Swans Super Fan! John van Zweeden
In 1979, a pen pal request from a Dutch teenager studying English was printed in the Swansea City matchday programme. That teenager's name was John Van Zweden, who would go on become a Swans director, a regular at home and away matches and a fantastical supporter of the club despite the fact he still lives in Den Haag in the Netherlands. Andy Greeves tells the story of Swansea City's 'super fan'.
Ten years ago, Swansea City famously beat Hull City at their old Vetch Field stadium to ensure survival in the Football League on the last day of the 2002-03 season. With promotions in 2005, 2008 and 2011, the Swans went on to complete a seismic rise from the bottom to the top level of professional football in the UK.
Swansea City were the first Welsh club ever to ply their trade in the Barclays Premier League and by virtue of their Capital One Cup success last season, are playing in the UEFA Europa League this campaign, beating Valencia 3-0 at the Mestalla in their first Group A match.
As incredible as the story of Swansea City's rise and rise of the last decade is that of one their most well-known fans, Dutchman John Van Zweden. As teenager living in Den Haag, he wrote to a number of football clubs in the UK in the late 1970s as he looked to improve his English writing skills which would result in him devoting his adult life to Swansea City Football Club.
"My letter got printed in the Swansea City programme and I got two responses, one from a girl and one from a guy," explains Van Zweden. "The guy, (Swansea City director) David Morgan, still happens to still be my best mate."
Also a big supporter of his home city club Den Haag to this day, Van Zweden's passion for Swansea City quickly began to increase and in 1979, the same year he had his pen pal request published, he went to his first Swans match away at Fulham.
"I visited London for my 16th birthday present and we went to see Chelsea verses Manchester United and on the same weekend, Fulham played Swansea, so we went along to that game too," smiles Van Zweden.
"I've always rooted for the underdog, so decided to support Swansea that day. It was shortly after that I wrote the pen pal request."
In 1980, Van Zweden visited Swansea for the first time, making his fan debut at the old Vetch Field on March 29, 1980 for a match against West Ham United. During the same visit, he also went to see a South Wales Derby at the old Ninian Park as Cardiff City took on Swansea City on April 7, 1980.
"I'd say those matches weren't a bad introduction to being a Swansea fan!" jokes Van Zweden. "In the early days, I'd go over to Swansea to watch occasional matches at the Vetch and David (Morgan) would come to see games in Den Haag. I made lots of friends in Swansea and enjoyed going out on Wind Street and actually my social life as an 18/19 year old was more there than it was back in Holland."
There were many ups and downs for Swansea City fans during the 1980's. Promoted to the old Division One (now Barclays Premier League) in 1981, the Swans surprised many in their first season in the top flight, finishing in sixth place.
Relegation the following campaign was the start of a slide which saw them in the old Division Four (now SkyBet League Two) by 1986. Between then and 2008, the Swans entire existence was in the bottom two professional divisions of league football in the UK. A particular low point during that period was when Tony Petty became the club's chairman, threatening the very existence of the club.
In 2002, a group of local businessmen wrestled control of the club away from Petty. Van Zweden had built a successful business selling wallpaper in the Netherlands by this time and was invited to invest in a consortium led by ex-Swans player Mel Nurse to buy out Petty.
"David (Morgan) was one of the guys who was attempting to remove him from the club and he asked me whether I'd be able to invest some money," explains Van Zweden. "I invested £50,000 towards the £250,000 we were looking to raise and I became a shareholder in Swansea City as a result and have been ever since."
The buy-out was the start of new beginning for Swansea City and after surviving in the Football League the following season, they gained the first of three promotions in 2003 that would eventually see them rise to the Barclays Premier League.
They also left their much-loved but outdated Vetch Field stadium in 2005 for the state-of-the-art, 20,750 all-seater Liberty Stadium. By this time, Van Zweden was making the 700-mile round trip from his Den Haag home to Swansea on a regular basis.
"I'd prefer to live in Swansea rather than Holland, but my wife has wanted to stay here which is fair enough," he says. "So many Dutch fans are coming over for Swansea games now – at least 20 or 30 from Den Haag for each game.
I stay at either the Morgans or the The Dragon Hotel and usually meet up with David (Morgan) for a bite to eat and a drink. I only missed about ten matches home and away last season. My wife comes over with me quite often and every now and again, I have a 'boys weekend' when I take my son about four times a season with just the two of us."
Van Zweden has a special place in his heart for both Swansea City and Dutch Eredivisie club Den Haag - indeed a place on his body too, with tattoo of both club crests on his back. He has a 500 square metre space above his wallpaper shop on the outskirts of Den Haag, which can best be described as a shrine to the two teams.
"I have around 700 to 800 shirts of Den Haag and Swansea and about 3,500 Swans programmes with only a few gaps from 1925 until now," comments John. "My favourite items include Lee Trundle's shirt from when we won the Football League Trophy at the Millennium Stadium (in 2006) and Gary Monk's shirt from when we beat Bradford City (in the 2013 Capital One Cup Final). I've also got a Roger Freestone Testimonial shirt and a player worn shirt from 1981 when we won promotion to the top flight at Preston."
Such is Van Zweden's support for both Swansea and Den Haag it is common place to see flags of both teams displayed at their respective home fixtures. John's development of this relationship between the two teams also sees sets of fans travelling between Wales and Holland on a regular basis and he even arranged a pre-season match between the pair this summer.
"It was me that set the game up in Den Haag having been asked by Huw Jenkins," confirms John. "Lots of Den Haag fans who also support Swansea were really keen for this game. We (Swansea City FC) stayed in a hotel opposite Den Haag's ground in the run up to the match and also used Den Haag's training facilities. For my two football loves, Den Haag and Swansea City, to be brought together like that, it was magical. Den Haag also travelled to Swansea at the Liberty Stadium a few seasons ago.
"In addition to Den Haag fans travelling to Swansea, we also get Swansea fans coming to Den Haag. There are always a few Swansea flags at home games and fans in our North Side."
There have been no shortage of highlights of Van Zweden following Swansea, with one coming shortly after this interview as the Swans won 3-0 at Valencia in the UEFA Europa League.
"When you think the club was nearly dead around eleven years ago and now we're in the Premier League, Europe and have a great board of directors that are all friends and fans of the club… it doesn't get any better than that," he beams. "I honestly believe we have the best chairman in the world in Huw Jenkins. Everyone at the club is very down to earth.
"There have been so many highlights watching the team. I can remember a 0-0 game in the FA Cup between Swansea City and Liverpool in 1990 (January 6, 1990), where the Reds battered us but just couldn't score. The two trips to Wembley for the Championship Play-Off Final in 2011 and Capital One Cup Final last season were special it was also really pleasing to play Malmo in our first European game for a number of decades. It was great being there."
© Andy Greeves & Soccerphile.com
Buy tickets for soccer matches around the world