INDONESIA: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - WORLD CUP 2010 - Ambon turns into a "Little Holland" ahead of the World Cup final

Record ID: 791018

  • Title: INDONESIA: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - WORLD CUP 2010 - Ambon turns into a "Little Holland" ahead of the World Cup final
  • Date: 12th July 2010
  • Summary: AMBON, MOLUCAS, INDONESIA (JULY 10, 2010) (REUTERS) AMBON TOWN SEEN FROM HILL SIDE NETHERLANDS FLAG RAISED IN AMBON TOWN BIG NETHERLANDS FLAG ON ROAD SIDE MORE OF NETHERLANDS FLAG BIG NETHERLANDS FLAG AMONG WORLD CUP PARTICIPANTS FLAG BIG BANNER TO SUPPORT NETHERLANDS NATIONAL TEAM BIG BANNER SAYING "TALCUM FOR NETHERLANDS MASCOT VAN ORANJE" COFFEE SHOP THAT DISPLA
  • Embargoed: 27th July 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Indonesia
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAASR0X0LRYI97KWO9HUY242QMS
  • Story Text: With five players on the Dutch team drawing their roots from Indonesia's Ambon, the city has turned into a "Little Holland" ahead of the World Cup final between the Netherlands and Spain.
    The Dutch flag flutters over orange-slate roofed houses overlooking the bay in Indonesia's Ambon as it must have done for centuries while the city was under Dutch rule.
    But these days, the flags seen all over the city are being hoisted by the residents who are turning the city orange ahead of the World Cup finals in South Africa.
    Five of the players on the Dutch national team, including captain Giovanni Van Bronckhorst, are of Indonesian descent and their relatives still live in the Molucas, many of them in Ambon.
    As the Dutch team won their way into the finals, it started to dawn on the Ambonese that their own were contributing to the success of the team. By the time the team beat Uruguay in the semi-finals, residents were cheering as if the team were their own.
    Banners have been put up with words of support for the team and the Dutch flag flies on many buildings.
    Relations between the Netherlands and Indonesia have always been emotionally charged.
    The Netherlands ruled Indonesia for 350 years, and the seat of the Dutch resident and military commander of the Moluccas was in Ambon city which also thrived as the hub of the spice trade.
    During this period many people worked for the colonial administration or became soldiers. The emotional ties became even heated when 12,000 people from the Molucas left for the Netherlands in the end of the 1940s due to political reasons.
    There are an estimated 70,000 Dutch citizens of Maluku descent, including athletes, like those on the national soccer team as well as people in the music industry.
    But now, with the Dutch team set to play Spain, the people of Ambon are willing to put history and politics aside.
    "Soccer is soccer and has no relation to politics, if you ask if we are Holland fans, then yes. All Maluku are big fans of Holland. It's not because of the politics but it is because in Holland our friends from the Molucas are playing there," said Reza, who frequents the Sibu Sibu cafe in Ambon, which pays homage to the Dutch soccer players of Maluku descent such as Ajax soccer club legend Simon Tahamata Members of the extended family of Dutch team captain Van Bronckhorst, 35, are already dressed in orange and ready to cheer on their relative. The match against spain is set to be his swansong.
    "We are all from Frans Sapulette's extended family in Ambon and we have big hopes for Giovanni to play well and score goals to bring Holland to victory," said Ice Latuputty Sapulette, Van Bronckhorst's maternal aunt.
    Other players of Indonesian descent include midfielders Demy De Zeeuw and Nigel De Jong, defenders John Heitinga and Gregory Van Der Wiel.
    "All Maluku in general support the Dutch national team to win in the World Cup final," she added.
    The Dutch team has reached the finals in 1974 and 1978 but have never won the cup. For both the "The Flying Dutchmen" and the "La Furia Roja", victory at the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg on Sunday night will make them first-time champions of the one of the most prestigious sporting events in the world.
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