R.H.S.C. on Tour… Feyenoord vs. FC Twente Enschede (February 2002)

ROTTERDAMMED

by John Drake

On the last weekend of February 2002, we had been expecting to be watching play in the 5 th Round of the Scottish Cup – just another match on our relentless march on Hampden and Cup Glory in sun-kissed May. Instead, thanks to Messrs Tokely, Wyness and Bagan, we found ourselves in a windswept De Kuip Stadium, watching Feyenoord play FC Twente Enschede. With Hearts inactive, a trip to Holland offered a group of us the chance to sample some red-hot Dutch action…

The way the fixtures fell, meant the easiest Eredivisie game to attend was Feyenoord’s game against FC Twente, which although a pretty average looking match on paper might still have a edge to it, as FC Twente’s coach at the time was the former Ajax winger Johnny Van’T Schip (now Van Basten’s assistant with the Oranje). Feyenoord fans have long memories, and don’t forget anyone associated with their Amsterdam nemesis.

Like most football clubs, Feyenoord purports to have romantic beginnings. In the 1900’s, as the popularity of football in the Netherlands spread, groups of youngsters used to play regularly in the large square by the Wilhelminakerk in Rotterdam-Zuid. In July 1908, one such group met in the Café De Vereeniging and agreed to establish a dedicated football club, originally calling it “Wilhelmina ‘08”, after the local landmark where they used to play. In 1912, they officially became known as “Feijenoord”, after the working-class neighbourhood from where most of the Club’s membership hailed (in the 1970’s it became simply Feyenoord, supposedly making it easier for foreigners to pronounce and spell). Feije played in the lower leagues until promotion to the top flight in 1921. With the team winning titles, and boasting the Dutch football superstar of the day – Puck Van Heel – amongst their number, support grew dramatically, encouraging the Club to look for a new home.

Their early home had been the Kromme Zandweg sports ground, but Feyenoord, particularly Club President Leen Van Zanvliet, was determined that, if Amsterdam had a major stadium, then why shouldn’t Rotterdam? Amsterdam had built their Olympic Stadium in time for the 1928 Games, but it was often used to stage major football matches too, while in 1934 Ajax had opened their Stadium, De Meer. In many ways, Feyenoord’s scheme for a new stadium encapsulated the rivalry between Amsterdam and Rotterdam, between Ajax and Feyenoord. Firstly, the architect of Amsterdam’s Olympic Stadium, Jan Wils, was overlooked in favour of local Rotterdam practice Brinkman and Van der Vlugt. Furthermore, the new stadium was to look as different as possible from its Olympic rival in Amsterdam – it would be Feyenoord’s concrete and steel versus Amsterdam’s brickwork.

Without the financial resources of major institutions like ABN-AMRO or Philips, Feyenoord have always had to rely on modest sponsors. During the 1930’s, the Netherlands were suffering from the global economic depression and was gripped with high unemployment, so the City of Rotterdam was in no position to help financially, but by using the construction as a relief project could supply a workforce for the construction. Van Zanvliet secured building permission from the City for a new stadium on an expanse of open, flat land, next to the Varkenoord dockyards (now the home of the Feyenoord youth programme), and found local businessmen who supported the scheme. To finance the venture, a share issue was chosen as the best way to attract investors, but things did not go well. The share issue was so badly undersubscribed that the guarantors had to take up 85% of the shares themselves – even the building contractor, J.P. Van Eesteren, and architects Brinkman and Van der Vlugt, had to accept part of their payment in the form of shares in the stadium.

When construction began in July 1935, although for the size of project it was relatively cheap, it was quite innovative for the day. While plans were being finalized, the Feyenoord board visited other world famous stadia – such as Highbury in London, and Yankee’s Stadium in New York – to see how other stadia were built. They finally agreed that the new stadium should be a 2-tiered concrete bowl, with the tiers resting on a steel skeleton. However, they also choose to move the skeleton to the exterior of the stadium, along with the stairwells and gantries, meaning that spectators would have a clear, all-round view. Within a year, it was completed on schedule and within the projected budget of 1.2million Guilders, but couldn’t stage any games immediately as there were no roads connecting it to the city centre. 8 months later, and with new transport links in place, the 61,000-capacity ‘STADION FEYENOORD’ was officially opened in March 1937.

