A complex club like Feyenoord Rotterdam can only be truly understood by looking at two of its modern legends, Dirk Kuyt and Robin van Persie.
When Nazi Germany bombed Rotterdam in a showing of strength and of cruel antipathy, nearly everything was destroyed. The Grote of Sint-Laurenskerk — the Great, or St. Lawrence Church — was a solitary surviving structure in the city centre. Its survival and reconstruction became a symbol of Rotterdam resilience and rebuilding after World War II. But De Kuip, a large metal edifice further outside the city centre, is perhaps a better representation of the area today.
De Kuip (translated literally to “the tub”, for obvious reasons) is officially known as Feijenoord Stadion. It was erected in the 1930s to house the football club SC Feijenoord and stood as a beacon of sporting power before stadiums like the Camp Nou were built. Its tenants now go by the globalised name Feyenoord Rotterdam. Feyenoord’s history is closely tied to that of De Kuip — an eternal figure of Rotterdam culture — but it is the lives and stories of its members that bring us closer to the core of a great Dutch football team.