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De Graafschap

'SUPER FARMERS' - AND PROUD OF IT!

Boeren is a word often yelled, especially by Ajax fans. It means 'farmers' or 'peasants'. Since Amsterdam is the capital and largest city of The Netherlands, Ajax fans tend to use the word for basically everyone from outside of the Amsterdam city limits. Some fans of other clubs take it as an insult, but those of De Graafschap don't. Quite on the contrary: De Graafschap are proud to hail from the small town of Doetinchem, in the heart of the Achterhoek, the beautiful, rural eastern part of the Gelderland province, close to the German border. De Graafschap are Dutch football's pugnacious self-proclaimed Superboeren ('Super Farmers') - and proud of it!


De Graafschap: First Division champions of 2007.

The foundation of De Graafschap coincided with one the most sensational and dramatic events in the history of Dutch football, namely the decision of a number of clubs to 'go professional' and start their own professional league in early 1954. Initially, ten clubs committed to the newly founded Dutch Professional Football Association (NBVB). The decision to pay the players money for playing football was considered depraved in Calvinist The Netherlands of the 1950s. The advent of professional football caused a major stir. De Graafschap, a club founded for the sole purpose of joining the professional league, were one of the pioneers, one of the 'pirate clubs', as they were referred to at the time.


Like we said: Superboeren - and proud of it!

Two leagues kicked off simultaneously in the historically disorganized 1954-1955 season: the NBVB's independent professional league (including De Graafschap) and the KNVB's official First Class, in which Ajax were still playing as an amateur club. It soon became clear that a solution needed to be found, as more and more quality players left the amateur league and joined one of the 'pirate clubs'. A considerable part of Vitesse's team, for example, chose the money of De Graafschap. The rivalry between the two clubs from the province of Gelderland never cooled down, until today.

De Graafschap were a pioneering club in Dutch professional football, their pugnacious kick 'n' rush style of play is recognizable and their blue and white, horizontally striped jersey beautifully traditional, yet De Graafschap spent most of their time in the First Division since the start of the nationwide (and of course professional) Eredivisie in 1956. The Superboeren made the jump to the highest level several times, but they never managed to stay up long. Their eight-year Eredivisie spell between 1995 and 2003 stands as the longest in club history. The club's official list of national trophies is still blank.


De Graafschap players join Normaal on-stage, during a free 'supporters concert'
in De Vijverberg stadium, celebrating the 2004 promotion to the Eredivisie.

Naturally, though, the ever-noisy fans of De Graafschap have their own heroes, the most famous one being Guus Hiddink, a living legend in Eindhoven, South Korea, Australia and Doetinchem. Winner of the European Champions Cup with PSV (1988) and the only ever footall coach to have made it to the semi-finals of the World Cup with two different countries (Holland and South Korea), Guus Hiddink is a born and raised Superboer - and always will be. The club acknowledged his qualities as a manager at an early age: Hiddink was only 20 years old when he was contracted as a player and assistant-manager in 1968. He moved on to play for PSV in 1970, but was so badly missed by De Graafschap's supporters that they started a fundraiser, 'A Tenner for Guus', pitching in ten guilders each to help the club cough up the transfer fee to buy Hiddink back. And Guus did come home, in the winter of 1972, leading the club to the Eredivisie, where they would stay 'til 1977 this time.


'The Greatest Superboer Of All Time': Guus Hiddink in his Graafschap days around 1970.

Guus Hiddink was recently voted 'Greatest Achterhoeker of All Time' in his native area, only just beating Bennie Jolink, frontman of the musical pride of the Achterhoek: Normaal, a Creedence Clearwater-like rockband. They were the first Dutch rockband to score national hit singles with raw, beer-drenched rock 'n' roll tales about the life of farmers, sung in the regional Achterhoek dialect. The band members, of course, all support De Graafschap. They even wrote the club's rocking official club anthem and gave a free concert for the supporters at Vijverberg stadium after the 2004 promotion to the Eredivisie, with which the team added lustre to the club's 50th anniversary. Must be a pretty special area over there, eh? One visit to Doetinchem's cosy, atmospheric Vijverberg stadium is enough to find out that it is, indeed. (MP)

DE GRAAFSCHAP FACTS

Founded: 01 February 1954
City: Doetinchem
Stadium: De Vijverberg
Capacity: 11,000
Official website: www.degraafschap.nl
Honors:
  • No national and international trophies won.
Recent History: Ajax vs De Graafschap