Oranjegekte

Dutch people dressed in orange before the football match Netherlands–Australia

Women dressed in orange during Queen's Day in the Netherlands

Oranjegekte (Orange craze) or Oranjekoorts (Orange fever) is a phenomenon in the Netherlands that occurs during major sporting events, especially international football championships. It manifests itself in the wearing of orange clothing such as T-shirts, caps and scarfs; lavish attention in the media; and the decoration of cars, rooms, houses, shops, and even entire streets in orange, the traditional color of the Dutch royal family, the House of Orange-Nassau.

History

The phenomenon was noticed in the Dutch media during the 1934 FIFA World Cup in Italy, where thousands of supporters (though not yet orange-clad) traveled to Italy and crowded the boulevards, some dressed in the traditional garb of Volendam (according to De Telegraaf), singing "We gaan naar Rome toe" ("We're going to Rome"). Oranjegekte is considered to have really taken off during the 1974 World Cup, where 30 to 40 thousand Dutch fans attended every game: "Along the way a new phenomenon revealed itself during the tournament: national oranjegekte and masses of supporters following the team." Even the 2-1 loss to Germany in the final did not dampen Dutch enthusiasm in Germany and at home.

Importance

The event is highly valuable to commerce as large profits can be made selling orange products. Many companies introduce special orange editions of their regular products. Commercials tend to respond well to this and especially during World Championships a lot of commercials refer to the event. Many brands and supermarket chains introduce special goodies during these events--well-known are the Heineken hats and Albert Heijn's Wuppies, Welpies and Beesies.

Likewise, popular artists produce special topical songs around the time of the European and World Championships that refer to the Netherlands national football team, usually metonymized as Oranje (Orange).