One of the greatest joys of digitizing a physical football archive is experiencing history out of chronological order. In our previous explorations of the 2014/2015 matchday programmes, we documented the club celebrating referee Bas Nijhuis‘s 20th appearance at the Euroborg in November, and his 19th appearance in September. Now, looking at the August 31 edition against Ajax, we have stumbled upon the prequel: his 18th match.
The “Arbitraal Kwartet” section on page 21 proudly announces: “NIJHUIS VOOR ACHTTIENDE KEER IN EUROBORG”. It is a hilarious and fascinating meta-narrative. The club’s media department was clearly keeping a meticulous, running tally of Nijhuis’s visits to the North. The text recounts his history, noting his first match in 2006/2007 and his various cup and league assignments over the years.
Adding another layer of historical intrigue to this specific refereeing quartet is the name of the Fourth Official: Siemen Mulder. Much like our previous discovery of Rob Dieperink, Mulder was a young official learning his trade on the touchlines of the Euroborg.
A Look into the Future
By 2026, the “Nijhuis Countdown” we’ve uncovered across these programmes serves as a brilliant testament to his enduring presence in Dutch football. While Nijhuis became a media star, the young Fourth Official from this match, Siemen Mulder, successfully climbed the ranks to become a regular, established referee in the Eredivisie. This single column from August 2014 captures two generations of Dutch refereeing crossing paths on a Sunday afternoon in Groningen.