Erbens natuurijs

It was a little bit quiet around us but we are back and how!

Sunday, Erben Wennemars launched Erbens natuurijs. You might wonder what the relation between natuurijs and sports is. Well the yield of the ice goes to Jeugdsportfonds.

We have written almost ten weeks about different sport disciplines and athletes. These athletes had the chance to play sports and have fun. A large amount of children in the Netherlands do not have this chance because their parents do not have enough money to buy sport accessories or to pay for the contribution. Jeugdsportfonds takes care of the children who cannot participate in sports but this costs a lot of money.

Erben Wennemars was a successful speed skater and he has won a lot of titles in his career like  the World Championship sprint. After his skating career he did some things for the television and he was on daily basis in the news about Elfstedentocht in February.

You can buy Erbens natuurijs at Albert Heijn. We think everybody should do this because it’s Spring time and then you have to eat a lot of ice creams. However, the most important reason is that you can personally help a child because all the money of the ice creams will be donated to Jeugdsportfonds.

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VIP´s in the cycling circus

Almost a year ago the Tour de France was struck by a new scandal. It was not about doping, bribery or spectators hurting the riders but a car hitting Johnny Hoogerland. The driver of the car was expelled of the Tour de France and Hoogerland was luckily able to step back on his bike. Sadly he fell into barbed wire which resulted in 33 stitches. Everybody who loved cycling was convinced this would never happen again.

De Ronde van Vlaanderen was two days ago and we almost saw the same incident (click here for the video and then choose the video:Volgauto's rijden bijna tegen de renners bij het passeren ). Some cars were overtaking the peloton to reach a small group in front of it. The third car did not see a sign on the side of the road and almost crashed in the peloton. It is ridiculous that this is the second time within a year that a car with VIP´s in it makes such a maneuver. Something needs to be done fast, otherwise people might even die!

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Happy April foolsday!

Happy April Fools' Day!

(We're sorry, no sexy pictures of Ronaldo and Sharapova here... ;))

This sunday it will be April Fools day, a day full of jokes. Sports can be really funny too, and we want you to laugh with us. Enjoy!

Next week we will be back with a stunning blogpost about cycling!

In between we hope you will follow and like us on

 and

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A large amount of money is involved in Poker but it is a real sport?

Poker has become increasingly popular in The Netherlands since the start of the 21^st Century; especially the variant Texas Hold’em is being played a lot these days. Due to the success of poker the question has risen whether or not poker is a form of gambling or a so called game of skill. Dutch legislation is still in doubt whether to acknowledge poker as a game of skill making it illegal to play poker online or organize live poker events. The only organization that is allowed to hold poker events in The Netherlands is Holland Casino.

At Sunday 6 May the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) will start. In the SCOOP of 2011 $63,802,405 prize money was awarded to all the players. In comparison the World Championships of online Poker (WCOOP)had a total prize pool of $47,120,800. The SCOOP can there for safely be called the biggest online poker championship in the world!

In our opinion poker has clearly proven to be a game of skill, because the same people end up winning again and again. The International Mind Sports Association (ISMA) acknowledged poker to be a game of skill and allowed the International Federation of Poker (IFP) to be a part of their association, also containing the likes of Chess, Bridge, Draughts and Go.

 

However, we are happy to see that poker sites have been able to establish ways in which Dutch inhabitants are still able to play online poker. The Dutch government does tolerate some online poker as long as you are honest filling in your taxes. That is why we hope poker will grown as a sport so the Dutch government won’t stop everything.

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Thank you, mom.

Need we say more?
http://facebook.com/thankyoumom

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"Time measurement in sports not reliable"

According to Erik van den Boogert, the time measurements specialist of the KNSB (dutch skating association), the present basics for time measurement in sports (like iceskating, atletics and swimming) are very indecisive. The IAAF and the FINA also agree that time measurement in thousandths of seconds increases the chance of errors. Since the differences in time are small these inaccurate measurements can make the difference between Gold and Silver.

