In Reply to: Agree they where a bit creaky, posted by hools on Sunday, 23. July 2006 at 10:58 Bali Time:
Yes, there were a lot of people in black! A few brave souls were wearing green, and there was a tiny section all wearing red, for some obscure reason. I think the huge number of black garments also had something to do with the fact that a lot of people own black coats and jackets anyway, so it was perhaps not just a statement of team preference. I had brought a bottle green beanie to keep my head warm, without realising the significance of the colour, but wore it anyway.
It was amazing. We have had the worst winter in about 30 years here and it was raining earlier in the morning yet the sun came out and the blustery winds dropped and the evening was brilliantly clear, though cold. It is a fantastic stadium. You really feel like you are close to the action no matter where you sit.
And now for the history lesson *dons teacher's hat*
Zeeland is a province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands (hence its name, meaning "sea-land") and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. Its population is about 380,000 and its area is about 2930 km², of which almost 1140 km² is water.
Large parts of Zeeland are below sea level. The last great flooding of the area was in 1953. Tourism is an important economic activity. Its sunny beaches make it a popular holiday destination in the summer. Most tourists are Germans. In some areas, the population quadruples in the summer.
The country of New Zealand (Māori name: Aotearoa), practically the antipodes of the Low Countries, was first made known to Europeans by Dutch navigator Abel Tasman. He named it Staten Landt, believing it to be part of the land of that name off Argentina. When that was shown not to be so, Dutch authorities named it Nova Zeelandia in Latin, followed by Nieuw Zeeland in Dutch, which Captain James Cook subsequently called New Zealand in English language. The name is only one letter away from the literal translation to English, New Sealand. The Z was possibly retained to partially preserve the Dutch pronuncation. It has also been suggested that Captain Cook assumed Nieuw Zeeland was named after the island of Zealand, Denmark. New Zealand is more than 100 times larger than Zeeland and has about 10 times the population.