Two amateur football matches in the Netherlands were suspended at the weekend because of racist remarks directed at the players from the stands.

The game between VV Emmen and JOS Watergraafsmeer from Amsterdam was stopped for 15 minutes after a supporter shouted ‘Zwarte Piet’ at JOS’s captain Richmond Bossman.

The away team’s coach, Cor ten Bosch, said the referee stopped the game after a number of his players confronted the fan. ‘I have several black players, they went over to the spot where it came from in a pretty bad temper. Luckily it didn’t get totally out of hand.’

Peter Bouws, chairman of VV Emmen, apologised during the enforced break and said the supporter responsible had been ordered to leave the ground. ‘The man who shouted it regretted it immediately, there was a huge commotion and pushing and shoving. Thankfully we managed to calm things down.’

‘Sooty Piet’

In Utrecht the match between Sporting ’70 and Eldenia, from Arnhem, was cut short when a visiting fan shouted roetveegpiet (‘sooty Piet’) at one of the home team’s players near the end. The referee immediately blew the final whistle in order to deal with the incident.

Sporting ’70 chairman WIllem Muilenburg backed the referee’s decision. ‘The fact is that the referee heard what had been said and stormed straight over to the supporter. He made it clear that the match was over.

‘I was done with it. For someone to talk like that, especially this weekend. What a disaster. He [the player] said he often gets that kind of abuse and he’s become used to it. That’s painful.’

Wim Hendriks, a board member at Eldenia, apologised to Sporting ’70 and said the club would deal with the fan responsible. ‘He left straight away but obviously we know who it was,’ he said.