Did you know that Dutch football (soccer) fans' orange lederhosen offended the Fédération Internationale de Football Association or FIFA, because they carry the logo for the Dutch beer, Bavaria? The Dutch brewery that makes Bavaria beer is not a sponsor for the games, so officials did not want the logo to be seen in the stadium -- especially since several thousand screaming fans were wearing identical lederhosen.
What makes these pants so special? In addition to their garrish orange color, these were special pants for other reasons; they came with the tail of a lion, Holland's national symbol, and two extra large pockets for storing beer cans.
So what did stadium officals do when Dutch fans showed up to watch their team play against Ivory Coast?
Stadium officials in Stuttgart made the supporters take their pants off so they ended up watching Holland's 2-1 victory in their underpants.
"They put our trousers in the bin," said an aggrieved Peer Swinkels, the chairman of Bavaria, Holland's second biggest brewery. "Fans going into the stadium had to dump them in a big container. FIFA said that the supporters could get them back afterwards. But the container was full of rubbish so most people didn't bother. I understand that FIFA wants to protect its sponsors. But this is very strange."
FIFA, however, claims it has done nothing wrong and is entitled to defend itself against what it calls "ambush marketing".
Hopefully the fans were also wearing orange underwear with big Bavaria logos on them.
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Delurking from the Netherlands:
What irony. Had fifa allowed the "Löwenhosen" nobody would have noticed them, as the orange trousers blend in pretty well with the rest of the orange attire.
Now Bavaria beer and their funny trousers are known worldwide, thanks to fifa!
Somewhat off-topic, but I'm watching the Saudi Arabia-Ukraine game, and there's a big Polish flag at one end (Ukraine's in the first half) on which is written "Velcro Mitts" and below it "Liverpool FC".
Ah, Dudek. But why this match?
Bob
My understanding is that this was due to the lack of beer at the soccer game - the sponser is Budweiser.