The handball women of VOC thought last week that they were being tricked. During a training, a group of workmen told everyone to leave the hall immediately. Refugees are being accommodated for an indefinite period in the Elzenhagen sports hall in Amsterdam-Noord. Almost a week later, the VOC still doesn’t know where it stands.
“We have not heard anything from the municipality and do not know anything more than last week,” says chairman Andre Zeldenthuis.
Training throughout Amsterdam
Last week, the board of VOC hastily went in search of temporary accommodation. She wanted to interrupt training sessions and matches of her fourteen teams as little as possible. “We have been assigned different sports halls. It has been a huge puzzle for our secretary to divide fourteen teams across all sports halls. The result is that our teams will also have to travel throughout the Amsterdam region in the coming week. That is not what you want. .”
Zeldenthuis understands the refugee problem in the Netherlands. He only thinks the associated communication from the municipality is not correct. “For us, it is now survival. It is a great pity that we unexpectedly lost so much time and energy on this problem. I can get very angry about that, but we have to find solutions ourselves. The expectation is that little from the municipality and aldermen is going to come. We hope we get the resources or else we’ll make do with what we have.”
Point of contact
The municipality of Amsterdam does not recognize itself in the picture sketched by the VOC. “We have had frequent contact with the chairman. We have succeeded in offering alternative locations for training courses. In addition, there is a point of contact for the association to focus on.”
The first women’s team of VOC will play an away match against VZV on Saturday. A home game is scheduled for the second women’s team. It is not yet known where that match will be played.