Football in the Netherlands: The Men in Orange

The UEFA European championship has just finished, with weeks of football matches being played at the highest level. England crumbled, Iceland amazed, France dominated until Portugal surprised them, and Germany, being Germany, just kept winning, until they didn't. And where was the Netherlands? Where was the orange that usually decorates the stadiums at major football events? Nowhere. The Dutch team failed to qualify for the Euros 2016, and that hit fans of the boys in orange hard. 

Football is a national Dutch sport. It's one of the most popular sports in the country, if not the most popular. And that's saying something because the Dutch are incredibly competent at sports, excelling in a number of different events - such as ice skating competitions and hockey. The Dutch medal count at the last winter Olympics tells you a lot about their sporting prowess on ice. It's all very impressive in a land so small. 

So the lack of orange in this years European football tournament was a massive dissapointment. In fact, it was such a disappointment that the Dutch appeared to try and pretend there was no football competition at all this year...... the oranjegekte was certainly missed!

It's in stark contrast to the success of the Dutch team in the 2014 World Cup finals where they came home with the bronze medal, and in 2010 when they were runners up to Spain. Back in 1988 the Dutch were European champions. 

So since 2014 things have gone seriously downhill with the Dutch national football team and for a country with a rich footballing history, and an attractive top class national football league it's been a time for soul searching and questions.

The national team played their first international game in 1905, against Belgium in front of a crowd of 800. These days the national team can pull up to 8 million television viewers when they compete in the Euros or a World Cup (note that is not far off half the population of the Netherlands). 

The next international games that the Netherlands play will determine whether they qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. And the nation is hoping that this will end more successfully than their bid to play in the 2016 Euros..... Football runs through the veins of many a Dutchman, woman and child.

The KNVB (Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbal Bond (Royal Netherlands Football Association)), the national football union, had 1,227,157 members as of 2015. The union obtained it's royal status in 1929, but the origins of the organisation date back to 1889. 

Paid football was introduced in the Netherlands in 1954 and women's football became an official part of the KNVB in 1971. 

The national league of the Netherlands, the Eredivisie, came to be in 1956, although the national championship had been competed for officially since 1898. Once the Eredivisie was established the best teams from across the country started playing against each other, dispersing with the regional leagues that had existed up until that point. Ajax was the first winner of the Eredivisie, and much to the distaste of football fans in Rotterdam, the Amsterdam based team has also won it many times since.

18 clubs compete for the national title in the Eredivisie, and it has a good reputation in the international footballing arena. It's been a breeding pool for many top Dutch players such as these names:

Johan Cruijff, Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten, Ronald Koeman, Dennis Bergkamp, Philip Cocu, Frank de Boer, Edwin van der Sar, Clarence Seedorf, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben, Rafael van der Vaart, Dirk Kuijt and Robin van Persie. 

I grew up spending many of my Saturday afternoons, and Tuesday evenings, on the terraces of Vicarage Road, the home of Watford FC in England. When I moved to the Netherlands I didn't start supporting a local club until my eldest son was eight. I'd already taken him to his first English Premiership game to watch Watford, but until last season we hadn't got involved with any Dutch club.

That has now changed. I have the football bug once more and for many of the Eredivisie home games of ADO Den Haag at least one of my sons and I can be found in the Kyocera Stadion in The Hague. We'll be there next season too. We'll be hoping for success for our local team - and for the national team too.

Welcome to our Olympics for Kids series! The Olympics are a wonderful opportunity to teach kids about the world and explore cultures together.

Today, you can find more about other sports/games from various countries thanks to our participating bloggers:

Exploring Indonesian Badminton - Multicultural Kid Blogs
Popular Summer Sports in USSR - Creative World of Varya 
Handball, France and the Olympics - Lou Messugo
Capoeira: a martial art with a great beat - Brynn in Brazil
The big 3: soccer, rugby, cricket - Globe Trottin' Kids
Copa América: We Are the Champions - La clase de Sra. DuFault 
Football in the Netherlands: The Men in Orange - Expat Life with a Double Buggy 
Summer sports in Latvia - Let the Journey Begin
Valuable Lessons From The Olympic Sports to Kids - Hispanic Mama
Fencing with Ibtihaj Muhammad - Kid World Citizen
Puerto Rican Olympians - Discovering the World Through my Son's Eyes   

Don't forget that you can also download our Summer Games Unit activity pack to learn more about the world and have fun during the Olympics.

