Feyenoord still in the dark about power failure that stopped VVV match

Source: Qurrent
Source: Qurrent

Feyenoord and VVV Venlo will try to arrange a new date for their weekend league match which was abandoned after the floodlights failed in the first minute.

Referee Bas Nijhuis stopped the game when the lights went out after 43 seconds of Sunday’s evening fixture in De Kuip. Technicians were unable to locate the source of the power failure, forcing the match to be abandoned on safety grounds.

Stadium director Jan van Merwijk described the incident as ‘every stadium director’s worst nightmare.’ ‘There is a fault in the system, but we were unable to locate the cause in the time we had.’

Van Merwijk told RTV Rijnmond that the exact cause was still being investigated but the problem appeared to be confined to the stadium and would not affect the wider neighbourhood.


The two clubs were due to meet the KNVB’s head of league football Jan Bluyssen on Monday morning to fix a new date for the game.

Despite the setback, Feyenoord held on to third place in the Eredivisie as their closest rivals Heracles Almelo surprisingly went down 2-1 to NAC Breda. A goal two minutes from the end by Mitchell te Vrede secured Breda’s second win of the season and lifted the club off the bottom of the table.

FC Groningen remain in last place despite winning 4-2 away to Excelsior on Friday, while Emmen bagged a late equaliser in Heerenveen to draw level on points with De Graafschap and Willem II, who lost to AZ and Ajax respectively.

At the top of the table, PSV squeezed past Vitesse Arnhem to keep up their 100% start to the season. Vitesse were reduced to 10 men after just 14 minutes after Danilho Doekhi scythed down Hirving Lozano, but a string of impressive saves from Eduardo kept the scoreline blank until Luuk de Jong struck from close range in the 69th minute.

Ajax remain five points behind the leaders and eight points ahead of Feyenoord and Heracles. Utrecht’s third win in a row lifted them to fifth, assisted by a howler by ADO Den Haag goalkeeper Indy Groothuizen. Groothuizen miscued the ball as he tried to pass it out of his own penalty area and gifted a goal to Utrecht’s Cyriel Dessers.

In Sunday’s other game, Fortuna Sittard beat PEC Zwolle with two penalties by Mark Diemers to raise themselves to 10th place.

Results:

Friday

Excelsior 2 Groningen 4

Saturday

PSV Eindhoven 1 Vitesse 0

NAC Breda 2 Heracles Almelo 1

AZ Alkmaar 1 De Graafschap 0

Ajax 2 Willem II Tilburg 0

Sunday

Heerenveen 1 Emmen 1

Fortuna Sittard 3 PEC Zwolle 0

Utrecht 3 ADO Den Haag 0

Feyenoord v VVV Venlo: abandoned due to floodlight failure

Thank you for donating to DutchNews.nl.

We could not provide the Dutch News service, and keep it free of charge, without the generous support of our readers. Your donations allow us to report on issues you tell us matter, and provide you with a summary of the most important Dutch news each day.

Make a donation