Author Topic: VVV Venlo  (Read 8262 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Baggie79

  • Senior Baggie

  • Offline
  • *****

  • 4530
VVV Venlo
« on: March 09, 2015, 07:45:19 PM »
I was not aware of this:

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/west-brom-blog-unlikely-friendship-8805548

They’re a second tier club from the South-Eastern province of Limburg in the Netherlands, 356 miles away from West Bromwich , so what has VVV Venlo got to do with the Baggies?

It’s the pre-season tour in the summer of 2010 and Albion are preparing for their first season back in the big time.

It was a summer where we fans decided that we were going to finally establish ourselves as a Premier League side under the stewardship of Roberto Di Matteo.

And after a resounding 3-0 win at Aggborough over Kidderminster Harriers, the Italian’s team were off for a training camp in the Netherlands to get ready for the upcoming season.

Whilst in the Netherlands, West Brom had a pre-season fixture against the then top-flight side VVV Venlo at the De Koel stadium.

VVV Venlo were founded in 1903, and are one of the oldest clubs in the Netherlands.

They are known as the Good Old or Pride of the South to their supporters who watch their team at De Koel stadium, an 8,000 capacity stadium which is also known as the Seacon Stadium.

Around 400 Baggies fans made their way to De Koel in anticipation of getting to see more of the attractive football Di Matteo had them drooling over the season before.

However, what they got out of the trip was much more than seeing their team win.

West Bromwich Albion Fans . West Bromwich Albion fans: tend to have a good away following during pre-season

Albion won the game 2-1, Ishmael Miller opening the scoring and new signing Gabriel Tamas got his first goal for the club, but what was more fascinating than the result is the bond that was created between both sets of supporters during the game.

Di Matteo even pointed out that it was a great occasion for everyone who had made it to the game and praised the travelling supporters for their behaviour: “The fans have been unbelievable today. There was so many here it felt like we were back home,” he said.

“I think the beer helped them enjoy the occasion. I’m sure the bars inside the ground had a high turnover,” he added.

After many drinks, plus some routine photos and singing, the Dutch and the Englishmen swapped contact details and Albion fans invited their hosts to come to watch West Brom at the Hawthorns.

To this day Venlo supporters make the 712 mile round trip to cheer on the Baggies.

They also bring banners to their home games sporting the blue and white stripes and ‘WBA’ graffiti can be found around the Dutch city.

Daniel van den Berg, who runs a Venlo supporters site, thinks that the culture of football in both England and the Netherlands is key to the friendship: “The club cultures from VVV and WBA are very similar and that is why, I think, the friendship is very close,” he said.

It will be five years this summer since the friendly and van den Berg would like to see the two sides commemorate that anniversary: “All of the VVV fans hope that there will be a friendly in the future.

“Actually last summer we hoped that they arranged it, but West Brom went to the USA to have a campaign abroad. We hope that it can be arranged next summer for the fifth anniversary,” he said.

Later that season a group of Venlo supporters came to watch the Black Country derby at the Hawthorns to see Roy Hodgson’s first game in charge and they weren’t disappointed thanks to loan-signing Carlos Vela scoring a late equaliser to silence the away support.

And yes, they did ‘boing boing’.

Carlos Vela Carlos Vela celebrating THAT Black Country Derby goal

After that game Albion only went on to lose two more games that season and achieve their then-highest finish in the Premier League in 11th place and, well, you know the rest.

However Venlo suffered a different fate and that season the Good Old diced with relegation, but ultimately earned survival in the Eredivisie by winning the relegation play-off.

They were, however, eventually relegated back to the second tier of the Dutch league pyramid, known as the Jupiler League, in 2013 after losing a relegation play-off to Go Ahead Eagles.

Albion and VVV fans continued to visit each other’s games.

Most recently the supporters of Venlo witnessed Craig Gardner’s winning goal against Aston Villa in December.

As well as the similarities of English and Dutch football, Van den Berg also spoke of the differences: “The atmosphere is very good over there, especially in derbies, and it’s a beautiful stadium [The Hawthorns].

West Bromwich Albion's Craig Gardner scores against Aston Villa West Bromwich Albion's Craig Gardner scores against Aston Villa

“The only thing that they didn’t like is the fact there aren’t any grandstands where you can stand, there are only seats.

“Also in matches you cannot drink a pint! In our stadium you can stand where ever you like and drink a couple of beers if you want,” he added.

He also managed to get the club the play the Liquidator before home games at De Koel, something which is starting to creep back in to the Hawthorns every week.

Collaborations between two sets of supporters aren’t uncommon in the Netherlands, as well as other European countries.

Juventus and ADO Den Haag fans share a similar friendship.

Supporters of Polish club Legia Warsaw and Belgian fans of Club Brugge do too, but these alliances aren’t publicised too often, which is why I only found out about this last week and I presume that most of you are finding this out just now.