Parenting Lessons Watching ADO Den Haag

Last August I took my eldest two sons to their first eredivisie match at the Kyocera Stadion in The Hague. We’ve been to most home games since.

It’s reminiscent of my own footballing childhood; from the age of seven I stood on the terraces of my local football club at Vicarage Road. Up until I left England in 2000, at the tender age of 27, I was a serial season ticket holder at Watford Football Club.

Dutch Football, Racism and The Wisdom of a Child

Dutch football has been tarred with scandal over the last few weeks and my local eredivisie club is no exception. When racism reared its ugly head at ADO Den Haag in January I decided to use it as a teachable moment for my eldest son.  As it turns out it was a teachable moment he didn't need - if only some other football supporters had the The Wisdom of a Child!

"(ADO Den Haag football club) is a community that was caught up in a scandal in January when a handful of fans chanted racist and insulting slurs against Ajax. There were two appeals over the loudspeaker to stop. It didn’t. It was disturbing. It was uncomfortable. This was happening at my club. Our club. I left the stadium with a bad taste in my mouth that, for once, wasn’t attributable to ADO’s defeat or on pitch performance." 

Head over to Passionate Parenting to read my latest article in its entirety......

15 Habits for 15 Years in the Netherlands

As regular readers will already know this month marks fifteen years for me in the Netherlands. It's impossible to live in another country for fifteen years and not pick up the habits of the locals. Here's fifteen things I now do that I didn't do before I moved to the Netherlands*.

UFOs are just one Dutch habit I have picked up

1. Living local

I pretty much live life with everything on my doorstep. I walk six minutes with my children to get to school. In the Netherlands the average primary school child has to travel 700m to school. Within a few minutes on foot I can be at a number of supermarkets and even my local town is only twenty minutes walk. Life in the Netherlands (unless you head out to the sticks) is small scale and local. Hence, all the cycling. There's less jumping in your car for every little errand.

2. Breakfast

Once a week we sit together as a family and eat breakfast comprising of crackers, cheese, cold meats and a variety of things that come out of a jar - like jam and pindakaas. It's not the sort of breakfast I ever ate in England.

3. Stamppot

Once winter arrives the potato masher comes out and stamppot is firmly on the weekly menu. It's a Dutch staple served with sausage and gravy which matches well with my British upbringing - Shepherd's Pie and Cottage Pie were regularly served up for dinner. We Brits are no strangers to mashing up potatoes and vegetables so stamppot was an easy habit to pick up.

4. Soup

It may be my imagination, or my lack of culinary adventures back in Britain, but the Dutch seem to be more into making hearty vegetable soups from scratch than the Brits. You can buy everything you need in one packet in the supermarket so for the real cooking slouches you don't need to do any food preparation at all. A healthy and warming habit to have picked up - which incidentally my kids love and if there is an easy way of getting vegetables into them then it's a winner for me!

5. Natuurijs

I can not so much as remember a time I stood on a frozen body of water as a kid in England, let alone skated on one. Here in the Netherlands it's as normal in winter (weather permitting) as putting on your woolly hat and gloves. Watching the excitement of my children on natuurijs is something I will always treasure even when they're all big and grown up. I have even been known to venture out carefully to stand on the ice myself but certainly not going as far as putting ice skates on my own feet. (The habits I haven't adopted could probably fill another blog post.)

6. Hagelslag

Having a box of hagelslag (chocolate sprinkles) as a permanent feature in my kitchen cupboard is not a habit I am particularly proud of but I defy anyone with kids to live here and not have it lurking somewhere in the kitchen. In my defence, I am stricter with it than most other parents I know as my sons have it only on special occasions and not as their breakfast staple. However, you will always be able to find a box in my kitchen cupboard.

