Cucumbers and Introductions…

My name is Bart and 17 years old. I live in Ontario, Canada. I moved to Canada when I was 10. And I really wish I didn’t (no offence to Canadians). Um I’ve played voetbal for 9 years or so. I started out in defence, moved up to forward, then midfield then back to centre forward. Fan of Ajax, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, and Dennis Bergkamp. My favorite dutch players are (obviously) Bergkamp, van Persie, Van Gol, Johan Cruijff, and Stam. I will watch any game with dutch players involved, if there aren’t any the game is boring to me.

Posted from  Canada

“Cucumbers and introductions…” Hum looks like strange for an autobiography tittle, doesn’ t it? After all it ’s your private life…

Posted from  France

Thierry, it does take a Frenchman to come up with this eh ?

Ah…Goose…did you really fell for that I’m a girl thing hahahahaha .

No man, i’m sorry for the confusion, I can’t even remember where that story came from… Didn’t want to rattle your chains, mate…

And you Goose ?

Posted from  Australia

hello jan
if m not wrong u (the author of this story) is the same jan who wrote to me some 3 days ago
well in nepal the football culture is very strong everyone getting wild in the major tournaments n in the recent years we r watching EPL n UCL
but as far as the national squad is concerned they r like 170 odd in the rankings so u ppl may think wat is the quality of football
but since the league is introduces the clubs have been serious n investing money may b in about 5 years the football here will start to take some same n we gonna b a good force in asia
talkin bout my love to the dutch football it started back in 1998 wen i watched them play in the wold cup i had heard some names like gullit n van basten b4 but hadnt watch them play
i was following the dutch games in tv it was on saturday i guess holland vs argentina
wow wat a game that was dutch in complete control the bergkamps overmars n kluiverts n davida they were really fatastic n that last minute winner frm dennis – that goal made me a fan of oranje mn after two years the euro they won every games in group stage n then 6-1 thrashing of yugoslavia patrick scoring 4 i think they were absolutely awesome but i always remeber the match against italy oh the ame old story penalty miss one frm boer n then frm patrick – was gud enogh to disguise the keeper but straight on to hte post n in the tie breaker 3 ppl missed penalty
so these r my remmberence of the dutch football in the past but these days i don actually think they got the flair which was once present in the dutch team i think the year between 1997 n 2000 was the golden moment , ya we got the players of gre8 caliber but wen it comes to the team work i think they r not getting it right
rvn rvp dk ar rvdv they r gre8 talent n i think these men gonna win us the euro 2008
bye
sandesh
kathmandu nepal

Posted from  Nepal

Kathmandu eh? man, what a romantic place that must be… Do you actually live there?? Wow…

Well, thankd for sharing… and where’s the rest… Rami? Goose? Ish? Others???

Posted from  Australia

hello all,

im american/lebanese with dutch heritag (born in louisiana, father to a lebanese, and mother to a dutch)
im 22, have a b.a. in political studies, but changed course, and now im studying recording engineering, and ill probably be continuing along that path..

football.. again like id suppose many already, my first football experience was in usa in 94, where i was living in dallas.. i was 9. I watched two fixtures, spain-south korea, and then the team that made it all for me, netherlands-brazil. It was that day that made me decide im gonna be a dutch for life supporter, and brazil for life hater lol.

Since, i played a lot of soccer in school, also in a minor league. i was a left-footed defender, a jaap stam-like defender.. aggressive, quick, and could anticipate a lot, crossed and pased very well. however i admit i was a horrible dribbler, not so good in the air, and a bit too skinny for my position. eventually i stopped, when i broke my right hand, and then a following year when i underwent surgery on both lungs.
After that my cardio was terrible, so i kinda gave up, slowly…

Im still an avid football spectactator however. But as bart already said, if there are no dutch players in a fixture i wouldnt be too interested in watching.

thats about it, basically.

goose.. we’re still waiting for yours.

Posted from  Canada

well Jan, dont really trust you anymore now, im sorry….

me; 28 years old, born in Den Haag, lived in Germany as a child (father pro militairy), married, a daughter and one coming up.. im a full time history teacher and my hobbys are my family(ahhhhhhhh) and ofcourse football, and i,m actually a bit addicted to writing on this blog.. really

favo clubs; Fc Den Haag and any club were theres dutch players playing (bit of a nationalist), same as with Bart and Rami but big, big ORANJE fan (prob; because FcDenHaag is really succesful and i need to cheer!!!

are we becoming friend now people?? hahah

grtz

Posted from  France

My name is Caleb and I was born in Canada although my background is Dutch – so I guess I’m Dutch Canadian. Right now I’m living in Japan and teaching English to children. I have a Bachelor degree in Computer Science.

