A FAN'S VIEW: Spare a thought for Crawley fans coming from Holland

Everyone was disappointed last Saturday's home game with Portsmouth was postponed due to a frozen pitch.
Dutch fans travelling from Holland to watch Crawley v Portsmouth ended up going to Dover Castle SUS-170123-211211002Dutch fans travelling from Holland to watch Crawley v Portsmouth ended up going to Dover Castle SUS-170123-211211002
Dutch fans travelling from Holland to watch Crawley v Portsmouth ended up going to Dover Castle SUS-170123-211211002

But spare a thought for Dutch fans Tim van Donselaar and his two pals who had left their home in Almere, Holland at 5am Saturday morning to travel over to watch Crawley Town for the first time.

Being fans of Almere City, (Enzio Boldewijn) old club. They chose their old hero’s new club to sample their first taste of English football. (Even making a Crawley/Almere FC top especially for the occasion, see below).

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What was supposed to be a football fun filled day out quickly turned into a history lesson of Dover Castle! Having arrived by ferry and hearing of the postponement, the guys quickly scanned the fixtures for a change of plan only to find games at Orient, Charlton and Southend also called off. Instead they explored the historic town of Dover and took in the WWI tunnels and Dover Castle before sailing back across the English Channel in vain.

Dutch fans' specially made banner to honour their idol, Enzio Boldewijn SUS-170123-202537002Dutch fans' specially made banner to honour their idol, Enzio Boldewijn SUS-170123-202537002
Dutch fans' specially made banner to honour their idol, Enzio Boldewijn SUS-170123-202537002

They have however vowed to try again around March time. Hopefully this time the weather gods will be shining on them.

Although Tim and his friends weren’t the only casualties on Saturday. Irish Reds fans Colm McCormack and his two sons had flown in to Gatwick from Ireland also for the game.

I know the club tried all they could to protect the pitch from what were -5 temperatures overnight.

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The pitch had been covered overnight Friday with hot air being blown onto to the playing surface. But even with all these efforts being made it was just too cold!

Crawley Town fan Steve Herbert SUS-160111-112347002Crawley Town fan Steve Herbert SUS-160111-112347002
Crawley Town fan Steve Herbert SUS-160111-112347002

Trust me the club would of lost a fortune on Saturday, all the work and effort that goes into preparing a game and then for it to be postponed like that on the morning of the match will really have hurt the coffers.

Even more so as Portsmouth were going to easily fill our ground and give us our biggest attendance of the season. The match will now be played midweek (date tbc) and although it may now not be quite the attendance the club were expecting. I still believe the Pompey fans will turn up in force to swell the gate way above the 4,500 mark.

This Saturday the boys travel North to Nottingham and play one of the oldest clubs in the football league Notts County, who are struggling these days, gone are the dizzy heights of the First Division (pre-Premier League) 1991-92 season when they were playing the likes of Manchester Utd and Liverpool. This season they are in free-fall and in real danger of joining the ex football league clubs in the graveyard league otherwise known as ‘The Conference’.

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If Crawley have aspirations of there own going the other way then Notts County is a game we really have to try and capitalise on by bagging the points.

Dutch fans' specially made banner to honour their idol, Enzio Boldewijn SUS-170123-202537002Dutch fans' specially made banner to honour their idol, Enzio Boldewijn SUS-170123-202537002
Dutch fans' specially made banner to honour their idol, Enzio Boldewijn SUS-170123-202537002

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Crawley Town fan Steve Herbert SUS-160111-112347002Crawley Town fan Steve Herbert SUS-160111-112347002
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