PSV icon René van de Kerkhof has mixed feelings about last Saturday’s match for the Johan Cruijff Scale. His 9-year-old grandson was refused at the ArenA in Amsterdam because he was wearing a PSV shirt and pants. He could put on a jacket over the shirt, but he had to buy Ajax pants to enter the stadium.
“I think it’s outrageous! What are we talking about?”, René grumbles in the Willy and René Podcast of Omroep Brabant.
Like his brother Willy, René as an ex-international receives tickets for matches such as those for the Johan Cruijf Scale. This time he had given them to Youp and his daddy. “And then he was refused at the gate. He had to buy another pair of pants and the only thing for sale there at the ArenA was Ajax pants.”
“Grandpa, I threw those pants away right away.”
In the end, Youp was the only wearer of Ajax pants who could go home with a smile, because PSV won the match 5-3. “He was very ill at first, but after the game he was cured again,” says René. “He said afterwards: ‘Grandpa, I threw those pants away right away.’ I said, ‘Well done!'”
The KNVB says in a response that something must have gone wrong. There is no ban on wearing PSV clothes for the mixed courses to which the tickets applied. “Maybe there was an overzealous steward, but that can no longer be traced,” the union said. “It’s annoying, especially for the grandson.”
In the Willy and René Podcast the brothers look ahead to Tuesday’s crucial game against Monaco. They also look back at PSV’s victory over Ajax on Saturday. It can be heard that René was not only angry with the steward, but also with one of the Ajax players on the field.
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