The first time I played soccer competitively was when I was like 4 years old, like so many other young Canadian children. Unfortunately, also like so many other Canadian children, when I was around 6 or 7 my parents pulled me out of soccer and put me into baseball (what a boring sport!), and this is even after I scored like 7 goals in one game.. had that been in Europe I probably would have been scouted for a youth team or something! But anyways, after that I didn’t have much more exposure to soccer while I was growing up because I was living in Canada. The next time I got interested was in my last year of high school when I started playing again and found out I loved it. Since then I became addicted and have started playing for club teams. Even after starting so late I’m a decent player – I play forward and I manage to get a decent number of goals – but I always wonder how good I could have been if I had been playing my whole life.

As for watching soccer, I pretty much follow it religiously, although like many others said, if there aren’t any Dutch players I find it difficult to become really interested. Favourite players: Van Nistelrooy, Robben, Van Persie, Van der Vaart, Kluivert (in his prime.. what happened to him??), Bergkamp, Makaay, Davids, Van Basten.. highly respected players (even I don’t like some of their personalities): Kaka, Zinedine Zinade, Ronaldo, Schevchenko, Henry, Eto’o, Ronaldinho, Nakamura, Gerrard, Lampard.

Favourite teams: Real Madrid, Spurs (love their style of play), Arsenal (another nice style), Dutch teams in European competition, my local Japanese team Yokohama F Marinos, and Milan and Liverpool sometimes.

Hated teams: I hate teams that play dirty and dirty players, so I especially dislike Portugal, sometimes Italy, and Roma (Totti is such a dirty player and such a poor sport that he infects the whole team).

When I start talking about soccer I can go on forever, but I guess that’s a good summary so I’ll stop there.

Posted from  Japan

Nice to see all these intro’s guys… It’s funny how we are all connected through Oranje and all living in different parts of the world, different age-groups, etc etc.

Goose, I really apologise mate! I really don’t remember why and how that girl thing came up… I thought it was a bit of joke then and didn’t realise you went for it all that time… Man…

Posted from  Australia

me: 45 years old,not married,living in budapest ,hungary, born here ,i lived in different european countries (mostly in france – 10 years, but in danemark and in the uk too),studied linguistics (having a mater degree) and cinema (but i only did some short films in the early and mid 90s). i’m working as a researcher on the artificial intelligence field + writing a lot about almost everything related to the so called “information society”, and published 2 books about these topics+1 novel(half sci-fi,half party culture) – unfortunately all of these are in hungarian.

i fell love with dutch football in 1971 – ajax-panathinaikos and since this is an important part of my life (for ex. if there is a hungary-oranje game i’m obviously for oranje). my fav players: cruyff,neeskens,krol,haan,rensenbrink,rep,van hanegem,gullit,rijkaard,van basten,ronald koeman,bergkamp,overmars,davids,kluivert,seedorf,fdb,stam,van hoijdonk, van der saar,van persie. not dutch: ardiles,platini,tigana,tresor,roberto baggio,donadoni,m. laudrup,guardiola,jari littmanen,gattuso,ronaldinho,puyol,messi (him and van persie are my two fav players at the moment),iniesta,thuram.
fav teams: barca,ajax,milan (not as much as barca and ajax),and i support in european cups dutch teams (except if they play against barca or ajax).
fav coaches: frank rijkaard,rinus michels,jc,hiddink,van gaal. not dutches: michel hidalgo,cesar menotti (he was a great coach),lippi,sacchi.
hated clubs: real madrid (obviously:-)),bayern munchen,inter,juve. hated national teams: portugal,germany.actually i like the french national team too,but not as much as the oranje (they were really great in the 80’s – platini…)

my 3 all the time favourite players: johan cruyff,frank rijkaard,edgar davids.

Posted from  Hungary

Hi guys, well it´s time to tell you something about me.
My name es Mario Rosado González, I am from México and I live in the city of Mérida, in the Península of Yucatán, so you can locate me in a map.

