According to Mark Koevermans, enough is enough, now that another incident has taken place in which part of the Feyenoord supporters were involved. The director of the Rotterdammers is furious after a delegation from Union Berlin was attacked by a group of twenty people on a terrace in Rotterdam on Wednesday evening. Feyenoord already released a statement on Thursday morning in which the attack is strongly condemned. Koevermans expresses his anger in conversation with the General Newspaper.
“I spoke to the people of Union at their usual lunch on Thursday and we apologized. Chairs have been thrown at those people. What are we doing then?”, Koevermans wonders to the newspaper. “I am ashamed as a person, Rotterdammer and Feyenoord. This is also very bad for Feyenoord’s image. It is a small group that causes this misery, but it is persistent. We want to get rid of this, but that is not easy.”
Not long ago, Koevermans himself had to deal with threats in his living environment. The director indicates that Feyenoord wants to ban this type of behavior. “How hard it may be. It’s not about me, it’s about the club,” said Koevermans. “That clubs will soon say: there you have Feyenoord again, we are not waiting for that. I felt disbelief, frustration, anger and sadness when I heard that the board of a club that is a guest here has been attacked. It’s so objectionable. In my view, these are not Feyenoord supporters who are causing this. You don’t do this. Those people had to return to their hotel under police escort.”
Koevermans has no solution ready. He doesn’t know what the club can do to eradicate fan violence. “Feyenoord is not formally responsible for what happens outside the stadium, but it doesn’t feel that way. We are working with the police, the municipality and the Public Prosecution Service to tackle this. If the perpetrators have a relationship with Feyenoord, we will ensure that they are not allowed to enter the Kuip for a long time. But this has to disappear, as director of Feyenoord I do want to take on that fight. In fact, we have to fight that fight.”
The Rotterdam police announce that a 25-year-old suspect has been arrested. “Wednesday evening around nine o’clock, dozens of football supporters gathered in the center of Rotterdam. Some of them moved through the city and arrived at a cafe on the Meent around a quarter to ten. There it got out of hand, chairs and glasses were used. thrown to a group of people on the terrace. A woman from management was injured in the head and was treated in hospital,” the police said. “Several officers intervened and when the supporters ran away, a chase was started. The police arrested a 25-year-old man from Rotterdam for involvement in the incident on the Meent. He is still in custody and the case is under investigation.”
The KNVB has now also made itself heard. “As the entire KNVB, we very much regret that employees and directors of Union Berlin, tonight’s opponent of Feyenoord in the UEFA Conference League, were unexpectedly attacked in a Rotterdam restaurant without any reason,” writes chairman Just Spee on the website of the football association. . “Among the beleaguered people was Dirk Zingler, chairman of this traditional club from Berlin. On behalf of Dutch football, professional and amateur football, I offer him and his club members our deepest condolences for this scandalous incident. This is also a terrible incident for Feyenoord. “, because the perpetrators completely wrongly identified themselves as Feyenoord supporters. These are not Feyenoord supporters, these are not football fans, these are first of all vandals who will have to be punished.”