The first national title in thirteen years. It caused unprecedented euphoria among the hockey players of Rotterdam on Monday afternoon. Players were at each other’s throats. Yet there was someone on the sidelines who seemed to experience the grand prize even more intensely: coach Erik van Driel.
In January this year, the club announced that it would part ways with him after the season. The club management spoke of “a strategic consideration”. They were looking for “a different type of coach” for the next phase of the club. But the outgoing coach led the club to the main prize at home on Whit Monday.
That did not happen with the fluid attacking play that his team often showed this season. The tension was too great for that, the temperature was too high and the number of errors was too numerous. International Thijs van Dam was again the driving force of the team in midfield, which is characterized by many position changes and speed in midfield and the vanguard. “That is our strength, but it can also be our weakness, our pitfall,” said attacker Tjep Hoedemakers after the win in the first semi-final match against Pinoké (1-2).
Anyone who looks at the statistics of the season will see what the international means. No team in the premier league scored more in its 22 league matches than Rotterdam: no less than 88 times. The downside of the attractive game is that opponents often have a chance in the counterattack after Rotterdam loses the ball.
International Thijs van Dam from Rotterdam in action in the final against Amsterdam.
ANP
Fortunately for Van Driel, he also has several internationals in the back line, which limited the number of goals conceded in the competition to 38. Justen Blok is the leader of the defense, with the often excellent international Pepijn van Heijningen next to him on the right.
The return in the semi-final against Pinoké at home was exemplary. Specialist Van Heijningen used two penalty corners, Hoedemakers scored two field goals. It gave Rotterdam the win and a place in the final, where it did not even make the play-offs last year.
Massacre
It illustrates the small differences in strength in the premier league, where seven clubs actually compete annually for four tickets for the play-offs for the national title. Not only Dutch, but also foreign internationals play for these clubs. Combine that with the high intensity that top hockey is used to since continuous substitutions are allowed and the attractiveness of the play-offs is largely explained.
It once again ensured full stadiums and matches where the tension was palpable. The first match of the final, Amsterdam-Rotterdam on May 23, was completely in line with that tradition. Just after the smoke from the many fireworks cleared, Rotterdam captain Thijs van Dam received the ball. In one movement he turned away from his opponent and moved at full speed with the ball on the stick into the enemy circle to find a foot there.
The subsequent penalty corner was ready for Van der Heijden after a good stop. But, to Amsterdam’s visible surprise, he opted for a rehearsed variant. The ball went to the side to Justen Blok who reached the free-standing Tjep Hoedemakers with a hard assist: 0-1.
The tough match ended in 2-3. Block, against afterwards NRC: “It was a massacre, with a lot of emotion.” Yet there was no preconceived plan to physically combat the technically skilled Amsterdam, according to Van der Heijden. With a noticeably big smile: “It happened spontaneously…”
Different track
The Rotterdam team’s season was not smooth. None of the teams that reached the play-offs lost as often as Rotterdam: five times, including two in a row at the end of 2025. And coincidence or not, during that period coach Van Driel had an unfortunate fall from a ladder at home while doing a job on the roof.
The incident made him think about his future. A future that the Rotterdam club management already anticipated. Van Driel said it did not distract from his work. “I am able to focus well,” he says by telephone, on the eve of the final match against Amsterdam. He doesn’t want to say much more. “Because now I want to stay in the moment for the denouement tomorrow.”
That match, at home in a packed stadium, did not go Rotterdam’s way for a long time. Amsterdam is fiercer, more attentive and takes the lead twice. Until Blok brings the ball hard into the circle just before the end, where the Argentinian Joaquín Menini taps the ball in. What follows is a release resulting from thirteen years of patience. In the stands all digital watches vibrate: ‘too much ambient noise’.
Van Driel beams from ear to ear at the award ceremony. He leaves the club and hockey. “I am going to take a different path in life, although I don’t know yet which direction that will take.”
