The second city of the Netherlands is quite an extraordinary place. The horrors of WWII led to a bold, modern architecture being encouraged. I have been lucky to travel quite extensively in my life, and if La Paz remains the most jaw-dropping city I have ever visited, Rotterdam opened up a new category; the most captivatingly bonkers place on my viewing roster. Occasionally, certain cities get under my skin, and they lure me back. In time, that is how it will play out with Rotterdam. I knew that was my fate within an hour of walking down the wide boulevards of downtown to the river. Let me try to explain the allure of Rotterdam.
I love port cities. They have a gritty, real-life feel. Rotterdam is a vast port, the main seafaring trading route for imports and exports, to and from the Netherlands. While waterways and canals abound, the main working port areas are a good distance from the city centre, and while old cranes, trains, bouys festoon the keysides of downtown, these are merely for a tourist dofting of the cap to the essence of the city and its history. The considerable skyscrapers in the same proximity point to a hugely diversified city over the decades. Rotterdam prides itself on ambitious art, design, and architecture, all aspects of the city you can not fail to notice. Maybe the boldness doesn’t appeal to each and every one of us, but you have to salute at the variety of construction, some of which is almost bordering on eccentricity.
Cruise ships come right up the river into the city centre, berthing right beside towering glass facade buildings. The sheer scale of them make these enormous ships seem like a kids’ boat in the bath. Somehow, upon first sighting of such a docked cruise ship, it reminded me of images I had seen of yesteryear ocean liners tied up beside the Manhattan skyline in New York. I am sure you get the picture.
The name Rotterdam literally translates as the Dam of the River and is only marginally smaller than the capital, Amsterdam. However, while the city population is 1.3 million, the Metro area is double, with the regional figure being 8.4m. The city doesn’t feel in any way crowded, though. While tourists and students doubtlessly visit (this is the Eramus student home territory, complete with Eramus University behind the Excelsior stadium), it doesn’t have the same appeal as the capital for the majority, sadly. I enjoyed it all the more for the laid-back vibe. Amsterdam can just be too busy, and on a hot day, with no wind, the constant smell of hash can be dreadful. Delft, Gouda, and The Hague (Den Haag) are all well-known names, and all three fall within the Rotterdam area too.
Rotterdam Centraal Station is just 30 minutes on a fast train from Schipol airport. There is no need to go anywhere near Amsterdam to get here, even if my Friday morning plane from Edinburgh was full of revellers relishing the ‘delights’ of partying hard in the capital. I guess no one else was thinking Excelsior v De Graafschap that night!
My weekend would inadvertently include seeing all three Rotterdam clubs for the first ever time, day by day, albeit two on the road. However, in the name of curiosity and a wish for a more expansive article on the city, I resolved to visit the home stadia of the trio in my 20 hours in the city. Put it this way, I packed a lot in and sitting of my Enschede bound train the next morning, I had walked 30 plus kilometres in that time. Rotterdam has a very fine metro and tram system, but you can’t beat a walk to a stadium to get a feel for normal life in a city. However, when all three grounds are set out in completely different directions, it is more of a challenge. It worked in perfectly, though, with a return to my hotel after one visit and a good night’s sleep before an early morning to complete the set.
First up was De Kuip, the most famous venue in town, home of course to Feyenoord, one of the big boys, not just in the country, but Europe. Had I been more organised, I might have made it on a stadium tour, but merely looking the day before I went was an act of folly, with all Friday tour slots gone. I still journeyed out the 6.8 kilometres according to Google, in an extremely straightforward route south from the centre, and save the camber on the Eramus bridge, a flat old run too.
Built in 1937 in the Feijenoord district of the city, it originally held 64,000, now reduced courtesy of all seater criteria to 47,500, which can rise to just over 51,000 when standing areas are used. The floodlights are outside the stadium looking in, a separate construction away from the actual stadium, something I would discover at Sparta, too. Both sets are hugely impressive, but especially here. Curiously at Feyenoord, two club shops exist at the ground, both rather oddly in the same corner, just across the road from each other. It is one of the great venues of European football, and I hope to get inside to see a game here one day. If venues could talk, this one would have many a tale to tell. One solitary and neatly placed sticker tells its own story. It was here that East Germany won its only ever European competition, with 1FC Magdeburg beating the mighty AC Milan to win the Cup Winners Cup in 1974. Someone seems to have placed the sticker in a 50th anniversary homage to a moment in football time that is unlikely to be repeated.
After a short rest and spot of sustenance, I was off again in a different direction, headed east this time, tracing the flow of the Nieuwe Mass River around a significant bend in its journey. This was a 4.4 kilometre stroll through increasingly lavish houses in the Struisenburg district, which brought me to the Kralingen area and the small but very well-appointed Van Donge and De Roo stadium, home of Excelsior. It is right beside the city’s largest park area and the aforementioned Eramus University.
With a capacity of just 4,500, the De Roo is certainly compact, and even for a second tier joust, tickets were at a premium. My very useful Scottish based Dutch friend saved the day, and with brief in hand, I headed for the turnstiles. Well, OK, an open gate where a chap with a zapper fields the barcode.
