RUMPT – The top favorite ultimately claimed the cup after a rock-solid finish. On Saturday afternoon, Team Eekhoorn won the Dutch Cup final for teams at De Carambole in Rumpt against Cues&Darts with a final score 10-2 in sets. The outpouring of emotion immediately after the match was touchingly beautiful following the decisive attacks of speed by Peter Ceulemans and Nick Polychronopoulos. The joy was palpable within the team of players and staff. De Eekhoorn performed a brief celebratory jump in De Carambole. This Saturday evening, the winning of the national cup was celebrated all over again at the champions' campsite. Team Eekhoorn, with its core group, is heading into Europe.
The battle for the Dutch Cup for teams is becoming more of an internationally flavored closing gala every year. On this beautiful Saturday in April, the victory went to Team Eekhoorn, a squad consisting of two Dutchmen, three Belgians, and one Greek. Jerry Hermans, theoretically the team captain, spoke after the final of a unique top team that had been preparing for years to secure this first success. "It is the victory of team spirit," he said about the cup win. "We have fought for this for twelve years; we deserved this with so much dedication, team spirit, and camaraderie. We had never won a major prize in those twelve years; this one means big deal to us."
The core of the team, consisting of Kurt Ceulemans, Frans van Schaik, and Jerry Hermans, later joined by Peter Ceulemans, Nick Polychronopoulos, and Eddy Leppens, had come close in earlier years as well. They lost the playoff final against SIS Schoonmaak, albeit by a wide margin. "We had the team to strike now," Hermans believed. And Team Eekhoorn did just that with a certain supremacy. In the three matches leading up to the quarter-final, the semi-final, and the final, Eekhoorn's performances were almost superior. This was further emphasized in the final, which went to nine sets, where Eekhoorn proved the strongest with a 10-2 victory.
Peter and Kurt Ceulemans set the tone with top-class matches, Nick Polychronopoulos had a false start but found his rhythm later on, and Eddy Leppens and Jerry Hermans completed the winning team. In the final, Peter Ceulemans even won four sets against Huub Wilkowski and Nick Polychronopoulos three sets against Pierre Soumagne. Kurt Ceulemans won 2-1 against Joey de Kok, and Eddy Leppens drew 1-1 against Jef Philipoom. Team Eekhoorn had a much better average than their opponent: 1.732 versus 1.1134. In the semi-final against Team Van Baal, Eekhoorn shone as a team with 1.623, and in the quarter-final with the same score against Team Aartsbouw. Jef Philipoom crowned the shortest set in the final with 15 in 4 innings. Kurt Ceulemans was on his way to a top set in 2 against Joey de Kok, but needed another 11 innings for his winning point.
Jerry Hermans will take this team to Europe in 2027. "I always knew that all my players would choose us for the Coupe D’Europe." Except for Eddy Leppens, that is, who plays for the PBA.
"The most wonderful example of team spirit and being willing to do anything for the team was Frans van Kuyk." He had been out of form for weeks and said beforehand: 'I will not play, it’s better for the team if I stay on the sidelines.' And that is exactly what happened; the figurehead of Team Eekhoorn stayed on the sidelines of the team and carried the players' suitcases.
Team Eekhoorn now wants to make a bid for the title in the Kozoom league without external pressure. "We’ll see how it turns out, because we never claim in advance that we are going to become champions."
