What is the similarity between the Drents Museum and FC Emmen? Both have been receiving sponsorship money from NAM for many years. There is also a difference. The Drents Museum has already had people from Extinction Rebellion visit a few times, remarkably enough these activists have not (yet) reported to FC Emmen. Mayor Eric van Oosterhout will not regret this, because the football public will probably react less favorably to such an action than the museum visitors.
Extinction Rebellion is very concerned about climate change and believes that the oil and gas industry is doing far too little in the transition to clean energy sources. That is why institutions should not allow themselves to be sponsored by NAM. Compare it with the tobacco industry: you don’t advertise obviously harmful products. Extinction Rebellion also knows that we cannot stop oil and gas from today to tomorrow, but it wants to make it clear to the public that we have to get rid of it as soon as possible.
You can very well argue that, as long as companies earn good money from oil and gas, it can’t hurt that a football club and a museum get a piece of it. But then NAM and FC Emmen should not be surprised if people make a connection between a donation from NAM for the stadium and the troubles surrounding oil extraction and waste water injection at Schoonebeek, as happened last week. If the recent turbulent history of NAM makes one thing clear, it is that such companies have a major impact on their environment and that they should be much more aware of this than was the case in the past.
There is another difference between the Drents Museum and FC Emmen. Director Harry Tupan makes no secret of how much money his museum receives from the NAM, for example, half a million euros recently came in for the new entrance. He also explains elaborately out why his museum chooses to accept that money. According to FC Emmen, we have nothing to do with how much money the sponsors transfer to the club.
This is where FC Emmen misses the mark. The NAM uses the sponsorship money to get in the good graces of the public through the football club. Openness is therefore required on both sides. It is still a legitimate choice that FC Emmen takes that money, but the how and why should not remain a secret.