Amsterdam Devils win inaugural Benelux Cup

In glorious September sunshine, Amsterdam hosted teams from The Hague and Belgiumon Saturday Sept. 29 to contest the inaugural Benelux Cup. The day marked the first appearance by Belgium at the picturesque VVV sports ground, the home ground of the Amsterdam Devils. It was also the first time they had pulled on their new national jumper!

So with an air of expectation, Belgium emerged from the clubrooms first, and then proceeded to quickly take an early lead against the slow-footed Devils in the first match of the day. Having watched Sydney defeat Hawthorn in the AFL grand final just hours earlier at Coco’s Outback Bar inAmsterdam, the Devils looked lethargic and took a while to swing into action.

But the Devils soon found their feet to create plenty of scoring chances from the middle of the ground and soon closed the gap, before piling on the pressure in the second half to run out convincing 66-point winners.

Up next was The Hague v Belgium, in what proved to be tightly contested, see-sawing match. Belgium led for much of the game, but after playing two matches in a row, were eventually overwhelmed by the strong-finishing The Hague Storks in the dying moments of the match. After squeezing through the last goal of the match, The Hague won by just 3 points.

That victory by the Storks set up a do-or-die final against Amsterdam, with The Hague keen to repeat their first-ever victory against the Devils in August, also at the VVV.

The Devils, Dutch Australian Football Association (DAFA) premiers in 2010 and 2011, were ready for the challenge though and slammed on several early goals against the stiff wind to take an early lead. The Storks were not to be denied, however, and bounced back to narrow the lead and head into the half-time break with their tails up and full of confidence.

The Storks threw everything against the Devils in the final half, but to no avail, as Amsterdam stood firm and foiled every attack to rebound and score crucial goals at crucial moments. The Devils eventually won by 4 goals.

A BBQ and a few social drinks after the matches ended what was a fantastic way to end the 2012 season. Plans are underway for a repeat in the 2013 season.

The Hague scores debut win against the Devils

The stage was set for a classically Dutch wet and wild showdown between the Amsterdam Devils and The Hague Storks after heavy rain was dumped on the VVV pitch before the skies finally cleared ahead of the August 25 match.

The first quarter showed The Hague’s intent to finally break its drought of wins, as it kicked with arguably a 5 goal breeze. The Storks put on a solid performance of fast, efficient footy, booting 6 goals to the Devils’ 1. Though the first quarter wasn’t without controversy as for the first time ever in Dutch-Aussie footy history the quarter was actually timed to include stoppage play – bit too serious!?

Five goals down entering the second quarter, the Devils knew they were up against it and had to react strongly kicking with the wind – enter Aaron ‘Azza’ Gray-Block (the referee-turned-rover), who put on a master-class of hard running, skillful footy to lift the Devils. Though The Hague returned fire with young full-forward Joe Durling proving a handful on the lead and kicking accurately to keep his team’s 5-goal buffer intact.

After a heavy half-time downpour, the skies were again clear and Amsterdam started strongly, kicking the first goal of the new half with a superb end-to-end play with Dave Koh moving into attack and slotting home a scintillating team goal. Again The Hague responded by slamming home a quick fire goal. Devils’ first-gamer Rutger started to find his Australian rhythm with his constant tackling and link-up play in the centre of the park creating a second goal for the Devils and lead his team into the final quarter with a glimmer of hope at retaining their dominance over The Hague.

The final quarter started with a bang as the Devils’ midfield of Scotty, Pete and Damo starting to win the ball out of the centre square and bomb it long to the waiting forwards. Three quick goals in succession and the Devils were starting to believe in the comeback, only 2 goals down and they had the breeze! But the Storks were not going to let history pass them by and, as they had done all game, responded quickly with some fast running and long passing across the park to fire through 3 goals straight to finish off the match. Amsterdam Devils 9.12.66 to The Hague’s 15.10.100.

Amsterdam defeat The Hague to kick-start season 2012

The Amsterdam Devils kicked off the 2012 DAFA season with a hard-fought win over The Hague on Sunday April 15 in The Hague.

The Hague started the match well and dominated early, kicking the first goal and dominating possession of the pill but inaccuracy in front of the sticks meant they did not turn early possession into points.

The Devils, getting into gear, then piled on five goals to finish the quarter with a solid lead.

That set the trend for the match with The Hague playing well and sharing possession, but just having difficulty getting the scores on the board to bridge the gap from the first quarter.

The Devils finally ran out easy winners, defeating The Hague by 50 points.

2011 DAFA Grand Final

The finale to the 2011 DAFA season reaches its climax on Saturday September 17 2011 when Amsterdam take to the field against Den Haag in the Grand Final. It will take place at VVV, Amstelveen (see map below). Here is the run down of how the day will pan out.

