http://www.eurofootballtour.blogspot.com/

Any of you interested, I've uploaded pictures from the Dutch tour during the Euro U-21 champs which a few of us went to. As well as seeing three games in Heerenveen, Arnhem & Nijmegen, I went inside two other top flight grounds (Excelsior & Utrecht) and walked around three others (Ajax, Feyenoord, Sparta Rotterdam).

It was a fairly low key tournament, and obviously the games were very different to domestic ones. Aside from the football, it was interesting though to see another country, how they dsesign stadia, control crowds and so forth.

In many ways the grounds felt fairly English. There are quite a few new grounds in out of town locations away from the city centres and some were fairly bland. Though most had some feature or another that at least gave an identity, such as the castle at Sparta Rotterdam.

Holland has had some problems with hooliganism, and it was interesting to see how they dealt with this. I didn't see any fences, aside from Excelsior where the German style 'netting' had been installed at each end. In its place, moats were common - these being gaps between the seats and pitch which allow for circulation of supporters while making pitch invasions very hard.

Away supporters were typically given a section of each ground sealed off by bullet proof glass.

Also present at Ajax and Feyenoord were tunnels. Apparetnly when they have high profile games, away supporters are only allowed to travel on special trains, which arrive at their own stations. Supporters then enter the ground through special sealed tunnels. It was quite a sight. Restrictions on supporter movement are certainly greater than in England.

Most of the grounds were all-seated, although I did find some terraces at Excelsior. They are a small club with a tiny ground (3,500), who have made it to the top flight. The chap explained that they had installed them due to demand from supporters. Also at Excelsior, it was interesting to see that the seats in the main stand had been temporarily removed, to assist in the cleaning of the stand.
Along with the German experience I'd conclude that building areas capable of conversion from standing to seating is not difficult, nor expensive.

If you scan through all the holiday type shots you should be able to find a few of the shots showing these features.

Nice pictures.

Having spent some time in holland myself I was wondering what were your opinions of the country and the people?

Nice stuff Chris! :D

It's one of my favourite countries. The towns have retained a lot of character and aren't all the same as in England, people are very friendly, transport works well, edible fast food is widely available, the beer is very high quality (mainly being Belgian) and of course there is the great liberal tradition.

That said, the drug dealers can sometimes give you hassle - you wouldn't be offered cocaine and ecstacy mid-morning while walking down Oxford Street - so in this regard perhaps the country is a little too liberal.

Another good wee story and trip had by the looks of it. You get about a bit don't ya :D ;)

Who is the card happy Scots referee you refered to?

I love uterects ground, well for a modern stadia. Single tiers and verry steep. If Hibs were to get rid of their new 'traditional' end thats what it should be replaced with.