7. Country Hopping

Essentially, I grew up on an island. We visited Wales and in later years Ireland, but country hopping wasn't really something we did regularly because of the distance. And then I moved to the Netherlands - Belgium, France and Germany are practically on our doorstep. In our pre-children days my husband and I flitted off for weekends in one country or another on a regular basis. Sometimes, even just for a day. A nice habit right?

8. Supermarket Visits

This is related a little to the first habit. Supermarkets are close. I practically pass by after the school run so can pop in and grab things on my way home. My visits to the supermarket in England were strictly on a maximum of once a week basis. Frozen sections were large, even fifteen years ago in British supermarkets. In fact, supermarkets there on the whole were large fifteen years ago. Here in the Netherlands they are more local and smaller scale and the frozen food section generally nothing to write home about. It's all about fresh. The baker, the butcher and the cheesemaker (my blog - I can make up words to fit) are still well visited as part of the Dutch shopping rituals. So these days you'll find me in a supermarket or food shop more regularly than you would have done twenty years ago.

9. Orange Clothes

I am not sure if I ever wore anything orange prior to living in the land of the Dutch. It's now a habit to dress in orange at least once a year to celebrate the Dutch king's birthday. In-between there are football matches to dress in orange for - though sorry to say that 2016 is not looking like one of those years........

10. Sinterklaas

Before landing on Dutch shores I had never even heard of Sinterklaas. Now I am an enthusiastic celebrator on the 5th December - and I have got used to hearing Sinterklaas songs for the month prior to the big celebration and three months after he has left the country whilst the children try to get out of the habit of singing "Sie ginds komt een stoomboot..." every morning. Some habits you just have to grin and bear.......

11. Pancakes

We eat pancakes probably once a month. In England this was an annual affair on Shrove Tuesday. It took me a long time here to accept pancakes covered with sprinkles as my sons' dinner. But every now and then I just let it slide, tuck my Britishness away in my pocket and watch them devour pancakes as their evening meal. It's called integrating I guess.....

12. Living life in Dutch

Obviously in England my life was conducted in the English language. My days now usually comprise talking in Dutch. I talk to my sons' teachers in Dutch, I talk to people in the shops in Dutch, I greet and chat with my neighbours in Dutch. It's one of the hardest habits I have picked up, but also one of the most necessary and one of the most rewarding.

13. Watching TV with subtitles

I no longer think anything of watching a TV program spoken in Swedish, Danish or German because shows are subtitled with Dutch. The Dutch, thank goodness, do not dub TV programs (with the exception of children's programs), instead TV shows have Dutch subtitles. Not only is it a great way of picking up Dutch vocabulary, it also became such a normal thing that I miss them when they are not on my screen. And I am so used to reading them as I watch TV that the spoken language can change from English and I barely notice anymore.

14. Snacks

Before moving to the Netherlands the most exotic things I saw deep fried were fish and sausages - and I had of course heard about the infamous Mars Bar. The Dutch take deep fried food to a whole new level and have made an art of all things deep fried under the label of 'snacks'. I affectionately refer to snacks as UFOs - Unidentified Fried Objects. You don't want to know what is in the middle of one of those fried snacks you order at the snack bar. It's a habit I get dragged along with as I am married to a Dutchman, and Dutch people like snacks. I remember my first snack bar experience - it was confusing and stressful. Being asked the question, "What would you like?" whilst faced with a billion unfamiliar things in the cooler before me was harrowing......

15. ADO Den Haag

My most recent habit that has formed is my regular attendance at the Kyocera Stadium in The Hague to watch my local eredivisie club ADO Den Haag play football. Aside, from my actual Dutch home, it's become the place I feel most at home in the Netherlands. It's my favourite habit to date.


*This post was inspired by 7 habits for 7 years in Germany by Let the Journey Begin

My Sunday Photo: Harry the Hornet

I may have moved countries but I still follow the 'orns. 

