Kits for Victory! How Dutch Football Commemorates the Second World War
- EPOCH
- 10 hours ago
- 9 min read
Alex Pomeroy | Lancaster University
Football clubs unveiling new kits each season has taken hold since the 1990s, and in the last fifteen years, kit releases have proliferated to such an extent that most clubs release at least three each season: typically, a ‘home’, ‘away’, and ‘third’ kit. During the 2021/22 season, Italian giants S.S.C. Napoli released no fewer than fifteen different shirts. The constant demand for fresh designs has led to the frequent release of ‘anniversary’ kits to commemorate the founding of clubs, title victories, record-breaking players, or fan-favourite designs from yesteryear. This often attracts criticism as attempts to draw money from loyal fans, such as Burnley FC’s strange attempt to utilise Turf Moor’s ‘iconic’ floodlights as the design for a needless third kit for the 2023/24 Premier League season. However, can anniversary kits be more than a commercial ploy – could they function as educational, ‘living’ war memorials?
The 2024/25 season coincided with the eightieth anniversary of liberation for many Dutch cities and the end of the Second World War in Europe on 8 May 1945. To mark these remarkable events, clubs in the top two divisions of Dutch football (the Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie respectively) released anniversary kits. Though they were by no means the only clubs to commemorate liberation or the end of the war with anniversary kits, SBV Vitesse Arnhem, SC Cambuur, NAC Breda, and PEC Zwolle represent a variety of designs, uses, and meanings. Analysing these factors highlights how sporting institutions interact with the history of their surrounding community, and that - when done right - anniversary kits are much more than marketing stunts.
Formed in 1892, SBV Vitesse Arnhem are one of the Netherlands’ oldest clubs and their name betrays an immediate link to the Second World War. Arnhem saw one of the bloodiest battles of Operation Market Garden (the doomed Allied operation to capture a series of bridgeheads in the Netherlands to secure a route to the Rhine) between 17 - 26 September 1944. The battle, and the 1977 epic A Bridge Too Far, immortalised the British 1st Airborne Division, with over 7,000 troops killed, wounded, or captured. Despite the failure of the operation, the 1st Airborne’s sacrifice has created a longstanding commemorative culture between the people of Arnhem, surviving veterans, and their descendants. For Vitesse, their repeated adoption of an ‘airborne kit’ since c.2007 has marked the connection between the citizens of Arnhem and Market Garden veterans. The ‘airborne kits’ are usually a combination of the famous claret and blue of the 1st Airborne’s insignia, and the 2024/25 release saw a claret shirt with sky blue trim and stripes which fade upwards from the bottom half of the shirt. The design also featured a subtle ‘shadow’ pattern of Douglas ‘Dakota’ transport aircraft, synonymous with Operation Market Garden, marked with ‘80’ for the anniversary, whilst the inside collar was stamped with a poppy with ‘Lest We Forget’ written underneath. Finally, the rear of the collar was emblazoned with the 1st Airborne’s insignia of the Greek mythological hero ‘Bellerophon’ riding the winged horse ‘Pegasus’, alongside a ‘1944-2024’ inscription.
NAC Breda, formed in 1912 in the southern city of Breda, and SC Cambuur, formed in 1964 in Leeuwarden in the northwest, paid homage to the units that liberated their cities during their 2024/25 campaigns. Breda was liberated on 29 October 1944 without a single civilian casualty by General Stanisław Maczek’s 1st Polish Armoured Division, and NAC Breda marked the eightieth anniversary of liberation by incorporating memorial features within their 2024/25 home, away, and third kits. The home shirt featured their traditional yellow and black colours with a sash consisting of the names of Polish troops killed during the liberation of the Netherlands, whilst the all-white away kit bore a photograph of the city’s Polish liberators alongside Poland’s coat of arms (a white eagle on a red shield) with the text ‘Polska – Breda’ to connect the two communities. Following the war, Maczek was made an honorary citizen of Breda, such was the gratitude towards the 1st Armoured Division, and NAC released their 2024/25 kits with a photoshoot of players wearing the new kits in the local Polish military cemetery. A third shirt, white with black sleeves, featured an image of Polish troops playing NAC in a friendly match after the liberation of their city. In a similar vein, SC Cambuur’s ‘Canada Liberation shirt’ commemorated the liberation of Leeuwarden over 15-16 April 1945 by another armoured unit, the Royal Canadian Dragoons. The one-off kit departed from their usual yellow and blue, and instead featured a red shirt covered in Canadian maple leaves and a white sash. The design pays homage to the Dragoons’ dress uniform, and their insignia (a galloping Springbok) adorned the shirt’s rear collar. As in Breda, Cambuur’s reveal photoshoot featured a local memorial to the liberation and a short announcement video included commentary by 100-year-old veteran Jim Parks, a Royal Winnipeg Rifles veteran involved in Leeuwarden’s liberation.
