Galgenwaard

---

Galgenwaard is the name of the soccer stadium in Utrecht. Pronounced in the local dialect, it sounds like you’re either swallowing or spitting up something non-edible. A rather nice venue, built over half a century ago, but rebuilt to resemble a modern stadium, with a acoustic that is quite impressive. The fans of Utrecht don’t have the greatest of reputations - they are usually put into the trouble-maker category. Not very fond of fans - or players for that matter - from other cities than Utrecht, particularly not Amsterdam. When “Oranje” - the Dutch national team - for once visits Utrecht for an international match, the fans do nothing to hide their dislike for out-of-towners. Lichtenstein is visiting Holland this evening. Lichtenstein as a soccer country has experienced about as much success as Jamaica in ice hockey, England in Wimbledon tennis, or the US in manufacturing drinkable beer. In other words, a walk in the park for the Dutch superstars. Turns out in the end that it would be an easy win, without sweating it more than necessary. The crowd is not extremely excited by the developments of the match. When the match doesn’t provide any excitement, the hard-core fans decide to entertain themselves by making fun of selected players. Contrary to what one would expect, some of the crowd pays very little attention to the players of the visiting team. Instead, they start shouting anything but compliments to a player out of Ajax of Amsterdam. As my Dutch language skills at the time were pretty much non-existing, I don’t fully understand the meaning of the chant, but the message is clear: Rafael van der Vaart (the pretty boy Ajax Amsterdam player) should immediately exit the game and instead engage in some physical activity with a close female relative. The lack of respect for players of opposing teams can in some instances - although it is not defensible - with some insight of the issue and semi-logical reasoning make some sense. This complete disrespect for a player of what is supposedly the own team is however quite astonishing. Not exactly the ideal picture of what the game is all about. Not exactly the message you want to convey for the young audience. Makes one wonder where fan culture is heading. Also makes one wonder how this team is supposed to function as a - team, with a selected group of the supporters spend more energy on mocking the own players instead of supporting them. No wonder Holland basically never goes all the way…

---