Nearly 70 students have spent Easter experiencing the Dutch way of football at one of Europe’s top clubs.
Four school teams played and trained at PSV Eindhoven during a five-day visit to the club, which has been managed by Sir Bobby Robson, Guus Hiddink and Dick Advocaat and whose former players include Ruud Gullit, double World Cup winner Ronaldo and current Newcastle United player Georginio Wijnaldum.
At PSV’s De Herdgang training facility the Cramlington teams watched the club’s manager Philip Cocu and coaches Bolo Zenden and Luc Nilis – all former World Cup players – put their players through their paces. The students also trained there and played competitive friendlies against two of the top junior clubs in Eindhoven. Cramlington won all four fixtures as the under 13s and under 15s defeated Best Vooruit and the under 12s and under 16s won against VV Acht.
As well as a tour of PSV Eindhoven’s impressive Philips Stadion, the group also enjoyed a visit to nearby Eftling theme park.
The school started taking teams to professional football clubs in 2003 with LA Galaxy. More recent tours have taken Cramlington students to Villarreal and Valencia in Spain and Ajax in Amsterdam before Easter’s trip via ferry to Eindhoven.
“It was great to travel abroad and spend time with my teammates. We were treated like professionals and we learnt a lot about being the best,” said Matthew, who is in Year 9.
Passengers on the ferry, staff at the hotel and coaches at PSV Eindhoven commended the students’ behaviour. “When we played the matches the Dutch teams saw us as representing our country, not just Cramlington, and our students were very proud of that responsibility,” said Mr Horner, Head of Boys’ PE.
Jack from Year 11 said: “The whole tour was amazing as the facilities that we used were top class and to play football against Dutch teams was a unique experience. I’ll never forget it.”
Year 8 student Christian added: “The coaches at PSV Eindhoven were brilliant. The sessions were fun and they really made you think.”
Mr Steanson, educational visits co-ordinator, praised the boys for their contributions towards making this year’s football tour one of the best yet.