Aura of Invincibility Around the Netherlands Women’s Hockey Team

For many decades now, the Netherlands women’s hockey team have carried an ‘aura of invincibility’ around them – every opponent have found them a tough nut to crack, and the ‘outcome is a foregone conclusion on most occasions save for a few occasions’ when opponents fought tooth and nail and force the Dutch eves into a draw or the latter finished second-best.

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Sample this – the Netherlands women’s hockey team have won every Olympics since the 2008 Beijing Olympics – barring a shootout loss to Great Britain at the 2016 Rio Olympics, the Dutch eves have won every major trophy over the last few decades.
The Netherlands have been Olympic champions five times (1984, 2008, 2012, 2020, 2024) and have been runners-up (silver medallist) twice at the 2004 Athens Olympics and the already-mentioned 2016 Rio Olympics. And to top it all, they have been bronze medallist thrice (1988, 1996, 2000) that makes it 10 podium finishes in 11 Olympic appearances. They boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics and the 1992 Barcelona Olympics was the only time that the Dutch eves did not make a podium finish (they had finished 6th). What a magnificent statistics story that encapsulates how redoubtable the Dutch have been on a consistent basis over decades.

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The Netherlands’ World Cup Journey is even more impressive – they have won the showpiece event on 9 occasions (1974, 1978, 1983, 1986, 1990, 2006, 2014, 2018, 2022) – they have been runners-up (silver medallist) 4 times (1981, 1998, 2002, 2010) and won the bronze once in the 1976 edition. – 14 podium finishes in 15 World Cup appearances is an amazing record – the 1994 Dublin World Cup was the only one the Dutch eves did not make a podium finish (they had finished 6th).

The Dutch women hockey firepower has been catapulted into a mean machine by a bevy of illustrious names. The early years 70s saw the likes of midfielder Toos Bax, and the fullback duo of Suzan Bekker and Lisette Sevens rule the roost. In fact, the trio of Toos Bax, Suzan Bekker, and Lisette Sevens have been won the World Cup thrice with the Dutch team (1974, 1976, 1978).

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The eighties saw the emergence of fullback & penalty corner expert Fieke Boekhorst, Sophie Von Weiler, Irene Hendriks, Det de Beus, and Sandra Le Poole. Many other big names graced the Dutch team in subsequent years such as the likes of Kim Lammers, Mijntje Donners, Minke Booij, Naomi van As, Maartje Paumen, Ellen Hoog (2014), Eva de Goede, Lidewij Welten, Margot van Geffen.

Of course, the coaches behind-the-scenes also deserve plaudits for moulding the Dutch eves into a formidable unit for a consistent period of time. The likes of Gijs van Heumen, Tom van ‘t Hek, Sergio Vigil, Marc Lammers, Jamilon Mülders, Herman Kruis, Paul Van Ass, Alison Annan, Max Caldas among others have essayed meaningful contributions to the growth of Dutch women’s hockey over the years.

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Paul Van Ass, who stepped down after cornering glory with the Dutch eves at the 2024 Paris Olympics, shares his perspectives on the growth of Dutch women’s hockey. “Look, the Dutch women are really a strong unit and their record speak for themselves. Teams like Argentina, Great Britain, Australia, Germany, China, etc have a lot of catching up to do. I expect the Dutch eves to lose a match or two or settle for a draw, but their consistency is unmatched,” he says in an exclusive chat with Hockey Passion.

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The 64-year-old reveals that he had made up his mind about exiting as Dutch eves coach irrespective of the outcome at the 2024 Paris Olympics. “Coaching a national team is exceedingly time-consuming exercise and demands commitment to be away from family for long periods. I’ve my own business and I’m very much involved in a lot of things and it was getting tough to juggle my coach job and my other pursuits. So I took a call to step down,” he says.