Back on a wet December Sunday in late 2000 we saw Monza v Treviso with a few hundred others just outside Milan. We’d seen a second game within a few hours, the slightly more high profile clash between Inter and Juventus in the fantastic San Siro.
Since then, we’ve seen around 50 games between us on the continent, so fast forward to 2010 and we fancied doing another trip.
The initial plan was to do four games in four days in four countries. We aimed to take advantage of the cluster of clubs in western France, eastern Germany and Holland and Belgium.
We set off on a Thursday in mid-March on the Dover-Calais ferry and made a quick stop at the ground of Calais RUFC (Racing Union Football Club). It’s a neat stadium just a short drive from the ferry terminal that you can’t really miss with its four big floodlights and neat wooden exterior. We popped our heads inside
the stadium without any trouble and had a brief look around.
From Calais we headed east into Belgium. We had no accommodation booked so had a choice of going to Liege or Brussels for some Europa League action. Brussels was the first stop and the plan was to get tickets for Anderlecht’s Europa League clash with Hamburg.
That was easier said than done. We found the impressive Constant van der Stock stadium fairly easily after navigating the huge ring road around Brussels but getting a ticket was not really an option.
Because of trouble at a previous Europa League clash involving Anderlecht fans, this clash between a Belgian and German club was seen as a high priority game for possible trouble. All tickets were sold the day before the game, although frustratingly, a club official told us there were still 1,000 unsold.
“Try the black market” the club told us somewhat bizarrely. “You’ll get arrested if you try and buy a ticket” the black market told us.
Without wanting to risk a night in a Belgian police station we headed to the souvenir shop, a sprawling mass of all things purple and white. There are plenty of club publications but no programmes for the game were available, however in the many bars alongside the main stand you can pick up copies of recent programmes that are free.
Some research after the game, which we watched in a hotel and finished in a 4-3 home win (Hamburg went through on aggregate), suggested it would be much easier to get tickets for league games. A case of unfinished business for us.
On the Friday morning we left Brussels and headed towards Rotterdam. A quick phone call to Feyenoord suggested we could buy tickets with ease for their Saturday night clash with Vitesse Arnhem so we hurried along the 100 or so miles. Feyenoord’s impressive De Kuip stadium is on the south side of the city, which is great as you can’t really miss it if you’re arriving from Belgium.
We found the ticket booth easily and paid 23 Euros for a match ticket. We also found details of a stadium tour which we arranged for the following afternoon.
With Saturday night tickets secured we headed south, again we had options of watching FC Dordrecht or RBC Roosendal. Dordrecht is only 12 miles from Rotterdam, a charming commuter town on a large river.
We checked straight into a hotel and then made our way to the GN Bouw Stadion with around 1,500 others. It’s free parking and only 7 Euros to get in (the Euro is now the same rate as the pound). This is the Dutch Jupiler League, the second division. When you consider that the English second tier features the likes of Newcastle and Nottingham Forest, the football at this level is a monumental drop in standard and stature.
The ground is small and would put most League Two clubs to shame, but still the visiting Excelsior fans and the hardcore bunch of home fans in the end we sat in behind the goal made a good atmosphere. There were mainly young men in the noisy end, most were drinking during the whole game and the whiff of dope m
ade it slightly surreal.
We picked up a supporters programme, a 20-page colour effort which was freely available in the bar. Over half the pages are adverts, but it did feature info and stats on both teams and most importantly a league table which showed Excelsior in fourth place and FC Dordrecht in 12th. We also managed to get hold of a team sheet from the game plus a great 32 page magazine on the Jupiler League for the month of March which is full of pictures and information. I don’t speak Dutch, so this obviously has limited appeal, but still, it was free.
After a quick Saturday morning stroll around the pretty town of Dordrecht it was off to Rotterdam once again for a tour around the De Kuip. It’s 11 Euros for this, which is a fair price to pay as it also gets admission into the small but well designed museum. First off we went straight to the top of the stadium and the plush VIP seats which gave a spectacular view.
