FC Halifax Town: Dutch football fans receive a warm welcome in Halifax

The group of 32 from Holland were seated in the East Stand at The Shay to watch Halifax’s 2-0 defeat after boarding an overnight ferry from Rotterdam.

After arriving in Hull at 8.30am, they popped in to the Three Pigeons pub before getting to the ground at about 2pm.

The group were back on the return ferry at 6.30pm and made it back to Holland in time to watch Feyernoord lose their seventh league match in a row.

One of the fans, Jeroen Koet, said: “We really enjoyed Halifax.

“Thanks to the article in the Courier we were recognised by some people.

“One of them got the newspaper and handed it over to us. Unfortunately the club shop didn’t sell scarves but that was also quickly arranged.

“One of us got a scarf from the man sitting next to him. There is also an exchanging of football kits taking place.

“One of the fans will bring over a Halifax Town shirt on his next visit to Rotterdam. Everyone was just so friendly.

“We witnessed some great Yorkshire hospitality and we really hope that Halifax will keep going strong in the rest of the season.”

Like most Halifax fans, Jeroen wasn’t impressed with referee Ian Hussin’s performance during the match.

He added: “Well, let us say that the referee wasn’t on Halifax’s side to put it mildly!

“It was a very cheap penalty and there were some harsh decisions after that.

“With refereeing like this you can play for ages without getting a single free kick.

“Especially after the second goal it never looked that Forest Green would give anything away.

“The football of Halifax was good until they reached the box. But there was always a leg or a head of one of the defenders of Forest Green that stopped the ball from going in.”