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Adventures in Europe of a Dutch Evertonian

Let’s start off in the year 1985, when as a little boy I became passionate about the football game. Watched my first games alongside my dad and had to decide what team I want to support for the rest of my life. Obvious choice is Feyenoord, as I live in Rotterdam and with my whole family supporting them I soon get shirts, scarves, hats, etc so that’s settled. No one ever expected though that as a 8 year old boy I fell in love with one of the greatest teams ever to win the European Cup Winners Cup. And yeah it all started in my hometown... Now years later I visited around 20 matches of my so beloved Toffees (including that fabulous 3-0 against The Shite :-D) and as far as I’m concerned there will be many to follow. The absolute highlight season is definitely the one were in at the moment, with me meeting so many new friends on the road and finally have the experience of Everton being in Europe. Nurnberg, Bergen, Alkmaar, Florence... I get tears in my eyes even thinking back of visiting these places for the football and all the different stories these visits have.

The trip to Nurnberg is definitely the one I cherish most, as it was my first Everton European experience. Took the ICE train from Utrecht directly into Nurnberg and after a 7 hour trip I arrived at 1 PM in the already blue coloured city centre. This is what I dreamt off my whole life... Met up with lifelong Evertonians Brian and Aimee first thing and as soon as we arranged our tickets it’s booze time. Lots of tickets available so everyone will be getting in, though I can't help thinking how stupid it was that the Uefa cancelled the tickets we already booked. The city is packed with Evertonians and the atmosphere is fabulous, I know I’ve reached my destiny and feel better like never before! Once inside the stadium Aimee and I managed to meet some of the players on the side of the pitch and even talked to David Moyes! We had great view from the upper main stand and the result was the best we could think off surely! Arteta and Anichebe 0-2, couldn’t get any better! After the match a few more drinks and a well deserved sleep at the hotel, what a day…

Brian and myself in Nurnberg

A visit to Nurnberg fanshop is on the agenda first thing in the morning. The booze is still in my system and it’s freezing cold in Nurnberg city centre, but am still smiling from ear to ear. Bought myself a shirt and some presents and for some reason I feel like having one more drink before leaving for NL again. Am shocked by the amount of Evertonians drinking again in the pub and as soon as I know it, I’m in the middle of the official Nurnberg-day-after party. Almost missed my train back home in the end cause of all the booze and singing, but am thrilled I met so many new friends (Sean, John and friends) there and decided that right moment that I surely won’t be missing out on future European away legs.

Great stuff that my 2nd European away leg is pretty close to home. A comfortable train trip takes me into Alkmaar within 2 hours. It’s freezing cold again, so Alkmaar isn’t too blue coloured outside, but once inside the pubs, there’s lots of Evertonians. I managed to arrange 6 extra tickets in total, which I had paid well over the odds for, but made a few friends very happy. Getting tickets for this one was the toughest I ever experienced.. A few drinks in the pub with Brian, Kerrie, Glenn, Sean and Neill was big fun and in the end the match was great giving the fact we saw 5 goals and again a victory in Europe for our boys! AJ, Jags and Vaughan score in a 2-3 victory in the freezing cold DSB Stadium. Went home with my dad (who arranged our tickets through work) after the match, but couldn’t help thinking I should be in Alkmaar or Amsterdam celebrating the victory with the others. Work is waiting again the next day though, so no celebrations tonight. Good to see us finish the group stage with 4 wins, confidence is high!

Me and my brother Mark in Bergen

The draw for the round of 32 is closely watched by me at work the day after and as soon as Brann Bergen comes out of the hat I climb online to see how I can get there. This time my brother Mark wants to join in and we book 2 seats on a plane with SAS Norge which takes us from Amsterdam to Oslo and then from Oslo to Bergen. A pretty comfortable trip makes us arrive a day before the match at Bergen Airport. We can’t believe our luck when we see the Everton squad arriving at the same time, so immediately the excitement is there. We met up with Anette who is a cute local girl I met a few years back whilst travelling to various Garbage concerts. She managed to arrange our tickets for this one, so as soon as we got them handed it was time to taste the Norwegian beer and how… Must have spent a fortune already the first night, but had much fun in the Fotballpuben which was already full of both Evertonians and friendly locals. Anette shows us some good places and we get to meet lots of cool Norwegian people who surely know how to drink their Hansa beers. Match day started of with drinks at the Champions Sports Bar, where we met up with Brian for pre match drinks. He came on the Bluekipper flight for the day, so no time to waste for him on the booze. Great atmosphere again in the Sports bar, actually it is everywhere in the city centre of Bergen. Singing Blues everywhere and just like in Nurnberg the local police let's us have a party and creates a friendly atmosphere. A bus trip takes us to the stadium, which is well outside the centre. The stadium looks nice and in the end the atmosphere is great. A deserved 0-2 (Osman and Europe's star man Anichebe again) victory for us makes us forget about the cold and makes us party the whole night afterwards with new and old friends. Before travelling back there’s
some sightseeing of lovely Bergen and a visit to the Brann store to buy shirts and goodies. Another great experience and another lovely city to visit, even though it was bloody expensive!

Like many other Evertonians I already booked my flight well in advance before we actually knew we would play the next round. A gamble, but one I was pretty sure off would happen. All ok in the end, Ryanair flight from Eindhoven to Pisa for a 4 day trip including 3 nights in a hotel cost us 150 euro each in total, nice one! Arrived in Florence on the Tuesday night, not much Everton fans in yet and not much signs of the upcoming match. Good, because the pubs were all open and no signs of Italian Police changing that. On Wednesday morning my brother and I walked towards the stadium to see what the ticket situation was like. Once there we found out it was to be very difficult getting some as id had to be shown for everyone who wants one. We almost didn’t get them cause they thought we were Everton fans, but Dutch passports and the trick we were just tourists helped us getting them. In the end lots of people ended up without tickets with the stadium being far from a sell out crowd, really stupid to say the least.

Wednesday was one full of tourist visits of the city and of course a visit to a local restaurant. It was full of restaurants there, so no way you can starve in Florence. After that it’s drinking time, but if you wanted a drink that night it was something different surely! Almost all pubs are shut or being shut at 12. Lots of English fans already there, but not much to drink. How can they do this? We went for booze just outside the city centre and ended up in a local bar which served till 3. Good experience to sit and chat with the locals not just about football, but would have preferred a party with fellow Evertonians to be honest.

Matchday wasn’t much different then the Wednesday with all pubs closed and police on their toes being scared of the English invasion. Met up with Brian, who booked an official Everton package this time and we had a few drinks just outside the city centre again in a local student bar. For some reason this one never felt like Nurnberg or Bergen, as everyone is moaning about the lack of tickets and booze and no real centre of partying Evertonians. Once inside the stadium I felt like we were never gonna win this one, as everything around us on this trip didn’t go our way. Didn’t meet the people I wanted to meet, didn’t party as much as I expected and was shocked about the lack of hospitality by the Italians. Should have known better… 2-0 to Fiorentina and no chance whatsoever. Good thing is that we were sat with a roof over our head cause the rain kept pouring out of the sky. After the match we went straight to the hotel where we still had to finish 20 Birra Moretti bottles. Flight back was 10 AM from Pisa to Eindhoven next morning, so not much sleep for us. All in all a good experience again even though things didn’t go as planned. Hopefully another European tour next season, then I'll surely be there again. Michel Rijkels, a proud Dutch Evertonian! (25/08/08)

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