Sunday afternoon, 3 p.m. Victoria-Oranje-Rood (2-2) has already passed for 45 minutes, when Rob Haantjes – interim coach of the Eindhoven team – is still discussing vigorously with referees Armand Triepels and Berry van Bentum in the clubhouse. Crying with happiness, the players of Oranje-Rood fell into each other’s arms when the horn sounded after seventy minutes of hockey at a score of 1-2. But a rare bizarre apotheosis still cost them the victory.
When Oranje-Rood entered the circle of the opponent no less than 25 times in the memorable relegation fight with Kampong last week , but only scored one goal and thus lost 1-2, the neutral supporter felt a sense of pity. Pity the poor Oranje-Rood.
That feeling predominates on Sunday afternoon after the hockey cracker Victoria-Oranje-Rood. That the number twelve of the competition had deserved a victory. The confrontation of the finalist from Eindhoven against the fighting machine from Rotterdam was one that will be discussed for the time being. Spectators are lucky enough to witness one of the most bizarre twists of this season this season. Oranje-Rood thinks they have won their first victory of the year after seventy minutes, at the end of the crisis week with the dismissal of coach Stefan Duyf. But a fraction later, when Oranje-Rood has already celebrated the party, the situation is completely different.
00.50 on the clock. Cheers rise from the terrace in front of Victoria’s clubhouse, diagonally behind the goal. With a deficit of 1-2, the home team gets a penalty corner, practically the last chance for a draw. One supporter dares to look, the other does not.
A hard flats is chosen, which is overrun by Oranje-Rood. Via a detour the ball ends up in the circle on the right. With her stick on the ground, Oranje=Rood player Shona McCallin tries to block a pass from Mady Hof. But the ball lands on her feet, judges referee Berry van Bentum. He points to the target with both hands. Penalty corner for Victoria. Almost simultaneously the horn sounds from behind the competition table to indicate the end of the match.
Initially thinks Oranje-Rood has won
So Victoria is allowed to take another corner. But Van Bentum doubts his decision. Did the ball really land on McCallin’s foot? He contacts fellow referee Armand Triepels. He appears to have noticed something else. The ball hit her stick hand, he judges. In other words: no penalty corner for Victoria.
Since the horn has already sounded, the match seems to be over. In the circle of Victoria, the players of Oranje-Rood are having a big party. On the sidelines, substitutes Sian Keil, Kim Hendrix and Nora Bruinsma supporters fall happily in the arms behind the boarding. What failed eighteen games in a row under Stefan Duyf, was immediately successful in the first game led by his successor Rob Haantjes. Oranje-Rood won.
‘You can’t change your mind! The game is over!’
But then Van Bentum’s flute sounds, who has consulted with Triepels. He makes an apologetic gesture with his hands. Then he points again to the goal of Oranje-Red. Apparently the game isn’t over after all. Van Bentum gives a penalty corner.
There is great misunderstanding in the Eindhoven camp. “This can’t be!” someone yells from the dugout. ‘ You can’t change your mind! The game is over! ‘ exclaims Australian physical trainer Matt Eyles.
Players of Oranje-Rood fly furiously at Triepels and Van Bentum. The chaos is complete. Almost no one in the Kralingse Bos understands why the match is not just over, except for the two referees.
They point the players to a minuscule sentence in the Game Rules. In a normal situation, they say, a bully should have followed after the penalty corner was reversed. But since the game has already ended, and so no more bully can take place, the penalty corner must be retaken, according to the arbiters, based on Rule 6.5 of the Game Rules. With disbelief on their faces, Keil, Hendrix and Bruinsma run back to the couch at a trot.
The clock now reads 00.00. All ten of Victoria’s field players gather on the edge of the circle. From the sidelines you feel what disaster awaits Oranje-Rood. First comes a dull thud. And then, yes, the 2-2 of Dominique de Vries.
For Oranje-Red it feels like a stab in the heart. On the field, players storm the two umpires again. In the dugout, subs put their arms in front of their faces. Tears are in their eyes. The blow against Kampong last week was already hard, this one is even harder.
What a crooked rule! Sorry to say it, but you get screwed in front of you.Oranje-Rood captain Lisa Scheerlinck
Next to the dug-out, captain Lisa Scheerlinck is crying for minutes. Again and again she wipes her cheeks dry. When she agrees to an interview, and is asked how she feels, tears well up in her eyes again.
“I just don’t believe what just happened. Suddenly it turns out that there is a miraculous rule that no one has ever heard of. The umpires explained it to me, but I still don’t really get it. If it’s not a penalty corner, then the game is over, right? But because the horn has already gone and we can’t play bully anymore, Victoria gets a penalty corner?! What a crooked rule! Sorry to say it, but you get screwed in front of you. That’s how it feels to us.’
She wipes her eyes again. ‘This hurts. For a minute I thought we had won. I cried with joy. And then you get this . I’m really devastated by this.’
Long deliberation between Rob Haantjes and the referees
Haantjes also initially feels that he has been robbed. In the clubhouse he immediately looks up the rules of the game on his phone. “We’re going to find out if what the referees say is correct. We are not in a position to lose two points just like that.’
Forty-five minutes after the game, Haantjes is having a conversation with Van Bentum and Triepels in the clubhouse. Referee assessor Lisette Feuth also joins. She defends the decision of the two arbitrators.
After long deliberation, the brand new coach of Oranje-Rood seems to accept the explanation of the arbitrators. With a sour face, yes. “I’ve been a coach for 36 years, but I’ve never seen myself cheering for a win and then turning out that we didn’t win at all.”
Victoria – Oranje-Rood2-2 (1-2)
10. Fiona Morgenstern (sc) 0-1
24. Sabine van den Eijnden 1-1
31. Trijntje Beljaars (sc) 1-2
70. Dominique de Vries (sc) 2-2
