72 I have talked to Johan Cruyff about the self pass. He considered it a real improvement in hockey TEUN DE NOOIJER control. Even considering the fact the announcement made in January, stating he would not go to the preparation camps in Australia and Spain came as a complete surprise. “I thought, how nice that Paul wants to discuss these trips with me. It turned out a bit different. After this talk a press conference was scheduled to bring the news. At what time, I asked the day before. I’ll wait to answer telephone calls until then.” Nevertheless well before that time De Nooijer saw unknown numbers popping up on his display. The news leaked earlier. “I fi gured I’d better wait a little while before having a few short talks with the media. That should do it, or so I thought. I wasn’t consciously trying to be correct. It’s just who I am. Things have to sink in fi rst, I keep it to myself.” In this period most reactions could be heard, especially after the coach gave another one of his razor-sharp views on the matter in national newspaper de Volkskrant. But De Nooijer didn’t mind. During the time he should have been on the other side of the world with the Dutch team, he was actually making preparations in Bloemendaal. “I think it was minus 30 degrees Celsius. We went swimming, played squash and tennis. We were never on the fi eld, but trained really hard. It was a perfect distraction.” Short pep talk Again, no cross word, there is no fl aw in the De Nooijer’s argument. Of course he disagreed with the decision of the coach but not once did he mention anything to that effect. Even off the record. The celebrity De Nooijer – he hates that term – is a gentleman. His true passion resurfaces when we are talking about the EHL again. “Really a great event. Previously you could win the European club title in four days time. That was a snapshot. Now you should be at best during the autumn, and at Easter and Whitsun. In the past Bloemendaal has won the European Cup while coming in 6th the week before in the national league. Back then it was just a matter of putting all heads together, giving each other a short pep talk and lo and behold, with coach Roelant Oltmans we won that tournament. That is no longer possible. You are truly the best of that season. And that’s how it should be.” Advantage Of all the new rules that followed the introduction of the EHL, in his opinion the self pass is the best one. “That would have been nice earlier in my career. It should also be introduced in football. I love to watch football. On television even more than hockey, to be honest. But to visit a hockey match is much more fun. Football can be so slow. Especially during a free kick. Then you should benefi t, as the party that collects a violation. But often the ball goes away fi rst, then there is someone too close by, and in the end the defending team is back in position and the side that gets Pagina 71
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