Words such as ‘sad’, ‘pissed’ and ‘disbelief’ come up when PSV supporters are asked about Thursday evening’s incident in which a man attacked the Sevilla goalkeeper. Chairman Rob Bogaarts and board member Dirk van Gestel of the supporters association fear the punishment of UEFA.
Van Gestel sat in the stands where the supporter ran from and could not believe his eyes. “Everyone looked at each other in disbelief. What’s wrong with this man? A day later I’m still pissed. How the hell can you do this.”
The board member of the supporters association does not know the answer. His colleague, chairman Rob Bogaarts, was full of emotion during the moment. “What is that man doing there, that was my first thought. After that I didn’t get anything from the game. I was only concerned with what consequences this would have for PSV.”
“Maybe we won’t be allowed to compete in Europe next year.”
Because that’s what the gentlemen are both afraid of. “The blow will be hard,” Van Gestel fears. “I am thinking of no match visits during European competitions for a whole year. Or maybe we’re not even allowed to participate. That would be totally sad.”
There are also fears among the chairman from Eersel, but he wants to name one consequence anyway. “If the perpetrator is a member of the supporters association, we will expel him immediately.” The two do not call the man a supporter, ‘because a real PSV supporter does not do this’.
“If the perpetrator is a member of the supporters association, we will expel him immediately.”
Bogaarts knows a solution. “The reporting obligation simply needs to be enforced more strictly,” he says. “PSV and we as a supporters association are doing everything we can to ensure safety, but a stricter reporting obligation is the last step that is needed.”
Finally, Van Eersel would like to make one thing clear. “It’s one person ruining it for the others. No one else does this. Let’s continue to ignore him because this attention may already be too much. This is a bizarre incident.”
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