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

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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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