Amsterdam prepares for National Football Team win; Canal boat trip planned

Updated July 12, 2010 Even though the Dutch National Soccer Team did not win the World Cup last night, the City of Amsterdam has decided to go ahead with a canal tour in honor of the players.

Update: July 11, 2010 See time schedule below.

Update: July 10, 2010 If Museumplein is too full for this Sunday’s match between Spain and the Netherlands, don’t worry. Big screens will be in place throughout the city.

DutchAmsterdam.nl — Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, is hosting homecoming celebrations for the Dutch national football team this Tuesday, July 13.

The official party will take place at Museumplein. But if the team wins the World Cup when it faces Spain in this Sunday’s game, the celebration will include a boat tour through Amsterdam’s canals.

Police and city officials expect a crowd of up to 1 million people will flood Amsterdam — a quarter of a million more than during the annual Queen’s Day celebrations, often considered the world’s largest street party.

Amsterdam itself is home to 760.000 citizens.

The decision to honor the team with a boat tour has not been without controversy. During the 1988 European Championship celebrations so many people stood on houseboats along the route that a number of them sank — as seen (at 00.44”) in this video from Radio Netherlands:

The route planned for Tuesday is said to include only nine houseboats. As soon as the route is finalized City officials will talk with the owners about ways to protect their floating homes.

On the day itself the boats will be protected with fences and supervisors will be posted. In addition the boats will be filmed and photographed so that vandals can be identified and charged for any and all damage.

The final stop of the tour is in front of the Rijksmuseum — from where the team will make its way to Museumplein, where Dutch football association KNVB and Radio 538 will present a program.

Last week a full capacity crowd of 30.000 people watched the Dutch national soccer team win from Brazil via a huge screen at the huge square.

City officials hope that Amsterdammers realize museumplein can only hold so many people, and that people will choose between a spot along the route of the canal tour or at the square.

Leave Your Car At Home — But Away From The Route

Even during normal days driving a car around Amsterdam can be enormously challenging. But the City advises that on Tuesday even the most die-hard car drivers leave their cars at home.

Dutch National Football Team boat tour celebration Map

Police also advises that if the canal tour take place owners remove their cars from the route as people are bound to use them as observation platforms.

Public Transport

Public Transport will be free of charge during the day. However, neither the trams and buses of GVB and the buses of Connexxion will run in the center of town.

The metro will be in service as the work in the metro tunnel will be skipped that day.

Dutch Railways NS expects Amsterdam Central Station to be very crowded. It advises travelers to use Amstel Station and Amsterdam Zuid instead.

Tourists and business people arriving at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport on Tuesday should strongly consider using a taxi or hotel shuttle bus to reach their hotels.

Alcohol

The use of alcohol is prohibited in all trains and at all station throughout the entire day.

Wear Something Orange

If you don’t want to stand out in the crowd, by all means join the fun and wear something orange. See Why do the Dutch Wear Orange?

Time

The boat tour — which will take place only if the Netherlands wins the World Cup — starts Tueday at 14:45 (2:45 pm). The team is expected to debark at 16:45 (4:45 pm). The honoring celebration at Museumplein will commence at 17:00 (5 pm) and last until 17:45 (5:45 pm). These times are subject to change.

Broadcasting Controversy

Meanwhile questions have been asked in Dutch parliament about the sale of exclusive broadcasting rights to key elements of the honoring celebration by KNVB to commercial TV station SBS6 — bypassing public, tax-funded station NOS.

Member of Parliament Joop Atsma (CDA) says the celebration is a public event and exclusive rights should therefore not be monopolized by a commercial organization. “Photographers, cameramen and journalists should be able to fully register the event,” Atsma says.

“The KNVB is playing with fire,” he adds, mentioning the fact that it is the government that makes the event possible — even in a time of funding cuts for, among other things, the police force.
– – © Copyright DutchAmsterdam.nl. Do not republish or repost.

See Also

• Crazy about football, crazy about football songs Radio Netherlands

Original content © Copyright DutchAmsterdam.nl
    Do not republish or repost.

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