Non-participations
The Netherlands has missed only four contests in its Eurovision history. The first of these was at the 1985 contest, held in Gothenburg, Sweden. The contest, held on 4 May conflicted with the Dutch Remembrance of the Dead and as such the Netherlands withdrew.
In 1991 the contest was again held on 4 May, and so the Netherlands withdrew for the same reasons as in 1985.
The 1995 and 2002 contest were also missed, as a result of the country's poor showings in the previous year.
The Netherlands did compete in 2000. But at 22:00 hrs (Dutch time) the broadcast was cancelled because of the Enschede fireworks disaster which happened a few hours before. The points awarded by the Netherlands were taken from the backup jury vote, as there was not televote after the program was cut off.
Read more about this topic: Netherlands In The Eurovision Song Contest