For the first time in ten years, top football was on display in De Langeleegte stadium: the Dutch Under-18 team played two practice matches against Sweden’s Under-18. Pure nostalgia.
But nostalgia that will probably have a sequel. Because the two practice matches that the youthful Dutch team played on Thursday evening and Saturday afternoon in the Henk Nienhuis Stadium, as the legendary complex in Veendam is now called, were a resounding success.
Raindrops
It was like a good ten years ago. The glow of the stadium lights could be seen from the Kielsterachterweg, of course enhanced by the raindrops. Because it rained, and it always does, there at the Langelegte. At least, that is the reputation of what was once the most feared stadium in the country. Fortunately, the weather gods showed their sense of nostalgia on Saturday afternoon: it was drizzling.
Lineke de Lange (55) stands as a steward in the grandstand. Her son plays football at Veendam 1894, the amateur club that De Langeleegte currently plays for, and she lives next to the stadium. “When the stadium lights came back on: beautiful. As a Veendam resident, that really gave me a great feeling.”
Jeroen Adam, chairman of third division club Veendam 1894, the parent club of SC Veendam, brought the international match to De Langeleegte. “Achilles 1894 has organized something similar before, they asked if we wanted to participate. That seemed great to me and I quickly got involved at the club.” Adam arranged 40 volunteers as stewards and also organized the rest and the KNVB was satisfied.
Grandstands on the ends disappeared
Since March 2013, when SC Veendam went bankrupt for the second and now definitive time, not much has changed at De Langeleegte. Yes, the name of course, after Henk Nienhuis, who died in 2017.
The stands on both ends have disappeared, and a ‘Skills Garden’ has now been built between the artificial grass field of Veendam 1894 and the stadium, the largest exercise park in Europe, where young children learn to move in all kinds of different ways. The stadium was renovated and a dojo and a cycling track were built.
But for the rest? The atmosphere in the stadium is still that of the past. Andreas Roskam (48) came from Bellingwolde with his son, just like many parents came with their children. Roskam had a season ticket at SC Veendam for years. “Wonderful to be here again,” says Westerwolder. “It is such a shame that Veendam no longer exists. Let them do this more often. It’s a shame not to use such a stadium for football, right?”
More spectators than at the last SC Veendam match
On Thursday evening, more than 3,000 spectators, who did not have to pay admission, attended the youth international match, and on Saturday the stadium was still well filled with an audience of 2,600. Those 2,600 spectators on Saturday afternoon are more than were present at SC Veendam’s last home match. Then, on March 15, 2013 against FC Oss, there were a total of 2,487 people in the stands.
Andries Noppert: ‘great place’
The celebrities are sitting in the grandstand. For example, Andries Noppert is there, the goalkeeper of the Dutch national team who fought many a fight with Lionel Messi at the World Cup in December. “I played here when I was a youth player at SC Heerenveen, when Veendam still existed. That is why it is so nice to see that this stadium attracts so many people, that the Dutch top youth now play here. I am convinced that the Dutch Juniors can also play here. In Almere, where the Dutch Juniors played on Thursday, there were far fewer than here in the Under-18s. This is a great place for those young footballers to develop.”
Gerry Hamstra is also there, the technical manager who left Ajax in April. He doesn’t want to say anything about that. Well, he does enjoy De Langeleegte. “Of course I came here sometimes as a trainer of FC Emmen. Great that they are picking this up now. Let’s hope that these types of competitions will be organized here more often.”
Saturday afternoon’s match is more than worth watching. At times, the Netherlands combines smoothly towards the Swedish goal, but does not have a sharp focus at the front. At least a handful of imposed opportunities are missed. But Sweden doesn’t score either and so the score remains 0-0. On Thursday, the Dutch team, in a completely different composition, had won 2-0 against the Swedes.
The players themselves received a lesson in Langeleegte in advance from their physiotherapist, Jesse Renken (30). As a 19-year-old, he was part of the last selection of SC Veendam. “I just told them something about De Langeleegte,” says the former right back of FC Groningen, Harkemase Boys, Be Quick 1887 and therefore SC Veendam, who is a physio at FC Groningen and works for the national Under-18 during international periods. -team. “They had no idea. But I think they had fun.”
‘Two thousand people sang along to the national anthem’
That’s right. “The pitch was really perfect,” said Ajax player and Zeeuw Dies Janse (17), who plays as a defender in the Dutch Under-18 team, afterwards. “I had to google where Veendam was located and what the story was behind this stadium. But we really enjoyed it. You can hear two thousand people singing along to the national anthem. That’s really much better than the 50 people in Croatia where we played the other day. Really, it was great. Rain, cold, and yet such an ambiance.”
Captain Zépiqueno Redmond (17), who plays for Feyenoord, also looks around with a smile afterwards. “I didn’t expect it to be such a big stadium. In the Youth League with Feyenoord I have played in front of 3000 people, but this is unique.”
‘We would love to come back’
Peter van der Veen (51), the coach of the Dutch Under-18s who often traveled to the Langeleegte as a player for Dordrecht’90, would like to play at the Langelegte more often. ”The pitch was perfect, the spectators, that atmosphere, a real stadium. As far as I’m concerned, we’ll come back here again.”