The surrounding area, with its ever increasingly mansion-eque style homes, gave me a pre-match sense that Excelsoir were the thinking man’s club in Rotterdam. That isn’t to put down the other two, but merely giving a sense of a well-heeled, well-educated crowd. Nothing that unfolded that night altered my thinking on that point.
As a club, Excelsoir have been on the go since 1902, but aside from a few second division titles, and a Cup Final loss to Feyenoord, they haven’t ever managed to achieve anything major on the silverware front. They were in the vanguard in the 50’s that saw the club lead the entire league from amateur to professional. In the 90’s through to 2005, the club had tied itself to Feyenoord, essentially becoming their bigger neighbours feeder club. Needless to say, much of the fan base resented that situation, and those in charge were constantly being reminded of how unhappy the core support was with this arrangement.
Excelsoir’s most recent trip to the top flight ended last season via a play off loss to NAC Breda in the final, 7-6 on aggregate. They had come within one goal in the second leg of sensationally forcing extra-time, following going down 6-2 drubbing in the first match. In the Semi-Final, they had thrashed ADO Den Haag, 9-1 on aggregate. In some regards, Excelsior were unlucky to have been involved in the playoffs at all, finishing third bottom only on goal difference.
Here we were at the start of the new Eerste Divisie home fixtures for Excelsior, having come away from the opening day away match with Top Oss with a 3-1 loss. By contrast, their Doetinchem opponents De Graafschap had scored twice in added time to win a seven goal thriller against another relegated side, my boys FC Volendam.
These two sides, however, would serve up an absolute belter of a match. De Graafschap deservedly lost, but my goodness, the abandon that they play with is a joy to watch. Excelsoir were slicker and tactically more nuanced, but at times, the visitors’ all or nothing style caught them needing reinforcements at the back.
The opening goal arrived relatively early, worthy of spin on an old adage. If at first you don’t succeed, try again. When a shot was blocked but fell to the same player and the same foot, he cracked it even harder, 1-0 Excelsoir. De Graafschap contributed to the entertainment and lashed one against the bar, but no more goals were forthcoming in the opening 45.
Upon recommencement of hostilities, Excelsoir twice in a short space of time found an achilles heel in the visiting keeper, who displayed a woeful inability at clearances. Both opportunities should have been tucked away as the young lad scrambled back, but they fizzed by a post or just over to save face for him. However, the extremely orderly crowd had a fall guy, and they were making him nervous every time he went to kick the ball thereafter. Excelsoir then crashed one against the bar, but the second goal was coming.
It duly arrived, followed closely by a match settling third, both well taken efforts at the far post from fine crosses. Many a team would have folded, but even during all these previous home efforts and goals, De Graafschap were immediately back on the front foot looking to get back in the game. Trailing by three, they just kept coming, and perhaps an earlier strike, rather than merely in the last minute of added time, might just have seen Excelsoir get a little nervous. One thing is for sure, the visitors will be an entertaining watch all season.
The game had been a joy to watch. The sort of encounter that renews your spirit in our sport. The action encapsulated the essence of spectators here, with a Bohemian attitude. After all, it is just a game. No one was foaming at the mouth, nor abusing the referee, linesman, or opposition players, just an occasional little playful noise to put the nervous De Graafschap goalkeeper under pressure. That said, would it have been any different had Excelsior lost? I am almost sure it wouldn’t have altered the atmosphere unduly.
One interesting note, perhaps the main stand is entirely hospitality here at Excelsior. At half-time, it emptied totally and was slow to fill up. Sponsorship and hospitality is a big thing for any club, and granted, the De Roo is small, but it was odd to see it bereft of all spectators at the break.
The next morning, I was up nice and early to enjoy the morning sun and view more of the city before heading on. First on the agenda was a visit to Sparta Rotterdam’s stadium. It was a 3.8 kilometre walk west, back passed the Centraal Station and beyond, in the opposite direction from Excelsior.
The Sparta stadium is tucked away in amongst two or three storey blocks of flats in the Spangen area, just over one of the city canals that leads down to the river in the city centre. I had no illusion that at 8am on game day, when the club was travelling in the same direction as me to Enschede, that anyone would be around to let me have a peek, but it didn’t matter. Through the closed gates and mesh, I could see a fine facility for the second team of the city.
Sparta are the oldest professional club in the Netherlands, starting out in 1888. They have 6 league titles to their name, and until the early 2000s, they had always played at the highest level. Unfortunately for Frank Rijkaard, he was the man who led them to a first ever relegation. They have subsequently been down again, as the increasingly challenging circumstances of money in football starts to send a chill through smaller clubs. With an 11,000 capacity, the Sparta stadium is significantly bigger than Excelsoir, but both are eclipsed by the big boys south of the river in Feijenoord.
It is wonderful that the city has three professional sides, as opposed to Amsterdam and its solitary club in the top two flights. These leagues are largely a closed shop. Their is no pyramid in the Netherlands, a situation that clubs lower down seem happy with apparently.
Rotterdam was an amazing city. I want to see more and experience action at the other two grounds. If you have never visited, I recommend giving it a whirl, you won’t be disappointed.
Football Adventures with James Rendall 