October 14, 2024 at 5:02 PM Background
AMERSFOORT In the past, the Amersfoort Football Championship (AVK) did not appeal to the imagination, but it has now grown into an event that football-loving Amersfoort eagerly looks forward to every year. Sports retailer Piet Hoek (69) is one of the driving forces behind the AVK. “The tournament has strengthened the cohesion between the clubs.”
by Marcel Koch/Nieuwsplein33
As soon as the five-day football festival starts, the great fun begins for Hoek. Yes, then he is in his element as a socially committed person. “I like the contact with sponsors, club directors, players, referees, volunteers. The AVK has never been a mandatory number for me.”
Hoek receives guests in his soberly furnished office above his spacious sports store in Soest, officially called Intersport Van Dam Superstore. His company supplies numerous sports clubs in Amersfoort and the surrounding area with sports uniforms. Corner between the racks full of shirts: “We are currently dressing nine Amersfoort football clubs.”
Just like in his shop, the Amersfoort sports retailer has a tight rein as chairman of the AVK board. Hoek simply has a brother dead from half-baked work. If something has to be done, it must be done well, is his credo. His fellow board members have the same attitude, says Hoek. “We have worked well together over the years.”
NOBODY
It can change. In the eighties and nineties, AVK was like a bottle of coke without a shot. No fizz. No taste experience. The football tournament, completed after the end of the regular competition, was on the calendar every year, but that was all. The city’s clubs, just like the fanatical football followers, were not enthusiastic about it. The AVK, the first edition was played in 1984, was a piece of cake.
That image changed in 2009 with the arrival of a new foundation board, with Piet Hoek as passionate chairman. With new impetus and, above all, a different format (one of the most important changes was to hold the tournament in August during the preparation for the new season), the event was actually popular with the clubs; Suddenly club trainers and players were eagerly pursuing the title of ‘best football club in the city’.
Sponsors also saw value in it. Hoek about the turnaround: “Our approach was enthusiastically embraced.” With this, the hitherto insignificant tournament was finally taken seriously. Hoek: “The formula is now rock solid.”
KEEP IT EXCITING
This does not mean that areas for improvement are not being considered. Hoek: “Security has our special attention, but we also look at the sporting part.”
Regarding the latter: Hoek is referring to the fact that Hoogland football club, as the highest playing association, often wins the tournament due to the large difference in quality with the other clubs that play at a lower level. And so the question arises: how do you keep the tournament exciting?
Hoek: “I do have my ideas about that. You could do something with the goal count. For example, a goal scored against Hoogland that counts for two. Anyway, something like this must of course be widely supported. As a board, we still have to evaluate the tournament in depth.” On the other hand, he indicates: “Clubs must also be ambitious. If you want to look good at the AVK, you have to train hard beforehand and not act pathetic.”
PUBLIC INTEREST
The fact that the AVK is a must-see for many football fans is evident from the gradually increasing public interest. To illustrate: the final day of the last edition at KVVA attracted more than two thousand visitors. The year before, when AFC Quick 1890 was the organizing club, even three thousand. Those numbers make Hoek’s eyes shine: “We are very proud of them. We don’t charge the top price for entrance, we like to keep it accessible. Young people can enter for free anyway.”
According to Hoek, it is the entourage and the familiar atmosphere that makes the tournament so popular. Hoek: “The AVK has, and I dare say this, grown into a household name in Amersfoort. Apart from the fact that it is a kind of reunion – I always see many former players as spectators on the sidelines – with the AVK we have brought the clubs closer together and cohesion has been strengthened. As a foundation board, we are proud of that.”
“Thanks to the AVK, the chairman’s consultation was created, so that all thirteen football clubs speak with one voice. It is important that they radiate unity, so that you can enforce more together. Very useful if you want to get something done.”
The upcoming edition of the AVK – always held in the second week of August – will be played at the club that had the scoop in 1984: VOP.
Who is Piet Hoek?
Piet Hoek was born and raised in Amersfoort. He grew up in the Randenbroek district in a family with six children. When Hoek was ten years old, he started playing football at AFC Quick 1890, the club of which he is still a member. “I became a board member when I was 18. Quick was then still an omni club with, in addition to football, a softball and baseball department.”
He says he had a good time: “I wasn’t a great football player, but when something had to be organised, I was often at the front.” He has always been an enterprising type. “I got that from home. We weren’t rich at home, but I always had money in my pocket because I did all kinds of odd jobs, from running a paper route to washing cars. As a child, I did the shopping on Saturdays, so I learned how to handle money at an early age and my sense of responsibility was developed.
After a short period in the catering industry, Hoek found his niche in the sports industry. It became his passion and his life. First he worked at the Kraanen sports house in the Krommestraat (‘that’s where I learned the trade’) and later in Soest at Intersport Van Dam, which he has owned since 1992. Many Amersfoort sports clubs, from football to handball, from volleyball to hockey, have a partnership with his company, which specializes in functional sports equipment.
This article was produced in collaboration with Nieuwsplein33.
