Sunday 5 April 2020

Retro - Achilles 29 v FC Volendam (2015 Football Weekend)


27th November 2015

Achilles’29  0  FC Volendam  0  (Eerstdivisie)

The annual Dutch / German trip that myself and my old man partake in was well under way. Along with our old friend Theo, we had already taken in the Champions League game between Borussia Monchengladbach and Sevilla, and then the Schalke v APOEL Nicosia game the following evening, but for the third game of the five game tour, it was a bit closer to our base in Duiven, which falls in the Gelderland region of the Netherlands.

Today wasn’t just about football though, it was also about a bit of culture and a bit of a history lesson. We started our day with a short drive through Arnhem, over the John Frost Bridge, until we arrived at the historic and well to do town of Oosterbeek.

Oosterbeek is famous for a couple of things, firstly Ronald Koeman used to live in the town, but secondly, it was a town ravaged during the Battle of Arnhem in September 1944. The Battle of Arnhem itself was famous, or maybe even infamous, for Operation Market Garden, which in short was a huge military plan drawn up by Field Marshal Montgomery for the Allied Forces to make ground on the Nazi march through Western Europe and make way into Germany. With one of the key elements being the capturing of the many bridges that run along the Rhine and the Maas.

It went wrong. A variety of factors played their part, and despite the Allied Troops receiving a hero’s welcome as they made their way through the streets of Oosterbeek and Arnhem, the resistance from the Nazi’s proved too strong, and the backup of troops that were due to arrive never materialised in time, so ultimately, the final bridge at Arnhem, the road bridge, was unable to be captured by battalions that were lead by Lieutenant Colonel John Frost.

‘A Bridge Too Far’ it became known, and with Airborne troops from USA, the UK and Poland being heavily deployed in the region, it was one of the biggest failures of WW2, and not only that, an estimated 17,000 lives were lost on the Allied front.

But, the Gelderlanders did not blame the Allies for the devastation that Arnhem, Nijmegen and Oosterbeek suffered as a result, if anything they were immensely thankful of the fact that every effort had been made to force back the Nazi Invasion, but ultimately the price of failure was huge, and the War was to last for another year.

These things are never ever forgotten, and in Oosterbeek is the Airborne Museum which depicts the story of Operation Market Garden superbly, with some hugely poignant and evocative material. Ultimately it is a memorial to the thousands of Airborne Troops that fought in the area in the War, and I would defy anyone not to feel moved by the stories and images that are there for all to see.

Moving on from Oosterbeek, we travelled back through Arnhem, over the bridge towards Nijmegen before heading for the small town of Groesbeek. Once in Groesbeek we made our way to the National Liberation Museum, which again tells the history of the region through the War, but at the same time focuses on the liberation and the rebuilding of the area. Not only that, a memorial dome contains inside it various logs, the name of every member of the various military batallions that died in the battles, including date, location and cause of death. Many were just reported as ‘lost in action’.

While I had a brief idea of the Gelderland involvement in the War, I didn’t truly understand the full story behind it, including both the human cost and the legacy that was left behind as a result. It had been an inspiring, sobering and humbling day, and only on days like this do you fully appreciate the freedom and liberation we take for granted in our Western World.


Groesbeek was to be our footballing destination as well, and what a fascinating story it is. For a town of 20,000 people, it has an incredibly rich football history, with a real depth to it in terms of the numbers of clubs involved.

Up until two years ago two clubs fought for top level amateur supremacy in the town, namely De Treffers, and tonight’s stop off on our tour, Achilles’29. The two sparred initially in the Hoofdklasse and then the newly formed Topklasse, only for Achilles’29 to accept an invitation from the Dutch FA to join the professional ranks, which the duly took up.

De Treffers were a touch miffed, and started to make noises about joining the Eerstdivisie themselves, but up until now that hasn’t happened, so the boys from Achilles have got the balance of power for the moment.



Beneath those two though are four other amateur teams, namely Germania, DVSG, Groesbeekse Boys and Rood-Wit. It is such a rich town in footballing terms that both TV and the written media have shown great interest in the town and how it has gone on to be so successful in the soccer arena.   
Having sampled a pint or two at a fabulous pub in the town that had its own brewery, we decided to take a walk to the ground, which sits right on the edge of Groesbeek. Fifteen minutes later after buying tickets from the booth outside, we had made our through the turnstiles and found ourselves sitting in the tidy social club.

The ground itself is typical of a Dutch amateur football ground, and I’ve seen one or two over the years at the likes of Spakenburg, Rijnsburgse, and Veenendaal. A small but smart main stand adorns one side, with a covered terrace on the opposite side. The two ends were flat standing, but surprisingly the pitch was of the grass variety, as most amateur clubs opt for an artificial pitch, in fact many of the Eerstdivise clubs have now also gone down the artificial route.


The visitors were high flying FC Volendam, a team that had surprised a few this season by  placing themselves in contention of a promotion spot, whereas Achilles, after a good start to the season, have recently found it something of a struggle and look set to find themselves struggling to stay out of the bottom three. 

To be perfectly frank, the game was awful and had 0-0 written all over it pretty soon after it kicked off. Volendam, as their league position would suggest, looked the better side but they lacked the killer edge in attack to get the all important goal. Achilles on the other hand never looked like scoring and it’s hard to recall them creating a chance of note.

The attendance was given out in the media as 1132, which to be fair is about twice as many as we estimated were in the ground, so I’ve got absolutely no idea where the figure is derived from, but what I would say is that it is done to create a perception across the Dutch nation that the promotion of the club to the professional game has been a success. The jury, for me, is still out on that one. Indeed, we spoke to the Father of one of the Achilles players, and he told us that the players earned around 2000 Euro a month, now times that by 16, and try and work out how 500 or so paying spectators paying 10 Euro every fortnight covers that wage bill? Doesn’t add up does it?

But, despite the poor quality on display, it had been an inspiring day, and an enjoyable evening at the well appointed ground of Achilles’29, maybe, just maybe we might return to Groesbeek one day to pay De Treffers a visit. As we walked back to the car on a cold November night, the streets were quiet and empty, 72 years earlier those streets would have had tanks and troops rolling down them.

Lest we forget.

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