And what a season to be following. For more years than I care to count I was a season ticket holder on the terraces of Vicarage Road. I have only managed to see a handful of games since I became an expat (the last being a year ago when this photo was taken) but my Sunday photo this week, as the football season end comes in sight, is a message to the golden boys - come on you 'oooorns! The Premier League is in sniffing distance boys!!

Doe Normaal Doesn't Apply to Sports

The phrase 'doe normaal' is widely heard across the Netherlands, and if it is directed at you then you have certainly crossed the invisible Dutch line of what is acceptable and what not.

You may also hear, "Doe maar gewoon, dan doe je al gek genoeg" which in essence means "behave normally - that is crazy enough". Both common sayings make it very clear that there is a high regard in Dutch society for behaving 'normal', however you may wish to interpret that.

These sayings are in line with the reputation the Dutch have for not liking to stand out in a crowd - everything should be a bit average, a bit middelmatig. There's no need to boast about things, show people how exceptional you are in a particular field. There's no need to take yourself that seriously.

Unless of course you are the sporty type. When you can speed skate at gold medal level, play football or hockey to the highest of levels or swim like a world class fish then you can shout about it, or more accurately the people of the Netherlands will shout about it for you. Oranjegekte will take over and carry you to sporting wonderland.

Take the last winter Olympics and the unbelievable speed skating success of this little Dutch country. Look at this year's World Cup and the outpouring of pride that a third place bronze medal created, the happiness that a fantastic run and being so close to playing in yet another World Cup final brought to the land of orange.

For such a little country the sporting achievements are truly remarkable. And it is the one area of life it seems that doe even normaal really doesn't apply. And thank goodness it doesn't!

World Cup 2014: Oranjegekte

Having beaten Costa Rica last Saturday in what I can only describe as a bit of a nail biter, the boys in orange play again this evening, 10pm Dutch time to be exact. Against Argentina in the semi final, for a place in the World Cup final. World Cup final people. I'm on the verge of a breakdown just thinking about it.

The Dutch population, almost entirely as a whole, has been preparing in the only way they know how - by turning everything orange.

Houses have turned orange subsequently turning the streets orange. Food and drink has turned orange. You can buy orange burgers and orange puddings from the local supermarket, and of course the obligatory tompouce which turns orange just for such a special occasion. Clothes have turned orange. There are even some people that seem to have actually turned orange.

Yes, oranjegekte (orange madness) just builds as each hurdle to the World Cup final is jumped over. Admittedly, it did seem to take a little longer to get going this year. Expectations were low and many companies must be kicking themselves (and presumably everyone in their marketing departments) for a missed opportunity to jump on the orange bandwagon. But expectations are now high, higher than high. The nation is in a frenzy (except those odd few who couldn't care less about football. When I say odd I mean.. never mind, you know what I mean.)

How far you join in the orange craziness apparently actually depends on the amount of serotonine that is present in your brain - the more you have the more likely you are to follow the crowd - in this case a crowd clad in orange. (And yes, that was the result of an actually study, in case you are entertaining the idea that I make this stuff up).

So to conclude, serotonine levels are raging across the land. In fact, I think we have a serious serotonine overload on a national scale. The Netherlands is orange. And I have everything crossed that those orange flags and banners will still be flying proudly tomorrow - and the boys in orange get to play their last match of this World Cup on Sunday. The alternative is unthinkable. All together now....

Hup Holland Hup. 

MKB One World Futbol World Cup Giveaway

The Netherlands is through to the semi finals of the World Cup and the country stands united in orange to cheer the Dutch team on.  Football is a sport that unites people: it unites a team, local communities, towns and when it comes to a World Cup even countries. Children in particular are united around the world in play. Football brings joy to so many, regardless of background, social conditions, religion or location.