It could have been an all too brief existence, though. The Stadium had been one of the few buildings in the city to survive the Luftwaffe raids on Rotterdam in May 1940, and later in the war, the Germans planned to demolish it and scavenge the stadium’s steelwork to aid their war effort. However, the structure survived and, although the fencing around the stadium was still topped with the title STADION FEYENOORD in huge white lettering, it became popularly known as ‘De Kuip’ – or ‘The Tub’.

De Kuip lies on the south of the Maas River from the city centre, and is reputed to boast one of the best atmospheres in European football, so is a popular venue for Dutch international matches. It is also one of the few grounds on Uefa’s elite “5-Star List” and so has staged several Uefa finals over the years, including the Euro 2000 final. Over the years, although the basic design has remained close to the original, the stadium has seen a great deal of renovation – especially given that De Kuip is on the “City of Rotterdam’s List of Monuments”, and so demolition is not an option. Some 100million Guilders have been pumped into renovation work. The ‘Maastribune’ was completely refurbished, and now boasts 40 corporate boxes and some 1200 corporate seats. A new roof has been added, while inside the rusting perimeter fences were removed and replaced by a dry moat which separates the stands from the playing area.

As the stadium is over 3 miles from the city centre, public transport is the only sensible option to get there and (thankfully!) Dutch public transport is way ahead of its British equivalent. On match days, most trains travelling through Rotterdam stop at the ‘Rotterdam Stadion’ halt, across the road from De Kuip. Regular buses and trams run to and from De Kuip and, again, on match days there are extra buses laid on. Luckily our train from Amsterdam stopped at ‘Stadion’ halt, so we joined the tide of supporters heading for the game. 14:20hrs – we might just make kick-off; no chance! It would seem that Feyenoord fans share Jambo’s reluctance to be in their seats too early, and hundreds were still, quite happily, milling around the souvenir, burger and beer vans outside the ground. Hundreds more were queued around the ticket office. A few minutes of queuing and for the price of entry into Fir Park, say around £15-£17, we had tickets for the ‘Olympiatribune’. But before we could get our seats we had to pass through the strict security measures.

Although supporters of the Dutch national side, the Oranje, are held in the same esteem as the Tartan Army and Brazilian fans, hooliganism in Holland is a serious matter at club level. During the 1970’s Dutch “Sides”, equivalents of British casual “Firms” emerged. Nowadays, many league matches are classified as high-risk affairs, and extra measures are taken beforehand, with civil authorities having the right to postpone or reschedule games. Supporters are controlled intensely, and the extensive use of CCTV, large numbers of stewards, a fan registration system, and potentially severe bans from grounds, generally limit disturbances. Unfortunately, this has moved trouble outside the stadiums and into the wider world – the most infamous case being in 1997, when a pre-arranged fight between Ajax and Feyenoord Sides left one dead. At De Kuip, once through the turnstyles, you have to go through a search by the security staff, and all fans are searched before they are allowed in. I doubt anyone would risk trying to sneak anything through security to cause trouble, because if the Feyenoord fans didn’t get you first, then the riot police – most of whom would look more at home on the Death Star – definitely would. A quick dash through the crowds and we reached our seats, which – as they were near the halfway line – offered us a great view of the proceedings. Behind the goal to our left were congregated the hardcore element of the Feyenoord support, known as “The Legion”, where most of the noise was coming from. Rotterdam people see themselves as honest, down-to-earth, hard working folk, and they almost demand their football team share these virtues. The Legion offer total devotion to the club, and in return they demand total commitment from the players, explaining why the likes of Van Gastel or Bosvelt have until recently been so popular among Feyenoord fans. As they were born from the streets, they are a club of the people, a ‘volksclub’. The Club anthem is “Hand in Hand, Comrades!” Even the Junior Club for young supporters is called the “Kameraadjes” – “The Little Comrades”. The Legion has a rough edge about them – leather jackets, chunky boots, and the occasional beer-belly – while their motto is, “No words, but deeds!” It’s fair to say these fans really do live for their Club.

