With the Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM), FC has a new stadium sponsor, it was announced on Sunday. A company that is not exactly undisputed because of the earthquakes in Groningen, the oil extraction in Drenthe and the possible injection of waste water into the ground near Schoonebeek.
The outcome of the statement ‘It’s great that NAM will be stadium sponsor of FC Emmen’ was almost fifty-fifty. In fact, 50.4 percent of the participants agreed and 49.6 percent disagreed with that statement.
‘Perhaps this is the start of a broader form of cooperation with numerous regional companies to invest in a new stadium. Time is running out. To stand still is to go backwards’, responds a one-voter. Another suggests: ‘And Gasunie sponsor Groningen. People are finally doing something good in return.’
“Negative image also reflects on the club”
Suspicion remains among the voters, however: ‘If NAM sees potential in this, why not? I do wonder why in good peace NAM finds it necessary to advertise itself. I can’t buy anything from them at the supermarket.’ And someone cynically comments: ‘Nice gesture from a company that does everything else wrong’. Another adds: ‘But with a caveat. Don’t forget to ‘sponsor’ the people in Groningen as well.
The opponents are even more suspicious: ‘It feels like mea culpa. The NAM has done a lot of damage. Many will remember this for a long time. I wouldn’t grant them this “honor.” Another thinks that this sponsor is bad for FC Emmen. “Sponsors must be of impeccable behavior, a negative image also reflects on the club.”
Another voter against is more vehement: ‘To pollute our surface and then play nice weather with the sponsorship of a football club? Let NAM build a factory for clean water for everyone in Drenthe, good for employment, for our children and for our drinking water supply! Not to mention Groningen!’
And yet another ‘disagree’ voter writes: ‘A club that says it is a club of the people – where the province for North Drenthe is asking for 4.5 billion compensation a month and a half ago because of the earthquakes – and then a month and a half later announcing NAM as the stadium sponsor misses the mark completely.’