VV Kloetinge 2 DVC 0
Dutch 1E Klasse B
It appeared that the Belgian beer stock holdings at nearby
Nacht Winkel were not of the required standard, and nor were they priced
appropriately. The boys needed a plan B.
After a night drinking Pils while my South Yorkshire friends
were drinking all kinds of Monk related concoctions in a riverside boozer, the
conclusion was made that en-route to our game on Saturday afternoon in Holland,
we would call at a nearby Carrefour to stock up on some of the more obscure
local varieties of rocket fuel / beaver piddle (delete as appropriate)
With bottles clinking away in the car boot, it was a trip
North of the border into the Zeeland region of the Netherlands, onto an island
in fact, to the small village of Kloetinge, which is effectively a suburb or
Groes.
The trip was not the most exciting, it was flat and green,
apart from a very impressive tunnel that was nearly seven kilometres long. The
Westerscheldetunnel is a feat of modern engineering, ok the Channel Tunnel it
clearly isn’t, but when they waive the ten Euro return fee on a weekend it’s
certainly a value for money experience!
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| Nice Stand |
Kloetinge is a lovely village, and seemed far too genteel to
host a football team, especially at what is effectively the sixth tier of
football in Holland. The Eerste Klasse is the final tier of football before the
Hoofdklasse, which in turn offers promotion into the National League system. So
we are talking a pretty good level of football here, albeit in an area of the
Country that isn’t blessed with a whole range of football teams playing at a
great level.
Typically Dutch, that is exactly how you would describe the
ground. A decent sized car park leads to an equally decent sized push bike
parking area, before eventually you hand over your cash to the jolly fellow on
the gate.
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| Bottom End |
A very impressive changing room facility sat behind the goal
and that served the multitude of pitches that are on offer at the complex,
while next to it was the homely and welcoming clubhouse that was bedecked with
memorabilia of clubs from all across Europe, and indeed Luxembourg.
A couple of latch lifters were had prior to a helping of
Chips and Bitteballen, and on a glorious day we sat on the veranda outside and
discussed the veritable merits of a diet made up solely of mussels. It was
becoming that kind of trip……
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| View From The Al Fresco Drinking Area |
They have an impressive stand at Kloetinge that is far from
typically Dutch, in the sense that it was a two story building with a sponsor
area underneath and the seats above.
With green being the clubs predominant colour, the ground was endowed
with manner of green structures, and the main stand was no different.
I was looking forward to the game because I was hoping for a
decent standard of football in the Eerste Klasse, especially having seen games
played as low as the Fourth Class while in Gelderland, but what became apparent
was the standard was hardly any better than a significantly lower level in
other parts of the Country. That, I suspect is due to a dearth of quality
players therefore it becomes that bit easier in the Zeeland region to move up
the ranks, compared to say Gelderland.
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| The Far Side |
The game was poor, and it took two second half goals for the
hosts to brush off the challenge of DCV. A goal on the hour mark from the
wonderfully named Remco van Tiggele was followed up by a further strike in the
81st minute from Roy Mulder who’s name isn’t quite so impressive.
Post match we tried to gain entry to a bar in Goes but were
refused due to some strange medieval thing going on, I must admit to never
having been turned away as someone dressed in battle gear (except in Rotherham
of course), but it was unusual all the same. So we decided to head to a lovely
town called Middelburg and found a boozer that served the appropriate standard
of Castrol GTX to keep the boys happy.
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| Tidy! |
The day was far from over though, our sojourn to Holland may
have been brief, but we had business to attend to back in Belgique, and my
Jupiler was getting warm in the boot.
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| The Stand Again |
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