Martijn Kramer’s sports moment: the legendary championship match that was better than the World Cup final

Saturday 15 October is the day on which the Dutch championship will be decided. In the best-of-five series, Olympia Haarlem leads 2-0. I get into the car to Enschede. to see how the team from Haarlem will become champion against title competitor Tex Town Tigers. At least, that is more or less assured me by the North Holland club. “The champagne bottles have already been smashed”, Olympia Haarlem coach Stanley Doney told me in advance.

I’m not a softball connoisseur. Still, I can paint a festive picture for myself of how the title will be celebrated. With full stands and exuberant supporters who scream and sing. Arriving in Enschede, the expected battle scene is quite disappointing. Gray weather, empty parking spaces and only five drunk Tukkers in a shack on wheels. That must be a long afternoon…

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The softball players play against each other twice on the same day. Tex Town Tigers wins the first meeting and to my surprise, more and more people come to the sports field. If the match has to be interrupted for a short time due to fireworks, even a little unsportsmanlike spirit emerges.

Bizarre turn

The bizarre turn of the afternoon comes in the final phase of the second game. A deluge of rain rages across the field. In less than fifteen minutes the gravel turns into an unplayable quagmire. Postponement is lurking, but that means that the competition will be extended by a week. Then there can be a line through already booked holidays of players, trainers and referees.

While the players have left the field, where they are up to their ankles in mud, other reporters present carefully start packing their things.

But then, like a bolt from the blue, everyone returns to the field. With sponges, buckets and vacuum cleaners in hand, they are determined to make the field somewhat playable again. The hands roll up their sleeves and bucket by bucket the field is cleared of water. “You don’t see overpaid footballers from Feyenoord and Ajax doing this,” a supporter tells me.

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Sopping and sponging is not without success. After standing on the edge of the softball field for eight hours, the tropical storm was survived. Nevertheless, the Haarlem party plans can go into the trash. Olympia Haarlem also loses its second game. When asked if coach Doney is angry or disappointed, he says: “I’m happy, very happy that we were ahead before today otherwise we would have lost already.” Have you ever heard a football coach say that after a failed championship match?

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Due to the double loss, the circus moves a day later to the capital of North Holland where the decisive match is played. Fresh and reborn, Olympia does win that match. Mariëlle Vleugels plays her last game and is voted the best player of the play-offs by the association, in between all the partying.

Drinking beer in New Zealand

After the championship, Doney retires. In the past seven years, the New Zealander has won everything there is to win. Satisfied and emotional, he says goodbye to Olympia Haarlem. Remarkably, he thanks me with tears in his eyes for capturing his last championship party. The day after the report is shown on television, I receive another text message from him. Will I ever come to New Zealand to have a beer with the best man.

What starts on Saturday as a depressing and battleless afternoon in Enschede ends on Sunday in an unpredictable denouement. Better than that World Cup final a week and a half ago. With for dessert a potential trip to the other side of the world.

Martin Kramer