August 7, 2017

Dutch women’s football team European champions

Filed under: Dutch first,Sports by Orangemaster @ 9:57 pm

After an exciting win 4-2 for the ‘Orange Lionesses’ against Denmark yesterday in Enschede, the Dutch women’s football team have won the UEFA Women’s European Championship for the first time.

And while their Amsterdam counterparts had to celebrate their national victory with a small party in their locker room, the Lionesses had some 22,000 people show up in Utrecht to welcome and applaud them. It’s about time this country took notice of how much work goes into women’s sport. Since the Dutch enjoy putting a price tag on everything, the argument of being able to win with much lesser means and ‘less ego’ is appealing even to the sceptics.

Besides having watched this game, I went to my first ever football game recently as well to watch Russia vs. Germany (Germany won 2-0, Russia made too many mistakes). I had a great time and didn’t feel at any moment that I was watching a lesser sport or that I couldn’t cheer for Russia because German fans were there, too. Everybody was having a great time despite the lousy weather. It was exactly what live football should be: fun for everyone.

Here’s a glimpse of the canal boat with Lionesses on board:

(Photo of flag by Wikimedia user Carolus Ludovicus, some rights reserved)

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June 10, 2016

The Dutch get behind Belgium and others for Euro 2016

Filed under: Sports by Orangemaster @ 5:32 pm

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If you hadn’t heard the news, this is the first time since 1984 that the Dutch won’t be participating in the UEFA European Championship. So what’s a Dutch fan to do?

In Amersfoort, the city has decided to get behind Belgium’s Red Devils with a huge flag of Belgium hanging off a church tower, something you’d never see in any other context. Also known as the southern neighbours, Belgium seems to be the logical choice, although opinions differ.

A whole bunch of Dutch-Turks will just root for Turkey as usual, with countryman Oğuzhan “Ozzy” Özyakup being the only Dutchman playing in the competition, apparently. Some of my friends are cheering for whatever nationality their partner is that’s actually in the competition like Poland and France.

According to the Guardian’s Joris Luyendijk in a sad article about the state of the Netherlands this week, the Dutch national team’s proudest moment, “probably came in June 1988 when an ethnically mixed team of Dutch footballers won the European Championships, beating the all-white teams of arch-rival Germany and then Russia. It felt like the ultimate vindication of multiculturalism.”

Have a look at this English presentation of what it looked like when ‘Oranje’ (Team Orange’) killed it back in 1988.

(www.rtvutrecht.nl, Photo by Wikimedia user Carolus Ludovicus, some rights reserved)

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