2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Volendam go through and RKC Waalwijk go home, 1‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Match31 Oct 2026
After 8 games, RKC Waalwijk finally taste it again
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Emmen; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RKC Waalwijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at RKC Waalwijk, another week without a signature from Henk Veerman.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Jong Utrecht scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Harrie Kuster falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for RKC Waalwijk is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Niek Schiks and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Guus Malen could afford to be generous.
In brief
SquadLoek Postma falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Liam van Gelderen and RKC Waalwijk agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. RKC Waalwijk told Jordy Bawuah something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Tim van de Loo has his answer from RKC Waalwijk; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at RKC Waalwijk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RKC Waalwijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
13 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against ADO Den Haag? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Nobody at RKC Waalwijk is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Henk Veerman was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.06, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at RKC Waalwijk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jordy Bawuah is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against ADO Den Haag.
A brace, and Henk Veerman takes the afternoon — 9.30
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Henk Veerman provided it, and the 9.30 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Harrie Kuster, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.85
A mark of 7.85 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Henk Veerman and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at RKC Waalwijk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soufiane Hetli is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 21 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: SuperSport United keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Standard Liege have kept their man, and RKC Waalwijk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RKC Waalwijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at RKC Waalwijk, another week without a signature from Henk Veerman.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order RKC Waalwijk prefer.
Squad7 Sep 2026
13 new faces, and RKC Waalwijk are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 10.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jean-Paul Boëtius provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Navajo Bakboord provided it, and the 8.02 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what RKC Waalwijk can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. RKC Waalwijk have done the hard part with SuperSport United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at RKC Waalwijk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Henk Veerman and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Layee Kromah is living that version at RKC Waalwijk, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Soufiane Hetli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vitesse have kept their man, and RKC Waalwijk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Guus Malen after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.38 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jordy Bawuah did not need any: 7.68, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
6 goals in one match, Henk Veerman on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of RKC Waalwijk and FC Eindhoven.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Storm Vloemans is living that version at RKC Waalwijk, and it tends to show in the first month.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Heerenveen have kept their man, and RKC Waalwijk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Telstar waiting with a shirt. Nobody at RKC Waalwijk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Soufiane Hetli is living that version at RKC Waalwijk, and it tends to show in the first month.
The deal with PSV is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Henk Veerman was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at RKC Waalwijk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soufiane Hetli is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. PSV have kept their man, and RKC Waalwijk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marco Klaassen is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Cody Clasie is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Arnaut Frimpong is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jean-Paul Boëtius and RKC Waalwijk agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at RKC Waalwijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Olympic Charleroi have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Tim van der Leij. The answer from RKC Waalwijk has not changed — yet.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and RKC Waalwijk are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
FC Copenhagen have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.