Afgelopen weekend ontvingen wij een mail met de belevingen van Mick Beaman, een Ierse voetbalfan die afgelopen weken per fiets het vaste land van Europa heeft aangedaan om ondermeer enkele voetbalstadions te bezoeken. Hij bezocht de thuiswedstrijd tegen FC Groningen.
….where I have returned in time to watch QPR vs Hull this afternoon.
Thank you again for your kindness when I visited the Eagles. Everyone made me very welcome and the afternoon among the fanatics was worth every one of the thousand kilometers it took me to cycle there & home again. It reminded me of the atmosphere at football games in England thirty years ago, before Thatcher required all-seat stadiums and TV money became the God. Now I am just left with a great memory, beer tokens I can’t use and bike sores! The only thing that could have improved the experience was a better result. In the first half, I thought that Tjaronn Chery did a great job in prompting the attacking play, Alex Schalk took his chance well and GAE deserved their lead. But in the second half Groningen handled the problems caused by the rain rather better and for me Antonia was probably the man of the match. Maybe Eagles should invest some of his transfer fee in a tour of Western Ireland before next season, to practice playing in puddles?
Good luck to Eagles for the season. The fans deserve it. And if you can influence the design of a new stadium, make sure you do not lose the atmosphere of the Adelaarshorst and please give it a name that I can pronounce.
Mick Beaman
