The largest fraction in Rotterdam does not want Feyenoord, but the municipality to become the boss in De Kuip. That is what councilor Ingrid Coenradie of Liveable Rotterdam says in conversation with the General Journal. According to Coenradie, Feyenoord is being ‘terrorized by a bunch of hooligans’. She also indicates that she felt ‘unsafe’ in De Kuip during the match between Feyenoord and Ajax (1-2) in the TOTO KNVB Cup.
Coenradie indicates that she has been a supporter of Feyenoord for years, but that she felt unsafe last week during the cup match with arch-rival Ajax. “Those bizarre fireworks at the beginning already made no sense, did they? I really thought: I’m leaving. I don’t want to sit here anymore. But later I thought: that can’t be the answer. Then the wrong ones win.” Coenradie states that the situation in the Netherlands is becoming increasingly serious. “We cannot stand by and watch hooligans take football away from us. In England, for example, you can lose your passport if you misbehave. Look, those are measures.”
The council member states that it is time for the municipality to become the boss in De Kuip. “Feyenoord is still that, officially. Because in practice they don’t do what needs to be done at all”, says Coenradie, who says ‘not to be frightened by a few torches’. “But now things are getting completely out of hand. And that goes completely wrong. On Wednesday I really thought that there was a fire in the stands, with that fireworks platoon. Can you imagine that happening, and then what kind of panic breaks out. That can no longer be explained.” Coenradie thinks he has the solution. “If the club does not take its responsibility, then we will place that responsibility with the mayor.”
According to Coenradie, almost everything goes wrong at Feyenoord. “People with a stadium ban just enter the Kuip, the fireworks too. Feyenoord does not do gates with facial recognition, not detection gates, nothing. Yes, that costs money, but believe me: even if we gave Feyenoord the money. They just let themselves be terrorized by a bunch of hooligans, they can’t handle it.” A rapid change is needed, concludes Coenradie. “If we don’t take serious action now, it will get even worse. Then there comes a time when society says: ‘Just go and play football without an audience’. Or that normal people just don’t go to the stadium anymore. But then the wrong people have won.”