Ria Schaar (76) is 60 years old fan of Go Ahead. She still can’t believe the cup win: « Such a shame that Wim can no longer experience this »

When Mats Deijl, captain of Go Ahead Eagles, took office on Monday evening after 120 minutes of playing time for the first penalty kick, he no longer. She sat down in the back garden. Daughter Annemarie (50) and Hond Nero – anxious of the fireworks that sounded all day – stayed behind on the white leather couch and saw fifteen minutes later how Julius Dirksen Go Ahead, their club, shot to the first grand prize in modern club history. The Eagles won the cup and enter Europe. Wednesday is celebrated with the entire city.

« We still can’t believe it here, » says Ria Schaar, sitting in her front garden, sitting in her with go ahead flags and twigs. Perhaps the awareness will only come tonight, when the whole of Deventer gathered along the IJssel to honor ‘their boys’, she says. The Hanzenstad, the pubs are already full in the afternoon, is ready. « Everyone here is looking forward to it. »

Trouble

‘Here’, that is the Vetkampstraat in Deventer, where local residents can hear the supporters of ‘Kowet’, as Go Ahead Eagles is mentioned here, from their backyard cheering and singing. If they are not in the stadium themselves. Most in the neighborhood – « exclusively access for Eagles supporters » is on several front doors – are in their own Vakkie every two weeks in the Adelaarshorst, the stadium located in the middle of the Volksbuurt.

Schaar has been living here for 55 years, she says, once took a seat on the leather bank. As a Born Deventenaar, she has been a fan of the club all her entire conscious life. How did that ever start? No idea, she says, so long ago. She only really became active when the club handed out season tickets in this neighborhood in 1983. « The club finds the connection with us important. Prior to the final, they handed out flags and posters. »

And yes, scissors also saw the years that it went less. She can still remember that in 2006, when Go Ahead was financially on the ground, supporters with their own drilling machines went to the AZ stadium in Alkmaar to take over old chairs. Or take that relegation in 2015, even so painful.

Also at that time Ria Schaar remained active for the club. She did everything. Clean chairs. Knitting with red-yellow wool, every week with a fixed club. « We once made a scarf of 3 kilometers together. » Nowadays she has a stadium with her daughter with her daughter, where they sell skirts, scarves and hugs. Neatly displayed are the things on the dining table.

« We have the craziest things, » says daughter Annemarie, who immediately visits her mother for the ceremony. That started early, as a young girl, Annemarie crawled under the fences – « then that was still possible. » Search under the chairs afterwards. « Did you find a few guilders. We then collected it with the children of the neighborhood and we bought candy or an ice cream from it. »

Secretly

Hard workers are, here in Deventer, the city where you can still find classic manufacturing industry such as in the Matrassen and CV-ketelfabrieken of Auping and Nefit. And especially in Vetkampstraat, the Volksbuurt that it is – the majority of the brown houses are social rent.

Ria Schaar worked until her retirement as a clothing maker, Annemarie cleans at a high school. Son -in -law Tonnie contributes as a security guard, yes, Go Ahead. The neighbors are printing workers or street makers.

It is precisely that that makes the ecstasy all the greater, so the cold -blooded leader of Go Ahead Mats Deijl, dressed in his green bathrobe, had already said to the microphones just after the game. « Deventer is a workers’ city, people work very hard to make ends meet. And then football is a nice outlet. A nice thing to look forward to at the weekend. »

Nowadays Annemarie and Ria Schaar can no longer be found in the stadium, Ria confesses. Her husband Wim – « Such a shame that he can no longer experience this » – has died and Ria – she points to the walker in the corridor – is no longer the fit. Now, mother and daughter are looking on the couch, between the shirts, scarves and books by Go Ahead. Together they try to spot Tonnie who always secretly watches during promising attacks – against the protocol. And, luckily: « We still hear the cheers through the window rather than on TV. »

First

Before the Volksfeest, Ria and Annemerie still heard about the necessary stumbling blocks. Rush. The beer was on with just about every pub on the Brink, the square in the old city center. Dark clouds on the weather apps. « Go Ahead Eagles and the municipality of Deventer are the right to cancel the ceremony, » was strictly on the club’s website. It read as a ‘must’, because everyone here knew that this party could not be stopped.

And indeed, around five o’clock it will go full along the IJssel, where a ‘convertible’ will pass with the players. Hard bangs are accompanied by yellow plumes of smoke. There are flags and scarves, propeller aircraft congratulate the Deventenaren. Girls with ponytails collect deposit cans. Boys with hoods on climbing in the traffic signs. Families with prams take place in the deposed Friens & Family Zone. Men with fishermen’s hats and 0570 tattoos in the neck drink a can of ahead beer in one go. When the bus finally drives past and the green bathrobes keep the cup in the air, they all cheer for their ‘kowet’.

Son -in -law Tonnie applies a photo: Ria, sitting on her yellow walker, on the road in the midst of a crowd in club colors red and yellow. A little later the bus will also pass by and Ria Schaar sees a Kowet player with the KNVB Cup for the first time in more than sixty years.

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