Phelps (L) and Cavic; Phelps won with 10-thousandth of a second (frame-by-frame)

The time measurement problem exists because the current equipment is not sophisticated enough. It is possible to upgrade the equipment, but that will be very expensive. As a consequence, Tron Espeli said that the ISU would watch whether the rules should require a certain adjustment, but for the time being transparancy is important (see video).

When hearing about the time measurement problem, there are a few questions coming up in our mind, namely:

• Is Usain Bolt maybe slower, or even faster than we think?
• Did Jenny Wolf really defeated Sang-Wha Lee during the Worldcup game in Astana?

and maybe the most important question: 

What consequences does this have for the Olympic Games in London this year? 

Source: NOS.nl

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Support the Olympic Games 2028 in the Netherlands

Yesterday it was beautiful weather in the Netherlands and with this lovely weather a new season with outdoor sports is coming up. Therefore, say goodbye to the indoor sports like ice skating (22 till 25 March Heerenveen) and alpine skiing (is now in Schladming ) because it’s getting warm so say hello to cycling, athletics, field hockey, soccer et cetra.

With Spring knocking on the door the Olympic Games are coming close fast. In the Netherlands athletes, coaches and medical staff  are preparing themselves for the Games. There are a lot of meetings to prepare for London.

In 2028 the Netherlands like to host the Olympic Games. Like we mentioned before (in the blog of Tuesday) there is a whole plan (Olympisch Plan 2028) to set up the candidate procedure. However, the Mulier Instituut investigated how much support there is among the Dutch population to host the Olympic Games in 2028. The figures they came up with are worrying since support has decreased. Last year 41 percent of the  Dutch population supported the Games but this year it’s only 30 percent.

Therefore, we must hope that the Dutch athletes do a good job in London because if the do the support among the Dutch population will increase. We think it’s unique for such a little country as the Netherlands to host the Olympics in 2028. Therefore, we must be proud of the bidding and support this unique phenomenon.

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We love field hockey

Yes, we love field hockey! It’s a lovely sport to follow on television and to watch from the side line. However, field hockey or how we call it in the Netherlands ‘hockey’ has also other unique selling points why we love hockey.

First of all, hockey dares to renew their playing rules, this means the sport gets faster and more attractive for the fans. Secondly, hockey tries to experiment with new technologies because it takes a lot of uncertainty away and the sport becomes more fair. Thirdly, the KNHB (Royal Dutch Hockey association) anticipated with sportsmanship & respect campaigns especially for parents on the side of the hockey field (in the image down below you can see an example but do note that it’s in Dutch).

Fourthly, the KNHB set up different kind of pilots with other sport associations because one of the goals of the Olympic Plan 2028* is to reach a higher sport participation in the Netherlands.  Therefore, there was a partnership with the NTTB (Dutch Table Tennis Association) last year and this year there is a pilot with the KNWU (Royal Dutch Cycling Union).

We don’t understand why other sports don’t take an example of hockey. For example soccer has been struggling for years now about goal line technology. This is illustrated in the fact that The Premier League (England) will probably introduce goal line technology next season whereas hockey introduced electronic support 5,5 years ago already.

Another example is golf. This is a sport in the Netherlands that has an image problem because a large amount of people think that the sport is only for the wealthy people like hockey was decades ago. However, there is a plan to introduce a National Golf Passport as a replacement of the Handicap Index (GVB in Dutch). With this change the association tries to change the public opinion on the sport instead of only focusing on increasing the amount of golf players. (Hockey has tried to do the same a couple of years ago and changes in the ‘hockey population’ have been noticeable ever since).

We think more sport associations need to take a look at hockey because this sport dares to be a leader in innovation. Therefore, follow the leader!

* The Netherlands try to have the Olympic Games of 2028 and made a plan how to make the Netherlands more sport friendly and to reach a higher sport level.

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UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour 2012

Today is the first day of the UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour 2012 presented by Heineken. From today till 15th of April there will be visited three continents: America, Africa and Asia. The tour will give fans in different countries the opportunity to see a close up from the football's most prestigious prize.

The full schedule of this year's UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour is: 

9 - 18 March: Mexico - Mexico City & Guadalajara

24 - 27 March: Tanzania - Dar es Salaam

28 - 31 March: Kenya - Nairobi & Mombasa

6 - 15 April: China - Shanghai

To celebrate the Launch of the Trophy Tour, Heineken gave a few football fans the moment of their lives; see the videos below.

