A practice match against a professional club is considered a party for many, if not every amateur club. VV Annen is completely in the butter: on Wednesday 5 July FC Groningen will visit, on Tuesday 11 July FC Emmen.
It won’t be unique, but it will be special: serving as a practice partner for both professional clubs from our area in preparation for the competition. Chairman Remco van Rossum also realizes this. ,,Yes, our treasurer had to swallow when I told him that we could also get FC Groningen to visit.”
Several thousand euros
Because for those who think that the matches between amateur football clubs and professional clubs are finished with a closed wallet: no. The amateur club that wants to visit a professional club has to pay an amount of several thousand euros. That money is then earned back with the entrance tickets and the proceeds from the beer pump and hamburger stand. And if all goes well, there will be an amount left over from which the amateur association can do nice things. ,,That’s it,” says Van Rossum. “We want to do things for our youth. So we really hope for good weather, because that makes a significant difference in the number of spectators of course.”
The professional clubs are in demand. A well-known resident of Annen and a sponsor of the club made the arrival of both FCs in Annen possible. Eric Idema, the boss of FC Emmens main sponsor Easy Toys, lives in Annen and spoke to Van Rossum during an occasion at the club. ,,Of course he has very short lines with FC Emmen”, says Van Rossum. ,,He has arranged for us that Emmen comes here.”
The Groningen trajectory was also successful
But almost at the same time, Bas Schrage from Zuidlaarderveen, member of the supervisory board of FC Groningen, well-known sponsor and host of the Boerenbox in Euroborg and sponsor of the youth department of VV Annen, set out a trajectory to bring FC Groningen to Annen. That mission also succeeded. ,,And now we have two, haha”, says van Rossum laughing.
Whether Bruin can pull it off there in Annen? The Annen chairman nods. ,,Yes, it has all been well calculated and as a club we do not pay everything, also a few sponsors that we are very grateful to contribute. As it looks now, the weather is going to be quite nice, so I expect a lot of spectators.”
Not cheaper because both teams relegated
The fact that both clubs will not be active at the highest level next season, but in the first division, will not hurt Anne, Van Rossum expects. ,,I asked both clubs if they could do something about the price, but unfortunately that turned out not to be possible, haha. Doesn’t matter, I don’t think that means fewer people will come.”
Midfielder Pim Veltink (21) also expects this, a big fan of FC Groningen and recently living in ‘City’ because of his studies. ,,It’s a pity that Pepi has left for PSV, because it would have been great to play against him. He was the highlight of last season.”
Municipality of Aa and Hunze: no signals
Some supporters of FC Groningen in particular have not made themselves popular in recent months, and partly because of this, there is most likely more fear from the municipalities for disruption of public order. The municipality of Stadskanaal has not yet granted a permit for the match between Onstwedder Boys and FC Groningen, which is scheduled for July 8.
But the municipality of Aa en Hunze saw no reason to ban the match between Annen and FC Groningen. “After coordination with the police and the club, we have not received any signals that something is going on,” said a spokesman for the municipality. “So we saw no reason not to let the game go ahead. The organization has, as is customary in such a duel, made a safety plan and we trust that it will be a great football party.”
Weeks of training for these matches
Trainer Jouke Jan Meertens, who will start his third year in Annen, is also looking forward to it. ,,Normally we stop when the competition is over, of course, but for these two matches we trained specially. And Groningen and Emmen have of course only just started, so everything will be a bit of a search there. Who knows, we might benefit from that, haha.”
It won’t be the field, expects Lars Drenth (30), who maintains the club’s fields, together with a large group of about fifteen volunteers. ,,All pensioners who are always ready for the club”, he says proudly. Not that the excellent fields of Annen would be the main reason for the arrival of the two professional clubs. ,,But we do indeed have a very nice field”, says Drenth, who himself is active in Annen 3 and hears it directly from his teammates if the field is not perfectly prepared.
Dog supine allows for rapid drainage
,,We are here on the Hondsrug, and that elevation ensures that the water can drain away properly”, says Drenth as the main reason for the excellent condition of the Annen fields. “We recently had an automatic sprinkler system that works very well. The first time I set it up wrong and that thing sprayed all night long. But nothing to worry about, all the water was gone in the morning when I came.”
Still, it will be a while at the sports park at the Kruisakkers. ,,We are in the middle of a busy renovation of the canteen”, says Drenth. ,,So they just came a bit inconvenient, these matches. But we clean up the containers with a few men and make sure it looks picobello again. Then we will continue with the renovation.”
Annen finished in 2L on Sunday in a shared fourth place, together with Sellingen and GSAVV Forward. Based on goal difference, Sellingen went to the playoffs, Annen was disappointed. ,,We had a good final sprint”, says Meertens. ,,But with this group I also expected that we would at least be able to participate in the sub-top. Too bad we just missed the playoffs.”
Avoid double digits
Veltink is looking forward to it. ,,Yes, and that also applies to all my teammates. When do you get the chance to play against two professional clubs in one week? I’m curious to see what Kevin van Veen makes of it, for example. Nice to play against him. ”
Six years ago, Annen last visited a professional club. Then FC Groningen on the Hondsrug just hit the double digits. “We want to prevent that now. Often in these kinds of matches it is not too bad before the break, but then it goes quickly. We have to watch out for that. And I want to score sometime!”