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A Barnet Story - Telstar And Barnet Olé
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A tale of a groundhopping trip that turned into a bond across the North Sea. We explore the relationship between Barnet and Dutch side SC Telstar.
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26/06/2026
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This article has been viewed 1175 times.
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by Eric Hitchmo
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Something interesting that has emerged in recent years is an off-field partnership with Dutch side SC Telstar. It is not uncommon for fans from further afield to visit Barnet. We’ve had a supporters’ club from Norway established in the 90s, and I recall several fans from other clubs both domestically and abroad visiting Underhill over the years.
The vast array of international flags that have been dotted around the ground by Village over the years attest to this, his unofficial role of Overseas Supporters Liaison Officer is very long-standing and he has always been a point of contact for supporters from abroad looking to visit our club.
The Telstar development however is a more recent one. They are a smaller club in the Netherlands and are not far from Amsterdam, meaning they are very much in the shadow of Ajax playing their matches in a stadium that holds around 6000. Sound familiar? Having been formed in 1963, they recently returned to the Eredivisie, the top league after a near 50-year absence.
Having seen a small horde of them at Tranmere last season, I was curious to understand more about where this partnership came from. I spoke to Hugo (Barnet) and Jesse (Telstar) about it all.
It seems obvious when my first question is answered about where this all started, as Hugo explains, “The roots can be traced back to Edgar Davids time at Barnet. The East Terrace and Underhill became a popular ground hop for Dutch fans around the time, and I stayed in touch with one of the lads, an Ajax fan. A few years later when I was in Amsterdam, he sorted me out with his season tickets for an Ajax game he couldn’t make. He suggested meeting up to watch his local club - and after a cold Monday night in November, I was hooked on Telstar. That season saw Telstar make the Playoffs for the first time in a good few years, and me and some of the Barnet lads made our way out for the 2-legged playoff semi-final. It was extremely eventful on and off the pitch, with riots after the first leg, a police escort to the second leg, and an aggregate score loss by a scoreline of 6-5 - and the bug started to spread from me to the others in my group quickly.”
He continues drawing similarities between our two clubs, “What really solidified the link was the fact that the two clubs shared so many similarities - roughly similar sized fan bases, both existing in and fighting for fans in a region where they’re completely overshadowed by giant clubs (for Barnet read Arsenal and Spurs, for Telstar read Ajax and Feyenoord), barely any real success for a while. Both clubs have a bit of a “cult” status in their respective countries - We all know it takes a special kind of lunatic to be hardcore Barnet - and it became clear quite quickly that a similar breed of madman made a model Telstar fanatic.”.
Jesse also added similar sentiments, “We both know how it feels to be the small team. Kids in school laughed at us when we said our favourite team. Back then if you asked a kid in our region what team they support, 90% would have answered with either Ajax, Feyenoord or AZ. We both know how it feels to lose. But we share the same type of passion. We have the same emotions. The same love for the game.”.
Well, I certainly know that feeling and I suspect many Barnet fans reading this will know it too. The feeling of being sniggered at for supporting a supposed “lesser” side or quickly asked “yeah but who’s your real team?”. I imagine this happens a little less these days as the trend of supporting your local team has become a bit more fashionable and crowds are massively on the up, certainly in this country. Clearly, it isn’t unique to England as the boys from Telstar can attest to although some of it can be attributed to their return to the top division a year ago.
I was interested in what kept Jesse and the Telstar boys coming back, besides the friendship that has been built. Was it something about the matchday experience, the away days, and how they compared to the Dutch experience? He explains, “Home games are fairly similar. We meet at the pub, have a few drinks and then we walk to the stadium. The biggest difference is that we can just have a drink and sing in the stands while watching the game. Not being able to do so in England always slightly annoys me.” – I know that feeling. He continues, “Away days are very different. Often, we have to hop on a coach at our stadium that will drive us straight into the away end. We're also allowed to travel by car, but there are always issues with parking. There are often restrictions. Visiting a game by public transport or visiting the city centre is usually prohibited and could lead to a stadium ban. After the game the supporters’ coaches and cars are usually escorted out of the city by the police.”.
Perhaps then it’s the relative freedom of the Barnet away day experience that is so attractive to many. Jesse listed off many trips that have been made, even weekenders that have built up the camaraderie even more. 15 Dutch lads stayed the weekend in Weymouth in 2022, with a similar number going to Woking in the title-winning season and just a few weeks later at Sutton. Flights, trains, ferries to Dover, you name it. A coachload of Barnet and Telstar left the Railway Tavern for Tranmere away having managed to get the pub to open at 6:30 for breakfast.
Compared to the very restrictive sounding experience of away days in the Netherlands, these trips must be absolute bliss. In talking about some of the trips and the stories, I get the sense that we are quite fortunate to still enjoy relative freedom in our ability to have a good time on an away day. Certainly, Jesse talks with great enthusiasm about all of the memories he and his friends have made when joining us on our journey, and it feels as though there will be plenty more in the offing in the years ahead.
The fact that people are willing to travel from abroad for these experiences attests to how good we have it sometimes. With any luck, Barnet will continue to perform on the pitch and my own haunting memories of two men in a car to Bury for a 2-0 defeat in December will never have to be experienced again.
So what does the future hold? More trips of course, but given the growing partnership is there anything bigger in the offing? I wondered if the two clubs were aware and whether anything could be done, to which Hugo said “I made Kirk Rayment aware of the friendship in the railway tavern at the end of last season, and true to his word he has reached out to the people at Telstar and floated the idea of a friendly. My understanding is that several dates were discussed for this pre-season but nothing could be agreed. I’m hoping that with enough noise made by both sides we might see a friendly played next summer.”, and Jesse added “Both clubs have to be careful with the money they have and travelling is expensive. I know some of the people who work at Telstar and they also want to make it happen, so who knows!”.
Hugo is also keen to spread the word and organise a wider trip to Telstar, “Given the way the friendship has really spread across Barnet’s fan base in recent seasons, the aim is to get a good number of Barnet fans - not just our own group - to get over there for a specific game. We have talked about organising a supporters’ match too.”. We’ll happily share details of this trip through our socials as and when the details are confirmed. With the League Two fixtures out yesterday, I’m sure the Dutch boys are excitedly planning their next trips here too. There’s even a homage to the partnership proudly displayed across their clubhouse, so we know we’d be in for some welcome.
Football has a tendency to divide people, from town to town or country to country. For sure, if England were to meet The Netherlands in the World Cup in the next few weeks I’m sure there’ll be plenty of banter thrown back and forth over The North Sea, but it also has the ability to unite like-minded individuals behind a shared cause. We all know what makes following our little club special, and that common ground with the likes of Telstar has led to friendship, stories and memories that’ll last a lifetime for these lads.
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