Oldtimers, De Echte Pittigzoete Sneker Zouthoudertjes

The Story Behind the Licorice: by Jochem Douwenga, son of the inventor

WE WRITE THE YEAR 1953. My beloved football club SNEVO (Snekers Forward!) Lost every race in the third class. In the meantime we were known as Snekers Backward! The atmosphere among the supporters became grimmer with the week and canteen owner A.A. Lycklema feared the day that a Sneker would offer his refurbishment services in all his rage without being asked. On a certain Saturday, after another defeat, he asked me: “Don’t you have a licorice that can provide peace of mind?” A “zoethoudertje”, I thought, and I worked for a week pretty much day and night on a spicy licorice, that I proudly presented the following Saturday during the game.

Many Snekers loved it so much that they had closed their eyes when Bouke Bokkinga made the first goal in months. That this was partly due to a frieze flier whistle whose lure was confused by our opponents with the rest signal, should not spoil the fun. The success story spread quickly and not long after the Sneker Zoethoudertjes found an enormous deduction throughout Friesland and surroundings. Unfortunately, production was stopped at the end of the sixties because of ‘a new wind blowing through the drop world’. It is not without pride that the Sneker Zoethoudertjes are now at least as popular as in the heyday of Frisian football.