What started as a lighthearted idea on a Dutch football podcast has turned into a lifeline for an English sixth-tier club fighting to survive its hardest season.
Scarborough Athletic has played every match away from home this season after a pitch crisis forced them out of their ground, and was a bookmakers’ favourite for relegation. Instead, they go into Saturday’s match against Welsh team Merthyr Town with a chance of reaching the promotion play-offs.
One of the main reasons the club is still standing is the 450 people in the Netherlands who paid to become co-owners. Club chairman Trevor Bull told DutchNews the money and support has helped the club and boosted morale at the most difficult time since it was founded.
The idea began on De Eerste De Beste, a football podcast covering the Keuken Kampioen Divisie. One of the presenters floated the idea of adopting an English club, which is possible because clubs can be 100% fan-owned. The podcast settled on Scarborough – a seaside town with the highest pub density in England.
A Dutch listener proposed the club since he had been a co-owner of Scarborough FC before it went bankrupt in 2007 and then was refounded as Scarborough Athletic.
Within weeks, hundreds of membership applications flooded in. The club now has around 1,700 members. Roughly a quarter are in the Netherlands.
Twenty hours for a 0-0 draw
Not long after, 90 of them showed up in Scarborough. Supporters of NAC, Willem II, FC Twente, Ajax and PSV travelled by boat and bus to watch Scarborough play Chorley at their temporary ground in Bridlington – a 20-hour round trip for a goalless draw.
“Scarborough’s manager Jono Greening said it was the worst match he had ever seen,” co-presenter of the podcast Lars van Velsum told DutchNews. “Fantastic.”
They cleared out the fan shop – the club’s best sales day all season – and sang on the terraces with shoes in the air, serenading chairman Bull. Who, as it happens, has a Dutch mother and a half-Dutch wife.
A survival fund
Last year, Scarborough’s pitch was discovered to have collapsed drains beneath it, requiring work that could cost £3 million. The club moved 19 miles to nearby Bridlington, losing all matchday bar and catering revenue. Attendances more than halved.
“This has been the hardest season since we formed the club in 2007,” Bull told DutchNews. The Dutch membership fees went straight into a survival pot. “It gave us a good mental lift when we needed it.”
A return trip is planned for September. Bull wants to bring the team to the Netherlands for a pre-season friendly, once they can afford it.
A win on Saturday would keep the team’s play-off dream alive. The match also marks 50 years since the original Scarborough FC won the FA Trophy at Wembley – five players from that team will be in attendance.
“We’ve worked so hard all season, it’s come down to these last two matches,” Bull said.
In the Netherlands, a WhatsApp group of several hundred people will be following every kick.