I work for a company of nutrition and health as marketing supervisor and I recently graduated from college. I like to run, play football, go to the cinema, read, hang out with friends and of course analyse and share about football with everybody who likes the subject.

I am 25 years old and I started loving Dutch Football in the era of Gullit, van Basten , Rijkaard, Koeman, van Breukelen and many other great players of the last years of the 1980´s and the beginning of the 1990´s. Then I followed the Ajax of Louis van Gaal week after week, and boy, what an awesome team!!!
I believe the Dutch teams of 1998, and 2000 for the World Cup and Euro respectively were incredible teams that deserved to win both tournaments but as we know in football only wins the one who can take his chances and I am sure that during that spell Holland had the best team in the world with all the respect that France deserves.
After 2000 Holland is suffering a renovation process and I believe that today that process is very healthy. We won both European U21´s last championships and in the Dutch National Team there are great talents with less than 25 years like Robben, van der Vaart, van Persie, Heitinga, Sneijder, Babel and there are more coming like Donk, Drenthe, Maduro, Emmanuelson, Afellay…Dutch football is going to be strong as ever during the coming years and I will continue following for life, I have always say that very soon Holland will be World Champions and with the new generations that we have I think my wish will be real.
I liked mostly the same players as you do and today my favorite players are van Nistelrooy, Robben and of course, the hugely talented Robin van Persie that for me will be the best player in the world very soon.
Well guys, that´s something about me, it is very nice to read that you are all doing ok with your lifes and perhaps someday we organize a trip to watch Holland to a World Cup or Euro sice we all share the same passion for Holland.
I also share the same feeling of many of you, if there no Dutch players on the field the game for me is not as emotional as it can be if I would be watching one of my favorite Dutch stars but I also enjoy watching other games and leagues even if there are no Dutch players but as I sais, not as much as when I see playing Ajax, or Madrid, Arsenal, Milan, PSV, Feyenoord, AZ, Manchester, Bayern Munich, Hamburg, Liverpool and the teams where all our stars are shinning.
Well guys, keep up your comments and hope to read more from you!

tjeerd was my dutch grandfathers name and also mine. i was born and live in canada and have cousins in holland, can speak a little dutch. my mother grew up near the feyenoord stadium, thus i am a feyenoord fan ( you can say its in my blood) i have seen feyenoord live twice at feyenoord stadium. 1. 1984 vs tottenham hotspur, riots followed. 2. vs nac breda last oct, feyenoord won.

Goodness gracious… I saw that Spurs vs Feyenoord match as well… But I saw the 1974 game with Theo de Jong and Peter Ressel scoring… The riots then were unbelievable! Half the stadium was mauled! I was only 12 years old and extremely impressed and scared… The 1984 one was the one in which Glenn Hoddle humiliated JC right?

Posted from  Australia

jan
I, am from Myanmar
stay most of the time in Thailand.
Now in Australia,brisbane, for a short biz trip.
just miss socceroos’ play in thai.
can you suggest me good places to visit?( I’ll be here until end of July)

Posted from  Australia

Hi guys
I did write once or twice in this blog,but I read this blog regularly.Like all of u I have an ardent passion for Dutch football.I’m a cardiologist,38 years old,born and brought up in Dhaka,Bangladesh.I first had the opportunity to watch the Dutch team on TV at the 78WC final,that was the first time live telecast was done in Bangladesh.Since 88EC I have been following the team and all Dutch players playing for different leagues.I liked Frank Rijkard a lot,one of the greatest players of all time,Gullit was also very popular in this part of the world(he resembled Bob Marley!).I find that most participants in this blog have near common fav.players,teams etc.My all time fav. player is Bergcamp.We may have some differences in our choices but we all worship the Dutch style of playing the game,dominant,attractive,fast,pacy passing game that has made Holland unique from all other football teams.I would like to mention an event in my life that might depict my love for the Oranje.During the EC2000,I had to leave the city of Dhaka to bury one of my uncles at our village home that didn’t have electricity in those days!It was raining heavily on the day,Holland had a scheduled match with Yugoslavia.After burying my uncle,I took a bicycle and rushed as fast as I could to the nearest town with a satellite TV almost 30 miles away and barely managed to see all of the game.I have never watched a game of Holland live in a stadium,but wish to do so if they can arrange WC2018 at Holland.Everytime Holland loses in the knochout round of a tournament,tears fell off my eyes.Oh God, how dearly i am waiting to see Holland as world champs,please don’t let me leave this world without seeing the oranje as the ultimate champions.
With warm personal regards to all u guys.