It’s a great thing when two sets of fans come together in unity for their love of football.

The closest thing we have to it here in England is when there’s a mutual hate towards rival clubs, but even then there’s still rivalry during games and all friendship and allegiances go out of the window.

Personally, I’ll always be looking out for the VVV results from now on, hoping they make their way back into the top flight of the Eredivisie and establish themselves as a top club, just like when we began in 2010.
Gera, Gera, Gera

OldburyWBA

  • Administrator
  • WBA Chairman

  • Offline
  • *****

  • 42222
Re: VVV Venlo
« Reply #1 on: March 09, 2015, 07:50:02 PM »
Remember when we were on tour in Sweden couple of years ago a few lads from Venlo came to the Malmo game, bumped into one about 3am when we were coming out of a club.
Dexy : LiamTheBaggie : MarkW : OldburyWBA
Hull Baggie : lewisant : Political Cake : tommcneill

devonbaggiecjaj

  • Youth Baggie

  • Offline
  • ***

  • 270
Re: VVV Venlo
« Reply #2 on: March 09, 2015, 07:53:29 PM »
It was a great weekend, like us they had just joined their top flight. Was not aware they were still following us though.

collins101

  • Youth Baggie

  • Offline
  • ***

  • 493
Re: VVV Venlo
« Reply #3 on: March 09, 2015, 07:53:43 PM »
Went last year the weekend we played Tottenham at home.. One of the best weekends I've had

Baggie79

  • Senior Baggie

  • Offline
  • *****

  • 4530
Re: VVV Venlo
« Reply #4 on: March 09, 2015, 08:01:25 PM »
I wonder if they have a forum?
Gera, Gera, Gera

wbako

  • Senior Baggie

  • Offline
  • *****

  • 2625
Re: VVV Venlo
« Reply #5 on: March 09, 2015, 08:02:36 PM »
Was chatting to a couple of them against the Vile at home this season. Good lads.
All time favourite player: Jan Kozak

alex1

  • WBA Coach

  • Offline
  • ******

  • 6338
Re: VVV Venlo
« Reply #6 on: March 09, 2015, 08:50:23 PM »
Don't want to put a dampener on things, as I've worked in Holland and found the Dutch really easy to get on with. However, I can't see too many similarities between VVV and the Albion. Venlo is a provincial town on the German border about the size of Kidderminster. It's about as different to the Black Country as you could get!

Atmosphere wise I've always likened West Brom to Schalke. Schalke is heart of the Ruhr district, the old industrial heartland, iron, steel foundries, metal industries and they play in blue and white. And several kilometres across the Ruhr to the east are their great rivals, Borussia Dortmund, who play in yellow (call it old gold) and black!
Einstein: A definition of insanity- someone who takes the same action time after time, even though previously it's always ended in failure

AlbionFan

  • Site Donator
  • WBA Coach

  • Offline
  • *****

  • 5239
Re: VVV Venlo
« Reply #7 on: March 09, 2015, 08:54:11 PM »
Don't want to put a dampener on things, as I've worked in Holland and found the Dutch really easy to get on with. However, I can't see too many similarities between VVV and the Albion. Venlo is a provincial town on the German border about the size of Kidderminster. It's about as different to the Black Country as you could get!

Atmosphere wise I've always likened West Brom to Schalke. Schalke is heart of the Ruhr district, the old industrial heartland, iron, steel foundries, metal industries and they play in blue and white. And several kilometres across the Ruhr to the east are their great rivals, Borussia Dortmund, who play in yellow (call it old gold) and black!

Where's the nearest rivals in claret and blue?  ;D
赖国传, 滚出我们的俱乐部

Beware of Speculation! = the forming of a theory or conjecture without firm evidence.

caravanc58

  • Site Donator
  • Senior Baggie

  • Offline
  • *****

  • 4063
Re: VVV Venlo
« Reply #8 on: March 09, 2015, 08:55:03 PM »
I wonder if they have a forum?
just had a look but didn't find anything I could understand, can send messages on facebook though.

Nathan

  • Youth Baggie

  • Offline
  • ***

  • 759
Re: VVV Venlo
« Reply #9 on: March 09, 2015, 09:12:11 PM »
just had a look but didn't find anything I could understand, can send messages on facebook though.

Are you sure you wasn't on the Villa forum?  ;D


alex1

  • WBA Coach

  • Offline
  • ******

  • 6338
Re: VVV Venlo
« Reply #10 on: March 09, 2015, 09:31:07 PM »
Where's the nearest rivals in claret and blue? ;D
I was comparing the Black Country and the Ruhr district. Can't think of any claret & blue clubs in either!
Einstein: A definition of insanity- someone who takes the same action time after time, even though previously it's always ended in failure

Albionic

  • Site Donator
  • WBA Coach

  • Offline
  • *****

  • 7972
Re: VVV Venlo
« Reply #11 on: March 09, 2015, 09:37:21 PM »
Dutch top flight side Vitesse Arnhem have adopted the colours of the Paras - as a nod to the British war heroes who battled to free the city.