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Sheep Shearing as an Olympic Discipline? No way!

Ever knew sheep shearing was a sport? No? We neither, until yesterday. There even is a World Championship of Sheep Shearing! Last week these World Championship took place in Masterton, New Zealand. This video give you an idea about the Sheep Shearing World Championship.

The history of Sheep Shearing as a sport goes back to 1958, when a group of enthusiasts from the Wairarapa district Young Farmer’s Club organized a Sheep Shearing competition. Later, in 1960, the Golden Shears were conceived, world’s greatest Shearing competition, sometimes called the Wimbledon of Sheep Shearing. Since 1977 there is also a World Championship which counted 27 registered and participated countries in 2010.

According to the New Zealand Federated Farmers, Sheep Shearing has the potential to become a demonstration sport at the Commonwealth Games, if not the Olympics. “Surely, time has come to elevate shearing's sporting status to the ultimate world stage?", says Jeanette Maxwell in a statement.

In our opinion Sheep Shearing can never become an Olympic discipline; to us it is even strange that sheep shearing is actually called a sport. The welfare of sheeps needs to be considered, but during a game they can be harmed. Harming an animal is something that needs to be avoided any time and by making Sheep Shearing an Olympic sport that can never be provided!

Do you think Sheep shearing can be an Olympic Discipline? 
Vote at our Facebook poll!

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Keep your head up

Many sports come with protective clothing to make sure the players are well protected against injuries and especially to protect their head. For example, cyclists use helmets and nowadays there is a big promotion to wear helmets on the mountains (‘Echte Profis tragen Helm’) with skiing and snowboarding.

However, the last time we are  witness of some unfortunate head injuries in football. We have seen Petr Cech, Maarten Stekelenburg, Przemyslw Tyton and yesterday Chris Smalling (after a collision with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar) suffering a head injury.

Recent research has indicated that football players heading many balls, suffer more from brain trauma than normal people do. In addition, a large amount of football keepers have been part of a collision lately and suffer brain damage of this. Therefore, we think football keepers should be obliged to wear head protection.

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European Championship in Poland & Ukraine

‘Wilhelmus van Nassouwe ben ik, van Duitsen bloed, den vaderland getrouwe blijf ik tot in den dood. Een Prinse van Oranje ben ik, vrij onverveerd, den Koning van Hispanje heb ik altijd geëerd.’

It’s 1 July 21.45 EET (Eastern Europe Time) and all the fans in the stadium are screaming and yelling after they have heard the national anthem of the Netherlands. Yes, the Netherlands has reached the final of the European Championship but before the start of the tournament there is a lot of negative publicity about the organization countries: Poland & Ukraine.

The UEFA and FIFA decide where the European and World Championship of football will take place but it looks like both organizations are very easy to be influenced. There is a lot incorrect with the organizing countries according to our Western view like: the new stadium in Warschau is not ready yet, racism under Polish football supporters (according to the president of Legia Warschau 15 till 20 percent of his supporters are neo-Nazis) and there are a low amount of facilities for football supporters in the host cities. For example, Charkov (the Netherlands is playing here all of their group matches) as you can see on the pictures, is not a very happy place to stay.

However, we think there is a much bigger problem with the corruption in Eastern-Europe:
“For hundreds of professional footballers in Eastern Europe, their dream of making a career in football has turned into nothing short of a nightmare. They don’t receive their salaries they are physically and mentally abused and have to be on their guard against falling into the hands of criminals.”

This is a conclusion from the FIFPO Black Book Eastern Europe. A shocking result is that by an average football game in East-Europe at least two players are approached to influence the outcome of a game. In addition, more than 10 percent of the football players have to deal with violence and intimidation. Therefore, we wonder how a European Championship can be played in Poland &  Ukraine when there is so much corruption. 

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Football players and how they celebrate their goals

Imagine you’re a professional football player that scores during  a match. Everybody in the stadium is excited and celebrates the goal.  However, you make a  sprint to  the corner flag to celebrate it with a rehearsed movement.