PEC Zwolle’s tribute to liberation was slightly different in that it commemorated an individual, rather than an entire unit. The story of Zwolle’s liberation (in the northeast) on 14 April 1945 reads more like a Commando comic instead of legitimate military history, as the city was effectively liberated by one man - Léo Major of the Régiment de la Chaudière. What occurred in Zwolle on the night of 13/14 April is lost to history. Major has often been inflated to a Rambo-esque figure who – enraged by the death of a close friend – entered the city following a reconnaissance patrol and single-handedly forced around a thousand Axis troops to leave by tricking them into believing a much larger force was attacking. The next day, the Régiment de la Chaudière entered Zwolle without firing a single shot. Despite the uncertainty surrounding his actions, Major was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) and has been enshrined in local legend. Each season, PEC Zwolle dedicate the nearest home fixture to 14 April as the Léo Major Bevrijdingswedstrijd, the ‘Léo Major Liberation Match’. Major’s DCM, second only to the Victoria Cross in British military decoration, inspired PEC Zwolle’s 2024/25 anniversary kit – which swapped their traditional blue and white hoops for dark red and navy-blue stripes to match the DCM’s ribbon. Zwolle’s city crest replaced the usual club badge, and a commemorative patch near the hem included the date of the city’s liberation alongside a Canadian maple leaf.
Therefore, whether commemorating an individual or an entire division, liberation or gallant defeat, each anniversary kit followed a similar pattern of incorporating the colours, insignia, and names of those who fought the events of eighty years ago in a display of inter-generational unity. However, did they leave a lasting impression beyond making an interesting anecdote for those of us interested in football as well as the Second World War?
The anniversary kits can be viewed as a continuation of post-war desires for ‘living memorials’ to commemorate the Second World War in place of traditional monumental memorialisation. The change was partially due to the belief that the horror of modern warfare made traditional forms of memorial inadequate, which was popular in Western Europe and the United States. The move to ‘living’ memorials attempted to fold the sacrifice of the wartime generation into the routine of daily life. Rather than adding more ‘clutter’ to urban environments, which was a common critique of the old monuments, living memorials served a distinct social purpose. They acted to honour democracy, peace, and community spirit, and were often parks or community centres which provided spaces for communal activity as well as commemoration by incorporating memorial features (such as plaques or local rolls of honour) within larger institutions which would uphold democratic values. In recent decades, there has been a return to more conventional forms of Second World War memorialisation, but anniversary football kits and their use in certain fixtures demonstrates the survival of the principles of the ‘living memorial’.
For Vitesse Arnhem, NAC Breda, PEC Zwolle, and SC Cambuur, their anniversary kits were worn in the nearest corresponding home fixture to the events they were commemorating. In the spirit of the ‘living memorial’, these games were transformed from mere sporting events to intergenerational and transnational celebrations. Vitesse’s Eerste Divisie fixture against Jong Ajax on 21 September 2024 featured a huge claret and blue tifo (visual display) of an Airborne soldier and a young Dutch girl walking hand in hand as the two teams entered the pitch, surrounded by thousands of similarly-coloured flags. Players presented the families of Operation Market Garden veterans with sunflowers before the game, an enthralling 2-2 draw which was overshadowed by the occasion.
