\n<\/p>\n
Allow me to set a scene. Last night, I\u2019m a worrying angle of horizontal on my couch, the Japan vs The Netherlands World Cup<\/a> game is on my TV. I\u2019ve got an ice cold Modelo in my hands, the king of all small beers<\/a>, my flatmates and I are chomping our way through an overpriced bag of organic tortilla chips. My eyes are twitching.<\/p>\n The first part of that scene was normal. Lovely, even. Invited! Wanted! More Modelos! The last part was because I didn\u2019t realise the Dutch football team had invented a shade of orange brighter than the sun. Each player looked like a tiny heat map of themselves. Like the Dutch team, post a visit to Chernobyl, where they had been launched directly into the Elephant\u2019s Foot.<\/p>\n At first, I thought it might have been my TV<\/a>. I flipped over to my settings and switched things around to \u2018Dynamic\u2019 instead of \u2018Standard,\u2019 thinking that would fix things. Silly me! Instead, it only confirmed what I already thought: their kit is just really, extremely, ridiculously bright.<\/p>\n Maja Hitij – FIFA\/Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n As I watched Virgil Van Dijk<\/a> lob one into the net, my eyes were near watering. In some long-shots, as the players flew across the screen, the kit was so neon you could barely read the names on the back, the brightness of the orange creating an almost blurring effect. In contrast, Japan\u2019s classic blue was crisp and soothing. Every non-Dutch camera shot was like a splash of eye drops for my retinas.<\/p>\n On my laptop screen just now, the orange seems normal enough. Enough that I kind of feel like I\u2019m gaslighting you. And, to be honest, maybe I\u2019d be doubting myself if I didn\u2019t have threads of groupchats from my friends with some variation of: \u2018Are the Dutch uniforms really bright or have I developed some sort of serious eye condition? Should I go to the hospital? Someone tell my mother I love her\u2019.<\/p>\n Thankfully, the Internet agrees with me \u2013 something it rarely does. \u201cDutch kit is just too bright,\u201d says Carl, with great brevity. Another wrote, \u201cThis shade of Netherlands kit is a level of orange I\u2019ve never seen before. This s*** ain\u2019t orange. They made a new colour.\u201d<\/p>\n Maybe the Netherlands didn\u2019t camera-test their kits. Happens to the best of us. Or maybe it\u2019s some sort of new warfare technique to blind spectators and the VAR. Either way I\u2019ll be watching the next match with sunglasses<\/a> on (and a Modelo).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n