How Curaçao’s World Cup qualification is bringing people together across continents

Parade to the capital

It led to the greatest, but certainly not the first, major achievement in the football history of Curaçao, which was part of the Netherlands Antilles until 2010. Leito: ‘In 1952, the Netherlands Antilles football team had already taken part in the Olympic Games in Helsinki, and in 1973 they had also come close to World Cup qualification. The team qualified for the final round of the CONCACAF, but finished fourth, after which Haiti qualified for the final tournament.’ 

More recently, Curaçao has also enjoyed success in other sports. ‘In 2004, the island’s baseball team won the Little League World Series, a sort of youth World Cup where Curaçao beat Taiwan and several American youth teams,’ says historian Jan Bant, who is conducting research into baseball in the Caribbean and the Netherlands for his PhD thesis. ‘That sparked the same joy as after the World Cup qualification. The whole island turned out to welcome the winners and there was a parade to the capital.’

Leito, who grew up in Curaçao and was even in the same class as batsman Quincy van Blarcum, adds: ‘We watched it on television and the players were welcomed as heroes. People still talk about it.’

He also recalls the emotional rollercoaster four years later, when sprinter Churandy Martina won silver at the Beijing Olympics. ‘Our deputy headmaster ran cheering through the classrooms to share the news.’ Tragically, Martina lost his silver medal a few hours after the final after the United States lodged a protest and he was disqualified for a ‘foot fault’. 

Proud of Curaçao

What makes the qualification so special is the sense of unity it brings, explain Bant and Leito. ‘Curaçao is a special country. There are almost as many Curaçaoans living on the island as there are in the Netherlands. The relationship between the people in the diaspora and those on the island hasn’t always been the best. Sporting success brings people back together. Both on the island and in the diaspora, people are proud of Curaçao.’

The same applies to the connection between the Caribbean islands themselves. ‘There has long been a historically rooted rivalry between Aruba and Curaçao. With the current success, the bond between the islands is actually being recognised and emphasised.’ A fine example of this renewed unity is the World Cup song Mama Wa by the Aruban singer and producer Jeon, who is a strong advocate for the connection between the ABC islands.

Prejudice regarding sun, sea and sand

As beautiful as the blossoming connection between the islanders themselves and the people in the Netherlands is, some reactions are just as reprehensible, particularly from certain quarters of the Dutch sports press. ‘They are trying to take credit for the success by claiming that the Curaçao football team is nothing more than a B-team made up of players who wouldn’t make the Dutch national team,’ says Leito. ‘It suggests that Curaçao should be grateful to the Netherlands for the success, whilst both countries are formally supposed to be equal partners within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.’

Such statements highlight the prejudices that exist in the Netherlands regarding Curaçao. Bant: ‘The talk show Vandaag Inside was broadcast from Curaçao for several weeks. Those episodes, featuring an audience in T-shirts and flip-flops, primarily reinforce the image of Curaçao as nothing more than a sun, sea and sand destination. It sometimes seems as if people think everyone there is sitting under a palm tree drinking from a coconut.’ Bant and Leito also point to the almost exclusively white audience on an island with a predominantly Black population. ‘Then you wonder who they’re making those broadcasts from Curaçao for.’

Burdened by tourism

They provide the answer themselves: ‘Curaçao’s success is being used to promote tourism on the island, for example by travel agency Corendon.’ Although tourism has become Curaçao’s main source of income in recent years, the island is also suffering as a result. ‘The cost of living is rising and it is at the expense of nature. 

Moreover, the entrepreneurs who are now making a fortune often come from abroad, meaning the money does not flow back to the island. This was already a problem, but Curaçao’s sporting success has not made things any better. The government is powerless to rein in the investors, and some politicians simply go along with it because it is politically convenient.’

Saka kara

Although Bant and Leito feel it is important to highlight the negative consequences of this success, pride and a sense of community will prevail in the coming weeks. Naturally, they will be following Curaçao’s matches themselves. ‘I’ll be in Aruba this month for my research, so I’ll be watching the matches at home with my father,’ says Bant, ‘though I would have liked to watch them with Karym as well.’ Leito: ‘I’ve already bought tickets for the watch party at Villa Thalia. I wanted to do that for the last qualifying match against Jamaica, and afterwards I regretted not going.’

And what do Leito and Bant expect from The Blue Wave’s performance? ‘The group featuring Germany, Ecuador and Ivory Coast is certainly not an easy one, but an upset in one of the three matches should be possible. The most important thing is that they put up a good fight and uphold the honour of Curaçao. Or as we say in Papiamento: Saka kara!'

Photo above the article: A mural of the famous Curaçaoan goalkeeper Ergilio Hato at the stadium in Willemstad that is named after him. Source: Kattiel via Wikimedia Commons.