They defeated Bloemendaal this season. Played even against Den Bosch and Oranje-Rood and lost by a hair from Kampong (1-2) and national champion Amsterdam (3-4). But a clumsy mistake also forced them to surrender three points. With those three points added, SCHC’s men would not even have had to play play-outs. To make matters worse, SCHC did not perform at all in those play-outs against Schaerweijde. After one year the team will be relegated back to the Promotion Division.
The Bilthoven men were dejected on Sunday. While the party at Schaerweijde erupted in all its intensity, seven SCHC players looked defeated in the dug-out. Some slapped their hands in their faces. Others blinked away a tear. Goalkeeper Fritz Schnoeckel furiously kicked away a ball that happened to roll his way. Raptor midfielder Sam Martens slumped to the ground with bloodied chin, head shaking.
‘This is obviously not the end we were hoping for,’ Martens said with a sense of understatement. ‘It just wasn’t good enough today. Then you can play a whole year of beautiful field hockey and make it difficult for top teams, it didn’t come out this weekend. That’s incredibly galling and disappointing. I am also fucking sad that we are now out and playing Promotion League next year. All credits to Schaerweijde, because they just did very well, but for us this is very painful.’
Deeper problem
Martens cannot put his finger on where it went wrong in the playoffs. So did coach Jeroen Groenheijde: ‘I felt a bit powerless today. We were fit. Fresh. Were looking forward to it. We really gave it our all, just like the rest of this season. The guys worked really hard. Even though we had by far the lowest budget in the big league, they went to the gym and mental coaching sessions structurally. Were they constantly working on their health and sports. The plans were also clear and everyone stuck to them. It just didn’t manage to really push through this weekend.’
SCHC coach Jeroen Groenheijde felt powerless Sunday afternoon. Photo: Bart Scheulderman
Groenheijde also identified a deeper problem. ‘All season we heard that people liked to see us play. With energy and beautiful field hockey. But we’ve also been struggling all year that we don’t push through against teams that have a similar level to us. That is why we ended up in the play-outs and are now also losing to Schaerweijde. Even if the game had lasted sixty minutes longer, the ball would not have gone in today. We just couldn’t get through. Then someone can say that we belong in the big league, but that doesn’t buy me shit. If we can’t win games like this, maybe you don’t belong there.’
The three-point deduction his team received at the end of the first half of the season didn’t make the difference, according to Groenheijde. ‘That was a sour week, especially since we also lost to Hurley. But during the rest of the season it hasn’t haunted my mind anymore, except just briefly. But we also lost those points against Hurley and HDM, in the games where it mattered. And nobody says we would have had such a good second half of the season if we hadn’t had that three-point deduction.’
Whatever SCHC tried, Schaerweijde did everything in its power to keep the team from scoring. Photo: Bart Scheulderman
Promoted too soon
For SCHC, there is nothing left but to cry it out and start all over again. Martens: ‘It is a sour week for the club. The ladies who did not become champions. Us flying out of the big league. The only positive thing is that we pretty much stay together. Only Steef Stroeken, Roger Figa and Maarten Bruisten are quitting. So we have enough to build on.’
Groenheijde is also not at a loss for words when thinking about next season. ‘We will continue the line. The club has committed players in time and I have also already signed for a year. According to the long-term plan we had in mind, we were actually promoted a year too early. Now we are going to do everything we can to return to the big league next season then.’
by Hockey.nl
