Even via the highway it is less than fifteen minutes from A to B. Or rather: from Meerssen to Sjiborn. The former rivals from Limburg who are increasingly creeping together. After several combined youth teams, they also set up a Ladies 1 team together last season. ‘We want the children to play hockey properly.’
‘As clubs we were confronted with a declining number of members’, Meerssen chairman Ralph Smeets begins his story. ‘To continue to offer continuity to the members, we started combining teams three or four years ago. This also enables us to put together good quality teams.’
‘It is difficult for clubs from the south to maintain their membership,’ says Smeets. An exact cause is difficult to pinpoint. ‘That’s because players leave for their studies, but that’s just one of the factors. Aging also plays a role.’
The heads together
The decreasing number of members forced Meerssen and Sjinborn to put their proverbial heads together. It was actually only logical that these two clubs sat down at the table. Meerssen and Sjinborn – from Valkenburg – are practically neighbours. The clubs are only separated by a handful of miles.
‘Looking at the number of square meters, two clubs are too many in this area and then we also have Maastricht, Nuth and Hockeer in the region. Maastricht, for example, faces the same problem as we do. They want to solve it themselves, while cooperation is the solution.’
Meerssen and Sjinborn quickly agreed on a collaboration. Combination teams were rigged in youth, including JO12 and MO16. ‘Culturally, the clubs are almost the same. And the children already know each other because they go to school together.’
Provide clarity
Smeets believes that the cooperation between the two clubs stands or falls with the provision of clarity. ‘Both boards have communicated well with each other from the start and sparred. Everything was discussed in mutual consultation. Then you have to explain it well to the members. That went smoothly. The understanding was there immediately.’
According to Smeets, there is no room for club sentiments with good and smooth cooperation. “The club’s interests must be put aside. We shouldn’t complain if a trainer from one club is on the field more than a trainer from the other club. It is about giving and taking.’
Both clubs have also dealt ‘practically’ with a potential discussion point such as the shirts for the combination teams, according to Smeets. ‘We have stripped that subject of all irrelevant discussions. We don’t make it Polish country days. Otherwise you can’t work together. We have a goal and that is to let children play hockey decently. They don’t care if a shirt has pink, yellow or purple dots. There is no place for chauvinism, otherwise the club will no longer exist in ten years’ time.’
Smeets’ words indicate that Meerssen and Sjinborn seem to have found the recipe for a successful collaboration. “We started the process on time. There is no grumbling among the members, but I don’t know if we are the dream example of cooperation.’
Fusion
Smeets does not exclude that more teams from Sjinborn and Meerssen will be combined in the future. The step towards a merger between the two clubs does not seem far away. ‘We are doing it this way for the time being,’ says Smeets about the combination teams. “Sometime in the future we will merge, but that is still a bridge too far.”
by Hockey.nl