Perhaps the most emotional demonstration occurred in Breda on 26 October 2024, where the special ‘third’ kit was worn in front of a huge tifo of the Polish flag covered with photos of the liberation reading ‘PAMIETAMY’, or ‘We Remember’ in Polish. Furthermore, a ceremonial kick off was performed by 101-year-old Eugeniusz Jan Niedzielski, reportedly the last survivor of the 1st Polish Armoured Division, which seemingly inspired the hosts to a thumping 4-1 victory over RKC Waalwijk. Zwolle’s 2025 Léo Major Bevrijdingswedstrijd took place on 13 April against FC Twente. Much like Vitesse’s ‘airborne’ games, the 1-1 draw in Zwolle was overshadowed by a tifo of Léo Major and the presence of his surviving relatives who watched on from the stands as the game was dedicated not only to Major, but to ‘all the unknown victims and the nearly 500 Zwolle Jews who did not survive the Second World War’. Fittingly, Cambuur’s ‘Canada shirt’ was worn in a 2-1 victory over Vitesse a few weeks after Zwolle’s fixture, on 25 April 2025. Official highlights and fan videos of these games are readily available on YouTube, and they truly capture the essence of a living memorial by carrying forward the legacies of the wartime generation through communal, recreational celebrations of their sacrifice, rather than a solemn quasi-funeral service.
The dedicated liberation or memorial fixtures exhibit the values expressed by proponents of the ‘living memorial’ idea in the 1940s and 1950s, but the anniversary kits themselves are more ambiguous. On the one hand, the release of each kit attracted huge media attention to four of Dutch football’s lesser-known clubs, which in turn brought thousands into contact with the stories and individuals honoured within their designs – which all sold out very quickly. SC Cambuur and PEC Zwolle’s kits were limited releases, too, which shifts the commercialisation and ‘cash grab’ of a mass-produced item into a much more sought after commemorative piece designed for an important occasion. Although all four clubs marketed adult-sized replica shirts for over fifty euros, which is hardly universally affordable.
On the other hand, whilst some fans could buy sponsor-less versions of the shirts, the match-issue kits worn by the players featured the usual sponsorships plastered across the front of otherwise meaningful designs. Both Vitesse Arnhem and PEC Zwolle were sponsored by Dutch sports betting companies, BETCITY and Circus.nl respectively, NAC’s shirts were emblazoned with OK Nederland (oil), and SC Cambuur’s with Dijkstra Draisma (construction). The legalities of each sponsorship deal may have left the clubs with no choice but to include their logos on the anniversary shirts, but it does ruin the commemorative effect. Imagine if London’s Cenotaph came with a bet365 sponsorship, or a trip to the TotalEnergies Arc de Triomphe.
Nonetheless, world football is becoming increasingly commercialised, and each passing season seems to herald new changes that further separate fanbases from their beloved clubs. Although the anniversary kits released by SBV Vitesse Arnhem, SC Cambuur, NAC Breda, and PEC Zwolle are by no means ‘perfect’ memorials to the Netherlands’ experiences of the Second World War, they are thoughtful efforts to connect each club, their fans, and the local community to the last surviving veterans across the world. It is practically inevitable that by the centenary commemorations of the Second World War from 2039 to 2045, the last surviving veterans will have passed away – and many of their children will have too. However, the anniversary kits and the traditions of dedicating at least one fixture per season to the memory of the veterans will ensure their legacies live on.
Further Reading:
Joey D’Urso, More Than A Shirt: How Football Shirts Explain Global Politics, Money and Power (Seven Dials, 2025).
Alex Ireland, Pretty Poly: The History of the Football Shirt (Pitch Publishing, 2023).
Vasilis Kostakis, Beyond the Final Whistle: Football for a Better World (Pluto Press, 2025).
Simon Kuper, Ajax, The Dutch, The War: Football in Europe During the Second World War (Orion, 2011).
Alex Pomeroy is joint Co-Ordinating Editor of EPOCH History Magazine and a postgraduate researcher at Lancaster University. His current research involves investigating histories of memory and cultural identity surrounding the Second World War in the Republic of Ireland, which is sponsored by the ESRC. His secondary research interests involve air power during the Second World War, and the interaction of sport, particularly football, with state and society.
