Holland 2001

Rotterdam

In May 2001 the Alex Crew embarked on their first European Tour. First stop was to visit our friends The Bloodhounds of Rotterdam where we were greeted with traditional Dutch hospitality, beer and meat products, before kick-off. The first half was typical of much of the football we played in Holland. The Dutch players frustrated The Crew by keeping possession of the ball for long periods but it was The Crew that were much the deadlier when the ball was under our control. The Crew were a couple of goals ahead at half time and returned to the dressing room to find a tray of beer waiting for us. The second half continued in much the same vein and The Crew were eventual 5-0 winners. The game ended early to honour the Dutch soldiers that died in the wars with a minutes silence. Back in the dressing room and yet another tray of beer had been provided.

The Bloodhounds of Rotterdam

The Bloodhounds have a fantastic setup with several pitches for football, hockey and cricket and teams of all ages, from kids all the way through to veterans with properly trained coaches. They take their sport extremely seriously but as we experienced, sport is also about making friends as well as competing. Post-match analysis occurred in the social club that overlooks the grounds with more meat products and beer to wash it down. We had an excellent time with The Bloodhounds and look forward to a rematch sometime.

The Crew in Rotterdam

So off to central Rotterdam for a night of adventure with Telephone Cocktails in The Meijer Bender Bar (honest, it isn't what it sounds like), a club and generally losing people in the less salubrious parts of town. Hit the sack at 5am.

Arnhem

The next day was a recovery day. Good breakfast for most of the lads, Jonesy got his vitamin C from the Tomato Juice that accompanied his Vodka, and then we hit the road for Arnhem. Found a good bar and then went to watch Vitesse Arnhem play JC Roda. 1-0, boring, not as good as watching us. Off to Dave and Patty's house (Mr and Mrs Riddler to you lot) in Brummen, fish and chips, cards, beer and another late night.

Brummen

The events of the day are best reported in this translation from Brummen's Club Magazine.

SPORT CLUB BRUMMEN 8 - ALEXANDRA CREW: 0-5 (0-1), By Gerrit Kempes

On Saturday 6th of May 2001 we had a guest team, the Alexandra Crew from Cambridge UK, visit us here in Brummen. They played a game against our 8th team. They were friends of one of our 8th team players Dave Riddelsdell. The game was thirty minutes each way and was won empathically by our (younger) English friends 0-5 (halftime 0-1).

Afterwards our guests, amongst whom we had Irish and Scots, also proved themselves worth rivals in the Canteen. Very quickly everyone relaxed and the so called language barrier disappeared.

By a very happy coincidence our second team became champions on this day so we had music in our club house and it became a real party. The English spontaneously joined in with the singing to welcome our Champions when the arrived and immediately rushed in to offer them a round, which was very much appreciated and returned.

During the course of the afternoon several football shirts of both teams changed hands. All in all we can look back on a very pleasant afternoon.

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Brummen

The eagle-eyed amongst will spot The Riddler wearing a yellow shirt for the last time, and JC once again showing that watching too much television is a bad thing.