Valentijn Driessen's Verdict on Feyenoord Fans' Chaos at Cambuur

Valentijn Driessen has delivered a scathing verdict on the Feyenoord fans who turned SC Cambuur’s stadium into a war zone with fireworks on Sunday, and he believes Dutch football has reached a breaking point with away supporters.

The match in Leeuwarden had barely settled when it exploded into chaos. After just 12 minutes, the referee halted play as a barrage of fireworks erupted from the away end in the South Stand. Cambuur later reported that it did not stop there: fireworks were fired not only upwards, but towards the pitch and into surrounding stands.

The human cost is now painfully clear. In an official statement, Cambuur confirmed that five supporters were injured and “are not doing well”. The victims are suffering mainly from burns, hearing damage and eye injuries. The club stressed that all attention is currently on their recovery and expressed “enormous sympathy” for those affected.

For Driessen, this goes far beyond mischief. The De Telegraaf football editor did not mince his words when addressing the Feyenoord fans responsible.

“They are simply criminals, of course. It was an organised action,” he said. “I happened to have contact with someone, and he said it was for fun. If this is what you get your pleasure from, you’re not right in the head.”

From his perspective, Dutch football authorities can no longer tiptoe around the issue. He wants the KNVB to act decisively and strip away a key element of the matchday experience: away fans.

“I argue for it every time: stop with away supporters. Then you get rid of a whole lot of trouble,” Driessen insisted. He pointed to Feyenoord v Ajax as an example, a fixture now often staged without away fans. “Feyenoord v Ajax is played on a Saturday evening. And that is possible, because there are no Ajax supporters. Lovely, isn’t it?”

One question in particular leaves him stunned: how did so many fireworks and flares get into the Cambuur stadium in the first place? The away section was teeming with Feyenoord fans, and the volume of pyrotechnics suggested planning rather than spontaneity.

“If you then clear the place out, you might be bringing all sorts of misery on yourself,” Driessen noted, referring to the option of evacuating the away end. “The mayor will naturally have taken that into consideration. Because it would have been very normal to clear out that section.”

The spotlight now also falls on Feyenoord as a club. Driessen believes the Rotterdam side cannot simply point to “a few idiots” and move on. He expects the club to dig into who exactly was in that stand.

“I think Feyenoord really need to look carefully at who was there,” he said. “Normally speaking that is not a problem, because you have gold club card holders or something like that. This away end was absolutely packed. So I think a great many slipped through the net. Those were the troublemakers responsible for those horrific scenes.”

The images from Leeuwarden will linger. The question is whether they mark a line in the sand for Dutch football, or just another grim chapter in a story the authorities still refuse to rewrite.