Until Monday, clubs can order priority World Cup tickets for their members. A notable outlier is Assen: the club is almost two hundred kilometers from the Wagener Stadium, but is still among the biggest buyers. Assen ticked off no fewer than 206 tickets.
How is it that you have sold so incredibly many tickets?
Board member Jantien Messchendorp: ‘Unbelievable, right? I’m amazed myself. I was counting on maybe a hundred registrations. At most. In the end there were more than twice as many. At first I had only thrown it out on the socials, but it didn’t immediately take off. Only when I sent an e-mail to all members two days later did it take off. My mailbox exploded. I began to seriously wonder if the flood of emails would ever end, haha. Not normal. I’m still sending payment requests now.’
From Assen it is quite a drive to the Wagener Stadium, almost two hundred kilometers.
‘Maybe that is exactly what makes it so special. Many teams seize this as the ideal team outing. Ladies 1 immediately ordered sixteen tickets. Ladies 2 and Girls Under 18-2 are going with eleven. Solidarity is in the DNA of our club. The club feeling really lives here: when we go, we all go. We have around four hundred members, about half of whom have bought a ticket. It’s still bizarre when you think about it.’
I read on Instagram that if more than thirty people were interested, you would arrange a bus. That must not have been a problem?
‘In fact, there are so many that we now need two buses. Over 110 people want to come along. That will never fit in one bus. Not even in a double-decker. We are lucky, because one of the parents is a bus driver and wants to drive for free. Of course, that’s great for the budget. Only … now we are looking for a driver for the second bus. I didn’t really see that coming.’
You are going on Sunday, August 16, when the Dutch men play their first pool match. Why did you choose this day?
‘In our region it is the last day of the summer vacations. Ideal. Most members will be back from vacation by then, so then we can all go together.’
Dozens of kids during the Hockey3Daagse at Assen.
Is a banner already in the works for the stands?
‘That is definitely on the planning. If you attract so many members to the Wagener Stadium, of course you want to show that you are there. It’s also cool to show: look what we are doing as a club. That you really see an orange wave of Assen fans in the stadium. I think that we then really feel: wow, what a beautiful club we have together’.
by Hockey.nl
