In a week in which the debilitation of football continued to take shape, I imagined myself in heaven on Friday. Heaven then, at Telstar – Helmond Sport, where we celebrated my anniversary with friends from football journalism; 25 years of writing about the game at de Volkskrant. Carried by love and friendship, it was one of those evenings that you can live on for a while.
In Velsen, the chairman comes by bicycle. Pieter de Waard turns around and does it again if necessary. At his club, football players earn a minimum salary. From the transfer fee of Antony, Telstar can exist for more than thirty years. The public is scarce and easily satisfied. A young man wears the mascot’s suit before kick-off and later hoists the baskets, the abacus of goals. V and T. For and Against. The baskets are no longer necessary, as even Telstar now has a real scoreboard, but the tradition is hard to renounce.
It was a release, this evening, the ointment for the pain. On the next 25 years! That might also work without retirement age, although there are caveats to be made, partly due to the sickening behavior of supporters. Went to PSV on Wednesday, once the club of enviable conviviality. And now? Set off fireworks at night to keep opponents awake. What a level. Trainer Giovanni van Bronckhorst of opponent Rangers, civilization itself, reacted dismayed, because of assault on the players bus. Firework. Ram on the bus.
Look at TV, how men, often men with lager, in many stadiums swear at an opponent who simply throws in a ball. A day later, at FC Twente, the music alone caused total excitement in parts of the stadium. Italian Fiorentina supporters threw fireworks between families from above, angering the home crowd.
That terrible beer throwing everywhere, the fashion since corona. If necessary, stop tapping. The combination of drink and drugs is apparently too much for many supporters. On Sunday, at FC Utrecht – Ajax, there were racist chants towards Ajax player Brian Brobbey, and according to photographers in the area it was much worse than we thought, although dear Brobbey says he doesn’t care, because of the armor he has put on himself . It must matter to us all. We should not want fireworks to go off in stadiums all the time, even in organized form before kick-off. Who made it up?
Let it be over with beer throwing and piss, because they don’t have the energy to go to the bathroom from all that drinking. Many say: don’t pay attention to nuisance. Better is: action against the blurring of standards, also brought to the stadium from society. With the note that it wasn’t necessarily better in the past. Only: the current outgrowths cannot be hardened.
Telstar won 2-1 on Friday. The chairman stood on a table next to the player of the match. They thanked those present. They had something to drink. Just out of a glass, because no one was going to throw it.