Posted from  Bangladesh

great storys yall, very interesting group of people we have here… good to see how football can bring a group of people together from all around the world…

@dr. ; keep the faith, i know the pain, remember crying after the loss in 98, that really hurt..glad i wasnt alive during the 74 WC, think i would gone crazy!! im sure well have succes again, remember, the longer you wait the sweeter the victory when it comes!!

weres my mate micha??

grtz

Posted from  Netherlands

Very good sorries indeed!

Sphinx: I don’t know Brisbane too well, but you’ll find your way around the city I guess…

If you go north you’ll enter Great Barrier Reef territory, which is very nice! Sunshine coast, Gold coast are ok too, if you’re into something like that. Further south is Byron Bay in NSW. Number 2 popular tourist destination in Oz, after Sydney. Beautiful hinterland too. Rainforest, heaps of national parks…

Posted from  Australia

Hello all. I’ve posted a few times on hear before and I read very regularly. Here is a bit about me:

I’m 24. I live in Seoul, South Korea. I’m a Canadian citizen, born in Vancouver, BC, but I am still very Dutch, as my parents and my in-laws are all Dutch. Currently, I am teaching in Seoul, but I have a BA in Urban Geography and plan to get my Masters in Environmental/Urban Design and do some work in either Europe or Canada.

I have been following Oranje as long as I can remember. Aside from Oranje, I am an avid Liverpool and PSV Eindhoven fan. I have also had a soft spot for other clubs such as Feyenoord, Arsenal, and Barca. But I honestly just loving watching the Dutchies, which is why I like watching Arsenal and Barca.

I think Dirk Kuyt is my favourite player. I try to match my game to his. He is such a hard worker and is a very smart and unselfish player.

Posted from  Republic Of Korea

Jan I think it was Nov. 1983 and they lost 2-0. I remember abnoxious British fans around us ripping off the backs of their seats and throwing them on the field. As a Canadian visitor who attended numerous North American hockey, baseball and CFL football games it was totally bizzare.

hello tjeerd n mario good to hear frm you
r u in nepal these days??
but i guess u r not nepali right?
it is very nice to have many dutch fans writing bout them n their love to the oranje football
wat do u ppl think bout robben van der vaart sneijder babael n huntelaar
r they gonna change their clubs this season
i really wanna see babel van der vaart huntelaar n sneijder coming to either italy or england or spain
we cant watch dutch league frm here in nepal i wanna watch them play
sandesh

Posted from  Nepal

First a big thanks to Jan for being a source for Dutch Football news, and goose for the nicely placed witty banter. Curiously I play footy with a “goose,” his wit is sharp, as are his studs (that may read wrong, with obviously innuendos but accurate)

I’m Canadian as the flag on my posts indicates, heritage wise I’m a bit of a mix bag of blood on my father’s side and 100% oranje on my mother’s. Until recently I was living in Victoria and enjoying the luxury of year round footy. Admittedly I’m new to the game, grew up playing almost every sport, but focused on Basketball. Five years ago a friend invited me out to play some soccer and I fell in love with the game. The space, the movement, the necessity of team play and oft heralded beauty captured me. I’m addicted. I’m a bit of a utility player but I like the engine room best, lets me show my teeth a little more. Davids is one of my favorite players. As is Bergkhamp, but I’ve already sang that song before. Generally I like players with heart and effective skill.

When it comes to teams, obviously I’m fan of the oranje, but after that it’s tough. Barca, Arsenal, are great to watch but since the game is new to me it’s history and politics haven’t soaked in to my bones yet. I enjoy attractive, positive football, and the Fly’r, the underdog, the fellas that haven’t a chance. My own playing experience, and the best thing about football, is the fact that on any given Sunday the “long shot” can win. Heart and team play can truly make the difference in this game.

Posted from  Canada

was just wondering; how many dutch people do we have on this blog?? lerkot? misha?

Posted from  Netherlands

I’m dutch

Posted from  Canada

Born in canada to dutch parents.
I am a Huge NFL and NCAA Football fan.
I love soccer, but it takes a back seat to American football, I guess I am not your typical Canadian with Hockey at number three instead of one.

I have some Dutch blood flowing through my veins. A Dutch ansestor immigrated to the America’s in the late 1600s

Posted from  United States