Exactly ten years ago – on Feb. 8, 2015 – the Orange indoor men’s team became world champions. It was the first and only time the Netherlands captured this top prize. With Robert Tigges, Robbert van de Peppel and Laurens Goedegebuure, we look back on the Leipzig field hockey miracle in two articles. In the first installment, we discussed the chaotic road to the tournament. Today part 2: how the dream came true.
‘After the tournament I received a letter from the king. In mega-formal language. The best part was that he wrote that ‘this result was in line with expectations’. Well, then Willem-Alexander knew more than we did. We never thought we would win.
Tigges, captain at the World Cup win, shakes his head laughing. He is still sitting in the stands at the Topsportcentrum in Almere. The training hall of the golden Dutch indoor team. ‘Beforehand it even seemed to go completely wrong,’ Van de Peppel states. ‘A few weeks before the tournament, we were completely outplayed by Germany. We lost 14-2 or so. We were wiped out in our official kits, while they showed up in their training shirts.’
He looks at his teammates. ‘Let’s face it, boys. Things didn’t go well at first in Leipzig either. There was whining about playing minutes. We were bitching among ourselves, there was a lot of negativity. Not what you want just before a World Cup. The night before the tournament we had a tough talk about that. Literally at five to twelve. Damn guys, if this is the vibe, we’re going to be seventh. We had to grant each other more. To think in team interests. And because of that, some guys ended up playing less than they first thought. They didn’t participate in the knockouts anymore. But they did have a gold medal at home. Goedegebuure: “With a nice sticker on it.
The three world champions in the stands in Almere. Photo: Willem Vernes
Staying up for the Superbowl
Tigges: ‘I had kind of repressed this part. But now that you mention it… It went hard. That first game didn’t go smoothly either. We fell behind against Canada in that awkward B-hal. But in the end we made it through the group stage quite well.’ Laughing: ‘Had to. Four out of six were through to the quarter-finals.
But some crazy things happened in Leipzig. Just before the tournament a player wanted to watch the Superbowl final with us. He was completely crazy about American football and wanted to stay up for the game, while shortly afterwards he was at the World Cup for the first time. Goedegebuure: “Haha, yes. He did, didn’t he? In the lobby, where there was a big screen. With half a liter of white beer. 0.0 of course.’ Tigges: ‘We did let ourselves be pampered there. Our ladies team was in the same hotel, but went to the hall every day by bike. We went in vans all the time.’
The matches were completed at a murderous pace. Within 48 hours, the five pool matches were blown through. Twice the Netherlands, which finished second in the group, did not play until a quarter to eleven. But there was no sign of fatigue or exhaustion in the quarterfinals against outsider Sweden (5-3). And then Robin Rösch’s team met Germany again, in the semifinals.
The joy explosion after Germany misses the decisive shoot-out. Photo: Koen Suyk
The double panna at Fürste
‘The best match I have ever played,’ Van de Peppel states. ‘Of course we were still thinking about that practice game. Especially since we saw Germany beat the Swiss 11-2 in their quarterfinal. They played like a machine, it ran like a train. The picture was perfect for them. On primetime, with eight thousand people in the stands against the Netherlands. A piece of cake. They thought.
Goedegebuure: ‘My girlfriend called me after the quarterfinals. That she was on her way to Germany with two girlfriends. I laughed at her a bit. ‘If you want to go to Leipzig for a weekend, that’s fine. But you don’t have to do it for me. We’re going off, we’re playing against Germany,’ I told her. I couldn’t talk her out of it and just had to arrange tickets.
Van de Peppel takes a good look at his old teammate. ‘You were peerless man, that day.’ Quickly following, ‘And so was Tigges, who made the 1-0 within a minute. Actually, everyone was phenomenal. I gave Moritz Fürste, then one of the best players in the world, a double panna. And we got all those people with their little flags and horns quiet as a mouse, because we were leading 3-0. I still get goosebumps when I think about it.
Bjorn Kellerman floats through the packed hall in Leipzig. Photo: Koen Suyk
The stunt
But Germany came back. After Bjorn Kellerman signed for 4-1 before halftime, it eventually became 4-4. Two goals in the last minute and a half. Do you also remember the footage by heart?” asked Van de Peppel. ‘I saw them just yesterday,’ says Goedegebuure. ‘Nice that everything is on YouTube. They were whipping things up in the hall towards the shoot-outs. Very loud music. We could barely understand each other. But they missed two. And we only missed one.’ Van de Peppel: ‘Winning against Germany was already unique. But at that moment. In their hall. From those guys, who were the showcase of the tournament. That will never happen again.’ Goedegebuure: ‘Can’t happen either. We’re not competing anymore.’
