It has now been two years since Maria Verschoor and Josine Koning made their call for equal salaries in men’s and women’s field hockey. In the ‘Salary Gap’ series, we examine what has changed since then. In this second installment: top club Den Bosch, led by former national team coach Marc Lammers, is working hard and taking steps, but small steps. ‘We went all over Den Bosch.’
Den Bosch’s women have dominated Dutch field hockey for years, winning as many as 22 national titles in 27 years. The men’s championship tally stands at two. They have been waiting for the national title since 2001. Yet the budget of Men’s 1 is still higher than that of Women’s 1. Closing the gap takes time, if at all possible.
Marc Lammers, the former national team coach who led the Dutch women to the Olympic title in Beijing in 2008, is in charge of distributing the money. In the 2022/2023 season, he was coach of Men’s 1 and the team finished in sixth place, outside the playoffs. It soon became clear to Lammers: a financial injection was needed to close the gap with the top four and push Men’s 1 back toward the playoffs.
At the same time, discussions flared up about the unequal salaries in men’s and women’s field hockey. At the same time, sponsor income was slowly coming under pressure. Reason enough for Lammers to leave coaching behind and focus entirely on finances. In September 2024, he officially took over as board member of top field hockey, after months of hard work behind the scenes to raise money.
Two years ago, Maria Verschoor and Josine Koning made their call for equal salaries in men’s and women’s field hockey. Photo: Bart Scheulderman
We drove all over Den Bosch. It took us days to get all those partners together. Marc Lammers about the Bossche Golden Team
‘It has become more difficult to find sponsors. Companies nowadays invest less in billboards and more in events. You will have to think of other things as a club. You don’t sell a billboard these days, you sell an experience. We do that with storytelling and through social media,’ says Lammers.
The former player of Den Bosch, Tilburg and Oranje Zwart knows his way around in the business world. After winning the Olympic title with the Dutch women he made a name for himself in the lecture circuit. Together with Gerard Booij, the father of former international Minke, he went full throttle looking for sponsors. The hard work resulted in the ‘Bossche Gouden Team’: 24 dedicated partners who put money on the table on top of the existing sponsors. An extra penny for the club, intended for Ladies and Men 1. Lammers: ‘We drove all the way to Den Bosch. It took us days to get all those partners together. Gerard is working on it almost full-time a week.’
A fifteen percent increase in the budget for Ladies 1
This season it is the men’s budget that has received a big boost. The arrival of Thierry Brinkman, the captain of the Dutch national team, absorbs a large part of that budget, but at the same time provides a quality boost. The same goes for the contract extension of international Koen Bijen. A clear signal that the club not only puts its focus on the women, but also wants to bring the men to the top.
For next season the situation is different. Then the budget of Men’s 1 will remain the same, while the budget of Women’s 1 will catch up, Lammers says. He speaks of a fifteen percent increase. This extra money will be spent, among other things, on the recently announced contract extensions of experienced internationals Frédérique Matla, Joosje Burg, Sanne Koolen, Josine Koning and Pien Sanders. Emma Reijnen, who progressed to the Dutch national team from the Junior squad, also extended her contract, as did coach Marieke Dijkstra and her assistant Austin Smith.
Emma Reijnen made the move from the young national team to the Dutch national team and recently signed an improved contract with Den Bosch. Photo: WorldSportPics
There are still clubs where the gap between men’s and women’s salaries is much greater. In that respect, along with Amsterdam, we are already doing quite well. Marc Lammers, board member of top field hockey at Den Bosch
Lammers: “We think the discussion about equal salaries is important. It is our ambition to get those budgets closer together. For next season that has been achieved. The players who have re-signed have more experience compared to their previous contract and deserve to be rewarded financially for that. The step we have taken is to their satisfaction.
Lammers does not want to put concrete amounts on the table. However, he does state that the ratio between the men’s and women’s budgets is 58/42. Two years ago, when the discussion about equal salaries was brisk, chairman Rob Almering called the ratio 60/40. It shows how slowly change is happening. No leaps are taken, but small steps.
‘Our ambition is to equalize salaries. We are working hard on that. There are still clubs where the gap between men’s and women’s salaries is much wider. In that respect, together with Amsterdam, we are already doing quite well. Of course, there is still room for improvement. But suddenly dividing the budget for top field hockey fifty-fifty between the men and the women, that’s not possible. Then the men won’t make the playoffs. Ultimately, the market has to move with it. The market value of men in field hockey is still higher than that of women. You can’t just close that gap all at once. Something like that takes time.’
by Hockey.nl
