Rat Verlegh sticker: the story behind the name
Tomorrow at 8 PM, NAC kicks off the new season away at TOP Oss. A week later, on Friday, August 14, is the first 'Avondje NAC' of the season: at home against VVV-Venlo, in the Rat Verlegh Stadium. Just in time for that evening, a new sticker will be available in the shop. It's not about a player from this season. It's about the man who gave his name to our stadium.
Who was Rat Verlegh?
Antoon Verlegh was born in 1896 in Ginneken. He started playing football at the age of ten, and at twelve, he joined NOAD. When that club merged in 1912 into the new combination we now know as NAC, Verlegh joined the first team. He stayed there for nineteen years, until 1931. He earned his nickname, Rat, because he slipped through everywhere and no one could catch him. With NAC, he became champion of the South six times, and in 1921, the team even won the national title under his leadership. He played for Oranje eight times from 1920, scoring two goals.
For Verlegh, quitting football did not mean quitting NAC. He became a coach, board member, vice-chairman, and later honorary chairman. From its founding in 1912 until his death in 1960, he remained with the club for forty-eight years. Breda did not forget his loyalty. A youth tournament was named after him, a street in Breda bears his name, and in 1996, fans founded the fanzine De Rat in his honor. Since 2006, our stadium has officially been called Rat Verlegh Stadion. This season, that stadium turns thirty, and for twenty of those years, it has borne his name.
His face, now on your door or suitcase
That history is now also on a new, cut-out sticker. A portrait of Verlegh, drawn in yellow, black, and white, with a gaze as stern as you'd imagine him on the field in 1912. Below his face, the block letters DE RAT, with the small NAC shield between them. Ten by seven centimeters, made of PVC and water-resistant, so it will survive a shower on your suitcase or next to the front door.
Stick it on the walls of the stadium, or on your door. Whoever puts up this sticker shows that they know the club from further back than yesterday.
The season starts this week. The sticker is already here. If you want to see more of what just arrived at NACsfeer, you can find it in the newest collection.
Wide-angle documentary-style photograph of a football stadium exterior at dusk, shot from groundlevel near the entrance turnstiles. The sky is deep dusk blue fading to black, floodlight glowspilling warm yellow over the concrete facade. A small group of supporters walks toward the gates,several wearing black and yellow scarves and jackets, backs mostly to camera. Wet asphalt reflectsthe stadium lights in streaks. Atmosphere: anticipation before a match, old-school and lived-in, notglossy or corporate, slight grain like a real photograph rather than a render. Color palettedominated by black, warm yellow (#FDCE05), and white, with the dusk blue sky as contrast. No readabletext anywhere in the image, no logos, crests, or brand marks, no modern ultra-style choreography suchas flares held in formation, drums, capos, or balaclavas. Landscape orientation, 16:9.-->
