Opinion | This orange is a mirror of the New Netherlands

A video surfaced on Instagram at the beginning of June showing members of the Rotterdam, Cape Verdean, Dominican and Curacao hip-hop group Broederliefde demoing their new music to Dutch national team footballers. The song is called “Matchday”.

Ajax striker Steven Bergwijn, of Surinamese descent, listens with headphones and asks: “When will it happen?” com. pokoe [lied, red.] Outside? I'll send it to Virgil. Virgil is Virgil van Dijk – Surinamese mother and Dutch father – and captain of the Dutch national team. Then Burgoyne says: “I should send it to Virgil, he's a DJ after all.”

In another video on Instagram titled The new dressing room anthem?Dutch striker Memphis Depay – a Dutch mother and Ghanaian father – is listening to the same new song. “I'll tell you a little secret,” he says. “I already heard the piece.”

The interviewer asks: “Oh, fair?”

“Yes, yes, of course,” Memphis answers. “I mean, these are my friends, man.”

Follow-up question: “Is this something that would be appropriate for a dressing room during the European Championships?”

Memphis started laughing, and the answer was so obvious. “One hundred percent, these guys are listening to all this.”

Two worlds

In the videos released by the Dutch Football Association from the training camp in Zeest, it has been noticeable in recent years: the group of players is mostly black, and that they often communicate with each other in a form of street language that has now become the norm. The leaders of the group are called Virgil van Dijk, Memphis Depay, Denzel Dumfries or Georginio Wijnaldum.

An official song for the Dutch European Championship was also created on the initiative of the Dutch Football Association entitled “Larger Than Life”. That song wasn't by Broederliefde or any other Dutch line-up that these players listen to. It's a collaboration between Leiden DJ Armin van Buuren and Chef'Special, a group from Harlem whose band members are called Joshua, Water, Water, Guido and Jan.

The contrast between these two worlds, on the one hand the player pool of the Dutch national team and on the other the organization of the Football Association, reminded me of France's 2018 World Cup, “Ramenez La Coupe À La Maison”. , by Vegedream – Born in Orléans, of Ivory Coast origin. Not organized by the French Football Federation, the artist created his own song in which he sings the names of almost all the football players from the French national team that became world champions that year.

The music video is on YouTube. In it, we see how the French national team players sing to the tune of the song in the locker room, interspersed with scenes from the streets of the Parisian suburbs. What did you find so striking and also moving about this song by Vegedream? When it comes to origin and ethnicity, France is a more dense and divided country than the Netherlands. However, through the lyrics and the music video – with many Afro-French people celebrating their team's victory – you feel a love for the French team that I don't easily see in similar groups in the Netherlands.

My position is that the difference consists of the following: In France, it has become an established fact that the national team is composed of black players. That's why Vegedream and other French people like him feel a strong connection to him. This is their team, this is their people. The Dutch lineup is not yet as one-sided as France, but it is very close. However, this realization does not seem to have arrived yet. What reflection will we look at in the Netherlands during this European Championship? To the country where the racist party became the largest in the recent House of Representatives elections? Or to a country where the cosmopolitan composition of major cities is reflected in the national team?

Sympathetic Germans

You can say: It's just music, what does that have to do with football or the rest of life? I think this represents something bigger than just a song. More than half of the Dutch national team in the European Championship belongs to immigrant origins, as it is called nowadays. During a practice match against Scotland in March, nine of the eleven starting players were black. However, it is clear that the FA selects artists who fit their own vision of the world, not the players' vision – and that is saying something.

Suddenly, there had to be a Kiss Zoet in the dressing room, as Danny Blind called African-American R&B singer Keith Sweat.

Music can also be a symbol of hierarchy within a group of players. Who decides what is listened to in the locker room? I remember from my youth that Danny Blind, the then captain of Ajax, was surprised in interviews by saying how – after the arrival of fellow players of Surinamese origin – people no longer listened only to Andre Hazis. Suddenly, Kiss Zoet, as African-American R&B singer Keith Sweat was called, had to be put in the dressing room. Recently, Volendam PSV footballer Joey Firman said, with the same surprise, that he had to listen to French rap music in the dressing room.

In Germany, the ARD program conducted a survey in early June Sports inside – Not to be confused with the SBS6 talk show Today inside One from 2020, then Veronica is inside He was boycotted for four years by the Netherlands national team, in response to persistent racist jokes.

21% of participants wanted to have more white players in the German national team, and 17% thought that Ilkay Gundogan should not be the captain of their national team because of his Turkish origins. Whether it's Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, or even Switzerland: during this European Championship, we look at all the teams that show the modern composition of Europe's population. Except for Eastern European countries, which are not very popular among immigrants.

In the case of the German national team, I also think it's a shame that it's not what it used to be, but for a different reason than the respondents. During my youth, Germans still played there as Germans were supposed to play. You can hate Lothar Matthäus, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, and Horst Hrubesch. Now the disgustingly popular Germans have an interchangeable mixed team that may also represent England. One of the big stars, Jamal Musiala, grew up in England.

Stereotype

There is a tradition in the Dutch national team that began in the mid-1990s, when Clarence Seedorf missed some important penalty kicks. Other footballers have done so too – we were eliminated after a series of penalties in the 1996, 1998 and 2000 tournaments – but there has never been any national debate about missed penalties by Stam, Cocu or De Boer.

We didn't understand Seedorf. And his teammates Boogaard, Kluivert or Davids – physically strong athletes who can't always control their emotions or aggression on and off the field – they fit our stereotype of black footballers. But Seedorf this was not true. How could a black man be calmer, more eloquent, more cultured than the white Dutch themselves?

Suppose the Netherlands makes it to the final with this predominantly black selection, who is the leader of the government that will represent us there?

Nearly ten years ago, in 2015, there followed the issue of a selfie posted by then-Dutch player Leroy Fer, who is originally from Curacao, on Twitter and Instagram. The photo showed nine colored players from the Dutch national team. The result: a flood of racist backlash and national riots. The sentiment of the time is best summed up by the public opinion at the table on talk shows VI: What do they expect when their photo is taken with only black boys? Then you can wait for this kind of reaction.

Now the Netherlands will play the European Championship with a squad of 26 footballers, sixteen of whom are black. Their origins are not only from Suriname, the Antilles or the Moluccas, but also from different African countries, three of them being Ghana. One of them, Jeremy Frimpong – the first – does not speak Dutch, but English. Judging by the number of players who have come out of a relationship between a Dutch parent and a foreigner, you can see this group of people as the ultimate example of integration.

(There is another trend that may arise from the racism mentioned above: footballers who qualify for both the Dutch and Moroccan national teams are now choosing the African country. It is hoped that the Netherlands will not continue this trend with the Moroccan national team.) Suriname has a chance to participate for the first time in the World Cup in 2026.)

During the two European Championship training matches, six of the eight goals were scored by black players, a picture that has been evident for years. This raises the question: If there had been no immigration over the past 50 years, as our largest political party wants, who would be playing in the Dutch national team today? Who will score our goals? Is Vaught Wegurst a Hoffenheim striker?

Another question: Suppose the Netherlands reaches the final with this predominantly black selection, who is the leader of the government that will represent us there? Will he be a member of the new government, where the most important item on the agenda is keeping immigrants out of the country as much as possible?

But play football first. After the European Championships, we will support our player Sifan Hassan at the Olympic Games in Paris, who will have to win medals on behalf of the Netherlands.

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