Half-and-half scarves have their critics.
Some see them as a souvenir of a trip to a big football match, and others see them as a sign of all that’s wrong with modern football support and worthy only of burning.
For Jeroen Zoet’s father, Paul, the type of scarf will now remind him of the time he was turfed out of Wembley whilst trying to watch his son put in a good performance for PSV.
Zoet Sr was one of a number of PSV followers who were removed from home sections or areas thought to be neutral. Many Dutch fans had bought tickets from Tottenham or other avenues, not thinking there’d be a problem because the match wasn’t especially high risk.
Some were kicked out after cheering the first goal, others, including a 10 year old boy and his parents, didn’t get through the turnstiles because they were wearing clothing associated with PSV.
The youngster had a shirt on under his coat, the bottom of which was noticed by security and, according to Dutch reports, the family were refused entry even when they offered to remove the offending garment.
Eindhoven Dagblad say Paul Zoet wasn’t recognisable as a PSV fan specifically, because he was wearing a Champions League half-and-half scarf: “We were told that it was safer for us to sit down elsewhere and were promised that we could move to another place. Our tickets were taken and when we were outside we weren’t allowed to enter. So, under false pretences, we have been removed from our places and I think that’s bad.”
The Dutch club scrambled around and managed to arrange some new tickets for the goalkeeper’s father, so he saw much of his son’s big night against Tottenham, but most were left unlucky.
