NAC Breda has apologized to the FC Groningen striker on the club website, but his employer is still considering filing a report against a Breda supporter. The 32-year-old attacker has been a frequent topic of discussion in recent days after he reacted provocatively to comments made by the Breda public about his unborn daughter during his club’s match in the Rat Verlegh Stadium on Friday.
Van Veen scored the 1-1 with a particularly beautiful free kick during the meeting in Breda and then cheered ostentatiously in front of the home crowd, resulting in a beer shower – and therefore a temporary shutdown. NAC would eventually win the match 3-2, Van Veen explained afterwards why he took his actions: the audience wished his unborn daughter a serious illness. A day after the match, the striker also lashed out at the NAC club council on X.
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NAC has been investigating the events in recent days and released the results on Monday. The club notes that during a corner kick, after sixteen seconds of play, ‘an individual briefly shouts in the direction of two FC Groningen players’. One of them would have been Van Veen. “It is impossible to explain exactly what was said there. It is clear that it came from the angle where Van Veen later expressed his frustrations,” the club writes.
However, NAC found no evidence for chants prior to taking the free kick in question, as Van Veen said after the match. That did happen later, “we obviously disapprove of this,” writes NAC. When Van Veen was substituted in injury time, ‘an individual’, in the words of NAC, “made a gesture towards the striker that goes beyond all bounds.” For this person, his action is not without consequences: “NAC has identified the perpetrator and will take appropriate measures. This behavior has no place in our stadium. We have also apologized to FC Groningen for this,” it reads.
Declaration
However, it remains to be seen whether the apology is sufficient to draw a line under the events in Breda. The police are looking at the images of the gesticulating supporter to determine whether he is guilty of criminal offenses, it writes Dagblad van het Noorden. In addition, FC Groningen is considering reporting this person. “When he (Van Veen, red.) reacted so violently after his goal, I immediately had the feeling that something must have happened. We have no doubts about his reading of events and want to protect him,” general manager Wouter Gudde told the same newspaper.