It  appears that more and more football players want to celebrate their goal with  themselves and in their own manner. Why don’t football players celebrate with their teammates? In our opinion  football is a team sport and a rehearsed movement to celebrate the goal is fine but it look likes it’s booming business this moment. For example, the heart sign which is shown by numerous players like John Guidetti when he scores for Feyenoord.

See the movie down below and please let us know what you think about this topic! Maybe you know some nice pictures or movies about football players and how they celebrate their goals? Let us know and we place this on our blog.

For all our Dutch visitors: In 2007 the book ‘Het grote juichen’ was published. In this book is written how players celebrate their goals in the history and nowadays; the evolution of celebrating a goal.

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Money, Money, Money!

The Netherlands is in a recession since this week. The Euro countries are losing their triple A status one by one. However, the last few days there were sport events where a lot of money was involved. In addition we think this is strange because how can whole Europe be almost in a recession when there is so much money involved in sports events in Europe?

For example, a large amount of money is to be found at Anzhi Makhachkala. The football club is managed by some very rich Russians and Guus Hiddink is the new head trainer and vice- chairman of the club. For example, they pay striker Samuel Eto’o 365.000 Euro per week, this makes him the best paid player in the world.


However, this week there were some sport events at which athletes could earn a large amount of money.  In the table below the sport events of the last days are summarized:

 * We are aware that the Champions- and Europe League are no sport events but competitions. However, the amount of money which is involved in these competitions is extremely high therefore we have chosen to add these two leagues.

By looking at this table we can conclude that there is a great difference in sport disciplines. It is very clear that athletes in some disciplines are very well paid but on the other side there are disciplines in which athletes earn small amounts of money. We understand that the popularity of the sport and sponsorships are responsible for the height of the money athletes earn but these athletes are training for the same goal (be the best of the world) with the same labor.

But why are there such big differences in sport popularity and sponsorships? We don’t know and are excited about your opinion. Please let us know in the comment field down below!

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Pre-Valentine's Day: Love = Football!

 (Girls, scroll down for a nice valentine tip! ^^)

After a 2-month break, the UEFA leagues are finally back! This week we can all enjoy many great games from the Champions league (8th final) and the Europa league (16th final).The first game will start on Tuesday 14th of February. For the big football fans among us it doesn’t matter this day it will be Valentine’s Day or does it? The video beneath is a fun commercial made by Puma in 2010 specially for valentine's day...

Two months ago we could never predict which team would actually be in what league; the results really surprised us. Who did ever thought that last-year’s Champions league finalist would play in the Europa league this year? We didn’t, as we neither did expect that Olympique Lyonnais would continue into next round in Champions league at the expense of Ajax.

Fortunately, in our opinion these surprises brings surprisingly good matches and we hope everyone will enjoy them. The program this week will be as following:

Champions League

Tuesday 14th of February

20:45

Lyon  (FRA) – Apoel (CYP)

Leverkusen (GER) – Barcelona (SPA)

Wednesday 15th of February

18:00

Zenit (RUS) – Benfica (POR)

20:45

Milan (ITA) – Arsenal (ENG)

Europa League

Tuesday 14th of February

18:00

Rubin (RUS) – Olympiacos (GRE)

18:30

Braga (POR) – Besiktas (TUR)

Wednesday 15th of February

18:00

Lokomotiv Moskva (RUS) – Athletic (SPA)

19:00

Salzburg (AUT) – Metalist (UKR)

Ajax (NED) – Man. United (ENG)

Plzen (CZE) – Schalke (GER)

AZ (NED) – Anderlecht (BEL)

Lazio (ITA) – Atlético (SPA)

Legia (POL) – Sporting (POR)

21:05

Steaua (ROU) – Twente (NED)

Wisla (POL) – Standard Liege (BEL)

Udinese (ITA) – PAOK (GRE)

Trabzonspor (TUR) – PSV (NED)

Hannover (GER) – Club Brugge (BEL)

Porto (POR) – Man City (ENG)

Stoke (ENG) – Valencia (SPA)

