I want to thank @Mofif for writing THIS article which inspired me to write this one.

And while I'm at it, I might as well remind you of my awesome sponsors. They're worth your attention!

The title for today's article is the full name of the Football club of my city and my heart, NAC Breda. It has held the record for the longest club name for a long time until some club in Korea came up with something. The translation of the name is:

Never give up, Always persevere, pleasant through entertainment and Usefull through relaxation combination.

The beginning.

It was in 1912 when two local small football clubs, forced by low membership and revenues, decided to join together to form one club to represent the city of Breda. NOAD (founded 14 july 1895) and ADVENDO (founded 1 november 1904) combined to form N.A.C. on 19 september 1912.

reinactment:

The first match was played on 3 november 1912 against E.M.M. from Vlissingen.

The club with cool guys

N.A.C. became something more than just the local football club that had to bow to the rival clubs with big sponsors in the province Noord-Brabant. It is unclear when exactly it happened and there is debate on the why it happened but NAC (we never use the dots) became the spirit and personality of the city Breda taken shape.

Breda has always been a city with its own spirit and never satisfied with being a silent follower. One of the oldest cities in the Netherlands (1st mentioned in the early 800's and oldest surviving document confirming city rights from the early 1200's) and with close ties to what later became the royal family, the Nassau family, Breda has always played a bigger role, in every topic and level, than anyone would expect it to. The Bredanaars (a citizen of Breda) are proud of their spirit, their role in the history of our nation (Willem van Oranje, our father of the fatherland, was from Breda) and our ties with the royal family.

Breda's anthem reflects that Breda spirit in its lyrics:

Te midden van de paarse heide,

Waar samenstroomen Mark en Aa,

Daar ligt geroemd door alle tijden

Onz' eigen stad, ons fier Breda.

Breda vooruit! De klokken luiden.

Breda, gij blijft de schoonste stad van 't Zuiden!

Zo lang daar rond den slanken toren

Nog klopt het echt Bredasche bloed,

Gaat nimmer d'eigen aard verloren

Die jolig is en blijven moet.

Breda vooruit! De klokken luiden.

Breda, gij blijft de parel van 't Zuiden.

Vanuit onz' oude vestingwallen

Ontplooide zich der vad'ren strijd,

Door moed, beleid en trouw aan allen,

Naar Neerlands onafhankelijkheid.

Breda vooruit! De klokken luiden.

Breda, gij blijft de Mauritsstad van 't Zuiden.

Wij juichen, trouw aan de historie,

Gebonden aan den Nassau-stam,

Nu over oude Oranje glorie

Een nieuwe zonne stralen kwam.

Breda vooruit! De klokken luiden.

Breda, gij blijft d'Oranjestad van 't Zuiden

In the middle of the purple heather, Where do Mark and Aa merge, 
There lies praised by all times Onz' own city, our proud Breda. 

Breda ahead! The bells are ringing. 

Breda, you remain the cleanest city in the South! 
So long around the slender tower The real Breda blood is still beating,
Never loses its own nature Who is and must remain jolly. 

Breda ahead! The bells are ringing. 

Breda, you remain the pearl of the South. 
From our old ramparts developed our father's struggle,
By courage, policy and loyalty to all, To Dutch independence. 

Breda ahead! The bells are ringing. 

Breda, you remain the Mauritsstad of the South. We cheer, true to history, 
Bound to the Nassau tribe, Now about old Orange glory A new ray of sunshine came. 

Breda ahead! The bells are ringing. 

Breda, thou remains the orange city of the South.

Breda is one of the few cities that has its own anthem, which in itself sais something about it's spirit.

In our club song, our club anthem, there are the lines:

Zoveel jaren lang al is ons N.A.C. de Parel van het Zuiden

NAC spreekt ieder jaar opnieuw een woordje mee, lang leve N.A.C.

(...)

De club van toffe jongens is de trots van heel Breda

En Brabantse supporters leven mee!

which the translator turns into:

For so many years, our N.A.C. has been the Pearl of the South. 
NAC speaks a word every year, long live N.A.C. 
(...) 
The club of great boys is the pride of the whole of Breda
And Brabant supporters sympathize!

It refers to the role NAC has always played on the national football stage. We're never expected to be champions, never expected to win the cup, but our adversaries are always apprehensive when playing us, because we almost always have a role in the league's unfolding.

Avondje NAC. (little evening NAC)

Any football supporter in the Netherlands knows this phenomenon, and it's a trademarked expression. It refers to the tradition of playing our home matches in the evening, preferably on Saturday, but on Friday if circumstances demand it. Other teams mostly have the preference of playing on afternoons usually.

For us it's traditional to play in the evening, as an unofficial start signal for the weekend's night out on the town. A quote from someone once said "Don't let NAC play in the afternoon, half of the supporters and the team will have a hangover." which we like to think is insightful and wise. ;-)

But the main meaning of an avondje NAC is that the fans on an evening NAC are so passionate, loud , proud and loyal to the club and our team that any opponent playing us in our home venue rightfully feel intimidated a little. The term "The 12th player" is in that sense an accurate description.

