By Oscar Halpert
Between the ages of 9 to 13, my father used to take me to Delta Park in Portland, Oregon (USA) to watch soccer games. There were three soccer fields. One of the teams I remember was called “Hollandia” and the players wore orange shirts. I remember all these men had black ponytails and brown skin.
I could not understand why they were from Holland because they did not have blue eyes and blond hair. This was in 1969. I watched Hollandia play against a team called “Germania” – the brown skinned against the white skinned, yet both groups were immigrants from Europe.
Fast forward, today I am married to the sister of one of those pony-tailed European immigrant soccer players. Now I understand.