Actually, there was already a party for Tim Oosterhof in Beilen last week. In and against Beilen, the striker of vv Glimmen scored his five hundredth goal, in the home game against Tynaarlo that wonderful fact is celebrated with the club, his fellow players and, above all, his family. And they are all more or less football crazy.
Despite all these festivities, Tim Oosterhof prefers to remain sober. Because with 500 goals to your name, you quickly think of that one phenomenon Freddy de Grooth, better known as Freddy Frikandel. He shot and headed 544 during his impressive career. An almost unattainable number for other strikers. Yet Oosterhof is not far off. So a secret goal? “Well, no, I’m not serious about that and I didn’t even know he made 544. I’m almost forty years old now, so it’s not that easy anymore. So as a simple answer to your question: “Freddy Frikandel’s record doesn’t seem feasible.”
Respect for Freddy
The special thing about Tim Oosterhof’s impressive series of goals is that he did it all in Glimmen’s shirt. “Yes, when we as a family moved to Glimmen from Lewenborg, we also started playing football here. I immediately joined the first team of the vv Glimmen when I was eighteen. So really: I scored all 500 goals here at Glimmen. Freddy did that differently at a number of clubs, but I have a lot of respect for that man. Great shot, very functional aimed at scoring too. That’s different for me. I head well, I am tall and strong, but I still score more of those clumsy goals than Freddy did.”
Football in the family
Anyone who thinks that Tim is the only football fanatic in the family is completely wrong. Start with Niels, a younger brother of Tim. He still plays, but as a defender. Eldest brother Rick has stopped and is standing along the line watching. “I think he’s secretly thinking about going back,” Tim says briefly. Then there is father Jan Oosterhof. “Dad is a permanent linesman at the first team,” says Tim. Then go to mother. She beams at the suggestion that, as a woman in the house, she is probably often fed up with all that men’s bullshit about football. ,,You think? Haha, no. I’m often the one who brings it up at home. I am very fanatically involved and hardly miss any home or away matches. So the Oosterhof house breathes football and more football.”
“Shall we not talk about today’s match for a moment?”
That is why the family will have their picture taken afterwards with chairman Klaas Hommes, who will further shape the festivities. Mother Greetje gives the flowers to top scorer Tim, father-linesman Jan joins in as well as defender Niels and eldest son/brother Rick. “Shall we not talk about today’s match?”, asks Tim. Not only because he did not score himself, so he remains at 500, but mainly because things are not going well at vv Glimmen. “Look, I like this group of friends. Can sometimes be quite harsh and critical, but precisely because football is mainly about team feeling for me, a bad match like today is quite painful.”
Glimmen has a good prospect of promotion to the fourth division, which is why this defeat against mid-table Tynaarlo comes as an unexpected blow. But absolutely right. Tynaarlo is the better team and exudes more will to win. After more than fifteen minutes, Tigo Westerhof makes it 0-1 against the ropes with a nice shot and after the break Nick Matulessy almost decides the game with his 0-2. Glimmen still fights back and shoots against the post twice, but the winning game is again for Tynaarlo when Wouter Schenk makes it 0-3.
Different trainer
“Yes, that’s a pretty crappy match,” says Tim Oosterhof. He shrugs. He also does this when asked whether he will continue playing football and scoring for another season. “I’m not sure about that. We’re getting another trainer, I haven’t heard anything about that yet. So I don’t know yet. Maybe, maybe not. But first let’s have a small party in the canteen, that’s what the people of Glimmen expect here. Because Glimmen is first and foremost an amateur club aimed at cohesion and conviviality.”