The Dog Rugby derby between FC Emmen and FC Groningen was canceled on Friday, because a large part of the FC Groningen selection was infected with the norovirus. Is that a valid reason to postpone the match?
Wilfred Ramaker
“Well, of course it’s not just any flu. The contagiousness of the norovirus and the acute outbreak at FC Groningen makes it logical to me that the match has been cancelled. You can tell that it caused quite a stir. A few Emmen residents went to the FC Groningen training fields on Thursday to deliver a pack of diapers to Dick Lukkien. There were eight men on the field and Lukkien was home sick. The boys then delivered it inside and made a video of it. Inside, a few more players were in the weight room. So there were more than eight players present. That raised the question of whether FC Groningen deliberately made it look worse than it was. I set the video to X. It has already been viewed almost 200,000 times.”
Wilfred Ramaker is a fanatic supporter of FC Emmen.
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Reinoud Brouwer
“It is a completely justified decision. FC Groningen cannot field a significant part of the selection. Moreover, it is an incredibly infectious virus. The entire selection and that of the opponent can be infected. It also remains infectious for a long time. The fact that the KNVB, whose federation doctor consulted with us and fortunately was on the same page from a medical point of view, has decided to cancel the match is, in my opinion, very sensible. Of course I would have liked to see football being played, because FC Groningen is in a good flow, but postponing the game is the only good decision. The question is whether Monday evening’s match against Jong Ajax should go ahead. Feeling better does not necessarily mean that you can play football again.”
Reinoud Brouwer is club doctor of FC Groningen.
Michel van Oostrum
“It’s apparently a good reason. FC Groningen submitted the request to the KNVB, which honored it. I don’t actually know whether something like this is still checked by a doctor from the KNVB. It is very annoying what is happening to FC Groningen. Yet it is also a BVO with a large selection. Although I understand of course that the quality decreases a lot if a large part of your starting eleven is sick. It’s especially annoying. The Oude Meerdijk was sold out and I would go there myself. I myself have experienced something similar. As a player for Cambuur we were at a training camp in Mexico. Many players were sick when they returned. Nothing was canceled then, but we only got one point in the next eight games. It would have been nice if all those matches had been cancelled, haha.”
Michel van Oostrum is FC Emmen’s all-time top scorer.
Henk de Haan
“It’s great that it’s possible, I think it’s great. When I read that FC Groningen tried to postpone the match, I thought: funny, humor man. Turns out they really wanted it, haha! Well done, you know. Wim Entzinger has probably arranged that again. That removes red cards and now an entire match. It’s unprecedented. I don’t understand it at all. FC Groningen has a selection of 35 men. Then you just play with the substitutions if a few are sick. As a Groningen resident I am very happy that it is not happening, but as an Emmen resident I would have found it ridiculous. In our time, no competitions were canceled due to the flu. As Dutch people, we should not show off this; we are considered crazy abroad.”
Henk de Haan is a former player for FC Groningen, among others.