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Match Report: ADO Den Haag Ladies

(Mon 22 February 2010)

As I love football, I thought I would pay a visit to the Forepark stadium and watch the ADO ladies team in action. They were playing at home to AZ Alkmaar. I chose a good game on paper. ADO sits in second place with AZ in third. The ADO ladies are evidently doing better than their male counterparts.

ADO ladies ply their trade in the Eredivisie, the only division of ladies Dutch football. The league consists of only six teams, and they play each other four times a season. This is the third season of Ladies football and AZ have been the league champions of the first two seasons. Sorry I can add no names to this, but there was no team sheet available to me.

The ladies matches usually take place on a Thursday evening and the good news is, it is free to enter!! It was a cold night and it rained heavily during the second half. I estimate the turn out to be around 450 -550. Those that did attend certainly made themselves heard, quite a nice atmosphere, as all the shouts and screams echoed around the virtually empty stadium.

The game itself was terrific to watch, far better than I expected. High energy level, tough tackling, the game had it all. AZ took a 2-1 first half lead, playing at a higher tempo than ADO. The second half was a lot feistier and some bruising tackles were flying in. ADO played the more aggressive midway through the second half, which apparently riled the AZ manager no end.

ADO got their deserved equalizer with half an hour to go. Ten minutes from the end a throw in was awarded to ADO and for some odd reason that I still can’t comprehend, the AZ manager went ballistic calling the referee everything under the sun, none of which could be repeated here.

This abuse caused the referee to run across and meet him head to head in a very threatening manner. AZ’s manager shoved him forcefully away; the referee yelled in his face and then sent him off, much to the amusement of the home support.

The match slowly then died a death as both teams seemed happy with a point each. The final whistle was greeted by cheers by the fans of both teams.

I must say, I really enjoyed the night’s entertainment. Nice atmosphere, great game of football to watch and for all fans it is also free. You can’t get better than that for a fun Thursday night out.

There are still several more home games to come for the ladies. So if you are at a loose end on a Thursday, you now have no excuses to go out and get some fresh air and enjoy a bit of sport!

11-3-2010 19:30 ADO Den Haag-sc Heerenveen
8-4-2010 19:30 ADO Den Haag-FC Twente
6-5-2010 19:30 ADO Den Haag-FC Utrecht
19-5-2010 19:30 ADO Den Haag-Willem II