Van de Peppel: ‘It was great. Unforgettable. But Robin didn’t let us enjoy it. That sounds harsh, but it was good. A day later we had to play the final. Everyone had played the match of their lives. But it could be even better. We wanted to prevent what happened at the 2012 Olympics, when the Netherlands played so peerless against Great Britain in the semifinals, but did not win gold.’
Tigges: ‘Robin is a quiet enjoyer. Always calm and stoic from the outside. But inside everything happened to him. Logical of course. Also his dream came true. In his own country. How beautiful.
Goedegebuure tells how it is in the Almere auditorium. Photo: Willem Vernes
Goedegebuure: ‘I remember when we came back to the hotel after that semifinal. There were a lot of teams sitting there. When we entered, everyone was clapping for us. They all thought it was wonderful that something impossible had happened.’ Van de Peppel: ‘Then we were stars for the first time. We had trained eight years for that.’
Corner chaos against Austria
A day later they finished it off. Tigges: ‘We had never won from Austria either. If you look back at that match…Pooh. Then you find indoor field hockey a very boring sport. In the first thirteen minutes nothing happens at all. It was chess. And again we were ahead, 3-2. But this time we didn’t give it away again. Our dream came true.
Goedegebuure: ‘Still, it was chaos again at the end. They got three corners in the last minute and a half. That last one was a play-off corner, which they took at the other end. It went to Michael Körper, their best player and top scorer. That was a little man. He wasn’t going to cover. So I – with all my speed – went for it. I took it. Done. Gold.
Both gold indoor teams. And, in the photo already close together, Van de Peppel (in foreground with cup) and Leurink (diagonally right behind). Photo: Koen Suyk
Beer and bacos at the gas station
With a beer between their teeth, the Orange Ladies in the stands clapped their hands. They too had become world champions. So it was double celebration in Leipzig, where in the legendary basement pub Moritzbastei players honked megaphones that they had won the World Cup. An evening Van de Peppel will certainly never forget. On that night he got a relationship with Laurien Leurink, who played there with the ladies. The two have since married. ‘We already knew each other. But since Leipzig it was on. That makes this whole story extra beautiful for us. Really, what a week.’
Of course, the day after, they had a solid hangover. ‘We had to go broke to the KNHB, which was then still in Nieuwegein. There we were honored. On the way in the bus it was just party time,’ says Goedegebuure. Tigges: ‘At eleven in the morning we stopped at a German gas station, where we bought half liters of beer and baco. An hour later a call came: that the NOS was also in Nieuwegein and that I had to do an interview. I was really hoarse, struggled to get some words out. Not my best TV performance ever.’
Van de Peppel: ‘Of course we were hoping for a very fat present. But we got a soundbar, which was probably still in a warehouse somewhere. Oh well, it didn’t matter much. Everyone was heartbroken. But we were in the spotlight. We were in the sports news, as indoor hockey players. A twenty-second item, but nobody cared.’
Captain Tigges shows the cup to his team. Photo: Koen Suyk
A letter, the tattoo and the reunion
‘So I got that letter from the king,’ says Tigges. ‘I immediately framed that and hung it up at home. In that week after the tournament, all I did was party. I went out in Amsterdam every night with Max Sweering and Teun Rohof.’
‘Teun had something shaved into his hair, didn’t he?’ said Goedegebuure. ‘Jaha,’ responds Tigges. ‘Nicki Leijs had done that to him right after the final. The letters WC. World Champion. Didn’t understand anyone in the Netherlands, of course. It didn’t look like it either.’
Van de Peppel pulls up his trouser leg for a moment. The rest look up in surprise. ‘I had a tattoo on my lower leg after the World Cup. There’s no need for a picture of it, it’s something personal for me that the whole field hockey world doesn’t need to see. World Champion 2015 is written on it. Maybe people will think something of that. Because it’s “only” indoor field hockey. But for me it was the highlight of my field hockey career. For you guys too right?
Tigges: ‘We still have an app group from the World Cup Hall. The Weltmeister, it’s called. We have become friends for life. Everyone has been to each other’s weddings. High time for another reunion, guys. In five years, in Leipzig?
by Hockey.nl