And so I am delighted to be a part of the Multicultural Kids Blogs campaign to support One World Futbol in their mission to bring the healing power of play to youth worldwide through their nearly indestructible football. The One World Futbol never needs a pump and never goes flat—even when punctured multiple times—due to its ingenious technology. But what we truly love about their model is for every ball purchased, they donate one to organizations working with youth in disadvantaged communities worldwide.

Our Giveaway

Follow along by using the hash tag #MKBWorldCup!

As the World Cup reaches its finale (and fingers crossed the boys in orange remain a part of that through to the bitter end) I have a special giveaway planned with Multicultural Kid Blogs and One World Futbol. (You can read more about One World Futbol below). It's unlike a usual giveaway as this time you, the readers, use your collective power to vote to give a football away to a community in need!  I need your help so I can donate one of the One World Futbols (generously supplied by One World Futbol) to Koninklijke Kentalis (Royal Dutch Kentalis), specifically for the Weteringdreef, Zoetermeer location.

But here's the thing--there are 9 blogs participating in this contest, and One World Futbol will donate balls to the three blogs that get the most shares on their posts. So I need your help--please SHARE this post on Twitter, Facebook, G+ and Pinterest and contribute your power, your vote to help donate this One World Futbol.  Each share made directly from this post is tallied as a vote.  And whoever get the most votes, donates the ball!  Let's show how strong our voices are with our votes.

The voting is open until 6am on Monday, July 14 (NL time), to get as many shares as possible on this post.  (The tally will be made based on the number on the social share buttons at the end of this post).

More About Royal Dutch Kentalis/ Koninklijke Kentalis

Koninklijke Kentalis is a national organisation in the Netherlands specialising in providing diagnostic, care and educational services to people who are deaf, hard of hearing or deaf-blind, as well as to people with severe speech/language impairment or autistic spectrum disorders accompanied by severe speech and language difficulties.

Every morning I walk past the Koninklijke Kentalis residential care home with my three sons to get to school - and the power of play and sport is very evident there in the small garden behind the accommodation. The home on the Weteringdreef provides residential care for children who not only have communication problems but who also have learning difficulties or behavioural  or social issues. Some children spend the week here, some come for a few days in the week and all the children attend school, usually special needs education. You can read more about the specific location here (in Dutch) and more about Royal Dutch Kentalis and the work they do here.

So, please help me to donate a One World Futbol to Royal Dutch Kentalis in Zoetermeer. Here's how:

Tweet it, Pin it, share on Facebook and +1 it on Google using the links at the bottom of this post.

More About One World Futbol

One World Futbol Project is a B-corporation based in Berkeley, CA and was founded by Tim Jahnigen, the inventor of the One World Futbol. One World Futbol was inspired by refugee youth in Darfur, who had such indestructible spirits - and love for football! - despite their hardships. Tim Jahnigen wanted to give them something more, so he invented a soccer ball that would never need a pump and would never go flat, even when punctured multiple times. One World Futbol Project and its virtually indestructible ball have now reached 160 countries and continue to bring the healing power of play to youth worldwide. The Buy One Donate One model makes it easy for consumers to donate these amazing One World Futbols to needy communities.

Here is more on their work in one community in Brazil:

Participating Blogs

The following member blogs are participating in this contest. Visit them to see which organizations they have chosen. Remember, sharing is caring! The 3 blogs with the most social shares (as shown on the share counters on their blog posts) will get to donate a football to the qualified organization they have chosen!

Our Whole Village

Expat Life with a Double Buggy

Entre Compras y El Hogar

Head of the Heard

InCultureParent

MommyMaestra

La Cité des Vents

Trilingual Mama

All Done Monkey

Feel free to use #MKBWorldCup when you share!

And don't forget to visit Multicultural Kid Blogs to help them "unlock" an additional two One World Futbols to donate!

The Nation is Ready

Dutch Integration: Orange, the World Cup and Holland

Unless you are living under a rock you are probably aware that the World Cup has kicked off in Brazil - and the Netherlands has already played their first group game.

And what a game it was. The current world champions were catapulted off their pedestal. The image of bugs lying on their backs frantically moving legs and arms in the air came to mind watching the Spanish during the match on Friday night. It was tremendous. World Cup history in the making.