To our right, perched high in the upper tier of the ‘Marathontribune’ were the FC Twente fans, who, though small in number, were also extremely vocal. They were helped by the enthusiastic drummers they had amongst them – certainly a better percussion section than Livvy’s tin-drum kit. The steps to segregate ‘De Tukkers’ from the Feyenoorders were particularly stringent, with the Twente fans penned in behind Perspex screening (bullet-proof, no doubt), fencing a row a stewards and police, and several rows of empty seats between the sets of supporters. As with most leagues in small European countries, the game is dominated by a few big names, while the smaller clubs are always playing catch-up. With the Big-3 of Ajax, P$V, & Feyenoord dominating in Holland, FC Twente are often considered the ‘best of the rest’. Although they have yet to win the Championship, no other Club has finished higher in the league so frequently than FC Twente. Formed from the amalgamation of Sportclub Enschede and Enschedese Boys in 1965, FC Twente came perilously close to winning the league in 1973, losing the decisive match on the final day of the season to eventual winners Feyenoord. Subsequent heroics in domestic competitions (a Cup win in 1977) and in the Uefa Cup, when the mighty Juventus were beaten en route to the Final, before ultimate defeat against the great Mönchengladbach side of the 1970’s, raised the Club’s profile to such an extent that when FC Twente were relegated in 1982 it was greeted with incredulity by the footballing community. Twente fought their way back into the Eredivisie, and have secured qualification for Europe regularly. Recent highpoints included a 3 rd placed finish in 1997, and a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over P$V in the 2001 Cup Final – 3 consecutive saves from ‘keeper Sander Boschker, helped ‘De Tukkers’ come from 3-1 down to win their first trophy in almost 25 years. That Final was staged in De Kuip; would FC Twente leave with another victory?

Although Twente were looking dangerous on the break, Feyenoord have the clearer chances, with Van Hooijdonk almost scoring with a couple of his trademark freekicks. However, just after the half hour mark, and to the delight of the away supporters, Twente took the lead. A weak punch-out from Feyenoord’s keeper, Zoetebier, landed at the feet of Twente’s Simon Cziommer who tucked it into the goal. Going a goal down rocked the home team, the fluency of their passing waned, and they rarely threatened Boschker’s goal, much to the anger of the Legion. The half-time whistle was met with a chorus of boos and jeers, and as the players trooped off, you sensed that the Feyenoord coach, Bert Van Marwijk, might be tempted to smash a few cups and saucers during the interval.

For us, our main concern was halftime munchies, so off we went into the concrete bowels of De Kuip, in search of some sustenance. Finding beer wasn’t a problem – the only downside being the low-alcohol nature of it – but food was a bit harder. Now, for all the criticism the Scots diet gets, the fare available here wasn’t exactly health-conscious – muckle, deep-fried burgers the size of small Frisbees, bunged in a roll, topped off with deep fried onions and a brown sauce, that looked like Chippy Sauce, but tasted of curried chutney. Only for those with a concrete constitution, I fear…

Whatever Van Marwijk said to his players at half-time could not have registered, because within 30 seconds of the restart the home side were 2-nil down. A simple through-ball, and a failed offside trap, saw Cziommer one-on-one with Zoetebier. No contest – Feyenoord 0 FC Twente 2. Van Marwijk immediately made changes, throwing on attackers for defenders; a bold move which paid off 5 minutes later. Sustained pressure forced a corner for Feyenoord and, from the subsequent clearance, Brett Emerton, Feyenoord’s Australian wing-back, unleashed a half-volley from the edge of the box into the top corner. The stadium erupted and, sensing a comeback, the Legion’s singing became markedly louder.

However, Feyenoord never found the equaliser as FC Twente held firm. This was largely down to a mixture of poor finishing by the home team (Jon Dahl Tomasson being the main offender) and stoic defending by the visitors, including former Aberdeen “legend” Scott Booth. Full time couldn’t come quick enough for the home support, so angry were they with their side’s performance. While the home side sloped off with boos and jeers wringing in their ears, the victorious Twente players milked the applause from their jubilant fans, who were belting out (in English):

“WE FOLLOW TWENTE ENSCHEDE! ENSCHEDE! ENSCHEDE-E-E!!

WE ARE FC TWENTE ENSCHEDE! ENSCHEDE! ENSCHEDE-E-E-E!!!”

As the environs of De Kuip echoed with the triumphant songs of the ‘De Tukkers’, we headed off with the crowds, through an expected snow storm, towards the station and a train back to Amsterdam – 3 Heinekens with our names on them were awaiting us in “Teasers”. The match itself had hardly been a spectacle, but we weren’t as unimpressed as the locals were. Their football might not be pretty all the time – and their supporters might bear passing resemblances for yodelling Dutch prog-rockers FOCUS – but, in De Kuip, Feyenoord play at a great footballing venue, and one that’s well worth a visit.

Back  •  Start  •   Amsterdammed