Cempaka Belanda: Footballers and horses

Monday, October 18, 2010

Footballers and horses - Holland's talent drain

RNW, 18 October 2010 | By Johan van der Tol

(Photo ANP )

The Netherlands already ‘exports’ world-class football players - now it looks as if Dutch champion horses are going the same way. In both cases, man and beast are developed, trained and fine-tuned to become top quality products and then – ultimately - lured, sold and physically moved abroad by and for ‘big money’. But, for the home country, is that something to be proud of, or in fact a drain of much-needed talent?

Just after the recent victories in Kentucky, USA, of the 'team' of Dutch dressage horse Totilas and rider Edward Gal (three world titles, in fact) came the news that this wonderful animal was to be sold to a Germany buyer. With Totilas and rider looking set to bring home one or more medals from the 2012 London Olympics, this hit home like a sledgehammer for Dutch fans of the sport.

Record transfer fee

Totilas is not the first Dutch horse to ‘emigrate’, but he is so exceptional that his new owner was reportedly prepared to pay no less than 15 million euros to acquire him. That’s well above the previous record of 4.5 million paid for a Dutch horse, and an amount that puts one in mind of the transfer fees paid for star soccer players.

The similarity doesn’t end there, says Johan Knaap, director of the Royal Dutch Sport Horse organisation KWPN. The market for equestrian event horses is truly international, just like the market for soccer players, which, as he explains, “means that, ultimately, the party willing to pay the most gets the goods. That’s just the way that market works.”

Unlike footballers, however, horses such as Totilas are also a lucrative investment because of their breeding potential. A test tube of this horse’s sperm is said already to be worth as much as 5,500 euros; a price that could rise steeply if Olympic glory is indeed achieved in two years’ time.

Best breeders

Royal Dutch Sport Horse is actually rather proud that a Dutch horse can fetch so much money from a foreign buyer. Johan Knaap says:

“It’s really a great shame for [Edward] Gal and for the Dutch dressage team, but it’s also a fantastic compliment for Dutch breeders. They’re the best breeders in the world.”

Nonetheless, in such cases, it's someone else – abroad - who could end up walking away with the honours, while the Dutch riders and trainers see the product of all their time and effort slip away without receiving any of the ultimate glory or credit. In a similar way, Dutch football clubs like Ajax Amsterdam, Rotterdam’s Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven see many of their former protégés shining on the field for foreign rivals such as Italy’s Inter Milan, Germany’s Bayern Munich and English team Arsenal.

Rule changes

Frank van den Wall Bake, an expert in the field of sports marketing, believes this drain of Dutch footballing talent is a bad thing. He's calling for there to be a new international requirement which guarantees that at least six of the eleven players out on the pitch must have been trained and nurtured by their own club. It’s a proposal the European football association UEFA is looking at right now. Mr Van den Wall Bake says:

“This means fans will be able to identify with their club much more than if there are only two players from the home country on the side.”

One difference between horses and footballers is that the soccer stars are still available to play for the Dutch national team even though they are members of foreign domestic teams. The inclusion of such international stars indeed meant that the orange-clad ‘Holland’ squad was able to make it to the final of this year's World Cup in South Africa.

The sale of Totilas, however, means the Netherlands will lose out on 'his' potential world titles and Olympic medals. Frank van den Wall Bake has a possible solution to that problem:

”The rules should be changed so that both the rider and the horse have to come from the same country. At the moment, it’s the country of the rider which is the deciding factor.”

No guarantees

Medal chances may be lost when a horse goes abroad, but as horse breeder Johan Knaap says, the mere purchasing of top equine talent is no guarantee for success. Horse and rider need to be perfectly attuned to and trust each other. That’s not something which comes easily: “It’s not a simple matter of saying ‘I pay my money and I get the gold’.”

So, the acquisition of Dutch talent is not a guarantee of success. Spanish football team Real Madrid found that out not so long ago when it spent tens of millions of euros to buy five Dutch players. They soon stopped playing for the team, being replaced by other foreign players who, although they cost even more than their Dutch predecessors, have also failed to give Real the glory it was hoping for.