LMC
He does it for ‘those looks in the children’s eyes when they're standing in the pitch’. Henk van der Vegt, organiser of the LMC Schools Cup, loves it when the pupils experience that extraordinary moment: playing football on the pitch at De Kuip. This year too, on Wednesday 20 June 2018, the students were eager to go onto the sacred grass. Van der Vegt understands that all too well, because he himself has countless beautiful memories of the stadium.
‘There were adults crying in their football clothes, that's how beautiful they thought it was to finally play football in De Kuip’. Henk van der VegtAs a boy of barely five years old, Van der Vegt had walked across the stands at De Kuip. He regularly attended Feyenoord's home games, holding his father’s hand and surrounded by half the family. ‘What I remember so well were the peanuts, which were sold in cones from the outer gate. I didn't pay much attention to the game, so I would be given a quarter to go and get them. That way, my father got me quieted down,’ Van der Vegt jokingly says.
Right at home
In the years that followed - Van der Vegt is now 71 years old - his love for the stadium stayed with him. In fact, when he was there, this former school principal felt (sometimes literally) right at home. This was partly due to his cousin, Jos van der Vegt, who was the general manager of Feijenoord Stadium from 1991 to 1996. ‘He often invited me to the club, including during the renovation of the stadium’. His daughter, Mareille, also did PR for the stadium for many years and his other daughter, Jamaine, worked in the brasserie during her student days. Feyenoord runs like a connecting thread through the family,’ concludes Van der Vegt.Connection
It was, therefore, only logical that Van der Vegt, who was the principal of a secondary school for thirty years, was asked by his employer, LMC, to seek cooperation with Feyenoord. However, the reason for the first contact between the secondary school and the club was not a pleasant one. ‘In 2004, my wife died very suddenly of breast cancer. At that time, I was understandably very upset,’ says Van der Vegt, remembering how he had to cope. The board of the LMC decided to see if they could help him a bit. ‘You have that connection with Feyenoord,’ the former chairman asked me. ‘Why don’t you try and get a partnership off the ground?’Giving chances
And that was the birth of Talent Scoort, a social welfare project in Varkenoord that was launched in 2006. ‘Ben Wijnstekers and I had our work cut out for us even before the football school was founded, but we knew what we were doing it for: giving children in poverty a chance to move on to the Feyenoord school,’ explains Van der Vegt. In those years, things were going fanatically at Varkenoord, where the former school principal had to set everything up. He therefore has great appreciation for the LMC board, which financed the project. But after nine successful years, the talented kids stopped scoring.Return to De Kuip
But De Kuip was in his blood. The new, enthusiastic chairman, Marc Otto, of the LMC approached van der Vegt to organise a new project in the Kuip and, in 2017, he managed to enable students from the LMC to play football in De Kuip. On 20 June 2018, during the second edition of the LMC Schools Cup, more than 350 first-formers from 24 schools were eager to step onto the sacred grass. ‘The first thing they did was walk onto the pitch and take a selfie,’ says Van der Vegt, relishing the memory of the disbelief on their faces at that moment.Adults were crying
You don’t see that emotion only in the children. After the tournament, a selection of teachers played against former Feyenoord players. At that moment, it's not about the football, but about the fact that they’re on the pitch. There were adults standing there and crying, that's how beautiful they thought it was to finally play football in De Kuip,’ Van der Vegt remembers. ‘Someone even wanted to kiss me to thank me. It's a long cherished wish for the participants’.Van der Vegt also looks forward to the annual tournament, which is running smoothly, thanks in part to the professionals of the Feijenoord Stadium. ‘I used to have to do everything myself, but nowadays it's organised beautifully. I had barely any concerns about the thirty teams, partly because the scheduling was taken out of my hands. What a relief, an organisation like the one at Feijenoord Stadium. They sometimes say, ‘Here at De Kuip, the stress is visible’. Well, I've never experienced any stress while organising these events’. Van der Vegt doesn’t rule out a return to De Kuip. After all, he never actually left.
Photography: Kees Spruijt
