In the series Ex on the Pitch Every week two former professional football players visit the Voetbalfabriek in Almere. Together with presenter Jelle Kusters, they look back on their career and play a number of mini games. In the first episode it is the turn of Romano Denneboom and Patrick Pothuizen, who played together at NEC between 2004 and 2007 and are now regular teammates at FC De Rebels.
Pothuizen is still the player who holds the record for most yellow cards in the Eredivisie. On May 2, 2010, he took his 84th yellow card and took over the record from Jean-Paul de Jong. Yet that was not his personal highlight, he says when asked about it. That was the substitute on behalf of NEC against Sparta Rotterdam, on March 16, 2008. With a 1-2 deficit, Pothuizen was brought into the field as a crowbar. ”I came up front, next to Jhonny van Beukering. If you score twice and are also involved in a goal, in ten minutes… At the end I got a change of audience, so after twelve minutes I was allowed to leave”, Pothuizen looks back on the game that was partly thanks to him. ended up winning 4-2.
Pothuizen also contributed positively to the atmosphere at NEC off the field, for example with his dressing room humor. “For example, I had a toothbrush, and then I would walk naked in the shower with that toothbrush between my buttocks. And then I asked, ‘Guys, who saw my toothbrush?’ Maybe that’s not normal, no,” he says with a laugh.
Not only Pothuizen contributed to the good atmosphere. When Denneboom mentions Rutger’s name Worm (“It’s also a legend, Rutger”), Pothuizen comes up with an anecdote about Worm. “We sometimes had team outings with Björn van der Doelen, and he went with us. Well, have a drink too. All ordered tequila and Rutger also wanted to participate for the first time. With about five people at the bar, all tequila”, laughs Pothuizen. “Yeah, you already know, we all drink water and he tequila. He had about six or seven on it. Then he had to throw up. He must not be happy that I am telling this.”
Denneboom during his only international match, against Liechtenstein.
On September 3, 2004, Denneboom played his first and only international match for the Dutch national team. During that international match, the former attacker dared to show himself in his own car, a Toyota from his then club NEC. “I had put my car on P4 very early then, and I walked the last part. It didn’t make sense at all, but that was what I was working on at the time. Footballers are quite sensitive to beautiful things.”
The latter is also apparent when Denneboom is asked about his stupidest purchase ever. “I played in the youth of sc Heerenveen, and my great idol was Patrick Kluivert. He played with king’s chain, link (bracelet, ed.) and ring. I had to have that too. So I remember well that on a weekend off I went with my mother to the jeweler in Rotterdam. As a footballer you earn good money, and I was the type who liked quite a lot of things.”
Denneboom eventually played 98 matches for NEC and also played for Heerenveen, FC Twente, Willem II, Sparta Rotterdam, Arminia Bielefeld and FC Lienden. “After my career I didn’t do anything for a while, but at some point the walls come down on you and you start looking for things. I have played amateur football for a long time. One of the guys was in the office at Coolblue, and I asked him if he could arrange something for me. Then I did all kinds of things there, such as delivering washing machines. But it’s lifting all day, so I eventually stopped.”
Pothuizen played most of his career for NEC, but also played for FC Twente, De Treffers and Vitesse. He left for the latter club in 2000; a move he still regrets. “I was captain of NEC at the time and went to the arch-rival. It’s also no fun when you arrive at the first training and Vitesse supporters tell you to fuck off. In the end I left after half a year. I should never have taken that step,” says Pothuizen.
Denneboom in the shirt of NEC in a duel with Willem II’er Frank van der Struijk.
In 2006, now back in the service of NEC, Pothuizen scored against Vitesse. What followed were some obscene gestures towards the Arnhem supporters. “When I see that again, I’m not proud of it of course, but that just happens. Just like hitting a ball when I can’t reach it.” After his professional career, Pothuizen decides to play for De Treffers. After two years at the amateur club from Groesbeek, he also gets his UEFA A and UEFA C diplomas.
Afterwards, another adventure follows at DIO ’30 Druten, as a player in the first team and as a trainer of the then A1. After his years in Afferden in Gelderland, he returns to NEC, this time as team manager. In his new position, he sees his club become champion in the 2014/15 season with no less than 101 points. Pothuizen never disappeared from football after that. “Football and my family, that’s the most important thing.”