Spurs blooming in Amsterdam

Amsterdam. A city now synonymous with one of the all-time great Spurs nights. It’s also home to a booming, or should that be ‘blooming’, Official Supporters’ Club, Amsterdam Spurs.

That Wednesday night, 8 May, 2019, will never be forgotten. Trailing 1-0 from the first leg of our Champions League semi-final, we found ourselves 2-0 down to an outstanding Ajax side, 3-0 behind on aggregate. We needed a footballing miracle and found one in the shape of Lucas Moura, who scored a hat-trick in the second half including a last gasp winner to take us through to the final.

Amsterdam, what a city! “It was an amazing couple of nights,” reflected Amsterdam Spurs chairman, Dominic O’Reirdan. “It was difficult for a lot of our members because we have a lot of Dutch members who are also Ajax fans. They were really torn.

“A lot of us went over for the first leg of the semi-final and we were near to the away end - we were waving at friends in the away section! A lot of people watched with us on the night. We packed out the pub where we normally get together. It was crazy.”

There is also the story of how the chairman of Amsterdam Spurs missed one of the Club’s all-time great nights – on his doorstep! “I was on a plane!” explained Dominic. “I had to fly from Amsterdam to Istanbul. I ended up watching the game live on the flight, it was full of Dutch and I was the only Spurs fan on there.

“I came off beaming and everyone else was giving me not the best of looks as I wore my Spurs hoodie! I had to be on that flight, unfortunately, but I went to the first leg and we had a great night before the semi-final (with Martin Jol, Clive Allen and Graham Roberts all in the city), so that was all good.”

Starting unofficially in 1996 and run by long-term Spurs fan Rob Ahlers - our first overseas member - Amsterdam Spurs became an Official Supporters’ Club in 2012. Numbers are increasing at a rate of knots, now up to 160.

Dominic added: “A few guys got together in or around 1996, when the games started appearing on TV over here, guys who had a strong connection with Spurs and we eventually became official in 2012.

“It’s grown from there. We had 60, 70 members three years ago but now we have 160 registered. We always have groups of fans coming down and a lot of the time, they’ll just surprise us. We’ll be in the pub watching the Burnley game, for example, and 40 fans will turn up!

“We have a lot of Season Ticket Holders. Amsterdam is so close to London. We can drive there and back in a day. If you fly into Stansted, it’s even easier. It’s quite accessible.

“We look at the American clubs and they have so many people turn up to each match at six in the morning and we think that’s so impressive, but because we have so many Season Ticket Holders and Members, we don’t get so many, but we’re a club that features a lot of visitors.

“We’ve done a couple of pre-season trips – New York and Nashville (2017) and LA and San Diego (2018). We’re in contact with all these guys and when there is a visitor to Amsterdam, they tend to drop in.

“Strangely, I gave a visitor one of my Amsterdam Spurs polo shirts and then two years later, someone wearing that polo came back into the pub, which was quite cool! There is a really big network of fans online. Every day there is something new.

“It’s very easy to find us. We have all our social media - Twitter, Instagram, Facebook - and that’s the best place. We have a blog as well.

“We’re a small, friendly group, students, lots of visitors, people coming here for a week or a weekend. We have two pubs, almost a cup pub and regular pub. We go to O’Reilly’s (near Dam Square) for the majority of games and then ‘Regular and Jack’, a sports bar (near Rembrandtplein). Both of those pubs look after us really well. I would say to fans 'just come along'.”

Finally, how was life in Holland as we all tackle the coronavirus? “It’s really quiet, not much going on, the whole country is more or less shut down, pubs, restaurants, schools, public gatherings,” said Dominic.

“I drove through Amsterdam the other day and a trip that would normally take me 40 minutes took me about five. We have one or two members who aren’t too well, they are self-isolating, so we’re making sure they get what they need. We all have to be careful at the moment.”