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"Schupt 'm tege z'n schenke!" A home match for both teams. “Schupt‘um tege z’n schenke!” ("kick him against the shins!") is being shouted in heavy dialect from the sidelines. Like always, things get heated during the annual soccer game between the two neighbouring villages.
Derbies have been a succesful method for centuries, to blow off steam and strengthen the community feel. "A home match for both teams" is about a soccer game between the two rivalling dutch villages Wintelre and Vessum. Naturally, both teams would prefer to play a home game. No problem! For this event, the soccer field has been moved to the municipal border, in the fields between the two villages... (continue reading on next page)

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"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" (...) The centerline of the soccer field runs exactly over the border, in this case an irrigation ditch and a line of trees. The land of Wintelre is a metre lower here than that of Vessum. The teams won't switch sided halfway, but keep "defending" their own grounds and goal. The natural features and further design of the event, create amusing situations and provoke the rivalry. The goal? Derby's are known for bringing people together. A whole village or even country will stand together behind their team. It becomes an exiting topic in town to talk about and live up to. "A home match for both" is a caricature of the village's rivalry in the form of an already popular succer match. It revives the village's traditions and identity, and bond the villagers even more. A delight at a time in society where sometimes we don't even know anymore who lives next door from us.

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"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" Whit the sound of the referee's whistle, the kick-off takes place from the centre spot and the players will have to lob the ball out of the ditch. An elegant way to start the match! The soccer players are the only ones to cross the border, attempting to score on their neighbour's half. The audience stays at all times on their own grounds, they wouldn't dare crossing to their rival's side! The ditch makes a clear border for everyone.

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"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" The symbol of the match is a look-out tower, on top of the ditch. Each villge has their own entry and a hole in the middle keeps the supporters seperated. From here, they can cheer on their own teams, using the megaphones on the tower. It also shows the score. After the game the music starts and the villagers enter the party tent, each on their own side, that has been put up over the ditch. The local musicians share the stage, and can either battle with their music or play together. When the event is over, the party tent is taken down, but the watch tower stays year-round as a memory. Revanche next year!

"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" This animation video illustrates the course of the event. This story is based upon the hisotry and location of the two rivalling villages Vessum and Wintelre in The Netherlands. And like them, there are many more in this world. Every sports field and event would look different, but one this is certain, it will happen on the border!

You can watch the video full screen.

"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" This short film (Dutch with a Brabant's dialect) shows the real happening of a part of the event! Two villagers from each town, built the watch tower together on the municipal border, followed by a festive opening. The people from Wintelre and Vessem that came to the opening, made darn sure to stay on their own grounds, resulting in hilarious exchanges and happenings that they had come up with. It was a little taste of what the total event could look like. The playfull rivalry was emphasized by the prince carnaval of each town, the town's "tonproaters" (comparable with comedians) and the enthousiastic audience that made an effort to show off their traditions and identity. The real game is yet to happen, no lack of enthusiasm!

You can watch the video full screen.
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"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" The invitation for the opening of the watch tower on December 10th, handed out to the residents of Vessem and Wintelre.

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"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" The watch tower stand over the ditch in the open fields. To get here, the supporters have to walk a few hundred meters along the ditch from the road. The sign on the road makes sure the supporters stay on their own side of the ditch. The ditch is found midway of the road that connects the two villages.

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"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" The two carnaval clubs from the town build the watch tower. Special thanks go out to contractor De Wit van Loon from Wintelre, who was very enthusiastic to contribute to this project.

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"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" Forester Hoppenbrouwers uses his chainsaw to cut a piece of plywood to size.

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"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" Working together on the border.

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"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" The finished watch tower, with megaphones, the score, and sponsor signs. On the opposite side is the welcome sign. On the sides the villages each painted their favorite soccer slogans. Because Wintelre's land is a meter lower than Vessum's, they need a step on their side to get onto the watch tower.

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"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" The slogan sign of Wintelre says, in Dutch: "Ze kunnen niet voetballen die struiven, maar na de wedstrijd zijn we weer vredesduiven". Vessem's naam tijdens carnaval is Struifdonk. (not translatable to English)

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"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" The sign of Vessum says: "Wentersel, the level drops". ("Wentersel, het niveau daalt") The church of Wintelre (Wentersel in dialect) lies geographically at least a meter lower than Vessum, and this is by coincident visible at the border. Another of their slogans says: "When the world ends, I will go to Wentersel, because they are 10 years behind". ("Als de wereld vergaat ga ik naar Wentersel, daar lopen ze 10 jaar achter") The third slogan says, and this can only be explained in Dutch: "Was DEES: Wentersul?" Een veelgemaakte woordgrap. De voetbalclub van Wentersul heet VV DEES. "Was dees" is plat Vessems voor "wat is dit?" Wentersel wordt door Vessem ook maar al te graag met een U op het einde geschreven.

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"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" The arrival of the residents from Wintelre. Their carnavals club is named the "Huifnarren" (hooded jesters), so very appropriately they came with a "huifkar", a hooded horse carriage.

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"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" The enthusiastic cheers and shout outs through the megephones as the illusional soccer match between two villagers kicked off.

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"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" Wintelre to Vessem from the centre point. A brief taste of the real match.

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"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" Adjusting the score. Vessem gave itself a generous head start of 30 points, because Wintelre's supporters arrived too late.

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"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" Vessum makes "spekstruiven", pancakes, for Wintelre on a "brandpaal". Spekstruiven is the name of the carnavals club of Vessem. After this, Wintelre fried some eggs for Vessem, which is their traditional local dish to be consumed after parties.

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"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" The pancakes are being trensferred to Wintelre's ground.

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"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" The bonbons that were designed for the event were well received. Special thanks to Chocolade-Atelier de Zaligheid from Wintelre, who made all of them with a very short notice!
Also the local warehuis of Vessem, Super Service Henst deserves a thank you, they pitched in with some beer!

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"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" De bonbons of Wintelre and Vessem. The villagers had a hard time deciding which village they actually wanted to eat.

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"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" Prins carnaval of Vessem gifts Wintelre als a symbol of De Spekstruiven een nice "panneke" (frying pan). Prins carnaval of Wintelre gave Vessem for reconciliation a "kruidenbitter" (gin with herbs).

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"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" Two tonproaters (comedians of carnaval) of Vessem and Wintelre "steken de draak met elkaar" (playing jokes on each other) and tell an entertaining story about the course of the rivalry between the two villages.

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"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" To conclude the happenings, they buried the hatched in the middle of the ditch, exacty on the border between the two villages. To this day, the axes lies there in the dirt, but not too deep, because as Hoppenbrouwers said it: "Als ge het nou 'n beetje te bond maakt, kun je hier altijd de bijl d'r uithaol'n. En als dan iemand de kop ingeslagen wordt, weet ge in ieders geval, dat 'r ene gedaon heeft, van wie hier bij staot." (If things get out of hand, we can dig it up. Then, if someone gets knocked down with it, we know it was done by one of us here!)

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"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" Aferwards the villagers commented on the happening in front of the camera. You can see these Dutch comments in the end of the video (slide 6).

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"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" The model by Petra that was used to build the watch tower. The egg holds it down, because, like any other day in The Netherlands, it was windy.

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"Schupt 'um tege z'n schenke!" The watch tower stood for another week in the fields, before it got broken down.

A big thank you to the villagers of Vessem and Wintelre, of which so many helped me with great enthusiasm to bring this graduation project to a succes!

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