For all the girls who are reading this, maybe this video will inspire you to surprise your football-addicted man…

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The ‘Elfstedentocht’ needs to be on the UNESCO World Heritage

Every year when it’s freezing for a couple of days everybody in the Netherlands gets the ‘Elfstedentocht’ fever. The ‘Elfstedentocht’ (Eleven Cities Tour) is a 200-kilometers long tour where people skate along eleven historic Frisian cities. The popularity of the tour is so enormous that even when you’re a member of the ‘Koninklijke vereniging De Friesche Elf Steden’ a drawing of lots every year decides who may start and who may not if the ‘Elfstedentocht’ takes place. In the history there were 15 ‘Elfstedentochten’ and the last one was in 1997. The clip below illustrates the typical Dutch atmosphere which should be protected by the UNESCO World Heritage (unfortunatly, the clip is in Dutch).

Due to the climate in The Netherlands an ‘Elfstedentocht’ is more an exception than a rule so maybe that’s why the tour is so popular among the Dutch. The tour can only take place when the ice thickness of the route is about 15 centimeters because of this it needs to freeze the whole day during two weeks.

The UNESCO World Heritage exists of property with exceptional and universal nature and/or cultural value. At this moment the Netherlands don’t have a cultural value on the list which is a little bit strange because we believe that there are some typical Dutch culture values which are the building blocks of the Dutch society.

For example, this could be ‘Koninginnedag’ (Queensday) but the problem with this is that not everybody in The Netherlands likes the royal house. Therefore, this couldn’t be a cultural value so another option is the ‘Elfstedentocht’ because it’s an old value of the Netherlands (in the history everybody could ice skate and still everybody skates on ice these days when it’s possible). Another advantage that speaks for the ‘Elfstedentocht’ is the sponsoring of the tour. Since the tour was last skated 15 years ago, the sponsorship policy is outdated and everybody tries to cash in on it. By putting the ‘Elfstedentocht’ on the UNESCO list this would be prevented.

Fortunately, there are a lot of famous Dutch people and politicians who supported the ‘Elfstedentocht’ in their own way. For example, Geert Wilders (politician) said that if the tour takes place this year it needs to be a national day like ‘Koninginnedag’. Jort Kelder (tv-star) said that the tour needs to be on the UNESCO World Heritage because of the sponsorship policy (he doesn’t like the sponsoring of UNOX).

In our opinion the ‘Elfstedentocht’ is something unique for The Netherlands. This was for example illustrated by the huge amount of journalists at the last edition of the tour in 1997 and it is really popular in The Netherlands (everybody talks about it). The typical Dutch feeling needs to be preserved for our grandchildren and their grandchildren so that every foreigner knows what the orange color is feeling and standing for.

‘IT GIET OAN!’

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Ice Cross Downhill has to be an Olympic discipline

Red Bull Crashed Ice was born on 20 January 2000 and it was a totally new sport. Red Bull Crashed Ice is a game of the sport Ice Cross Downhill. The aim of the sport is a man to man fight on a 300 meters long ice track (see the video). However, this is not a normal ice trial because there are different obstacles, hairpin bends and the trial is declining steeply.

In our opinion Ice Cross Downhill has to be an Olympic game because the Olympic Games try to modernize the games so that it will be interesting for a lot of people and sponsors who invest in the games. First of all, Ice Cross Downhill will be interesting for a lot of people because at the first edition of the Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championships in the Netherlands there were 35.000 frenzied fans.  Secondly, Ice Cross Downhill is in some aspects similar to Skicross and Snowboardcross. These two sports have been in the Olympic Games since a couple of years. Thirdly, due to the track it is a spectacular sport and all the time something unexpected could happen which make the sports unpredictable and interesting to watch.

We would like to advise you to see Ice Cross Downhill on Saturday 4 February in Valkenburg, The Netherlands. When this is too far away there are also the following opportunities: 
* Åre (SWE) - 17-18 February
* Québec (CAN) - 16-17 March

If you are unable to be present at any of the events it is also possible to follow this event on the television or the internet. When you have been at one of the crashed ice events feel free to react and discuss about the Olympic potential of this sport via this blog.

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