Yet the cause of the light – no matter how special – turns out to be less cosmic than thought. Anyone who drives a little further into Volendam and arrives at the stadium of the premier league club will see a row of large pink lights on the field.
Rick Sinnige, press officer of FC Volendam, laughs when NH asks whether it is not the northern lights, but these stadium lamps, that are responsible for the pink glow above the village. “I can assure you: it is indeed not the Northern Lights,” he chuckles on the phone.
According to Sinnige, the lamps have been there for quite some time, since the club switched from artificial grass to real grass. “They are a kind of heat lamps that hang above the field,” he explains. “They ensure that the grass grows and that the field is in optimal condition for the next match.”
In principle, the lamps always remain on, but they are not used daily. According to Sinnige, the club mainly uses them in the dark months, when the sun no longer reaches the field sufficiently. “That may make them stand out even more now,” he emphasizes.
Same light phenomenon above Alkmaar
The fact that people are confused by a sudden glow above their place of residence is not unique to Volendam. Also published in Alkmaar last year countless messages on social media from residents who thought they saw the Northern Lights, after the sky above the North Holland city turned dark pink.
The cause also turned out to be at a football club: AZ had similar heat lamps on the field. A receptionist at the club told media partner at the time Regional city Central that she had received several telephone calls about the phenomenon.