Augmented Journalism

The Dutch military approach, where victory was the only goal, was sustained for seven ugly World Cup matches. Understanding that this method was needed to reach the finals of the tournament, Dutch soccer fans were hopeful that their national team would eventually start playing the real football again. In vain.

In the end the Dutch team became the metaphor for a pale tournament, with hardly any highlights. Hope was cherished for over a month, but it didn’t last after all – justice was done by Spanish goal getter Iniesta and what was left was one big pool of disappointment.

Dutch newspapers this morning don’t focus on the ugly game that was played by their national team, nor on the un-Dutch approach (at moments the fans thought they were watching German, Italian or Argentine players instead), but only on the disappointing grand finale.  There even is some anger against the English referee, although this man obviously could have given the Dutch one or two extra red cards. And of course there is pride. “We fought like lions”, De Telegraaf writes.

In the mean time, the rest of the world (including the non-Spanish part of it) concludes that it would have been much better if the Dutch wouldn’t have reached the finals at all. That won’t stop the Dutch authorities – and fans – from giving their heroes a warm welcome when the return home. An “almost victory”-tour in the canals of Amsterdam will be held on Tuesday, next to a bunch of other celebrations.

In preparation for the World Cup final between the Netherlands and Spain all Dutch newspapers are preparing “Orange attachments”. From one or two extra pages, an orange-colored front page to complete extra magazines, every single newsroom is spending long hours in the preparation for their publications before and after next sunday’s World Cup final.

Popular newspaper De Telegraaf will publish an extra magazine on saturday. On top of that, the paper will print extra issues in countries like Spain, Italy and France. Editor-in-Chief Sjuul Paradijs says that “the need for information is spectacular. We have to help the Dutch people who are on a vacation outside the Netherlands”, he told press agency ANP.

Free newspaper Metro, which normally doesn’t appear in the weekends, will publish an extra edition on saturday, which will be distributed in public transport. Competitor Sp!ts intends to come with “a spectacular deal” on monday. Editor-in-chief Willem Schouten – who just returned from South Africa where he watched the semifinals – says that the emphasis will be on “all the joy and sadness around the ‘national experience’ of football.”

One big exception is found at the newsroom of the religiously based Reformatorisch Dagblad. This small national paper won’t publish a single word on the Soccer World Cup, or on any professional sport activity.  RD-readers won’t even find the final results in their newspaper. Antoon Stam, secretary of the editorial board, argues that right at the creation of the newspaper the founders have decided to ignore sports, as many games are played on Sundays, a “body cult” is created around it and excessive amounts of money are being paid in transfers of the participating players. ”So we have no sport at all,” Stam told a Volkskrant-reporter.

For the first time in history, Spain or the Netherlands will be the owner of the soccer World Cup. The Netherlands lost the finals in 1974 and 1978. For Spain, European champion and the winner of yesterday’s World Cup semi-finals against Germany, it is the first time it reached the finals.

Although the Netherlands is undefeated in its last 24 matches (and won all of this year’s World Cup matches), Spain is considered the favorite. The country has been playing the best football of the tournament (maybe equaled only by Germany) and can count on a stable core of Barcelona players on its team.

The fans of both countries have shown themselves confident though. The celebrations after winning the semifinals have been gigantic in Spain as well as in the Netherlands. Lots of extra flights to South Africa have been rapidly arranged, from Madrid as well as from Amsterdam. And the rest of the country will be in front of a TV screen – most likely watching with a lot of friends. It is difficult to imagine, though, that a new TV viewer record will be set. Last Wednesday, when the Netherlands beat Uruguay in the semi-finals, the incredible total of 12.3 million Dutchmen watched the game. This is exactly 75% of the population. Never before has a TV show reached that many people.

How the Dutch watched the semifinals:

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