On Saturday, 2 February, a friendly indoor hockey match took place between Macedonia and the Netherlands Embassy team in Ohrid. The game turned out to be an extremely lively and sportsmanlike encounter with both teams well-matched. The youngest player was the Dutch 11-year old goal-keeper, daughter of the Netherlands Ambassador, who herself also participated in the match. The Mayor of Ohrid, Mr. Aleksander Peterski, showed an active interest and was even willing to dress up in the Dutch national colour orange! After the match both teams and their supporters had lunch together and enjoyed a tour by boat on the beautiful Ohrid lake.

This match was certainly not the last one. Plans are being made to create in Skopje an international field hockey team to be able to meet the Macedonian opponents on a regular basis. Invitations to play in Prilep and other Macedonian cities have already been received.

Even this first encounter made it very clear that field hockey is not only a way to cross competitive swords with Macedonia but also to reinforce friendship and partnership between the Netherlands and Macedonia.   

The Netherlands embassy will continue to support the Macedonian Hockey Federation both through sponsorship ( www.dehockeyshop.com) and cooperation with Dutch top field hockey clubs.

Footage on the game was being broadcast by MRTV, TVM Ohrid and NTV Ohrid

Articles ....

 Makfax 

 Zonasport 

 Ohrid news

 Hockey Club Klein Zwitserland in Macedonia