Ganesh Kendale
As well as his desire to expand his commitments with Larne, Van der Horst has a bigger vision for football in Northern Ireland.
He wants to make football accessible to all, describing the facilities in the country as “below par”.
“In comparison to any other country in Europe, I think Northern Ireland has some of the worst facilities for kids to play football.
“Kids should have the chance to play football for free, wherever they live, whenever they want.
“That is something I want to change.
“I’m a father now as well and one thing I question is ‘where can my son play football?’.
“I live in Holywood, in a wealthy part of the world, but he doesn’t have a facility to play football and that worries me.”
Van der Horst admits he is still exploring opportunities about how he can exert his influence for change, but says it is something he wanted to do since he arrived in Northern Ireland.
He draws comparison with his home in the Netherlands, where hundreds of Cruyff Courts are dotted around the country.
Funded by the foundation of legendary Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, the courts are free, small, multi-purpose sports pitches in communities.
“The way I think we can change this is if people believe. Having a lot of followers is amazing, but to change it I need a lot of local support,” he said, adding that change “needs to be from the bottom, up”.
“I never really had the possibility financially to really make a change. My life has changed a bit because of YouTube and because of the business.
“I don’t know how we’re going to do this, but intention is the most important thing and we need to start somewhere.”
He added that “if it can happen in other countries it can happen in Northern Ireland” and his passion for his adopted home is a driver of his vision.
“I think people in Northern Ireland are underestimating themselves.
“In every sport we have incredible champions and the best of the best.
“It’s something to be proud of, but I don’t feel that pride here. I feel like, ‘ah, it’s just the Irish League’ or ‘it’s just this ‘. No, we can create something here.”
