Sunday morning Kampong player Rik Sprengers was still in Austria. After a week of skiing with his father, an early flight was scheduled in order to be in the Sporthallen Zuid in time for the second round of the competition. It all turned out differently, but 6.5 hours later the indoor defender – slightly battered – was having a beer with his teammates and a particularly close promotion.
In the winter period we always get more freedom to make trips. I still owed my winter sports. Actually, I was going skiing today, until we knew we were playing for promotion this weekend. I wanted to be there,” Sprengers said shortly after securing a big league ticket.
And so Sprengers booked a plane ticket from Innsbruck; a flight to Schiphol of about an hour and a half. Departure: 9 a.m. That way he would be just in time for the first game against Rotterdam. ‘But there was a lot of fog, so we were delayed. Missing that first game wasn’t a disaster. We had calculated that we would lose to Rotterdam. But those last two were very important for promotion. When the flight kept being postponed, I started to feel the pinch.
Running for a cab
While his teammates dragged a (in retrospect crucial) point out of the fire against Rotterdam, Sprengers eventually arrived in Amsterdam with an hour and a half delay a few minutes before the start of the match against Hurley. ‘I did run to get a cab. Fortunately, Schiphol Airport is only ten minutes from here and I was able to put on my field hockey clothes in no time. Really one second before the match I was ready.’
Rik Sprengers enters the hall straight from Schiphol Airport. Photo: Koen Suyk
On paper, Springers’ first opponent of the day, Hurley, was easy prey for Kampong. After all, the regular selection is in Malaysia for a team trip and so the team had delegated Boys O18-1. But whether it was underestimation or simply the quality of the eager boys: Kampong had great difficulty with the young Hurley. To make matters worse, Sprengers also got a ball in his face. That not only resulted in a penalty ball, but also a wound and a big bump for the unlucky player.
“That was a rough start,” Sprengers laughed. ‘Apparently I had trouble switching from traveling to playing field hockey after all. I wasn’t sharp enough to stop the balls from the line and I wasn’t doing well on the ball. Only defensively did I play well.
All the effort almost for nothing
While Sprengers tried to limit the damage to his face with an icepack, Kampong left the field with a surprising 5-4 defeat. And so for the Utrechters everything came down to the last match against (field) first division team Wageningen. They had to win, Sprengers also knew. Otherwise it would have been over and done with and all the effort would have been for nothing.
Kampong (with Sprengers right in blue) had to win from Wageningen to promote to the Dutch big league. Photo: Koen Suyk
A disaster scenario seemed to be unfolding. Wageningen, assisted by a well-filled stand full of fans, took a comfortable 3-0 lead within six minutes. Slowly, Kampong, with Sprengers now fully back on the field, crept closer. It became 3-1 and, just after halftime, 3-2. A score that was still on the scoreboard with only a few minutes to go.
Even a draw would not be enough for the Utrechters. For a moment, all of Sprengers’ efforts seemed to be for naught. While Wageningen captain Marten de Vries was sent off with a yellow card two minutes before time and Kampong had exchanged its goalkeeper for an extra field player, a goal was in the air. It came: Mats Gruter made it 3-3. As the crowd counted down the final seconds, Kampong made one last attempt. The crowd was already at one when Boet Phijffer got the ball in his stick and pushed through in one go: 4-3.
Wageningen was dejected after narrowly missing out on the big league. Photo: Koen Suyk
While Wageningen’s men slumped defeated on the field, the Kampong players congratulated each other with smiles from ear to ear. They had done it. With a face full of disbelief and happiness mixed together, Sprengers tried to grasp what had happened in those hours before.
‘Let’s just say it was all worth it. Missing my last day of skiing, the stress because of the delay, the ball on my face, losing to Hurley. Maybe it was the magic of our coach Tim Oudenaller. Who could only be at the last game because he played (and won, ed.) the final for the national title this morning with Boys Under 16-1. So he’s all success coach with national championship and promotion in one day. Anyway: we’ll celebrate this with a promotion beer.’
by Hockey.nl
