Football is often described as the ultimate form of escapism—a 90-minute window where fans can forget their daily struggles and lose themselves in the tribal joy of the game. But if you open the matchday programme, the local advertisements are always there to ground you firmly back in reality. Page 46 of the October 2013 FC Groningen booklet is a masterpiece of Dutch pragmatism, offering a hilariously jarring contrast of B2B services and deeply personal life events.
Dominating the top of the page is an ad for Wagenborg Nedlift, a massive regional player in heavy transport and lifting, featuring a photo of giant industrial cranes. At the bottom, van Dijk van Es advertises groundwater drainage and heavy earthmoving. But sandwiched right in the middle of this heavy, blue-collar machinery is an advertisement for 2Divorce. The ad features a woman looking thoughtfully into the distance with the slogan: “Goed scheiden het kan echt” (A good divorce is really possible).
Placing an ad for divorce mediation in a football stadium magazine is a stroke of unvarnished realism. It acknowledges that the thousands of men and women sitting in the Euroborg aren’t just fans; they are people navigating the messy, complicated realities of adult life. Whether you need to lift a 50-ton concrete bridge or legally separate from your spouse, the matchday programme has a local specialist ready for you.
A Look into the Future
The companies on this page represent the enduring fabric of Dutch society. Wagenborg continued to grow into a massive, globally operating maritime and logistics conglomerate, remaining a proud pillar of the northern economy. Meanwhile, the pragmatic, mediation-first approach to divorce advertised by 2Divorce remains a staple of the Dutch legal system, designed to keep disputes out of backlogged courts. Looking back at this page from 2026, it remains a brilliant, slightly surreal snapshot of everyday life: a reminder that no matter what happens on the pitch, Monday morning always brings real-world problems.