Notable hisory

Ofcourse here our most memorable event with which I will start this part of the article is our EUFA CUP match against the Magpies, Newcastle United. It was the first time in 30 years we had qualified for international football, and we were proud of it. Even though only 2000 tickets were available its estimated around 6000 NAC fans (called the rats by other club's fans) made the journey across the pond to the UK and settled in Newcastle Upon Tyne to celebrate NAC's Euro-adventure. At first the local authorities, the constabulary, the Ferry operators and the Newcastle upon tyne's people were concerned and apprehensive about so many NAC fans converging on the Magpies home town. The year before the visiting Feyenoord fans had misbehaved (understatement) and didn't do the reputation of Dutch football fans any favors.

Those concerns didn't last long though and both those with tickets, and those without tickets gathered in local pubs and squares, behaved brilliantly. Newcastle was colored yellow for that day with even the town's fountains spouting yellow water. Before the end of the first half of the match all the beer in the city and surrounding counties had run out, not a drop left anywhere. In the stadium the 2000 Rats managed to earn the respect, and applause, from the Magpies by regularly singing louder than the home fans and singing "Always look on the bright side of life" from the moment NAC was behind 5-0.

The only footage I could find of that match:

But our history isn't just one match ofcourse. We won the National championship in 1921. We played the cupfinal 4 times and won it in 1973. Our most famous club icon was Antoon "de rat" Verlegh who played for NAC a long time as well as with our national team. HERE is a Memorial page for the man (in Dutch). There are some buildings and a street as well as some organisations named after him, most notably our home stadium "Rat Verlegh Stadion".

Another notable history tidbit is that near the end of the last match played in our old stadium we nearly burned it down.

NAC in the community

In our city almost everyone has "something" with NAC. Even those not interested in football at all will, when in conversation NAC is mentioned, ask "What did NAC do last Saturday?" with genuine interest. NAC "lives" among the people here. The connection of the people with the club is evident by the 3 times that the club's future was saved by public funding raised through "Red NAC" events and campaigns without the help of municipal government. The shareholders of the club are all local people who also have played a role in the continued existence of the club.

If that is not enough than the number of season tickets sold every year, despite being in the 1st Division (where the Honor Division is the highest league of our nation) for the past 2 seasons, is capped at 14000. NAC could sell all 19.900 seats as season tickets but the club wants to save tickets for loose sale at the ticketoffice for those who want to visit one match or just a couple. But it could sell 19.900 season tickets if it wanted to. Almost every match we have a sold out stadium. There are honor division clubs that have trouble filling half their stadiums!

Beer

One thing we rats are known for with the other football clubs (and we're covertly proud of) is our beer consumption. We outdrink every and all the other clubs in both leagues in total litres (so not adjusted for attendance!) and have done so for over a decade! So that means that 19.900 rats drink more litres of beer than, for example, Ajax (who's nickname is considered a bit facist by wokeholes: "the jews") with a capacity of 55.600 or Feyenoord (the cockroaches) with a capacity of 47.500 seats.

The essence of NAC

As its way past the time I absolutely had to go to sleep I'm going to wrap this article up much sooner than i'd planned to and certainly without doing NAC and its fans enough justice. I'm going to end this by summing up the essence, the core, of the club and its fans, which are an inextricable part of one another.

NAC is a provincial club of a smaller but old and culture rich city, which never had the means (sponsor) to have ambitions of consistently fighting for the championship every season but nevertheless is a force to be reckoned with for any opponent. Its known for its fans who are loyal and devoted to their club and never stop singing, cheering, shouting and drinking their team forward. "Avondje NAC" an evening NAC, is known throughout the Netherlands and visiting teams are always a little anxious when playing against NAC on their home turf. The most important and most admirable is the love, passion and dedication of the NAC fans, the NAC rats. The singing and shouting never stops until the referee blows the whistle for the end of the match, after which the fans all go and overwhelm the cafe's in their beautiful city, as one of their chants says.

originally it began as a (bad) song by a local singer/songwriter/comedian Guido Weyers:

And it sounds like this coming from the stands:

For those who like to see and hear more from/about us, I've included some more memorable video's.

The world shall not perish as long as the love continues to exist, the love for our own proud Breda...

Celebrating Promotion in front of city hall at the great square:

(the buildings, all monuments, as well as the cathedral (from 1242) moved by at least 1,2 centimeters during this. It was the last time the celebrations would be held in that location. This Left left left and so on, inspired by a song from the Snollebollekes, was soon copied all over the world. First in Breda:

Then in Austria at the Formula 1 race:

Then a hardstyle event took it:

then it got copied all over the world:

Paris:

But eventually the record was brought back to the Netherlands (an actual earthquake was registered of 1+ on the richer scale!):

That last one has instructions if anyone needs it.. :P

But rember this: IT ALL STARTED WITH NAC IN BREDA!

I want to give you so much more but i'm out of time friends. But i'll be back... expect me!

Anyway thanks for reading this!
Stay safe and stay happy!

@AnonSunamun