Five times. I could have tweeted this five times.

Out of nowhere the Dutch football squad made the world sit up and take notice. As my dad commented, now the World Cup has really started. It was mesmerising to see the boys in blue demolish the team that beat them in the World Cup final four years ago. And that is football - one moment there are tears and the next moment fans are back slapping each other and whooping for joy.

So with the victory of 5-1 under their belts the Netherlands is ready to take on Australia this Wednesday. Even if you are not a football fan, you'll know when it's happening because it will be noisy, and every Dutch person you know will be dressed in orange.

And this was my update Friday morning - before the match.
I expect this figure to rise to 97.3% for Wednesday's match.

Before the World Cup started you probably noticed a small build up of pockets of orange flag lines emerging in streets. It cannot have escaped your notice that orange flags with lions and Hup Holland Hup were slowly being hoisted up flag poles. By the time Brazil and Croatia had kicked off there were streets that were what can only be described as orange. Other streets had a more modest scattering of orange paraphernalia adorning them.

Orange - it's the exterior design colour of the moment in the Netherlands

Now that the first three points are in the bag in such a spectacular fashion you may have noticed that the orange is spreading. Almost overnight orange things have spread their tentacles over more houses, businesses and street furniture. And the further the Dutch team progress in the tournament, the more orange things become.

Monuments turn orange. Food and drink become orange. Cars and bikes become orange. Hair turns orange. You name it - it starts turning orange.

And if you want to fully integrate in to Dutch society there is nothing you can do but join in. Embrace the orange. Go and buy an orange shirt. If you want to achieve expert integration level then you'll need to go full hog and invest in a few metres of orange flag lines and a flag with "Holland" on it. This is the one time in two years (this happens every European Championship and World Cup)  foreigners can call the Netherlands Holland and not get chastised by the locals, so make the most of it. Wave that 'Holland' flag around like you just don't care.

The country will be partying until the Dutch World Cup is over, however long that may be. And let's hope that is right up until Sunday 13 July. HUP HOLLAND HUP!

The World Cup 2014 Battle Lines

Is everyone ready for the football World Cup? The battle lines are once more drawn in our house. The orange camp on one side and the white and red on the other. Although in reality the battle lines are much closer together than they once were and during the last World Cup our house was pretty much an exclusively orange affair.

I'm more caught up in the Dutch media frenzy leading up to any major tournament than I am in the English media onslaught. I'm more familiar with the Dutch players than the English. So the battle lines have become hazy. We're a little more united than twelve years ago. My sons and husband will cheer for England - as long as their opponents are not wearing orange.

My only gripe so far is that England's first match kicks off at midnight Dutch time....

I think whatever happens this year we can safely say it won't be a repeat of the drama and tears in our house of the 2010 World Cup Final. My prediction is that neither England nor the Netherlands will get anywhere near the final......and so there will be peace in the van Mulligen household come July 13th when the final will be played.

Are you planning on watching the World Cup? Which team is your money on to reach the final? Which team will you be cheering on?

If you missed it, you can read my post on England's love of the beautiful game over on Smitten by Britain: http://www.smittenbybritain.com/englands-love-for-the-beautiful-game/

Smitten by Britain: England's Love for The Beautiful Game

Photo Credit: Ontanu Mihai

My latest article for the wonderful Smitten by Britain website is about football. The beautiful game of football. It's about the English psyche when it comes to football. It's about the upcoming World Cup. It's about the trip back to England my eldest son and I took in March for his initiation into English football.  It's about Harry the Hornet. It's about my personal trip down memory lane to my first live football match.

"We are a mere two months away from the start of the 2014 World Cup football tournament. Media pressure is already on the England team to beat Italy in their opening match. Grumblings from the fans that England won’t get past the first stage of this tournament have already started."

Head over to Smitten by Britain to read the rest and if you are a football lover take the time to make a comment and tell Carl James just how wrong he is.........