In the highly digitized, modern commercial landscape of professional football, encountering an advertisement for a chimney sweep feels like stepping into a Charles Dickens novel. Yet, at the bottom of a 2013 FC Groningen advertising page, we find a bright blue ad for JD Klus- Schoorsteenveeg Bedrijf (Handyman and Chimney Sweep Company), complete with a magnificent logo of a traditional top hat and a sweeping brush.
This advertisement is a brilliant reminder of the diverse, often rural reality of the club’s fanbase. The company is based in Onstwedde, a village in the eastern municipality of Westerwolde, near the German border. While the city of Groningen was rapidly modernizing its heating infrastructure, the rural eastern provinces still heavily relied on traditional wood stoves and fireplaces for winter warmth. A chimney sweep was not a nostalgic novelty in Onstwedde; it was a vital, legally required service for fire safety.
The ad proudly displays the logo of the ASPB (the Dutch guild for chimney sweeps), ensuring professional reliability. The fact that a hyper-local, traditional tradesman from the far east of the province bought ad space in the matchday programme proves that the Euroborg was the ultimate commercial crossroads for the entire North, connecting ancient trades with modern sports marketing.
A Look into the Future
By 2026, the profession of the chimney sweep has found itself at the center of a fierce environmental debate. The Dutch government has implemented strict regulations on wood-burning stoves due to particulate matter pollution, heavily discouraging their use in urban areas. However, in rural regions like Westerwolde, the transition is slower, and the energy crisis of the early 2020s actually saw a temporary resurgence in wood heating. The chimney sweeps of today are less about traditional soot-clearing and more about environmental compliance and installing high-efficiency, low-emission flues. Yet, the iconic top hat logo remains a powerful symbol of a resilient, centuries-old craft that once proudly supported the local football club.