The Enigma of the Flying Dutchmen

An essay chronicling the highs and lows of the Dutch National Football team

Football has been the darling of European sporting culture ever since the beginning of the 20th century. The emergence of domestic Professional Football Associations all over Europe kick-started this whole process and football gained such favors among the masses that by the start of World War II, two football World Cups had been successfully held. The European monopoly over the game ended soon after the War with the South Americans taking center stage. Their game was filled with colors, panache, style and breath-taking skill; while those of their European counterparts was described as disciplined, less flashy but nevertheless effective. The traditional powerhouses such as Germany, Brazil, England and Italy dominated the scene and the other teams simply watched as they swept through the major tournaments. However, in the late 60s and early 70s emerged a style of play, born out of a famous domestic football club that catapulted a small European nation and its players to great success. This style of play was Total Football and it originated in Ajax Football Club in The Netherlands. Simply put the style asked all ten outfield players to occupy different positions throughout the game instead of standard positions of defender, midfielder and striker. The innovative move was strange yet effective and not only Ajax but the Dutch National Team, which quickly adopted it, became one of the most feared football teams all over the world in no time. However, this is all they became. Strangely for a team with such depth in talent such as Cruyff, Neeskens and Rensenbrink, to name a few, they never won any top football prizes in the 70s. The team blitzed to the 1974 World Cup Final only to be defeated by a more efficient West German team. They lost in the final again in 1978 to Argentina. The team soon became overcame with disputes and went into a decade of wilderness. However, strange as it seems, the Dutch team struck form in the 1988 European Championships and comprehensively won the title, while its performance in the 1986 World Cup did little to suggest this. This team had massive stars such as Van Basten, Koeman and Gullit. This was however, the only major title of the Dutch team to date. The 1990s saw a very potent team having players like Bergkamp, Kluivert, Overmars, the De Boer brothers and Davids. However, they choked at the second-last hurdle in USA 94, France 98 and the European Championships of 2000. The team however did not give up and during the first decade of the new millennium saw them wreaking havoc in European Championships of 2004 and 2008. Yet, they didnt win any of these titles. In the same vein, the team reached the final of the 2010 World Cup and again lost. It has been difficult to understand for football pundits that why the Dutch team never won any major titles, sans one. Most of them agree on labeling them as Chokers, meaning that they choke at the final

hurdle or when the real test appears. This seems like the more plausible answer as the Dutch have invariably lost to the best team in the tournaments they have choked in. This is with the possible exception of the 1974 tournament when they were themselves the best team. Yet, they were undone by a more disciplined opposition. The Dutch Total Football is a thing of the past nevertheless. While Ajax and Dutch players such as Cruyff enjoyed huge successes on a domestic level, the Dutch team could not emulate them on the International front. The Dutch style slowly evolved to garner aspects of the German and English teams in terms of discipline and brute. The latest Dutch team that lost in 2010 was an example of both. However, seeing the results, we must assume that the Dutch, though gifted, were not unlucky but simply not good enough to beat the best teams of their times. Yet, considering the small size of their country and domestic league it is amazing that the country regularly produces gifted professional players. The Dutch team needs to keep striving, however, as one day their time will surely come, and their talent is such that it should not go unrewarded. The likes of Van Persie, Kuyt, Sneijder and Van der Vaart promise a successful future. Meanwhile, they must improve their domestic league and their youth academies so that the supply of this talent never stops and they build on the already strong foundation laid by the Flying Dutchmen of the 70s.