It's a sentence each Dutch person recognizes. Spoken by the sports commentator Theo Reitsma as he observed the Dutch national soccer team celebrate their win in the final of the European Soccer Cup in 1988. There is nothing profound about it. It simply means "This is a good team, for sure."
Simple words can mean so much when spoken at the right time. They can even rise to epic heights when they are linked to the highlight of a big event. Speak this simple sentence and a Dutchy like me will immediately travel back in time and feel the pride, joy and tribal chauvinism experienced on that day.
Since that soccer game the sentence almost became iconic, when coaching and team-building companies and other clever marketeers started to brand it, further cementing these words into the Dutch subconscious.
My Dutch is slowly eroding away because I hardly use it anymore. I dream in a mixture of Danish and English. But when I swear, or if someone or something touches my heart, my mothertongue surfaces.
Seeing these two play did exactly that, "Dit is een goed stel, hoor."
Lovely!
ReplyDeleteThe iconic sports phrase in the U.S. Russ Hodges, "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!" from Bobby Thomson's home run in 1951.
The Dutch sports phrase is far more charming.
Love their demented eye rolls.
ReplyDeleteLove that they are such pals already. It really is a gift for dogs to have really good dog friends.
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