Our guide told us the stadium holds 52,500 fans, and the lush red VIP seats we perched on cost 5,500 Euros for a season – but there’s a waiting list of three years to get one. There are slightly cheaper seats available at 11 Euros right down the front which we later found give an appalling view!
We went into the director’s boxes, the press box and the small changing rooms, nothing that spectacular about them, but as a football fan it’s always nice just so be able to stroll around the bits you don’t normally get access to. The tunnel leading down to the pitch is really pretty, with murals all over the walls and rolls of honour for each of the competitions played here. It’s amazing to recall that Aston Villa won the European Cup here, Everton and Manchester United won the Cup Winners Cup here and of course Holland famously beat England 2-0 here in 1993 much to Graham Taylor’s dislike.
Back to Dordrecht for the afternoon and another stroll around the market for chips and mayonnaise, and then, as the rain started to pour I drove us back into Rotterdam. This time the roads around the De Kuip were packed and parking proved very tricky. We chanced our luck at the first big car park around the stadium and were told to proceed to a police area and buy a ticket from there. We followed the traffic and actually ended up at a retail park behind the stadium and were charged 12 Euros to park!
The rain was still falling heavily as we found a programme seller, he was impressed we were there and asked which team we support. We both told him it was Norwich. “Ah, Norwich County, yes I know them,” he said.
The programme ‘Stadion Sport Nieuws’ is a glossy 70 page edition for just 1.50 Euros. On the front it boasts to be the ‘Original Programme’ but is not that as it doesn’t include the Feyenoord logo on the front, or anywhere inside. It looks, feels and smells like a proper programme but isn’t connected to the club in the way that UK programmes are.
Inside it’s full of the usual articles, stats and features and a mighty impressive publication for the low cover price. We knew it was unofficial as inside we picked up the small free Feyenoord Wedstrijdmagazine, which is the official club freebie. It’s pocket-sized and was actually a double edition – for the league game against Vitesse Arnhem which we were about to watch, and the midweek cup game against Steve McClaren’s FC Twente.
We had great seats high up behind one of the goals, but if the smell of dope at Dordrecht was bad the night before, it was almost unbearable at Feyenoord. Grown men were smoking huge joints next to kids and as we were at the very top of an enclosed bowl of a stadium the smoke seemed to circle around us during the first half.
Feyenoord’s team featured former Premier League players Gio van Bronckhorst and Denny Landzaat with former international striker Roy Makaay up front. The game was poised at 1-0 to Feyenoord after about half an hour when the rain that had been falling steadily suddenly upped a gear and for ten minutes the players struggled on in torrential rain.
With the game becoming a farce, Vitesse equalised on the stroke of half-time. We trundled downstairs to move seats away from the dope smokers as the rain started to form small ponds on the pitch. It was no surprise when the game was called off at half-time!
I picked up another free paper, a 24 page supporters A3 edition called ‘De Legionenkrant’ and, after almost an hour trying to get out of the car park, we made our way back to Dordrecht for the final night and checked out early on the Sunday morning. We headed to Ostend on the Belgian coast to catch the last game, the Belgian second division clash between KV Oostende and visitors AS Eupen.
Again a big drop down in quality, but Oostende’s compact Albertpark stadium holds around 1,000 people most matchdays. We jumped at the chance to stand on the terraces and paid 11 Euros for the privilege. We didn’t know that we were in with the away fans but that was no problem. Again the fans behind the goal were all teenagers, drinking and smoking (cigarettes) during the game. The elder Eupen fans, about 30 of them, sat in the far corner of a nearby stand.
Eupen, from near the German border, are nicknamed the Pandas and they were really poor, the home side running out winners. The team produce a free official ‘Clubblad’ or newspaper titled ‘Voetbal aan zee’ or ‘Football on sea’. The ground is literally a minute away from the coast, tucked away next to an electrical megastore. The eight page paper is mainly text but features a picture on the front of two Oostende players in possible the most sponsored kit I have ever seen. They must have had eight sponsors on their shirts, which included logos on the back of both their shirts and shorts.
