It can rightly be called ‘The Classic’ in indoor football: Hovocubo against Scagha ’66. The team from Schagen was the first champion of the Netherlands in 1969, by beating the team from Hoorn. Due to the promotion of Scagha, both teams played against each other in the Premier League again in a long time, reason enough for a reunion with players from both teams.
Indoor football celebrated its heyday in North Holland in the 60s, 70s and 80s. Hovocubo and Scagha were one of the most successful teams in the Netherlands during that period. Numerous matches were played against each other in Sporthal Vredehof in Hoorn, until Scagha descended to the first division. For the first time in years, the club from Schagen was recently promoted back to the highest level.
Due to a number of coincidences, a reunion was organized for former players on Friday. “We moved from Vredehof to De Opgang just over ten years ago,” says Tineke Diaz, secretary and team manager at Hovocubo. “It just so happens that we couldn’t play in De Opgang because the manager was on holiday. Scagha offered to move the match to Sunday, but we didn’t feel like doing that due to the competition from other games.” The KNVB then came up with Vredehof itself.
Text continues below the photos.
“After that idea from the KNVB, Sander van Dijk decided to organize a reunion, because so many matches against Scagha have already been played in that hall,” Diaz continues. Van Dijk, together with archivist Nico Mantel, looked for names of the championship years and nine players from Hovocubo and nine from Scagha were invited to a reunion on Friday.
Text continues below the photos.
“We had a coffee table with petit fours and old attributes (such as pennants and a goblet, ed.),” Diaz outlines. “Some also brought scrapbooks with them. It was nice to see how those men were reminiscing. Scagha offered to organize something in Schagen next time, because it left me wanting more. They even stayed seated during the third half .”
For Scagha, the reunion with Hovocubo was slightly less pleasant. The score was 3-0 thanks to two goals from Appie Attahiri and Stan van der Wal.