Netherlands: Why has hockey never been able to establish a foothold in Netherlands

[saskriders]

On some levels it seems a bit strange at how irrelevant the Netherlands is at hockey. It isn't a sport that is completely unknown in Europe and poorer and less populated countries like Slovakia, Finland, or Norway have been able to establish themselves as decent hockey countries. Netherlands also has a big skating culture, and while it is a different type of skating why has a skating game not become somewhat popular? Especially when other winter sports are less accessable due to the lack of mountains. And with field hockey being popular it seems like blending it with skating and getting hockey is a natural fit. And yet hockey in Netherlands is so irrelevant that their team competes with countries like Spain.

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[Eye of Ra]

Too tired to look it up right now but i think Netherlands was 1A team for a long time. They where better before.

 

[Vandalay Industries]

On some levels it seems a bit strange at how irrelevant the Netherlands is at hockey. It isn't a sport that is completely unknown in Europe and poorer and less populated countries like Slovakia, Finland, or Norway have been able to establish themselves as decent hockey countries. Netherlands also has a big skating culture, and while it is a different type of skating why has a skating game not become somewhat popular? Especially when other winter sports are less accessable due to the lack of mountains. And with field hockey being popular it seems like blending it with skating and getting hockey is a natural fit. And yet hockey in Netherlands is so irrelevant that their team competes with countries like Spain.

My take is that hockey in Nederland got a very bad reputation in the 80's and 90's and is still hurting from that.

Nederland used to be a country that wasn't very far from breaking into the worlds top-12 back then. There were only 8 teams at the world championships in those days and 8 teams in the "B group" as it was called at the time. Nederland was pretty firmly positioned at the bottom of the "B group". They even made the promotion in 1979 to play the Olympics of 1980 (you know, the year USA with a bunch of amateurs famously beat the Soviets) and the "A group" in 1981.

The best teams in the Dutch league had a fair amount of really rough Canadians and Americans on their teams and they made a mess at a bunch of games. I think the bubble burst at a game in the European cup for clubs in Denmark where Nijmegen took things so far over the edge that the sport got a big fat stamp of being way too violent in the Dutch press.

There's a video here from that particular game:



In my opinion this started a downward spiral that Dutch hockey has just never recovered from even with a bunch of rule changes internationally over the years. It's hard enough already to compete with the gigantic Dutch interest in soccer/football, but even harder with a bad reputation and all the non-interest in the sport that followed.

At this point the hockey is so bad that it will take many years of concentrated effort to turn things around. Probably starting with a collected effort to get good coaching at all levels in all the clubs and then build on that ever so slowly. Probabaly never will happen, but Nederland is at least 30 years away from being able to compete even for a one shot promotion to the top flight at the world championships. Of course they could also do as China, South Korea, Great Britain and others have done and just naturalize a bunch of Canadians and Americans, but I'm talking about building their own hockey culture again. And it is a painstakingly rough task for them at this point.

On another note it might also be a problem with the global warming since the rather famous skating culture in Nederland back in the days on all the brooks and creeks and streams has taken a toll with the rise in temperature. Most of these surfaces are already build poorly for hockey and more for just skating (they used to have a lot of good power skaters, I don't know if they still do), but even if you can't play hockey on the streams in Amsterdam for instance you can still learn to skate and get interested in hockey that way. It's just not as often any more that they even turn into ice over the winter.

 

[Urbanskog]

Of course they could also do as China, South Korea, Great Britain and others have done and just naturalize a bunch of Canadians and Americans

The imports that can be naturalized through BeNeLiga don't quite compare with what's possible through the EIHL, Asia League, not to mention the KHL. Of course, if the German league system eventually permits the Tilburg Trappers to be promoted, then that might be an option at some point.

It's a shame that Daniel Sprong seems to be completely disinterested in the idea of doing something for Dutch hockey.

 

[boltsy]

Interesting topic, specially logged in for this one after a 3+ - year absence. I've been watching hockey in the Netherlands from my hown town Heerenveen since the early 2000's.

I like Vandalay's theory. Hockey in the Netherlands is still pretty tough, it always has been. I never realised that until I began seeing hockey games in Germany. Less checking, way more technique and puck movement. The famous Alex Andjelic once stated about the Dutch youth system that ''every game turns out in a war.'' Belgium, which is highly influenced by Netherlands in terms of hockey, is quite the same. And it's true, I've seen so many games turn out into absolute mayhems, ridiculous hits, vicious assaults and a lot of other crazy stuff.

In total there are just 3000 (I believe) hockey members in the Dutch ice hockey federation. The Dutch Olympic board canceled the funding early 2010 or so (I believe), and it very rarely gets any attention in the mainstream media. Still, some clubs manage to get good attendance when there is some success.

My hometown club is putting up solid numbers around 1500 - 2400 per game and qua allure, it feels more like a DEL2 or bigger Oberliga club. HIJS The Hague is similar. Tilburg (Dutch team in Oberliga) is a well-known thing in hockey, Nijmegen, Geleen, but also Groningen and maybe even Utrecht and Amsterdam have potential to 1000+ with a sleeping known-to-be-hardcore fan base. Also cities as Leeuwarden, Den Bosch, Eindhoven might be able to host 500 average in better hockey days for Netherlands, which will probably never come.

I always found that strange, but Vandalay's theory might be the explanation.