Heartbreak day for Malacca fans of Portugal and Holland
BY LEE YUK PENGMALACCA: It’s heartbreak day for football fans of Portugal and Holland, two countries that have historical ties with this old city. It would have been a dream come true to see their favourite teams battle it out in the Euro 2004 final. Instead, the reality would be watching the teams try to cancel each other out in the first semi-final.
Grandmother Tineke Horstink, who is half-Dutch and half-Portuguese, is among those who are torn between two loves.
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ARDENT SUPPORTERS: Portuguese belles (from left) Dionne Beins, Kellyn Shantini, Serena Theresa and Emelia Diaz getting ready to cheer for Portugal in the semi-finals tomorrow morning. |
Their only daughter married a Portuguese and lives with her husband in Lisbon.
“I have a four-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter who is also half-Dutch and half-Portuguese,” said Tineke, who will be staying up to watch the game at 2.30am.
“I hope the Dutch team wins as I am still a Dutch at heart. But I would not be sad if Portugal wins,” said Tineke, whose husband has flown to Holland to watch the Euro Cup in the same time zone instead of having to stay up at wee hours in the morning to watch the game.
Jesse Van Den Driesen, 59, a Radio 4 sportscaster, said he was looking forward to an entertaining game.
“I am quite sure it will be a good fight and both have 50:50 chances of winning. I hope the Dutch will win in the end because my name is Van Dan Driesen,” he said.
“There will be more pressure on Portugal as they will be playing on home ground,” he said.
Many Portuguese soccer stars, such as (Rui) Costa, (Ricardo) Pereira, (Nuno) Gomes and (Ricardo) Carvalho share surnames with members of the 12,000 strong Malacca Portuguese community.
Erle Martin Carvalho, 35, a director under the Chief Minister’s Department, is proud of his lineage and skewed towards the Portugal team. He predicted that Portugal would beat Holland by a 2-1 score.
Their ancestors might have been enemies but the Portuguese descendants and the Dutch and Singhalese Dutch Burgher (mercantile) communities here have now been assimilated into the Malacca Portuguese community through their common Catholic faith.
The Portuguese conquered Malacca in 1511 and ruled it as a colony for 130 years until a combined Dutch and Acehnese attack beat them in 1641. The Dutch held Malacca till 1795, when the British took over and exchanged the town for the East India Company's settlement of Bencoolen.
History aside, football fever is running high in the town, particularly at the Portuguese Settlement in Ujong Pasir.
A giant screen has been set up at the settlement to enable residents and visitors to watch the exciting game ahead.
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