OOSTERHOUT - Three of four players playing for De Eekhoorn in the Netherlands were on the way to celebrate the Belgian title in the highest league this week. Mister 100 is across the board from his main rival at three matches from the end. Mister 100 is superior in Belgium with Peter Ceulemans, Kurt Ceulemans, Jerry Hermans and Bart Ceulemans/Marco Janssen. Team Eekhoorn, almost with the same players, is in position 7 in the Netherlands, 12 points down from SIS Schoonmaak, the proud frontrunner. In the Netherlands, there is one change in the team of the new Belgian champion: Frans van Kuyk.That is, as everyone knows, more a strengthening than a weakening of the team. Therefore, it is tempting to make a comparison. Is the Dutch league so much stronger than the Belgian league? And is it because in the Netherlands many more foreign top players and big names play, such as Merckx, Horn, Tasdemir, Ceulemans, Legazpi, Coklu, Soumagne, Forthomme, Morales, Palazón, Leppens, Karakurt, to name a few, than in Belgium with Van Kuyk, Valentijn, De Bruijn, Soumagne, Van Erp, Van Beers, among others.
Peter Ceulemans, after winning the Belgian title, can make the assessment flawlessly. He assures: ’’The Dutch competition is of course much stronger. Just look at the averages: we are the champions in Belgium with a team average 1.232. We are not much weaker than in the Netherlands: 1.241 average. But the leader, SIS, has 1,463, which is quite a difference. In the Belgian league, we have played 19 times and 33 points. In the Netherlands, with Team Eekhoorn, we played 14 times and 14 points.''
The chances of competing for the title for Team Eekhoorn are not remarkably high. ''We have to make up four points, then we have a chance to be in the play-offs,'' Peter Ceulemans reckons. Tomorrow, Sunday, Frans van Kuyk, Peter Ceulemans, Kurt Ceulemans and Jerry Hermans play an away match against Zundert featuring Forthomme, Frings, Forton of Van Etten. That will certainly not be a walk-over for the Belgian champions.
Dekker Keukens plays a home match against Burgmans Biljarts with the match between Dave Christiani against Eddy Leppens as the eye-catcher. SIS Schoonmaak travels to The Hague for the match against J&F Auto's with a lot of old sentiments, such as Jorissen-Merckx, Hofman-Van Erp and Klompenhouwer-Burgman. Post Luchtkanalen is struggling to move away from the bottom places. The home match against Cues&Darts will be tough to survive. Just above them, J&F Auto's, Burgmans, Dallinga and even Team Squirrel and Bousema are in a nice fight to join the long middle order.
The line-ups for Round 16 in the Netherlands:
STZ Zundert-Team Eekhoorn
Roland Forthomme-Peter Ceulemans
Thorsten Frings-Frans van Kuyk
Francis Forton-Kurt Ceulemans
Sam van Etten-Jerry Hermans
Dallinga-Woonwonder
Jean Paul de Bruijn-Ismaïl Yasin
Peter De Backer-Erwin Kivits
Steven van Acker-Harrie van de Ven
Berry Dallinga-Frits Broeders
Dekker/APSprundel-Burgmans Biljarts
Dave Christiani-Eddy Leppens
Barry van Beers-Anno de Kleine
Gerwin Valentijn-Marco Janssen
Henk Blauwblomme-Johan Roijers
J&F Auto's-SIS Schoonmaak
Jeffrey Jorissen-Eddy Merckx
Glenn Hofman-Jean van Erp
Therese Klompenhouwer-Raimond Burgman
Joey de Kok-Martien van der Spoel
Post Air ducts-Cues&Darts/Xtreme
Leslie van Neyen-Pierre Soumagne
Marc Celen-Huub Wilkowski
Erwin Hens-Wesley de Jaeger
Wilco van Wijk-Volkan Cetin.