Europa Club Cup Final – 11^th October 2003

(Detailed and captioned photos at bottom of page)

 On the 11^th October 2003 the Kenamju Judo Club of Haarlem, Holland hosted the Europa Club Cup Final for Men. Claiming that Haarlem was the “Judo Capital of Europe” and the best club in Holland, they had progressed through the quarter-finals by beating the Swedish Boras Judo Club earlier in the year.  Their boast was not idle for the club had already won the title three times. In 1998 they took the men’s title at Abensberg and the ‘double’ of the women’s final in Paris, and again in 1999 when they defended the women’s title on home ground at Haarlem. 

Founded more than fifty years ago, the club has been run for the past thirty years by the enthusiastic and incomparable Cor Van der Geest. Consistently he has produced some of the hottest fighters in Europe with a string of European champions to his  credit beside his two sons who are ranked amongst the best in the world. The other teams that had reached the finals were TSV Abensberg of Germany and two Russian clubs, Sambo 70 from Moscow and Yawara Neva from St Petersburg - the club that President Putin of Russia belongs to. 

 These championships are quite unlike normal international team competitions. Firstly and most noticeably is the fact that all the clubs could field fighters from other countries. That is except TSV Abensberg who occasionally added German fighters to their international line up. This makes for exciting and vibrant competition combining many different styles from around Europe and the world. Secondly, each team fights the other team twice to decide who will be the winner and the reason why three team matches could turn into an incredibly exciting full day of judo.

The first semi-final was between TSV Abensberg and Sambo 70 and by the time the first round had finished TSV Abensberg had a lead of three matches with five ippon wins to two. The second round saw 5 changes to TSV Abensberg leaving the only German in this match, Michael Jurack, out of the second round. Sambo 70 made three replacements and recovered one place to lose overall by five matches to seven.

The next semi-final was between the home club and the St Petersburg club of Yawara Neva. This was not going to be a dull affair as the teams were introduced with flames leaping into the air and very loud bursts of “We are the Champions” reverberating around the hall as the Dutch team were announced to the packed and increasingly excited crowd. 

The home team had a distinct advantage in this match with the crowd pushing them  forward all the time to take five victories to one and that surprisingly when former European Champion Elco Van der Geest was countered for ippon by Askhat Zhitkeyev.  The next round saw three changes in the Russian team but none in the Dutch team enabling the Russians to recover four places to five wins overall against eight for Kenamju. Again Elco Van der Geest lost and surprisingly 2001 double World heavyweight Champion Alexander Mikhaylin was easily held by Dennis Van der Geest.

The final did not start well for TSV Abensberg when Cedric Taymans was beaten by three points but the German team quickly edged ahead with two ippon wins from Miklos Ungvari of Hungary and a spectacular  throw from the only German in the team, Wolfgang Amoussou, that started in the middle of the mat and finished outside the area for ippon. Alex Budolin of Estonia sneaked another win for three points and Keith Morgan of Canada snatched an ippon to help the German team finish just ahead of the Dutch by 4 matches to 3 with the two Van der Geests bringing up the rear while their father, now without his tie, ranted and raved from the side of the mat

 TSV Abensberg’s coach , Davor Vlaskovac, was clearly happy with his team with its strength in the middle so no changes were made. Cor Van der Geest was less happy and made two changes, slipping in a mercenary at 66 kgs in the shape of James Warren from the UK. He also attempted to neutralise Amoussou by replacing the easily beaten Koen Van Nol  with Dennis Meyer. It didn’t work and Wolfgang Amoussou scored another ippon and the only win for TSV Abensburg who could not stand the pressure in the second half from intermittent bursts of “We are the Champions” and an ecstatic crowd that was getting more and more excited as the Dutch edged in front with a pivotal win from the Briton to take the lead five to four.   Amoussou’s ippon levelled the score temporarily but Elmont for the Dutch surprisingly put them back in the lead with an ippon on the experienced Olympic and World bronze medallist Alex Budolin of Estonia. A draw followed at 90 kgs leaving the score at six for the Dutch and five for the Germans. However, it was Elco Van der Geest who put the score beyond reach when he countered Zurab Zvidauri from Georgia for a heavy ippon and ecstatically galloped off around the matt leaping high into the air and waving his arms while the crowd cheered so loudly that you couldn’t  hear “We are the Champions” over the noise.

 This was a truly exciting day’s judo, in my experience only rivalled by the joy I felt when my former club mate, Angelo Parisi - then fighting for France - won the heavyweight gold medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. I found it impossible to photograph him because, like the Kenamju fans, I was unable to stop dancing! 

David Finch, 15^th October 2003