The selfie that thirteen-year-old Amin took on Saturday evening with Memphis Depay during the Netherlands-Montenegro (4-0) is not without consequences. The Telegraph reports on Tuesday that the KNVB has informed the boy that he will be banned from stadiums for five years. In addition, he must pay a fine of 100 euros. Normally, a fine of 450 euros applies for such an action, but the KNVB has looked at the age of the field stormer in this case.
Amin’s parents were told in a telephone conversation on Tuesday morning that their son, like the other field stormers in the Philips Stadium, should in principle not be allowed to enter a football stadium in the Netherlands for five years. For the field stormers who only committed the error for the first time, the penalty can be reduced to 15 months (and 45 months probation). In that case, they must first agree to an alternative punishment. A total of sixteen visitors entered the field of the PSV stadium on Saturday evening.
“Mom, did you see me?!” ?? pic.twitter.com/hkSTx5yYx6
— NOS Sports (@NOSsport) September 4, 2021
Amin looked back on the whole event in Eindhoven a day after his much-discussed selfie with Depay. “There were two minutes left,” he said in an interview with the United States on Sunday youth news. “I was full of adrenaline and I thought: now I have to go. I only live once. I had a photo and quickly ran back. Nobody expected me to do it, so I thought: I have to do it.” Amin understands the criticism from people who point out that his action is not allowed. “They are right about that. There is a gate for a reason. Then everyone can do it.” He would find a stadium ban ‘a pity’. “But at least I’ll have that photo with Memphis.”
“I thought: you only live once, now I have to go,” said the young fan, himself a player at a club from Amsterdam. “Then I went.” Depay saw him coming from afar, says Amin. “When he left, he said, ‘Run.’ He gave me a push to leave. I think they were amazed that I did it, because nobody does that just like that.” The boy likes it that Depay posed for a photo. “Not everyone does that. Some would not take a picture and just push you away. It would be bad if that happened to you.”
Valentijn Driessen is annoyed by mother Amin’s statement at Humberto
The journalist thinks it is exaggerated that Amin’s mother appeared in Humberto Tan’s talk show.
Soon there was open talk about a possible punishment for Amin. PSV’s house rules state that anyone who enters the field without permission will be fined 15,000 euros. In addition, a stadium ban of ten years for the Philips Stadium follows, while PSV also applies for a national stadium ban from the KNVB. In the end, the KNVB opted for a stadium ban of five years and a fine of 100 euros for the young field stormer.
Mike Verweij was quite annoyed on Monday by the massive attention for Amin and his action in the Philips Stadium. “This morning at Radio 538, yesterday at Humberto: you would almost hope that the kid really just gets 15,000 euros fine”, Verweij opened in the podcast of The Telegraph. The journalist admitted to being annoyed by the media attention for Amin. “If you raise this kid on the shield, there will soon be a hundred boys on the field. It’s just about nothing.” The club watcher of Ajax fears that there will be ‘an extra row of stewards’ in the Johan Cruijff ArenA on Tuesday evening during the duel between the the Dutch and Turkey, after the incident in the Philips Stadium.
Colleague Valentijn Driessen thought it was exaggerated that Amin’s mother joined Humberto Tan’s talk show on Sunday evening. “If you’re going to give people like this a stage…”, the football chief sighed. “The mother says at the end that he has had ‘the day of his life’. Come on, the kid may still be innocent, but soon someone who is not innocent will come and the security will be denounced. Then there will be fences, or canals, or whatever. You just have to put a limit to this. I really don’t want this to be allowed.