Netherlands are generally pretty good all rounders at sport. According to an algorithm that is "is a measure of how likely a country's medal tally is if all people and countries had the same medal-winning capabilities" they were the fourth most successful nation at the Olympics (behind Australia, France, and Great Britain). They won 15 Gold medals (a Dutch record) in 7 different sports which varied from track & field athletics, 3x3 basketball, cycling, hockey, rowing, sailing, and swimming.
This success reminded of the great potential they have to be strong at rugby as the country and its people tick many boxes to make rapid progress possible.
Size: There rarely ever goes a mention of Dutch rugby without somebody commenting on their famous height with the average male over 6 foot.
Someone once mentioned maybe they could become exporters of locks to clubs in France like Georgia is for props. True to stereotype, they don't struggle to find 2m locks, among their homegrown pros currently abroad are Koen Bloemen (Aurillac, 2.03m), Skip Jongejan (Aurillac, 2.01m), Renger van Eerten (Brive, 2.03m), Fabian Holland (Highlanders/Otago, 2.04m), Stan van den Hoven (Miami/Manawatu, 2.03m). These are all just players who emerged from an improved Dutch age grade system to win pro contracts in last 6 years. Spain and Portugal barely have more than two homegrown 2m locks between them in their history.
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| 2.04m tall Fabian Holland is tipped to be a potential All Blacks lock in the future once he qualifies via residency in 2025 (his brother Quinten, also a lock, has also now joined him in Otago) |
Athleticism: size is generally an asset in rugby but it would useless if not paired with athleticism and mobility round the field. You can see in Dutch athletes like Femke Bol height is combined with speed and endurance. The best known Dutch rugby player to date, Tim Visser, who was the URC top try scorer four seasons in a row between 2009 to 2013, and later played Tier 1 international level for Scotland was also fast at 1.95m tall.
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| World famous 400m hurdler Femke Bol (who incidentally is the same height & weight as the greatest female rugby athlete of all time Maddison Levi) powered Netherlands to mixed 4x400m relay Gold recently at the Olympics |
In addition to the native Dutch, they also have some immigrant diversity in the population, with links to other athletic populations. The football team has over the years featured numerous famous players born or with parents from Suriname like Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, Patrick Kluivert, Nigel de Jong etc. In athletics Churandy Martina from Curaçao reached five Olympic finals in 100 and 200m in the Usain Bolt era (he initially won 200m silver in 2008 but got disqualified for lane infringement). Although this demographic has yet to appear in Dutch rugby, if they could reach it, there is clear athletic potential.
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| Famous Dutch footballers born or parents were from Suriname include Clarence Seedorf, Patrick Kluivert, and Edgar Davids. Could Dutch rugby find any future star talent from this sporting demographic? |
Developed world: To achieve great success across a range of sports at the Olympics, or in team sports that is a collection of players, it requires good competent non-corrupt developed world organisation, training, and funding. Netherlands is generally listed in the top 10 of world governance efficiency rankings.
They have shown this highly organised strategic development success in other team sports, most famously in football with the Ajax Academy, and in their success in hockey with male and female Olympic golds recently. But also to some very minor early stage extent in rugby in the speed of which Rugby Nederland was able to build an U20 program that used to be miles off, losing 42-5 to Portugal in 2017, to one that has now beaten them two years in a row and qualified for the World Rugby U20 Trophy this year. In a sport where hierarchies can be very static and development tends to happen only at a slow pace such improvement is notable.
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| The all star graduate XI of the famous Ajax football Academy |
Geography: Some countries are so big (Russia, Brazil, North America) it can cause considerable logistic challenge and expense to national team sport training. Others may have difficulty with small playing populations spread over rural farming areas (Namibia). Or just relatively small populations to support many minor sports (Uruguay). Netherlands strikes a good balance in having a reasonable sized population (17.7 million) in not too large a country that is easy to travel around and train with teammates or play domestic opponents.
Some nations (especially in East Africa) also suffer from distance and isolation from any major Tier 1 rugby power with pro rugby. Netherlands though are located close to both France and the UK. This means it is far easier for them to make frequent in person connections and exchange of ideas with those with knowledge and experience in the professional game. And in particular the proximity to France means it is easier for young players to get scouted for Espoirs contracts to try and become top level professionals without having to move so far away from visiting family and other support back at home.
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| Netherlands dense 17.7m population and proximity to Tier 1 rugby powers especially France is a notable advantage |
Open sporting niche: As in most of Europe, football is king in Netherlands and will always likely be so, but there is room in a sporting culture for multiple sports. Rugby occupies a particular niche of full contact team sport that appeals to those who maybe like the idea of combat battle sports like wrestling, but with also the teamwork and passing and kicking skill of basketball and football mixed in, and also has an international game that their national team can compete in. One of the main reasons that Europe has so much growth potential for rugby is that niche is quite open in several notable countries including the Netherlands.
All this outlines the Dutch potential in rugby should they be able to grow the sport in national popularity. But there is one strange thing about Dutch rugby. Their fanbase hasn't yet got much behind their improving national team.
It was a surprise to read that according to World Rugby the Netherlands was among their best markets for tickets at the recent World Cup in France. The reason it was a surprise is you would not have guessed there was much of an audience for rugby based on following their national team.
Despite being one of the most improved international teams of the past decade, the crowds for national team games are still pretty small, and compared to other REC nations like Georgia or Spain, their rugby community has a relatively quiet presence online as well. None of their social media accounts get that many followers or engagement.
Yet at the same time when the Cheetahs played a Challenge Cup match against Zebre in Amsterdam in January (hardly a clash between two big teams) they quickly sold 4,500 tickets to fill their small stadium (this presumably was a nice boost for the Cheetahs who played their neutral matches the previous season in Parma in front of one man and his dog).
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| Cheetahs were the biggest ticket selling rugby team wearing Orange in Amsterdam this year inexplicably at expense of the Dutch national team |
So what is going on? It appears from the outside, that there is some small fanbase for rugby in Netherlands, but they became so accustomed to their own national team being so obscure and lowly ranked, seeing their most famous player play for Scotland instead, that they associate the real sport of a serious level is only played by "Tier 1", and have not paid attention to or noticed the huge progress and emerging talent made in their own country.
This is why they are one of the teams for whom 24 team World Cup expansion could be so important. For the first time they have a realistic chance to qualify (their best hope is mostly likely in the Repechage after getting the harder pool in Rugby Europe qualifying). If they could manage to do so, this could be a huge opportunity to announce to the Dutch public and media, that Netherlands now has a team of its own to get behind and support.
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| What an amazing sight this would be if it was one day at the RWC! |
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