Feyenoord players frequently terrorized by fans; Ten Dutch clubs report threats

Feyenoord players, managers and directors are systematically threatened by a group of supporters. This has been going on for almost a decade, general manager Eric Gudde said to the Telegraaf. This type of behavior is not limited to Feyenoord alone, at least 10 trainers, board members and players from other Dutch premier league football clubs received serious threats in the past four years, NOS reports. "Feyenoord is suffering major damage to its image by an accumulation of incidents, which we must explicitly deal with", Gudde said to the newspaper. Incident's like Feyenoord's Marko Vejinovic being threatened with death at his homes by hooligans are nothing new, according to him. Since 2006 a large number of players, trainers and directors were threatened and intimidated by a group of hooligans. Children of board members were also intimidated or attacked at school. Following the death threats towards Marko Vejinovic on Saturday, broadcaster NOS did a survey among other Dutch clubs in the premier league about threats to their members over the last four years. At least 10 players, trainers of board members were stalked by supporters at home, pelted with eggs or received threatening messages or phone calls, according to the broadcaster. Five clubs were affected by the threats - Ajax, Cambuur, De Graafschap, Heerenveen and Roda JC. The threats led to stadium bans, charges pressed and even some convictions. In some cases the persons involved were offered extra security. PSV, Willem II, PEC Zwolle, Excelsior, AZ, ADO, Heracles Groningen and FC Twente received no threats, according to the clubs. Utrecht and NEC hadn't responded by the time NOS published the story.