Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Feyenoord voetball match!



If you are my dad, my grandpa, or any of my uncles, try not too get too jealous as you read the following about my amazing experience at an authentic Dutch soccer game. I had the privilege of going this past Sunday with my roomie Danni and her Dutch boyfriend Rene. Now if you ever want to meet a stereotypically Dutch guy... you have to meet Rene. He is about 6'9", blond hair, blue eyes and very nice. I had a great time spending the day with them.

What was really good about this day was that because I was going to a soccer game with a true Feyenoord fan, I learn so much about the Dutch soccer league. It worked out really well that Danni has a Dutch boyfriend because you actually can't get tickets to a Dutch National game unless you are a member of the team. Rene has been a fan of Feyenoord for years and because he's a member, we could get tickets. I was a little nervous I had to admit because you hear such crazy stories about the fans getting involved in brawls and riots. Rene said he's never personally seen a riot, but the fans certainly do get a little crazy. There are a number of measures in place to keep the peace among the fans though.

For example, you can only buy tickets from the team you are a member of. The opposing fans will never cross paths at a match. You cannont access the areas of the opposing fans. Gates, snack stands and all of that is separate. If you are a fan of the visiting team, you will board a bus at your home stadium to the visiting stadium about an hour before the home fans are allowed to arrive. In the stands, the visiting team fan section was glassed off from all the home fans! It was wild!

The Feyenoord stadium in Rotterdam can hold 30,000 fans which makes it the largest stadium in the Netherlands. Also, the team will turn 100 years old in 2008 which was pretty cool. The colours of Feyenoord are red and white and of course, Rene had a jersey to wear. The game had sold out and it was really exciting so see all the people getting so pumped up. To my horror - they all started singing the Dutch football songs that my dad has on his cd back home!! Oh no!! On the bright side, the songs didn't bother me that much - I think it had something to do with the fact that I was listening to them while I was actually at a Dutch football game and not in a car with my dad.

After the first half of the game the score was still 0 - 0. By the second half though things were getting very intense.... there were a couple of really big mistakes on the referee's part - NEC (the other team) just pummelled one of our guys and there was no card! The crowd started to sing a really rude song about the ref's mother. Feyenoord came back though and scored a goal! The place went wild and the Dutch soccer songs were at full force.

By the end of the game the score was 1-1. Feyenoord tied which means that this weekend - they have to at least tie their game to go on. I definately plan on watching the game on TV.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Cheryl: I am jealous. I was hoping to see a game somewhere but won't likely happen. I want to find another Dutch Soccer CD for Uncle Stephen. He loves my CD. (serious) Love Dad.

Anonymous said...

Cheryl i am jealous too what a nice experience .Granpa.

Mom said...

Hi Cheryl! Sounds like a lot of fun. I am wondering - the rude song about the ref's mother - I don't think THAT song is on Dad's CD. We must have the G-rated soccer songs only! Can't wait to see you in less than 2 weeks! Love, Mom

Anonymous said...

Hey Cheryl! I've been slacking on reading blogs and keeping mine up to date - but I decided to finally get around to it and read up on what you have been doing!!

This game sounds awesome!! And I surely want to hear about these dutch soccer songs - ask your Dad if we can borrow the CD! hehee

Charles said...

I've read your story in 'Univers'and I got interested so I went to your blog!

The capacity of 'De Kuip' though, is 50.000 instead of 30.000 ..

Just wanted to let you know;)!

Hope you'll have a nice time during the rest of your time in The Netherlands!

Charles