Not so long ago I was contacted by Fons Pasteur regarding the plans to organize a “classic” squash tournament. Play with the old wooden rackets and by playing according to the old scoring system (games to 9 points, scoring on serve only). Fons was organising this event with Raj Aggarwal.

We all know Fons. Raj is an Australian squash pro who has played for HSRC Heren 2 and HSRC  Heren 1 this year.

The tournament was to be organised over a period of 2 days. Saturday April 13 was reserved also for the former members to try and use the old technology (wood and glue). It was no more than a logical step to combine the tournament with a reception for former members of the old Diepput and the old HSRC. And for this reason Fons contacted me  and many others. To find as many former members as possible. It quickly became very clear how difficult it was. There was no central datasystem. We progressed via networks of personal contacts. But it very quickly became clear that there was great entousiasm. As a result, the reception was spiced up with the optional dinner buffet and a party afterwards.

When I was first contacted I asked for the reason to organize the event. Any reason is good enough off course. But the main committee of the Koninklijke HC & VV is celebrating 135 years of Cricket and 130 years Football and 100 years of the Diepput as a magazine. And since we are part of omniclub we take part in the festivities.

History

Off course everybody knows that HSRC de Diepput is the result of a merger between the HSRC and the squash division of HC&VV (the Diepput). The 3 squash courts with stone back walls next to the main playing field are the old Diepput courts. They date back to 1978 (35 years). Our current club also makes use of 2 courts that were formerly part of the WW squash club. (build in the mid eighties).

The HSRC is part of the foundation of Dutch squash. It was founded on October 7, 1939. It is the oldest squashclub in the Netherlands. By the end of the previous millenium, the HSRC was in a difficult situation. With a decline in members (700+ in the mid-eighties) to ca 300 in 1999 and a number of incidental financial claims, the club was forced to sell and leaseback the building. In 2001 the new owners started the elaborate renovations. The building was later then expected mid season 2002 / 2003. The total project / building was a burden for the investors. The exploitation was taken over by Ceasar Sports who terminated the rental agreement with the HSRC. After meetings with the then chairman of HC&VV (Maarten Fontein) and the chairman of the Diepput( Ruud van Koesveld) it was decided to merge the clubs. The merger was effective of January 1 2005. The same date the rental agreement was terminated with Ceasar Sports. We use the date of foundation of the HSRC as our birthday. So in October 7 next year we will be 75 years old. The merger is a great success. We are well organized and have maintained a leading position in Dutch squash.

The tournament

The tournament was a great success with some 24 participants and with some famous names from the past. Robert Jan Anjema had signed up, together with his former Dutch team collegues Rolf Krayenhoff, Tonny Bakker and Pieter Fangman. From a more recent past we welcomed Angelique Peters, her partner Joop  Matulessy and the brother of Angelique (former Eredivison) Mario. The final was won by Rogier Botting who beat Jeroen Hagers. The ladies event was won by Angelique who beat Gu van Rhijn. Prizes were handed out by Raj.

The Reception

The reception was a success beyond any expectation. I don’t know about the Diepput, but the last time such an event was organized for former members was 24 years ago! What a turn up! From 4 o clock onwards a large crowd of ca 200 mainly former members turned up.  In this outcome was based only on our informal approach to contact the former members! The reception started upstairs, but moved to the ground floor, filling the club house and the terrace. Many people had made great efforts to come to the reception, a number coming from the east of Holland. Former chairman Toon Blokland and his wife came all the way from France. Charles van Leeuwen (also former chairman) came from Belgium. Many people I had not seen or spoken to in many many years.

Fons had also produced a slide presentation with photo’s and news clippings dating from as early is 1940 to the latest performances of our club.

To promote the club, each of the guests was supplied with an original key ring of HSRC de Diepput. attached to an information sheet

It was realy fun to see all our old friends. Former committee members, former chairmen, honorary members, (former) National champions, Dutch team players and players that used to play in our ere-divison teams and many more that have played and made our club.  To start mentioning names would make this article very long and it would only do justice to the people that are mentioned.

Our current chairman (Cor Mouw) guided the event in great style. Presenting Laurens Jan Anjema as this years Dutch Champion and presenting awards to the captains of HSRC 2 and HSRC 4 for their respective wins in the competition. The remarkable end result of all our competition efforts is visible on the website.

The reception turned into a buffet, with many of the guests staying on. But after the dinner most of the former members left, leaving the remaining current members to party on.

We have to thank Fons, Raj and Cor for their great efforts to organize this event. 

To conclude I think it is fair to say that we have learned from this. First of all, we will continue to update our records with the contact data of former members. For this we will need the help of former members to find the missing. And we will also make an effort to keep informing the former members via newsletters.

Next week, we will post another article about the reunion (in Dutch) and will also publish all the pictures that have been taken during the weekend. Some pictures can already been found on www.facebook.com/Squash.HSRC.de.Diepput