THE HISTORY books have been dredged for inspiration. Delving back through centuries to when the Dutch won independence from Philip II of Spain, the nation is reminded “we did it in 1648 so we can do it in 2010”.
That was how one newspaper headline summed up the mood yesterday, as World Cup fever spirals into madness in advance of tomorrow’s final between the Netherlands and Spain.
Up to one million people are expected to converge on the capital in the event of a victory, and 200,000 will be watching the game on big open air screens at Museum Plein – centre of the country’s football universe – while all over the country millions more will gather for the event.
Memories of the 1988 European Cup win – when a string of houseboats were sunk in the heat of celebration as fans stampeded over their roofs – prompted Amsterdam boat-owners to employ barbed wire and guard dogs to keep them at bay, and to appeal for police protection.
Boat companies have been deluged with requests to book vessels to follow the victors’ procession along Amsterdam’s canal network in the event of a Dutch win.
Private jets carrying wealthy individuals who are paying more than €20,000 to attend the final have been hastily chartered, while thousands of fans besieged travel companies and airlines in recent days to find “a way . . . any way” of getting to Johannesburg in hopes of witnessing their team’s first World Cup victory.
Dutch supermarkets reported an unprecedented run on beer and symbolic orange-coloured crisps and snacks – and even free orange mini-dresses dispensed by a brewery are now changing hands at more than €60 as the country braces itself for a massive party.
The economic gloom which has seen stagnation in house prices and job losses, and political stalemate as efforts to form a coalition government drag on in the wake of the June 9th election, have been forgotten in the delirium of possibly becoming global football champions.
Even monkeys at a refuge at Almere, near Amsterdam, have been caught up in the frenzy, with 11 newly arrived white-eared marmosets named after the 11 players of the Dutch team.
In some parts of the Dutch bible belt, watching TV – even for such a national event as this – is still forbidden.
In the town of Urk, which has 20 churches for its population of 17,000, three cafes have been strongly criticised by church leaders for daring to open on Sunday to show the match.
In other ultra-reformed Protestant heartlands where bars will remain shut, people have been told that if they must watch the World Cup final they should do so discreetly at home, and not run outside with tooters, even if there is reason to celebrate.