against Willem II, Friday evening. They were looking forward to a nice game of football, but were sent home prematurely, along with all the other Bossche supporters, because of riots.
After more than fifteen minutes of play, the match was stopped due to disturbances in the stands. Firecrackers were thrown on the field. Supporters were also pelted.
At the moment the match was stopped, it was 1-0 for FC Den Bosch. Faris Hammouti scored in the first minute. When the FC Den Bosch players celebrated that goal with their fans in the branch in the Koning Willem II stadium, plastic cups of beer were thrown at the partying football players from the audience.
Fans of both clubs tried to fight each other at the away section. The ME then swept the entire branch clean, after which the supporters of FC Den Bosch were brought home by bus.
“The gates were just open, that shouldn’t be possible.”
According to Kerssens, the doors of the gates in the stands next to the buffer section (a section between the section of the home and away fans) were open, allowing the supporters to get out of the section. “I do not speak well of the behavior of FC Den Bosch supporters, but that should not be possible in a high-risk match,” he says.
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He is also unhappy about the deployment of stewards in the Tilburg stadium. “There was a female steward of about 20 years old at the gate, such a girl is just walked over. I went to report it before the match started because that girl was continuously getting beer, but nothing was done about it.”
“The riot police dealt blows to everyone they saw in front of them.”
It took 25 minutes before the riot police arrived to calm the mood, Kerssens said. “When the riot police finally arrived, the atmosphere was heated. Everyone they saw in front of them was beaten. That was just absurd, because we are also standing there with women and children.”
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According to him, plenty of fireworks were also thrown at the Bossche supporters. “Well, that’s going to escalate in the long run.”
It took a long time to calm things down. The game was halted for over an hour. “We expected that the police would just close the gates and that we could watch the game afterwards,” Kerssens says. “But instead we had to leave the stadium and were taken home by bus.”
Danny van de Griendt was later and in the end, like many other supporters, saw nothing at all of the match. “We saw Willem II’s stadium from the highway but had to drive on. Then we were told that we were no longer welcome, because the mayor had decided that,” he says.
It also got out of hand three weeks ago against FC Oss. A security guard and a steward were seriously injured in riots after the match against FC Den Bosch and had to be taken to hospital.
“We are often told that the people of Den Bosch have done it again. But if the riot police act earlier and send the Osse supporters home, it will not escalate further,” Kerssens said.
“We are not holy either, certainly not.”
“We are not saints, certainly not. You will not hear me say that we are sweethearts. But it is very easy to always point the finger of blame at us. We now function as a punching bag.”
Why does it go wrong so often? “I really wouldn’t know,” Kerssens says. “But the organization around the game is not good. And if that doesn’t go well, it goes wrong.”
The two members of the supporters’ association do not intend to address the rioters about their behavior. “We all know each other, but that’s not how it works in football.”
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