A matchday programme is a snapshot of society’s DNA at a single point in time. Sometimes, the advertisements within them act as a canary in the coal mine for the broader economy. Page 16 of the August 2013 FC Groningen programme features a striking, full-page advertorial from Stichting Engineering Noord and AOT Noord with a bold, prophetic headline: “Er dreigt een tekort aan technici. Wacht u af? Wij niet.” (A shortage of technicians is looming. Are you waiting? We aren’t.)
The text paints a stark picture of the Dutch labor market in 2013. It warns that a wave of older technicians is about to retire, while too few students are entering the field. “A simple calculation shows that this will create vacancies. Across the Netherlands, there are no less than 80,000 unfilled vacancies. But also in the North, there are many thousands of extra technical jobs,” the ad states, urging young fans and parents reading the booklet to consider MBO-level engineering courses.
Alt text: Engineering Noord technical shortage advertisement scan from FC Groningen programme 2013
Placing this ad in a football programme was a highly targeted strategy. The demographic in the stands of the Euroborg represented the exact working-class and middle-class families the engineering sector desperately needed to reach. It was a direct appeal to the pragmatic, hard-working ethos of the northern provinces.
A Look into the Future
Reading this advertisement from the vantage point of 2026 is almost chilling in its accuracy. The “looming shortage” warned about in 2013 metastasized into a full-blown national crisis by the 2020s. As the province of Groningen was forced to rapidly accelerate its green energy transition—shutting down natural gas extraction due to seismic activity and pivoting to wind, solar, and hydrogen—the demand for skilled technicians skyrocketed beyond anyone’s wildest estimates. The 80,000 vacancies mentioned in this ad seem almost quaint compared to the crippling labor shortages that would later delay major infrastructure and climate projects across the Netherlands.