Will it never end? In a downright disaster season, FC Groningen wrote another black page on Saturday evening. Wouter Gudde about the stopped match against NEC and the possible consequences. “That would be dramatic.”
What would he say if he could look the perpetrator straight in the eye? ,,I think it would be better for both of us if we don’t meet each other for a while”, FC Groningen general manager Wouter Gudde reacted furiously on Saturday evening, shortly after the match between FC Groningen and NEC had been definitively stopped.
In the 18th minute, a young ‘supporter’ threw a glass with contents at the linesman from the long side. Referee Richard Martens immediately directed both teams and his assistants inside. There it soon became clear that according to the stricter guidelines of the KNVB, the match would not be resumed. Mayor Koen Schuiling, who is ultimately responsible for the event, took the plunge after emergency consultations with the police and the command room, after which the public walked out quite pleasantly.
‘I’m furious’
Gudde was still full of adrenaline when he looked back on the incident, which fits exactly within the disaster season that FC Groningen is going through. “I am furious. Your sports heart just wants to keep playing. You know, he’s an idiot, we caught him, so let’s get back to playing football soon. Given the reaction of the audience, I also expected that it really wouldn’t happen again. The assistant referee who was hit also said, I’m not in pain, I’m not damaged and I’m not afraid to get back on the field. But if you start using that as a yardstick, it will happen again tomorrow. That is why we quickly came to the unanimous conclusion behind the scenes that, no matter how painful, the game should be stopped. That’s the rule and you can’t haggle with it. It’s the only way you can get rid of such excesses. This behavior must be removed from the football stadiums.”
Image damage
It was not the first time this season that things went wrong in Euroborg. Supporters have come onto the field several times, there have been incidents with fireworks and only recently defender Jetro Willems had to take a blow to the head when he tried to calm things down in the stands.
Gudde relates the series of incidents directly to the sporting achievements of FC Groningen. Relegation is almost impossible to avoid, especially after close competitor FC Emmen won 3-2 in Heerenveen on Saturday evening and Excelsior also collected another point. ,,But in the end it is also just someone who is out of his mind who does this, while everyone knows what the sanctions are”, the club manager says. Throwing objects has been going on in football for decades, but now we are really going to tackle it. Unfortunately, we have now been an example of this a few times and that is very damaging to our image.”
Sanctions for FC Groningen
The question now is what kind of sanctions FC Groningen can expect. If the guideline of the NAC Breda-Willem II match is followed, which was also recently stopped because objects were thrown on the field, Gudde must take into account that the game against NEC will be played without an audience. That was also the case in Breda. At FC Groningen there may be aggravating circumstances due to the previous incidents. There were still pending suspended sentences, which could result in even more matches without an audience.
Gudde does not want to anticipate. ,,We will be seriously disadvantaged anyway, but as far as this match is concerned, it is up to the mayor”, says the director. ,,He creates a new event and determines under what circumstances the game against NEC will be played. I expect that the line of NAC Breda-Willem II will be maintained and that we can look forward to a match in the style of the corona era in our stadium.”
Army of security guards
Whether FC Groningen will receive further punishment remains to be seen. Gudde: ,,This also includes the question of what precautions we have taken at the front. We have now deployed almost an entire army of security guards around the game. There are already sixty in the North stand alone. If you see what we have to incur for this, that is really not normal. Where we spend 200,000 to 250,000 euros on security in a normal season, that amount has already exceeded four hundred thousand euros. These are all things that are taken into account in the punishment that will ultimately be imposed on us.”
The fact that things are still going wrong in Euroborg, despite all the security measures, may force FC Groningen to take more far-reaching decisions with regard to security in the stadium. ,,These can be very annoying measures”, Gudde predicts. “Then we all end up behind a fence again. Or that, as has already happened elsewhere in the country, we have to put up nets everywhere, so that nothing can be thrown onto the field anymore. If this happens again and again, we are approaching that moment.”
No norms and values
Gudde doesn’t want to think about it yet. “But all those kinds of measures go through my head. We are also in constant consultation with the supporters’ bodies about this. But just to be clear, this cup just came from the long side, where family and football fans sit. The danger is in many more corners than just the stand of the hard core. It is literally in the behavior of one individual. In one way or another, as a football company, we have to ensure that people like that, who have no norms and values, no longer enter the stadium. Preferably forever.”
Gudde is not in favor of draining stadiums, which is also advocated. “That would be dramatic. A beer is part of the football experience and at all of the experience in general. It’s about whether you can keep your size and behave yourself. By banning all kinds of things you will also create new problems. The punishment we have now received and may still receive has already hit a lot of people very hard, but it is always about that one individual who goes wrong.
‘What are you talking about?’
Gudde did not even want to think about the sporting consequences of the disastrous evening on Saturday evening. ,,But that is also very sour, because I had the feeling that we were finally in the game against NEC. I thought the atmosphere in the stadium was perfect until the incident. The fact that the results of other competitions are wrong for us does not mean that we throw in the towel. We will only do that when relegation is final. As a sportsman you only give up when it is no longer possible. And I know, a lot of people will think, what are you talking about? But as long as we can, we will not give up.”