More than a thousand people, mainly children, are on the waiting list in Eindhoven to play for a football club. This is evident from a tour by Omroep Brabant. “Some people are on the waiting list for one and a half to two years,” says Jan van den Broek, chairman of RPC. At this association, children are even put on the waiting list shortly after birth. According to the KNVB, the problem occurs in more large cities , but the situation in Eindhoven is very dire.
This is the situation at various clubs:
- Brabantia Football Club: 200 people on the waiting list.
- Sports association Unitas’59: 200 people on the waiting list.
- Football club Acht: 200 people on the waiting list.
- Football club DBS: 135 people on the waiting list.
- RPC Football Club: 200 people on the waiting list.
- Nieuw Woensel Football Club: 100 people on the list.
“Everything is completely full,” says board member Christian Hermans of football club Acht, which has now instituted a membership freeze. “A large number of the children on the waiting list will never have their turn with us again.”
The waiting lists are getting longer because clubs have too few fields to accommodate more players. There are also clubs with too few volunteers. Without parents to help train and coach, a new team cannot start.
“We pay dues anyway, so just deal with it.”
At RPC they have found a solution for this. “If you don’t tick that you want to volunteer, you won’t even get on the waiting list. People are willing to provide occasional support. Structural volunteers are a very big problem. Sometimes you are accused: ‘We pay contributions anyway, so just solve it.’”
There is also a long waiting list at football club DBS in the Meerhoven expansion district. There they see the club filling up with children of expats. Leon Klaassen, youth affairs board member: “43 percent of our members between the ages of 4 and 8 were born abroad and have a foreign passport.” In addition, there are the children of expats who were born here and have a Dutch passport.
“We are at maximum capacity.”
The club has been able to eliminate part of the waiting list, but still has 135 new members in the waiting room. There is no room for most of them this season. The club is looking for solutions. “From now on we will start our matches on Saturdays at half past eight. The last match doesn’t start until half past five. We would like to install additional changing rooms and more lighting at our fields, but we are still in discussions with the municipality about this. We are also looking for a lender.”
At sports club Unitas’59, about two hundred players are also eager to get started. “But we are at maximum capacity,” says board member Mark Kortleever. According to him, the association can grow, but it does need help from the municipality. We have been waiting for a second artificial turf field for some time.”
“We are already seeing developments in Sunday competitions, for example.”
Due to the long waiting lists, parents are registering their child earlier and earlier. “There are parents who place their children on the waiting list at birth,” says RPC chairman Van den Broek.
The fields are used as much as possible. But that does have a downside. “After the winter break, we are playing football on sand because the grass is no longer growing,” says the chairman. “We are working on solutions, but at the moment we cannot continue to grow.”
The municipality has announced that it is in discussions with the football clubs and the KNVB. “We are looking at new and creative solutions to use the fields more intensively and to better distribute the members across the football clubs,” says a spokesperson. “In other major cities we already see Sunday competitions and training during the day.”