Vitesse began Friday its last day as a professional club as if they were were about to start the competition. An email at 3:08 PM Sealed the clubs fate, resulting in Tears. A Reconstruction of the Day of Reckoning at Vitesse.
It is 14:58 When Club Lawyer Berry van Drunen Continuously Leaf Refreshes His email in a Room at Papendal, Vitesse’s Training Complex. The Judge Will Only Issue A Written Ruling in Two Minutes, But He Cannot Contain himself.
Directors, Financiers, and Club Icon Edward Sturing Are Sitting and Standing Around Him. The Players, Trainers, And Staff of Vitesse Are Waiting Elsewhere. Outside, About Twenty Supporters Are Standing in Front of A Closed Gate. The Club Building is closed. The Tension is Reaching a Boiling Point.
But No Matter How Often Van Drunen Refreshes His Email, No Message Arrives From The Secured Digital System of the Court. Time ticks by. It is terrible nerve-wracking for him as a lawyer as well.
At 15:08, Eight minutes later than promised, The Judge’s Email Finally Arrives. “Ooh, this is not good news,” is the first thing he says. The Judge’s Ruling is Crystal Clear. Vitesse Loses the Summary Proceedings Against the KNVB and Thus Disappears from Professional Football. When the Staff, Players, and Trainers are informed a little later, Tears Follow.
It is a historical climax or a surreal day at papendal. It encountered if if the 133-year-old vitesse would start the kitchen champion division the next day with an away match against almere city.
‘See you Tomorrow!’, Says Captain Büttner
“There is Still Hope!” A Vitesse supporter has come to papendal with his son. He looks at the ground with his face a few times. The Facial Expression is subdued. But he is not thinking of giving up, even if it is perhaps against his better judgment.
At First Glance, Friday is a day like any other at Vitesse. The cars of the players and trainers are in front of the Door. There is normal training at 11:00. Nothing Seems to Indicate That a Funeral of Vitesse as a Professional Club is iminent.
It is busier than usual at papendal, but that is mainly due to a European Juggling Festival, which is being hero in The Arnhem Forests This Week. Children Ride Unicycles on the Roads of the National Sports Center. It is a striking image, next to a football club that has bone dancing on a thin rope for years.
Only at the edge of the training field does the hopeless situation of Vitesse Become clear. It is Especiate Very Quiet. The looks of the approximately thirty fans are gloomy, although people from Arnhem are not known for their optimism either. The battle cries of the hundreds of vitesse supporters a day earlier at the court are hardly to be heard here.
Three Men Along The Training Field discuss the Court Hearing as if it was a match (“That one lawyer was nervous at the beginning”). There is Only Loud Laughter When the Sprinklers Suddenly Turn on And A Journalist Gets Wet.
It all passes by the players and trainers on the field. They are preparing as if they are starting the competition on Saturday. “See you Tomorrow!”, Says Captain Alexander Büttner to a Group of Journalists. He will not say much more: the players and trainers do not give interviews.
Especial Silence at Papendal
In The Club Building, a fan later Complainsins About the Turnout at the Training. “The First Training of the Season is Always Busy, But The Possible Last of the Club is not. I think the people are a bit Beaten Numb.” The Great Waiting Has Then Begun. Players, Staff, and Journalists Mainly Look at the Clock.
When it is Almost 14:30, The Four Remoining Journalists Suddenly Have To Leave The Club Building. A Security Guard Says That The Building Must Be Empty As A Precaution On The Orders Of The Police And Municipality because of the Upcoming Ruling.
Players and trainers move their cars, but then come and go back into the building. Three stewards stand in front of the gate, just like a handful of supporters. They must read not much later that the ruling is Taking Longer, because the site of the court is overloaded.
When the dramatic Message Finally Follows, It Remains Quiet in Front of the Gates of Papendal. It is Mostly Quiet, Just Like Before in the Room with the Players. Club Boy Büttner Speaks Outside of A “Scandalous Decision”. He is badly affected, just like the whole of Arnhem. Vitesse is No Longer a Professional Club. It feels for the supporters as if the soul has torn out of the city.