The residents of Le Havre, Valenciennes, Reims and Rennes will confirm: Dutch fans painted their cities orange during their four visits to this FIFA Women’s World Cup ™ and converted them into carnival events.
More than 15,000 Dutch fans attended their game against Cameroon, and images and videos distributed on social media marched to the stadium. This march or the so-called Oranje parade was no coincidence and required a lot of organization.
The responsible man, who is assisted by a committee of volunteers, is the chairman of the Orange-Fans-Bus, Henk van Beek, who has organized the marches since the UEFA EURO 2004. Board DJ in the bus, who leads the fans to the stadium, although the uptempo music he plays is far from what he is used to at home.
“I only have DJ on the bus,” he said. “When I’m at home, I do not play this music. I play classical piano and listen to classical music. But here on the bus I love it. “
The bus that takes fans to the stadium is 40 years old and therefore fraught with challenges. Repairs are one of them, while paperwork in countries like South Africa can be time-consuming.
“When I see the fans and all that orange, I get goosebumps,” said Henk. “It’s very special.
“We started in 2004 and it was never our intention to do so, but we were approached by the Dutch Football Association, which organized the walk itself and asked, ‘Can you and your team lead the parade on the bus?’
“The plan was to continue until 2010 – drink a beer, laugh, listen to music and that’s it – but here we are in France in 2019.”
The other day I said I’d buy an orange t-shirt and join these guys. Sadly couldn’t get hold of the t-shirt, but I am going to join them on their march to the stadium in Rennes. #FIFAWWC https://t.co/qA2uebs36R
— Kieran Theivam (Tayvam) (@KiersTheivam) June 25, 2019
EURO in their own country. On social media, numerous videos have been shown by fans marching in the stadiums, and on the streets, fans dance from left to right in a high-speed dance. This track comes from the Dutch party act Snollebollekes and is titled “Left Right” which means “Left Right”.
“The men played a qualifier for the World Cup in Sweden in 2016,” said Henk. “I heard the song at a party in Holland when it was not big, we had a little fanwalk, maybe 800 fans maybe a kilometer from the stadium, but we went anyway, so I thought,” Me will play it “and see what happens.
“In 2017, we had six fanwalks at the EURO. The first in Utrecht, and of course I remembered to play the song. Since then we can not go anywhere and not play it – it’s not possible. Everyone wants this song because it’s so much fun. “
just a few hours drive from different parts of the Netherlands. The interest in the women’s game has also broken records in the home: 3.5 million spectators watched the victory over Japan – almost a quarter of the population.
“Now almost every stadium is sold out, which is amazing,” said Henk. “I really love women’s football and I love what the Dutch Football Association is doing for it.
“The Oranjeleeuwinnen are very open after every game. They go to the edge of the field for pictures and autographs. This is something so beautiful and I think that might be one of the main reasons why they are so popular. “
