Driessen Calls for Away-Fan Ban After Cambuur–Feyenoord Chaos

The match in Leeuwarden had barely begun when it turned ugly.

After just 12 minutes at SC Cambuur’s stadium on Sunday, the game against Feyenoord was halted. From the away end in the South Stand, large quantities of fireworks were set off, thick smoke and loud bangs ripping through what should have been a routine league fixture.

Cambuur later confirmed it was not a brief incident. Fireworks were also fired towards the pitch and into surrounding stands, turning a football match into a dangerous scene of panic and confusion.

The damage is now far clearer – and far more serious. In an official statement, Cambuur announced that five supporters were injured and “are not doing well”. The club said the victims are suffering mainly from burns, hearing damage and eye injuries.

“It goes without saying that all care and attention are focused on these injured supporters and everyone at the club is enormously sympathetic,” Cambuur wrote.

Driessen: ‘Stop with away supporters’

For Valentijn Driessen, the fireworks chaos is the final straw. The De Telegraaf football editor did not hold back when speaking about 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.”

Driessen has long argued for tougher measures against travelling fans. This time, with people injured and a match disrupted, he is pushing harder than ever.

“I argue for it every time: stop with away supporters. Then you get rid of a whole lot of trouble,” he insisted.

To underline his point, he pointed at Dutch football’s most volatile fixture.

“Feyenoord v Ajax is played on a Saturday evening. And that is possible, because there are no Ajax supporters. Lovely, isn’t it?”

How did so many fireworks get in?

One question hangs over the entire episode: how did such a large quantity of fireworks and flares make it past security and into the away section?

That, too, leaves Driessen stunned.

“What also leaves me stunned is how the Feyenoord support managed to get so many fireworks and flares into the Cambuur stadium,” he said.

He also raised the dilemma facing the local authorities once the situation escalated. Emptying the stand might have sparked an even bigger crisis.

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

Feyenoord urged to track down ‘troublemakers’

Attention now turns to Feyenoord and the club’s own responsibility to identify those involved. Driessen believes the Rotterdam side cannot afford to look away.

“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 time, though, the away end told a different story.

“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.”

Five injured fans, a match stopped, and a leading voice in Dutch football media calling for an outright ban on away supporters. The fallout from Leeuwarden stretches far beyond a single afternoon – and leaves the Dutch game facing a stark question: how many more nights like this before something breaks for good?