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| Welcome to ...... |
There can’t be many people who profess to a yearning to catch a RKC game, but since discovering the place has no train station, it’s been plaguing me for a while. An evening game (why DO the Dutch play games on a Saturday EVENING?) looked out of the question till a bit of digging on t’internet found that it was, indeed, possible to watch the match and still get back to Amsterdam before the clock struck midnight.
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| Hurry up...I need a pee! |
My earlier carriages were a train to Den Bosch from the Dam (one hour) followed by a bus to Waalwijk. Either by luck or ‘integrated transport system’ I only had to wait two minutes for the bus. I made it to the stadium twenty minutes before KO, positively eons of time by my standards: it wasn’t meant this way, my journey to Amsterdam was delayed seven hours. Thank goodness for Satdy night games!
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| The sides come out. |
Another thanks to ‘Laura’ in the ticket office for reserving me a ticket, having checked with the stadium safety officer (!?) that I’d be allowed (not being a member and all). This is another bugbear: the Dutch membership scheme. If you get a club snooty enough (yes, Twente and AZ, I mean you) then rather than ENcourage you to attend, they’ll DIScourage. So ‘big up’ to those capable of finding a way in for Johnny Foreigner (De Graafschap, VVV, Roda JC…even Breda, though I never made that game).
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| RKC ultras |
So, yes, I picked up my ticket and, rather fancying a trip to the toilet, I forewent the lure of the sports bar behind the goal and dashed into the ground. And having barely eaten all day I grabbed a ‘burger’ which appeared to be some form of chicken in breadcrumbs. A Waalwijk burger? Still, the gruel filled a hole (I wouldn’t want another one) before I took my seat, beer in hand. Oddly, I couldn’t find my seat to sit in (my seat number was ‘1’ but the row ended at ‘2’) but I took a seat anyway, somewhere behind an extension built for wheelchair users which protruded out from the stand. Although it covered a small bit of touchline action, it wasn’t a problem, the ball never went there.
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| An odd little 'stand' for the wheelchair users. |
NEC nearly scored 64 seconds in, a smart move putting their bod clean through on the right and it looked a sure goal as he hit it across the keeper – only for it to cannon back off the far post. It was all Nijmegen, till RKC, on a break, went one up. One forward got his head down and ran at the centre halves, while the other buried the loose ball from 20 yards after the initial tackle went in.
However, NEC continued to look like a decent side, cutting down RKC at will. They hit the bar with a header before the keeper parried another to the feet of a lurking centre forward: one-all. Still NEC pressed and before half time a disputed free kick was curled in from the left and some NEC giant flicked the ball home. Easy!
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| One drenched cameraman. |
Half time and a kids penalty shoot out was diverting enough. That and RKC’s beautiful pitch – how do they do it, in the middle of winter? But I managed to understand why a match ticket cost €30 (€30! I said I was keen – you’d need to be). Hanging from the roof were great bloody electrical heaters! They must cost a fortune. If only heat didn’t rise, cos despite the odd bit of warm air, I was freezing my nuts off.
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| I told you so...heaters in the roof !!!!!!!!!!! |
Second half carried on as before, with NEC dominant but failing to pick RKC off. And they could’ve regretted it, with RKC having a couple of great chances to…miss. NEC hit the bar again before killing the game off with a hilarious third. NEC ran clear down the right and crossed it to the back post where the lardy centre forward swung and scuffed and as the keeper lay prone, he poked the ball over him. Let’s just say the style of celebration he went for was ‘sheepish’.
The three or four hundred Nijmegen fans didn’t care though. Job done. In fact, I thought NEC looked a lot better than their league position, which in the programme claimed:
Pld Pts
RKC 23 26
Utrecht 23 25
Cambuur 23 23
Roda JC 23 22
NEC 23 21
Den Haag 23 21
So, a bit of a six-pointer. Shame then (for RKC) that there was only one team in it. Coming out to ‘The Eye of the Tiger’ failed to rouse the homesters and neither did the driving rain. Disappointingly for me, I couldn’t push any more dosh RKC’s way either, with no woolly hats for my freezing head. I’d have suited yellow and blue!
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| Steps up to behind the goal. |
I was worried after the game. I was trusting that the same bus would take me back to Den Bosch and the rain continued to lash it down. I needn’t have worried. The bus stop was less than five minutes away and the bus came within two. Got to Den Bosch then caught a train ten mins later, time enough to grab a couple of tinnies for the journey. Job’s a good un.
So, was it a treat? Well, despite freezation, I enjoyed the game, sort of. The stadium though is a non-descript concrete carbuncle, one tier, all enclosed – with trees behind the far stand. It could easily have been De Graafschap (save for the electric heaters).
The Damage:
Entry: €30
‘Burger’ and beer: €6
programme: free (picked up afterwards)
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| Behind the goal (away fans, far side). |
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| Behind the goal. |
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| Main Stand side. |
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| Wheelchair Stand, heaters...the RKC experience! |
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