Football has never been just something I did. From a young age, it became a way for me to understand the world around me.
The First Lesson: South Africa
The first time I truly felt the power of sport was not during a match, but on a journey to South Africa with the PSV academy. Football itself was not the focus of that trip; serving and connecting with the local community was. We arrived thinking we might inspire others, but it quickly became clear that the roles were reversed.
As a group of fifteen-year-old boys, we were welcomed with an openness and warmth that was almost overwhelming. We were invited into everyday life - into traditions, stories, and conversations that extended far beyond the game. It was there that I first understood sport's unique ability to connect people across cultures, backgrounds, and borders.
Finding Soul in Deventer
Years later, the game brought me to Go Ahead Eagles in Deventer. A true working-class club, deeply rooted in its city and driven entirely by its community. In Deventer, Go Ahead Eagles is not simply a football club; it is something people live and breathe.
From my very first matchday, I felt a connection unlike anything I had experienced before. The exchange of energy between the stands and the pitch was constant and intense, as if players and supporters shared the same heartbeat. Over four seasons, I met countless people who embodied the soul of the club - supporters, volunteers, staff, and families who dedicate their time and passion to something bigger than themselves.
Once again, football placed me right at the centre of its unifying power.
Beyond the Lines
These experiences shaped the way I see the game. I learned that sport is never only about what happens between the lines. It connects in a way few other things can. It lives in the streets around the stadium, in cafés before kick-off, and in relationships built over time.
Moving through environments so different from one another sparked a growing curiosity in me - about the cultures that surround sport, and the stories that exist beyond the pitch.
A New Chapter
As my career gradually moved away from the highest professional level, my relationship with the game evolved along with it. I didn't want to step away from football; I wanted to pass on what it had given me. The shared moments, the sense of belonging, and the connections created through sport can be found all over the world.
With Beyond the Pitch, I found the perfect outlet. A platform built on movement, curiosity, and the belief that sport is a universal language - told through the people, traditions, and cultures that give it its soul.
Full Circle
This week, all of that came together in a deeply symbolic way. With my new club, competing in the third tier of Dutch football, I played an away cup match against PSV - the club where my journey began.
Walking into the Philips Stadion more than ten years later, and after an entire career, felt like a quiet full circle. Not as the same player I once was, but as someone standing at the beginning of a new chapter.
That match marked the start of a new phase. A phase defined by playing at a different level, driven purely by love for the game, and by embracing a new journey with Beyond the Pitch. To kick off this chapter against the club where I first experienced the unifying power of sport felt exactly right.
The journey continues.
This is Beyond the Pitch.