Kameraad

ADO Den Haag is club set up for the fans.

This weekend, the Fansupport collective (they live behind the goal in VakS) celebrated 15 years of cheering on a frequently disappointing side.

So to cheer themselves up, the fans have developed strong ties with the ultras in Turin (Juve) Brugge (Club) Swansea (it's a bird thing, Swans and Storks) and Warsaw (Legia).

I've never been anywhere where other clubs have been celebrated quite so much.

It's not ususual - fan friendship are everywhere (in Twente it's Schalke 04 they identify with) but in Den Haag, it's of a different order.

When Legia Warsaw were drawn against Ajax in the Europa League knock-out stages, ADO and Den Haag played host to the Legia fans (thousands of them). This probably did the Amsterdam police a favour, keeping a club with a fanatical ultra-style following out of the city and away from trouble with the F-side and VAK 410, Ajax's own hard core support.

The Legia fans reciprocated the hospitality by joining the Middennord and Fansupport at ADO's home game with FC Twente. The bond between the two teams has been strong for years, but reached a new high at this game with the Kyocera attendance swelled considerably by travelling Poles.

There's a lot less of this in the English game (Liverpool-Celtic and obviously ADO-Swansea aside perhaps). Would English fans be up for developing closer ties with other European clubs? This one would.