Hendrik Pasveer, the man who for years in the mascot suit of ‘Heero’ walked around at sc Heerenveen, stood in court against the Frisian club on Monday. Heerenveen put Pasveer aside when he reportedly complained about the lack of compliance with the rules during the corona period and the club even says the mascot ‘threatened’ people. Pasveer doesn’t let that pass him by.
Pasveer has been committed to Heerenveen since 1996. He started out as a painter of billboards and later became co-responsible for all the painting in and around the Abe Lenstra Stadium, but he mainly gained fame as ‘Heero’. For the past 22 years, Pasveer has donned the mascot suit, making him the ‘longest serving’ mascot in the Netherlands. Yet the Frisian club wanted to get rid of him. Pasveer was put on non-active status as an employee and he is no longer welcome as a volunteer either. The club icon, however, does not leave it at that.
Stephan de Vries, who represents Pasveer, says Heerenveen accuses his client of threatening people within the club. “But that is expressly disputed by my client,” the lawyer tells the General Newspaper. During the corona crisis, Pasveer would have wanted to make it known at Heerenveen that many people did not comply with the applicable rules. For example, there were many people without a valid QR code in the stadium and the man in the mascot suit did not like that. When ‘Heero’ wanted to say something about it, he just got the wind from the front.
In a recorded conversation, Pasveer was told to ‘shut his mouth and just start painting’. However, Heerenveen states that the mascot would have threatened people and that the step to court was inevitable, even after an unsuccessful mediation period. “In essence, he is a great employee, who has always committed himself with passion and pleasure”, General Director Cees Roozemond responds. “But we think the threats that have indeed occurred, we really think a bridge too far.”
Roozemond states that, due to everything that has happened, it is impossible that Pasveer will ever return to the club. Incidentally, Heerenveen denies that the corona rules were not taken so closely in and around the Abe Lenstra Stadium. The judge will rule on September 14 in the case that came before Monday.