• 1pm Ground Setup and Warm-up
• 2pm Amsterdam vs Den Haag Game Start
• 4pm BBQ
• 6pm AGM Meeting
• 7pm until late Presentations and Party

We encourage anyone and everyone to come down and support the boys, participate and join in the festivities on the day and night. There will be four trophies up for grabs that include:

• Best Expat
• Best National
• Leading Goalkicker
• Grand Final Winner

If there are any questions post a comment or contact the DAFA via the contact section on the website.

[googleMap name="VVV, Amstelveen" description="Amsterdam Australian Football Ground" width="600" height="300" typecontrol="false" directions_to="false"]Aanloop, Amstelveen[/googleMap]

EU Cup build-up and updated DAFA draw

With Season 2011 drawing to a close, the DAFA has updated its playing schedule to add a match on August 27 to prepare the Dutch national team for the EU Cup in October.

The Flying Dutchman will therefore take on a team of Expats at the VVV cricket ground in Amsterdam. Make sure you’re a part of the national squad’s EU Cup build-up!

We’ll also hold a national training day at The Hague on Sept. 3 with some media coverage as the Flying Dutchman aim to take out the championship trophy this time round.

The DAFA grand final is still planned for Sept. 17 in Amsterdam with The Hague Vs The Rest.

Flying Dutchmen get new stripes

The winning design

Wearing their current national jumper, the Flying Dutchmen have been back-to-back runners-up in the EU Cup in 2009 and 2010 following their 9th placing in the 2008 championship — a tremendous achievement.

The jumper has been worn with great enthusiasm, guts and pride, but after four years of service the DAFA has now decided it was time for a new, refreshing design.

Following a poll among playing and non-playing DAFA members, the design pictured here to the right has been selected in August 2011 as the new national jumper.

The Flying Dutchmen will wear the the new jumper for the first time at the 2011 EU Cup in Belfast in October.

City showdown in Den Haag

In a match that saw the return of Utrecht dynamo Marnix de Groot following injury in the EU Cup last year and the return of Michel van Eijk, Amsterdam romped away from Den Haag to record a stunning 83 point victory.

Played on July 2 in Den Haag, it was again the second quarter which set the Amsterdam team up for victory as they kicked eight goals to three to take the lead and head into the second-half with their tails up.

The Devils were then unstoppable in the second-half, pouring on the pressure in the third quarter before easing back in the fourth.

2011 season heats up in Amsterdam

Den Haag travelled to Amsterdam, keen to avenge their 55 point defeat in the opening round and notch their first win of the year in a match played under a blazing, heat-blistering afternoon sun.

Played on June 4 at Amsterdam’s home pitch, the VVV cricket ground, the opening two quarters saw both teams evenly matched, as the lead swung back and forth. Poor kicking from Amsterdam also helped keep Den Haag in the match.

In the the third quarter, often described as the premiership quarter, neither Den Haag nor Amsterdam could gain the upper hand and scores were tied heading into the last term. But as the heat took its toll and with Den Haag’s line-up depleted by an injury, Amsterdam kicked away with five goals to one in the final term.

The day was sealed with a taste of Alfie’s Pies and drinks on the terrace.

Season 2011 kicks off in Den Haag

The 2011 Dutch Australian Football season kicked off Saturday May 14 in Ooievaar territory.

In a match that was tightly contested, Den Haag took an early lead in the first quarter before Amsterdam rallied with a 9 goal second term. Den Haag pegged the margin back in the third and fourth quarters, but was unable to make significant inroads into Amsterdam’s lead despite outscoring the Devils in the second-half.

In the end, the second quarter blast from Amsterdam proved to be the deciciding factor as the Devils won by a convincing 55 points on a warn spring afternoon in Den Haag.

The day was topped off by a BBQ and drinks hosted by Den Haag.

Dutchmen galant in defeat in EuroCup 2010 grand final

The Flying Dutchmen have proven last year’s success was no fluke, by going down to Croatia by less than a goal in the EuroCup 2010 grand final in Milan, Italy and taking out successive silver medals.

It wasn’t all bad news, with the Dutchmen getting revenge on reining champions England in the semi-final, leaving the English Dragonslayers relishing in 4th position at the tournament’s end.

Even though we fell short in the end, there were some individual performances that deserve mention, with our player-coach Josh Carmichael awarded the Player of the Tournament, not only for his leadership across the day, but kicking 9.4 in the process to cap an excellent season.

For pictures of the Dutch team, click here, while more photos of the tournament itself you’ll find here.