Oranje boom
- 17 Jun 06, 10:37 AM
ON THE MOTORWAY HEADING TOWARDS MUNICH - The Dutch are here in Germany in force, that much I can confirm.
The thousands upon thousands without tickets for the Ivory Coast match in Stuttgart crammed into the city centre's Schlossplatz and partied hard once qualification for the second round was assured.
My digital camera was in constant use as I came across more and more wackily-attired Dutchmen and women - you can see more of the .
One group were strutting down the main street in bright orange three piece suits, like some psychadelic .
Others wore muscle suits, there were many in traditional Dutch dresses - most of them men - and a lot had orange dungarees with a lion's tale sprouting from the back, not that it means anything, apparently a beer company were giving them away free.
Once the late game - Mexico v Angola - was finished the crowd were treated to a perfomance from the Germans' favourite Dutch imports, the , whose discography includes football chant remakes of I Will Survive and Country Road.
Not that many of the supporters thought much of their team's performance: "bad", "very bad" and "terrible" were the verdicts of most we questioned.
They are not just happy with the win but they wanted a silky performance - one fan could not name a single player he liked in the team.
"OK, maybe van Nistelrooy is a good player," he conceded when pressed. "But, I don't like Robben, he plays too much like a German," whatever that's supposed to means.
Away from the madcap nature of the Dutch celebrations there was a little pocket of serenity.
Jumping on the football bandwagon as everyone seems to have done, the local evangelical church has set up a in the castle gardens just off the main drag.
Kick-off for your faith is their slogan.
They promise mass at 12 and football at three, with every game live on their big screen and seminars and musical recitals in between.
Rather sadly the place was empty as only coffee, tea and cakes were being served, instead of the gallons of beer the Dutch visitors were demanding.
By the way, Fletch made up a little ground in the Great Blog Sausage-Eating Contest yesterday evening with an almost two-foot long bratwurst - the score is now 4-2.5 to me.
On the way back to camp we encounterd one last Dutchman who delighted in telling us, "There's no limit, we'll reach for the sky. No valley too deep, no mountain too high."
Profound words indeed.
It's Munich next for us as we head south to sample the atmosphere ahead of Sunday's Brazil v Australia clash, still no ticket joy but I'll keep trying.
Don't forget to for the chance to win some fabulous Sport Relief prizes, including a Pele-signed table football and our very own Shevchenko-signed Fletch and Ricco t-shirts.
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The Dutch are blessed by having orange in their flag, which is such a bold color. It's a perfect match for their level of passion and pride and exhibitionism.
I vividly remember the Dutch fans when they invaded Orlando for the 1994 World Cup. They're a joy to watch and party with.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
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There is no orange in the Dutch flag - it's blue, white, and red. Orange is the Royal colour.
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Yeah.
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HOLLAND HOLLAND HOLLAND! We made it! But we sucked...
It's gonna be hard to beat Argentina, but if you want to become world champion, you have to be the best.
My compliments on the English team! 2 bad games (just like Holland) but 6 points in the pocket! We'll see you in the final!
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Playing like a German means that he dives a lot. (Schwalbe)
The Dutch don't like that, nor does the rest of the world.
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Holland Are Lyk A Really Byist Team I Think Im From Glasgow And I Support Celtic But I Watched A Rangers V Celtic Game And Quite A Lot Of Rangers Fan Have Dutch Tops On And As The Guy Sed Up Above Theirs No Orange In Their Flag So Its All Too Do With (I Think) William The Orange
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@Tom: The Dutch flag is (from top to bottom) definitly not blue, white, red but the other way around: red, white, blue! Orange indeed is the colour (and part of the name) of the Royals, called the house of Orange. Not that it really matters though, because we WON!!!
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Yeah, man, the Germans dive so much... Sure.
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Best Final Footballwise: Argentina vs. Brazil.
Best Final Partywise: Holland vs. England!!!!
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I whish the dutch would stop complaining about the germans, if anyone remembers the spitting incident (voeller & rijkaard) in 1990, which brought eternal shame upon our team, there is nothing you can say bad about the germans that are not also true about the dutch ;)
Also, we were robbed in '78 not in '74 :D
Thats why i hope, after our mandatory lose to argentina in round 1, we will meet them in the finals and beat them, sorry germany ;)
So i'd say argentina - holland for a final hehehe
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I whish the dutch would stop complaining about the germans, if anyone remembers the spitting incident (voeller & rijkaard) in 1990, which brought eternal shame upon our team, there is nothing you can say bad about the germans that are not also true about the dutch ;)
Also, we were robbed in '78 not in '74 :D
Thats why i hope, after our mandatory lose to argentina in round 1, we will meet them in the finals and beat them, sorry germany ;)
So i'd say argentina - holland for a final hehehe
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There will be no final without Germany. There usually is none. So just eat it! And at the moment it almost looks like Germany would have to send home England next round. Well, I hope the ±«Óãtv would still keep this website up and running ;-)...
And now realistically: Holland and England play so poorly, are so weak at the moment I really don't worry about them. Argentinia is one for the final though!
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"Others wore muscle suits, there were many in traditional Dutch dresses - most of them men - and a lot had orange dungarees with a lion's tale sprouting from the back, not that it means anything, apparently a beer company were giving them away free."
Those dungarees are a take on the German Lederhosen, the orange version with tail has been dubbed 'Leeuwenhosen' as the symbol of Dutch football is a lion (leeuw = lion in Dutch).
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That's what I call self-confidence, German Host. But remember: our match against Poland was actually quite poor, too. We only scored in the 91st minute.
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Sorry about the Netherlands flag mistake (*blush*).
For some reason, I had the Princes' Flag pictured in my mind which has orange instead of red.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
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Georgm: if I understand him right German Host was joking (in his first paragraph).
Furthermore I don't see the Germans diving more than anyone else. I had the impression of Ghana today that they where falling whenever they where touched. But thats hard to tell certainly ...
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Thanks for the tip, zargorn, but I think he actually meant it. For whatever reasons...
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Martin - thank you for confirming that the Dutch fans have travelled to Germany to support their nation's football (soccer) side. Please keep us updated as and when things progress. Best of luck.
PS I think 'The Gaffer' has suffered enough embarrassment, so please can we all stop drawing attention to his terrible mistake.
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