What defines a hooligan and what a football fan? At the end of the afternoon the Dam square around the National monument is packed. All tartan dressed men who flocked Amsterdam seem to have gathered here like birds before setting on winter migration. It is hours before the football match before the next leg to the stadium, for now this is the place to be. Something strange is going on. Being used to drunken English lads and our own football hooligans; it is easy to assume that the obstinate Scottish would become wild beasts if overloaded with beer in a strange city before a football match.

There are no provocative rants. Why should they? Even if they loose 2-1 they are in the next round. Some wear typical Dutch football fan items, orange wigs and caps, Dutch flags and here and there wooden shoes are spotted under the tartan skirt. Dutch football league fans start to intermingle into this crowd. At least they could have fun. At certain point it becomes difficult to tell who is for which team if it wasn’t for the Scottish dress. When a Scottish bagpiper climbs up the National monument of Liberation the crowd turns dead silence. High above the mass he plays the Scottish anthem, Dutch and Scots shoulder-to-shoulder pay their respect.

As coincident at the peak of this party gathering Rod Stewarts appears from a shady alley on his way to his cars. Bodyguards and intimae help him pass the dense crowd, as fans and journalists jump on this rare chance to see him. It starts only 2 meters away from me and I let myself get dragged into this celebrity hunt for sake of the photo sport. . “Did you see him?” Asks a Scot in Tartan with striking Asian look in his face. We make jokes about his friend being more famous. That is another ingredient of this pleasant mix, strangers making innocent jokes to each other. Elderly citizens who just pass by are dragged into the situation, some young girls with navel shirts and mobile phone pull a disgusted face when they have to cross the scene. Elsewhere Japanese tourists pose in front of some Dutch football fans. In the middle of the crowd a small Scottish boys has found some free space in the spotlights of the monument to dream away of his football victory, while kicking some plastic bottles.

Time passes by and people start to head for the stadium, patting the police horses on a corner. The only possible cause for a grim mood is sitting there smiling while football fans cuddle the animals. A fearsome looking huge Scottish guy gives a frail old woman a pack on the hand as they part. She sighs; “This is so nice, why couldn’t it be always like this?” This is a scenery that honors the monument, competitors brotherly united, young and old opening their mind to each other. As the square empties, pigeons return to take their place on the monument.

The match ended in a 6-0 in favour of the Dutch team and they all partied on.

Mathilde μP