The club normally play in distinctive yellow and black stripes - but they have ditched their kit for the British regiment's claret and blue colours

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2208423/Dutch-football-club-Vitesse-Arnhem-adopts-colours-Paras-nod-heroes-saved-city.html#ixzz3TvWIq1Wv

the road to the summit has dips, keep the faith when navigating those dips !!
Albion Family !!!

LiamTheBaggie

  • Administrator
  • WBA Manager

  • Offline
  • *****
  • @westbromcom

  • 15294
Re: VVV Venlo
« Reply #12 on: March 09, 2015, 09:44:15 PM »
Don't want to put a dampener on things, as I've worked in Holland and found the Dutch really easy to get on with. However, I can't see too many similarities between VVV and the Albion. Venlo is a provincial town on the German border about the size of Kidderminster. It's about as different to the Black Country as you could get!

Atmosphere wise I've always likened West Brom to Schalke. Schalke is heart of the Ruhr district, the old industrial heartland, iron, steel foundries, metal industries and they play in blue and white. And several kilometres across the Ruhr to the east are their great rivals, Borussia Dortmund, who play in yellow (call it old gold) and black!

We had a handful of Schalke fans on here a few years ago
Dexy : LiamTheBaggie : MarkW : OldburyWBA
Hull Baggie : lewisant : Political Cake : tommcneill

Follow WestBrom.com on twitter - https://twitter.com/WestBromcom

AlbionFan

  • Site Donator
  • WBA Coach

  • Offline
  • *****

  • 5239
Re: VVV Venlo
« Reply #13 on: March 09, 2015, 09:44:44 PM »
I was comparing the Black Country and the Ruhr district. Can't think of any claret & blue clubs in either!

I think I got the comparisons, but was just wondering if you were aware if they had any rivals that played in claret and blue, not necessarily in the Rhur, as Vile aren't in the Black Country, but in a district / area such as Birmingham for instance  :)
赖国传, 滚出我们的俱乐部

Beware of Speculation! = the forming of a theory or conjecture without firm evidence.

alex1

  • WBA Coach

  • Offline
  • ******

  • 6338
Re: VVV Venlo
« Reply #14 on: March 09, 2015, 09:48:07 PM »
We had a handful of Schalke fans on here a few years ago
Now managed by one Roberto Di Matteo!
Einstein: A definition of insanity- someone who takes the same action time after time, even though previously it's always ended in failure

alex1

  • WBA Coach

  • Offline
  • ******

  • 6338
Re: VVV Venlo
« Reply #15 on: March 09, 2015, 09:54:00 PM »
I think I got the comparisons, but was just wondering if you were aware if they had any rivals that played in claret and blue, not necessarily in the Rhur, as Vile aren't in the Black Country, but in a district / area such as Birmingham for instance  :)
No , I think they are in a claret and blue free league!! There are probably some in lower divisions.
Einstein: A definition of insanity- someone who takes the same action time after time, even though previously it's always ended in failure

Black Country Pride

  • Reserve Baggie

  • Offline
  • ****

  • 1411
Re: VVV Venlo
« Reply #16 on: March 09, 2015, 10:14:59 PM »
Love this thread. I'll look out VVV Venlo from now on. I've also thought Albion to be bit like Schalke. The Ruhr is basically Germany's version of the Black Country. I'm very envious of German football. Don't you notice how the fans of German clubs (and almost all European clubs for that matter) embarrass the fans of the English fat cats in Europe. Even posh boys Monaco were more passionate than Arsenal. Did anyone hear Besiktas v Liverpool by the way. I was terrified watching on TV  :o Nutters

Nathan

  • Youth Baggie

  • Offline
  • ***

  • 759
Re: VVV Venlo
« Reply #17 on: March 09, 2015, 10:34:31 PM »
Love this thread. I'll look out VVV Venlo from now on. I've also thought Albion to be bit like Schalke. The Ruhr is basically Germany's version of the Black Country. I'm very envious of German football. Don't you notice how the fans of German clubs (and almost all European clubs for that matter) embarrass the fans of the English fat cats in Europe. Even posh boys Monaco were more passionate than Arsenal. Did anyone hear Besiktas v Liverpool by the way. I was terrified watching on TV  :o Nutters

Yes, I'm envious of German football too. It really helps that there are still areas of terracing in most German grounds, this obviously makes for a much better atmosphere. The Venlo fan in the article at the start of this thread hit the nail on the head. He said the only thing they didn't like about the Hawthorns was the lack of standing areas. He is bang on!