Supporters
Further information: Het LegioenThe supporters of Feyenoord are said to be one of the most loyal supporter groups in the world supporting the team during both good or bad times. They are nicknamed Het Legioen, Dutch for The Legion and can be found everywhere in The Netherlands and far across the Dutch borders. Squad number 12 is never given to a player, but is reserved for Het Legioen instead.
Feyenoord supporters are known to have a connection with fans of English Premier League club, Sunderland AFC. It is thought to have started in the 1970s when supporters of Sunderland moved to Rotterdam to work in the ports and docks, some of which remained in Rotterdam and settled there, thus taking an interest in the local team, Feyenoord. As the years passed, the interest from both sides grew and more people got involved. Supporters of Feyenoord often travel to the Stadium of Light on matchdays to support Sunderland, and vice versa with some Sunderland fans travelling to watch Feyenoord at De Kuip. It is common to find Sunderland shirts in De Kuip on a matchday and at the Stadium of Light, a St George's England flag with Feyenoord Mackems written across the red cross is on show at every match. Images of this flag can be found by searching 'Feyenoord Mackems' into Google Images.
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Famous quotes containing the word supporters:
“The opposition is indispensable. A good statesman, like any other sensible human being, always learns more from his opponents than from his fervent supporters. For his supporters will push him to disaster unless his opponents show him where the dangers are. So if he is wise he will often pray to be delivered from his friends, because they will ruin him. But though it hurts, he ought also to pray never to be left without opponents; for they keep him on the path of reason and good sense.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)
“No Government can be long secure without a formidable Opposition. It reduces their supporters to that tractable number which can be managed by the joint influences of fruition and hope. It offers vengeance to the discontented, and distinction to the ambitious; and employs the energies of aspiring spirits, who otherwise may prove traitors in a division or assassins in a debate.”
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881)
“The hydra of corruption is only scotched, not dead. An investigation kills and it and its supporters dead. Let this be had.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)