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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