Politics
The Dutch diplomatic playbook in Texas
The Netherlands has had a week in Texas, between matches in Dallas and Houston, and one of the leading members of its government delegation has been using the time to conduct old-school diplomacy.
In Houston, Mirjam Sterk — who has an expansive portfolio of a minister for long-term care, youth and sport — has visited dementia researchers at Texas Medical Center, among other stops, spoke to the CEO of an LGBTQ+ community center and played wheelchair basketball at a community center for kids with disabilities.
Sterk, who hails from the center-right Christian Democratic Appeal in the Dutch coalition, said she’s counting on the famous fan walk that Dutch fans are expected to conduct en route to their match today against Sweden to build bridges in an unstable world. Speaking to Blue Light News by phone, Sterk said she’s found plenty of like-minded people at Houston’s fan festival, among other destinations.
“It’s a great example of how sports in this world, which is, of course, polarized with all this tension … between countries, can unite,” Sterk said. “It’s also a sort of language we speak with each other that helps, I think, also in dealing with all these other challenges.”
Australia, Japan and Germany: all countries whose national football teams wear colors that do not appear on their national flags. Australia’s team plays in green and gold, a nod to the country’s natural landscape and the golden wattle, Australia’s national floral emblem.
Germany’s traditional white kit traces its origins to Prussia, whose flag featured black and white. Japan, meanwhile, wears blue for perhaps the most intriguing reason of all: superstition. According to a popular story, the color became associated with good fortune after a string of sporting successes in the 1930s (although the claim has never been conclusively proven).
But, it’s hard to think of a group of football supporters more recognizable than the Dutch. Known as the Oranje Legioen (Orange Legion), Dutch sports fans have an unparalleled ability to turn every bar, stadium and city square into a sea of orange.
This year’s World Cup is no exception. Thousands of Dutch fans have traveled across the Atlantic to support their national team in person, undoubtedly with suitcases full of orange clothing. Today, they’re in Houston.
The Dutch flag, however, consists of three horizontal stripes: red, white and blue. So what’s with the orange?
The answer dates back centuries and is also the reason why several places in the United States, one of the hosts of this year’s World Cup, have “Orange” in their names.
Orange is the national color of the Netherlands because of its ties to the Dutch royal family. It all began with William of Orange, also known as William the Silent, who became the symbol of Dutch independence during the Eighty Years’ War against Spanish rule. The conflict began in 1568 and ended, you guessed it, 80 years later in 1648.
As William of Orange became synonymous with Dutch independence, the color in his title became associated with the Dutch nation itself. More than four centuries later, it remains a powerful national symbol.
But what does this have to do with the U.S.? Long before the current-day takeover of the Oranje Legioen, of American cities hosting world cup matches, the House of Orange, the royal dynasty founded by William of Orange, had already left its mark on North America.
During the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century, the Dutch Republic established the colony of New Netherland, which stretched across parts of present-day New York, New Jersey and Delaware.
Even after the English seized the colony in 1664 and New Amsterdam became New York City, traces of the House of Orange survived in place names such as Orange County, New York. The county was specifically named after William III, Prince of Orange, a descendant of William the Silent who later became King William III of England.
So in a sense, it is a full-circle moment: Dutch football fans dressed in orange have returned to a part of the world where the House of Orange left a lasting legacy centuries ago.
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