Together for ‘our’ boys: A research into the different attitudes towards a diverse Dutch national football team and a diverse Dutch society
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2025-06-30
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en
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For the past sixty years, the Netherlands has seen a lot of immigration. From recruited guest workers to refugees, all have come to the Netherlands, creating the diverse society we know today. Society has gone through waves of tolerance and intolerance on this diversification, being in an intolerant phase anno 2025. The government has always been expected to create policies to ensure smooth coming and integration of these immigrants. Yet an early defensive stance, with a lack of integration policies, has led to many immigrants now finding themselves in a difficult position is society. Inevitably, the diversification of society has also led to the diversification of the national football team. For this, despite its intolerance, Dutch society still comes together to cheer on their national team and celebrate all their wins. A striking mismatch with their attitude towards people with a non-Dutch background in everyday society.
Through statistics and discourse analysis this thesis aimed to find an explanation for this. Results have shown that, while most fans do not wish for a fully diverse team due to lack of identification with the team, most fans admit being more focused o =n the technique and skills of the players, rather than their skin colour. Furthermore, results have shown that the more matches the team wins and the further the team gets during a tournament, the more support they garner. This thesis therefore concludes support for the national team appears to be separated from politics and the (deserving) migrants label. Instead, certain fans could be classified as success supporters, jumping on the support wagon when it is already clear that the team can be celebrated.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen