EHL winner Floris van der Linden is hanging up his stick after an incredibly loyal 15-year stint with HGC in the Hoofdklasse.

He arrived at the club from Belgium after high school having achieved success with Gantoise and Belgian youth teams before switching to the Netherlands.

There, he joined the Wassenaar club where he would line out alongside legends like Guus Vogels, Bram Lomans, Eric-Jan Iding, Iain Lewers, Robin de Munk, Rob Short, Kenny Perreira, Lucas Villa, Barry Middleton, Ashley Jackson, Roc Oliva, Bosco Pérez-Pla, Gonzalo Peillat and Seve van Ass in his time.

It included EHL gold in 2011 and silver in the inaugural competition in 2008. In addition, he was committed to the club and also developed many socially involved activities “for the benefit of the general public”, including the Meet-N-Move project for refugee children. 

He played his last home game in the regular season last weekend, a 4-3 win over SV Kampong which gives his side a chance at qualifying for the playoffs.

After the game, he was greeted with a guard of honour by his team mates and was presented with the Tresling Cup by HGC board member Mark van Loon.

The cup honours those who have made an outstanding commitment to HGC men’s team and includes as previous winners Stephan Veen, Sonja Thomann, Paul van Ass and Phil Burrows among others.

One of his international shirts – he earned 48 caps for the Netherlands – has also been erected on the roof as part of the club’s hall of fame.

HGC will aim to win on Sunday against Hurley and that results work in their favour to make it into the playoffs, extending theirs and van der Linden’s season.