Orange Ball travels through the Achterhoek

Starting next week, a huge Orange Ball will travel through the Achterhoek. From municipality to municipality, the Orange Ball will travel to dozens of associations and clubs in the region. With this, host city Doetinchem wants to show, in the run-up to King’s Day, how beautiful and lively the association life in the Achterhoek is. The Orange Ball will of course return to Doetinchem on 26 April during King’s Day.

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima and their family will come to Doetinchem on April 26. A special moment when millions of Dutch people will see the city in all its glory. Doetinchem not only wants to show why it is so pleasant to live in that municipality, but Doetinchem knows better than anyone: here we do it together. So the promotion of Doetinchem will also be the promotion of the Achterhoek.

Leading role for sports and exercise?

“Of course, sports and exercise play a role in the visit of the King and Queen. In Doetinchem, you can play sports from young to old and in all diversity. At top-level sports and at recreational sports level. And Doetinchem does not do this alone, various Achterhoek athletes and clubs together form our strength. Our association life is unprecedentedly strong in the entire region and we are going to show and feel that. In fact, we dare to say it out loud: The Achterhoek: the Largest Association in the Netherlands”, explain initiators Sport-ID and Achterhoek in Beweging.

Largest Association in the Netherlands

The Largest Association of the Netherlands does not come out of the blue as a ‘nickname’. For example, all Achterhoek municipalities have a higher percentage of sports association members than the rest of the Netherlands. National daily newspaper Trouw recently paid attention to it: “Remarkably enough, the Achterhoek is a region where the sports and exercise figures are substantially higher than in the rest of the Netherlands. In all age categories, there is more exercise at an association than the national average. That is typical for the area and ensures brotherhood.”

Association is social heritage

Pascal Kamperman of Achterhoek in Beweging, where nine municipalities in the region have joined forces to stimulate sports and exercise, says: “In the Achterhoek, the sports club as a ‘social heritage’ is still the place to come together. That is also due to our neighbourliness, our social relationship with each other. Although we also have to work hard to maintain that. In the Achterhoek, people cannot complain about the loyalty of people to the club.”

Solidarity and brotherhood

More traditional associations such as the brass band, carnival or the shooting club are also still very much alive in many Achterhoek municipalities. “To put that solidarity, the fraternization and therefore our association life in the spotlight, dozens of associations are participating in the promotion: the Achterhoek, The Largest Association of the Netherlands. It is great to promote that together before, during and after King’s Day”, as the joint initiators.

The big Orange Ball will be going through the Achterhoek from the first week of March. You can follow the journey on sport-id.nl/oranjebal and on socials with #OranjeBal