After the Oostende it was back to Calais and the ferry back to Dover. We’d aimed for four games in four days in four counties and had to settle for two and a half games in three days in two countries. But still, a great trip in Northern Europe.
Since then, we’ve seen around 50 games between us on the continent, so fast forward to 2010 and we fancied doing another trip.
The initial plan was to do four games in four days in four countries. We aimed to take advantage of the cluster of clubs in western France, eastern Germany and Holland and Belgium.
We set off on a Thursday in mid-March on the Dover-Calais ferry and made a quick stop at the ground of Calais RUFC (Racing Union Football Club). It’s a neat stadium just a short drive from the ferry terminal that you can’t really miss with its four big floodlights and neat wooden exterior. We popped our heads inside
the stadium without any trouble and had a brief look around.From Calais we headed east into Belgium. We had no accommodation booked so had a choice of going to Liege or Brussels for some Europa League action. Brussels was the first stop and the plan was to get tickets for Anderlecht’s Europa League clash with Hamburg.
That was easier said than done. We found the impressive Constant van der Stock stadium fairly easily after navigating the huge ring road around Brussels but getting a ticket was not really an option.
Because of trouble at a previous Europa League clash involving Anderlecht fans, this clash between a Belgian and German club was seen as a high priority game for possible trouble. All tickets were sold the day before the game, although frustratingly, a club official told us there were still 1,000 unsold.
“Try the black market” the club told us somewhat bizarrely. “You’ll get arrested if you try and buy a ticket” the black market told us.
Without wanting to risk a night in a Belgian police station we headed to the souvenir shop, a sprawling mass of all things purple and white. There are plenty of club publications but no programmes for the game were available, however in the many bars alongside the main stand you can pick up copies of recent programmes that are free.
Some research after the game, which we watched in a hotel and finished in a 4-3 home win (Hamburg went through on aggregate), suggested it would be much easier to get tickets for league games. A case of unfinished business for us.
On the Friday morning we left Brussels and headed towards Rotterdam. A quick phone call to Feyenoord suggested we could buy tickets with ease for their Saturday night clash with Vitesse Arnhem so we hurried along the 100 or so miles. Feyenoord’s impressive De Kuip stadium is on the south side of the city, which is great as you can’t really miss it if you’re arriving from Belgium.
We found the ticket booth easily and paid 23 Euros for a match ticket. We also found details of a stadium tour which we arranged for the following afternoon.
With Saturday night tickets secured we headed south, again we had options of watching FC Dordrecht or RBC Roosendal. Dordrecht is only 12 miles from Rotterdam, a charming commuter town on a large river.
We checked straight into a hotel and then made our way to the GN Bouw Stadion with around 1,500 others. It’s free parking and only 7 Euros to get in (the Euro is now the same rate as the pound). This is the Dutch Jupiler League, the second division. When you consider that the English second tier features the likes of Newcastle and Nottingham Forest, the football at this level is a monumental drop in standard and stature.
The ground is small and would put most League Two clubs to shame, but still the visiting Excelsior fans and the hardcore bunch of home fans in the end we sat in behind the goal made a good atmosphere. There were mainly young men in the noisy end, most were drinking during the whole game and the whiff of dope m
ade it slightly surreal.We picked up a supporters programme, a 20-page colour effort which was freely available in the bar. Over half the pages are adverts, but it did feature info and stats on both teams and most importantly a league table which showed Excelsior in fourth place and FC Dordrecht in 12th. We also managed to get hold of a team sheet from the game plus a great 32 page magazine on the Jupiler League for the month of March which is full of pictures and information. I don’t speak Dutch, so this obviously has limited appeal, but still, it was free.
After a quick Saturday morning stroll around the pretty town of Dordrecht it was off to Rotterdam once again for a tour around the De Kuip. It’s 11 Euros for this, which is a fair price to pay as it also gets admission into the small but well designed museum. First off we went straight to the top of the stadium and the plush VIP seats which gave a spectacular view.
Our guide told us the stadium holds 52,500 fans, and the lush red VIP seats we perched on cost 5,500 Euros for a season – but there’s a waiting list of three years to get one. There are slightly cheaper seats available at 11 Euros right down the front which we later found give an appalling view!
