It's all double Dutch to me
The Dutch have for a long time been one of the most popular teams at the World Cup - all that orange, Total Football tradition and terrace bonhomie seems to appeal to the neutral fan.
But this particular nation always poses a problem for any media organisation covering the football - what do you actually call the team?
As any student of European political history will know, the official title of the country is the Netherlands. The name "Holland", meanwhile, actually .
But this is where ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Sport (and, it must be said, ) diverges from officialdom. We generally refer to the team as Holland.
Why is this, you would be more than entitled to ask?
Our reasoning is that the name of the country is the Netherlands, but the name of the football team is Holland. And while I appreciate that some readers may object to such a description, from the perspective of the UK-centric football fan (ie the audience we aim to serve) it is a more natural description.
One of the reasons we label them Holland is that this is what most of the Dutch fans themselves would appear to call the side they follow. As anyone who has seen their in action will know, one of their favourite songs is .
So those people who have contacted us to point out the correct name of the country is the Netherlands are, of course, right. But football is a different world to geo-politics - and while ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ News would only ever refer to the country with its , our view in ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Sport is slightly more relaxed.
Apologies if this causes any offence. But football, as we know, has a set of rules all its own.
Hup Holland!
