SV Spakenburg: No work or football on Sunday

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SV Spakenburga third division team from a fishing and bakery village in the Dutch province of Utrecht, qualified for the semifinals of holland cupbut his arrival in the final was controversial: the laws of the Christian club did not allow him to play on Sunday.

Spakenburg’s refusal to play a football match on a Sunday was unanimous, even the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB) knew it. Religion still plays a big role in this town of 21,000 inhabitants, where many go to mass that day and dedicate the rest of the day to rest or visit family, but don’t disturb or make noise.

Now that SV Spakenburg has qualified for the semifinals along with Feyenoord, Ajax and PSV, the two groups that advance to the final will have to face each other for the cup on Sunday, April 30 at De Kuip (Stadion Feijenoord), the stadium of the city of Rotterdam.

“No, that’s not possible,” Spakenburg president Marc Schoonebeek said when asked about this scenario. The KNVB assured the public channel NOS that it does not rule out fixing the match day in advance and ensures that there will be a consultation meeting between the representatives of the clubs in the semifinals to decide on a specific date.

“Our strategy is to make it a Saturday night game. If it was a Sunday, I think we would say no, but that’s not clear yet,” Schoonebeek said.

It is even contained in the Christian club’s statutes: “The purpose of the association is the training and promotion of sport in general and football in particular, every day of the week, except Sunday,” it says.

This is the general written rule, but the president of the club admits that not all players see it as a problem because “the men within the group of players are different”, although he also knows that “it is not the first time you have to stick to the laws,” he said.

Sunday rest is still taken seriously in some places in the Netherlands, especially in religious towns around the Bible Belt. Neighbors don’t drill, or vacuum, or play loud music, and even less shopping on Sundays in many towns because stores are always closed on this day.

Spakenburg coach Chris de Graaf is also unsure if his team will make it to the final. They will play a semifinal at home against PSV on April 4, after getting permission from the municipality on Tuesday to expand the stadium with temporary stands for around 8,000 spectators expected for their special day.

The coach believes that reaching the semifinals is “good for the people”, who in reality are divided between the fans of the reds (IJsselmeervogels) and blues (Spakenburg), two rivals who are now united in celebrating the a typical victory: last week’s defeat of FC Utrecht in the quarter-finals at the hands of local footballers.

The club, which originated in 1931, survives thanks to local members and volunteers, but also to its almost 300 patrons, which include local businesses (from bakeries, fishmongers, florists and others store in the municipality), but also companies with a more international character, such as Domino’s Pizzas or Amstel.

Source: La Verdad

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