We went into the director’s boxes, the press box and the small changing rooms, nothing that spectacular about them, but as a football fan it’s always nice just so be able to stroll around the bits you don’t normally get access to. The tunnel leading down to the pitch is really pretty, with murals all over the walls and rolls of honour for each of the competitions played here. It’s amazing to recall that Aston Villa won the European Cup here, Everton and Manchester United won the Cup Winners Cup here and of course Holland famously beat England 2-0 here in 1993 much to Graham Taylor’s dislike.
Back to Dordrecht for the afternoon and another stroll around the market for chips and mayonnaise, and then, as the rain started to pour I drove us back into Rotterdam. This time the roads around the De Kuip were packed and parking proved very tricky. We chanced our luck at the first big car park around the stadium and were told to proceed to a police area and buy a ticket from there. We followed the traffic and actually ended up at a retail park behind the stadium and were charged 12 Euros to park!
The rain was still falling heavily as we found a programme seller, he was impressed we were there and asked which team we support. We both told him it was Norwich. “Ah, Norwich County, yes I know them,” he said.
The programme ‘Stadion Sport Nieuws’ is a glossy 70 page edition for just 1.50 Euros. On the front it boasts to be the ‘Original Programme’ but is not that as it doesn’t include the Feyenoord logo on the front, or anywhere inside. It looks, feels and smells like a proper programme but isn’t connected to the club in the way that UK programmes are.
Inside it’s full of the usual articles, stats and features and a mighty impressive publication for the low cover price. We knew it was unofficial as inside we picked up the small free Feyenoord Wedstrijdmagazine, which is the official club freebie. It’s pocket-sized and was actually a double edition – for the league game against Vitesse Arnhem which we were about to watch, and the midweek cup game against Steve McClaren’s FC Twente.
We had great seats high up behind one of the goals, but if the smell of dope at Dordrecht was bad the night before, it was almost unbearable at Feyenoord. Grown men were smoking huge joints next to kids and as we were at the very top of an enclosed bowl of a stadium the smoke seemed to circle around us during the first half.
Feyenoord’s team featured former Premier League players Gio van Bronckhorst and Denny Landzaat with former international striker Roy Makaay up front. The game was poised at 1-0 to Feyenoord after about half an hour when the rain that had been falling steadily suddenly upped a gear and for ten minutes the players struggled on in torrential rain.
With the game becoming a farce, Vitesse equalised on the stroke of half-time. We trundled downstairs to move seats away from the dope smokers as the rain started to form small ponds on the pitch. It was no surprise when the game was called off at half-time!
I picked up another free paper, a 24 page supporters A3 edition called ‘De Legionenkrant’ and, after almost an hour trying to get out of the car park, we made our way back to Dordrecht for the final night and checked out early on the Sunday morning. We headed to Ostend on the Belgian coast to catch the last game, the Belgian second division clash between KV Oostende and visitors AS Eupen.
Again a big drop down in quality, but Oostende’s compact Albertpark stadium holds around 1,000 people most matchdays. We jumped at the chance to stand on the terraces and paid 11 Euros for the privilege. We didn’t know that we were in with the away fans but that was no problem. Again the fans behind the goal were all teenagers, drinking and smoking (cigarettes) during the game. The elder Eupen fans, about 30 of them, sat in the far corner of a nearby stand.
Eupen, from near the German border, are nicknamed the Pandas and they were really poor, the home side running out winners. The team produce a free official ‘Clubblad’ or newspaper titled ‘Voetbal aan zee’ or ‘Football on sea’. The ground is literally a minute away from the coast, tucked away next to an electrical megastore. The eight page paper is mainly text but features a picture on the front of two Oostende players in possible the most sponsored kit I have ever seen. They must have had eight sponsors on their shirts, which included logos on the back of both their shirts and shorts.
After the Oostende it was back to Calais and the ferry back to Dover. We’d aimed for four games in four days in four counties and had to settle for two and a half games in three days in two countries. But still, a great trip in Northern Europe.
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