PSV have secured the crucial second place, ending a tumultuous season and a very crazy week. In addition to football and the departure of coach Van Nistelrooij, PSV is also about the threats that have come in, especially Joey Veerman. But as it turns out, it could always be worse. In the mid-1970s, the dreaded German Red Army Faction (RAF) targeted the Van de Kerkhof brothers.
“It was a very unpleasant time,” Willy van de Kerkhof recalls in Omroep Brabant’s Willy and René Podcast. “It was the mid-1970s and the RAF thought that Philips, the big capital, put too much money into football. And so René and I, Huub Stevens and Adrie van Kraaij were threatened. We were protected day and night.”
“To school with the kids.”
The threats not only had major consequences for the football players themselves, but also for families. “Security guards even went to school with the children until school was out. And at night two people sat downstairs in the living room and someone else sat in a car in front of the house to see if there was anything suspicious in the street. came. Your life is turned upside down. That was really not fun.”
When Willy went to train, a security guard drove in front of him and one behind him. “Still, I wasn’t really afraid that anything would happen because we were so well protected..” After a week or two, the whole situation came to an end when a few top members of the far-left RAF were arrested in Germany. But when threats appear in football again, Willy sometimes thinks back to it.
“Amsterdam should be grateful to us.”
In the latest Willy and René Podcast, Willy reflects extensively on the remarkable week at PSV and on the good outcome for PSV. “And we have done our sporting duty, so Amsterdam can thank us.” And of course Willy also speculates about the new trainer that PSV should get.
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