MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
The revival of famous football club in Holland
Two years ago the Dutch football club, SC Cambuur Leeuwarden was on the verge of closure. The club had lost its prize position in the Premier Division, attendances had fallen to below 2,000, the team was constantly bottom of the Jupiler League (1st division) and the main sponsors had withdrawn their financial support.
To further exacerbate the situation, near neighbours and fierce rivals, FC Heerenveen, had taken Cambuur's role in the Premier Division and had 'stolen' thousands of their supporters as well! Today the picture at Leeuwarden is much brighter. A recent home fixture against FC Den Bosch attracted almost 10,000 spectators, the club is on a sound financial footing through the investment of millionaire businessman Jan Riedstra and the fans can look at the top half of the table to find their clubs position. So how did this transformation materialize? Someone at the club wisely called Alex Pama in Washington D.C. USA. The 36 years old Dutch/American decided to take up the challenge of revitalizing a grand old club which was formed more than 100 years ago and which was Holland's first professional team. Son of a Dutch diplomat he had coached at a high level in Holland before establishing a flourishing soccer school in Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Pama, now Managing Director at the club tells of a sorry state when he arrived in May 2006: "There was apathy everywhere, pensions had not been paid, unopened mail, holes in every carpet, no coaching system, no encouragement for good players to play at the club, and no plans for the future, so I had to sack the Technical Director. We had the 3rd highest budget in the Jupiler League but were in last place"! "First of all I ordered everything to be painted blue & yellow the clubs traditional colours, then I called a reunion of ex-players, I established a brand, called up Jan Riedstra and asked him to forgot the differences of the past , established a rapport with the schools by sending one player and one staff member to speak with the children, invited 4 schools to compete against each other every month in general knowledge with the top school coming to the stadium for an award ceremony and each student received 2 season tickets. I persuaded the local newspaper to publish the results each time. I rebuilt a complex for youth teams with a girls football team as well, and established a programme for special needs children and KIKO the childrens cancer fund". The province of Friesland in the north of Holland, where Leeurwarden is situated, has been granted considerable autonomy by the Dutch Government. They speak their own dialect and have their own flag and anthem. As Alex Pama explained there was also the rivalry with Heerenveen to contend with: "Unbelievably they had taken the Friesland flag and used it on their club crest, they had everyone singing the anthem and believing that Heerenveen was the team of the Province, this despite the fact that their population is just 30,000 compared to Leeuwarden's 100,000. "But slowly we are winning back our supporters by concentrating on the youth, established the ladies team, making the youngsters proud of their local club, and displaying our blue and yellow crest on everything that moves in Leeuwarden". Perhaps the most positive and innovative approach by Alex Pama is the establishment of a top-class coaching programme which attracts prospective soccer players in the age group of 15-20 to Holland from the United States. "The U.S. kids have heard of what we have to offer and they come across for one year. We put them in houses with families, feed and train them at the Cambuur soccer school. They pay 2,000 Euros a month, which all goes to the club. We have exchange agreements with clubs in Brazil and Argentina so the name of Cambuur Leeuwarden is being spread as far away as South America. Alex Pama denies that he too has invested heavily in the Club. "I put in about 60,000 Euros to pay salaries that were owing, and anticipate recovering that money one day". He also denies that Cambuur are paying large salaries to attract the best players: "No player here is earning more than €100,000 a year, and we have not had to pay a transfer fee for anyone, they have all come on free transfers. I persuaded them that this Club has a big future and showed them around and they signed for us". The plans now are for Cambuur to build a new stadium, and achieve promotion back to the Premier Division within 3 years. The fan base is increasing at a fantastic level and many of the 'lost' 30-40 years old spectators are also returning. After a great victory over recent Premier League VVV Venlo there was much expectation that Cambuur would go top of the table with a win against Den Bosch. On a rainy night the Cambuur goalkeeper had a game to forget, being at fault for 2 of the 3 goals conceded in a crazy ten minutes spell before half-time. The team from the south of Holland went home with all 3 points, but Alex Pama was not down-hearted. "We have to take these set- backs in our stride and continue to build a team that our supporters will be proud of. Having close to 10,000 fans attend the game shows that we are heading the right direction and we have only really just started our revival". Patrick Watts, MercoPress - Leeuwarden, Holland.
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