The new Tulip big league season is upon us. With the double between Amsterdam and Hurley, the new field hockey year on the very highest level begins on Saturday. Traditionally, we on field hockey.nl look ahead and we do so today at the men’s side. Will Amsterdam’s sudden success continue? And which talents and foreigners should we look out for this year?
First things first. Who will take the title this year?We could work towards a final conclusion with a lot of pluses and minuses. But we’d rather give that one right away. We put our money on Kampong, just like last season. Then we weren’t proven right, because the Utrechters lost the final to Amsterdam. Of course the departure of David Harte ‘the best acquisition ever of Kampong’ feels like a huge loss. But his replacement is a good one: Spaniard Luis Calzado impressed at the Olympics and also kept a good European Championship. So they still have a top international goalie at their disposal at De Klapperboom.
True, they have those at the rest of the top six, seven as well. But Kampong also still has one of the best corner shooters in the world with Jip Janssen. In every line there are several top players, who can find each other blind. From Lars Balk and Sander de Wijn to Derck de Vilder and Jonas de Geus. With that, Kampong has a particularly well-balanced selection that knows what it takes to become champions (they did that in 2024) and a group that is eager for honor after last season. Final argument: aside from the change in goal, no big stars have come or gone. Indeed, the heart of the team has been playing together for years. That adds to the stability in Tim Oudenaller’s squad.
Jip Janssen during the playoffs against Bloemendaal. Photo: Bart Scheulderman
And who will make the playoffs?Perhaps an even more difficult question than the one above. Again this season there are seven teams vying for four spots. So Kampong we write down for the blowout of the competition. The same goes for Rotterdam. Because in retrospect, it is a sporting miracle that Erik van Driel’s team finished last season after only 22 games. They had all the tools to make a decent bid for the title. Back then, club icon Jeroen Hertzberger was still there. No new top player came in his place, so the selection lost in quality. On the other hand: with six internationals, Rotterdam was hoflevancier for the Dutch European Championship selection. That fact alone would be a reason to write the single national champion up for the playoffs. In short: time for sporting revenge.
We also make room in this list for Den Bosch, which reached the semifinals last season for the first time in four years. That happened with a fine goalkeeper, excellent corner (Timo Boers even pushed more often than Janssen last year) and, of course, internationals Thierry Brinkman and Koen Bijen, on whom the team relies heavily. A tough unit with fewer stars than Rotterdam and Kampong and thus an outsider for the title.
Floris Middendorp. Photo: Willem Vernes
As number four we note Amsterdam. Rick Mathijssen’s team proved last year that they could deliver. At the hand of star Floris Middendorp – rightly voted best player of the league – the first title in thirteen years was captured. Amsterdam has only gotten stronger; they already landed top English goalkeeper Ollie Payne in the winter. So there is really no reason why the title holder should not make the playoffs this year. Although they are certainly not the favorite.
So who, in our crystal ball, is missing out? Pinoké, Oranje-Rood and – historically most surprisingly – Bloemendaal. Our main argument for the latter choice: the lack of a real penalty-coring canon. That was also a pain point in the lost EHL final against Gantoise. No one from the current selection of the record champion utilized more than ten corners last season. Their main specialist Marc Miralles managed to do so, but is now playing field hockey again in Spain.
Who will be below the line soon?The usual suspects. The two promoters Schaerweijde and Laren and playout participant Hurley will fight it out between the three of them to see who will be relegated immediately. On paper, the teams of “The Little Three” seem little different from each other. We cannot ignore the metamorphosis that took place in Zeist. No less than eleven new names are on the list of returning coach Razwan Ahmed. That extreme change causes us to list Schaerweijde as number twelve.
Laren and Hurley are slightly more stable, so we put them in the playoff spots. That it can go either way in that, Hurley knows all too well. Last season the Amsterdammers needed shoot-outs against Tilburg to stay in the big league. Watch out: Hurley has Joren Romijn under the crossbar this season. He was first choice with national champion Amsterdam last season, but left due to the arrival of Payne.
Struan Walker and Jelle Galema. Photo: Ewout Pahud
Who will be this season’s best foreigner?The list of contenders is long. From Mustapha Cassiem (Amsterdam) to Thies Prinz (Pinoké) and from Arno van Dessel (Bloemendaal) to Pol Cabré-Verdiell (Oranje-Rood). We will highlight one that already stands out to us. A newcomer, also from OR. We are talking about Struan Walker, the Scot who already impressed during the preparation. He came over from England’s Surbiton in the summer.
Walker reminds a bit of Sam Lane, who played field hockey in Eindhoven a few years ago. A real striker, with a penalty corner who can hit it rock hard. He was the king of the league run at Oranje-Rood and may now really make it happen. We are looking forward to it.
Which talent should we pay extra attention to?With the World Under 21 Championship approaching, an interesting question. Tim Knapper (19) already stood out two seasons ago at Schaerweijde and in the long term he could become one of the best defenders in the Netherlands at Pinoké. We always enjoy Joppe Wolbert (20), of Den Bosch. Multifunctional and playing with his heart on the stick. A hard worker, who also has a corner in the house. We are curious about the steps Jan van ‘t Land (also only 20) is taking with Bloemendaal, where he has been playing for a few years now. A little less experienced, but certainly talented, are Lucas Corstens (Amsterdam) and Teun Hogenhout (Bloemendaal). They played the European Under-18 Championship in Lille last summer and will also assert themselves in the big league this year.
And who or what are we going to miss the most this year?383 goals. 22 seasons in which he missed only one game. We’re really going to get down to it. To a big league season without its top scorer of all time, Jeroen Hertzberger.
Prediction final score1. Kampong2. Rotterdam3. Den Bosch4. Amsterdam5. Bloemendaal6. Oranje-Rood7. Pinoké8. Klein Zwitserland9. HDM10. Laren11. Hurley12. Schaerweijde
