The Hindu : Sport : Making it a family affair

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 18, 2005

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Making it a family affair

K. Keerthivasan

Jeroen Delmee (left) with his father Harrie Delmee. — Photo: Vino John

CHENNAI: The father and the son are "playing" for the same team. The father is 59 years old while the son is 32. And you know they are in the final of the Champions Trophy hockey championship to be held here on Sunday. When the Dutch takes on Australia, the father, sitting on the players' bench will be quietly giving inputs, and fervently praying his son guides the team to victory.

Harrie Delmee, the manager of the Netherlands, and Jeroen Delmee, the captain of the Dutch team, are the only father-son pair in the elite hockey championship. Harrie is an important part of the Dutch administration while his son plays the important role as a central midfielder.

Says Harrie, "I was already with the National team before my son came in to the team. Since 1984 I have been training the National goalkeepers and `keepers with my club. More than 15 years I have been involved in coaching. I continue to train goalkeepers at the MEP HC at Boxtel."

Adds Harrie, "I started training him when he was six years till he was 15 years. Now, we share more of a relationship of a player-coach than as a father and son."

Career highlights

Jeroen, whose career highlights have been the gold in the 1998 World Cup at Utrecht, and a gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, says the period from 1990-2000 were the "golden days of Dutch hockey." He explains, "At that time, we had 6 or 7 key players, now we have 2 or 3. Ours is a young team with an average age of 24."

Jeroen has played in all the Champions Trophy editions from 1994. "I have missed only five matches in my career and it is a tribute to my fitness," he says.

Harrie, an employee of Dumeco, one of the biggest slaughter house of pigs in Europe says, "It is usual to call up my wife and elder son after every match." On Sunday night, we'll hope it's for the gold. For the father-son duo's sake.

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