Willem Aartsen heeft dagelijks te maken met de gevolgen van zijn Nijenrodetijd. Hij ging studeren in Oregon en woont daar nog steeds met zijn Amerikaanse vrouw. Hij schreef het volgende:

Today I took Kathy out for dinner. Across the street from the restaurant I noticed a large “balloon” sportshall. This immediately triggered my memory to the balloon hall at Nijenrode – popularly called “Het Condoom”. I do not know if the old Condoom hall is still standing on the ground at Nijenrode. I doubt it!! It was a “sweat shop” and probably not very energy efficient.

It reminded me of the soccer tournament we played in Het Condoom at Nijenrode in 1970. The Rugby Club represented by Rob Bos, Simon Bommeljé, Eddie Brokaar, Frans Hazelhoff and myself reached the finals. In the finals we played against a “voetbal technisch” superior team from Plesman represented by Rob Ruitenbeek, Dick van Roozendaal, Thijs Craenmehr and ??? (Help me out here).

Although the team from Plesman consisted of “voetbal technisch” superior soccer players, the Rugby team played a physical game and ended up winning by tackling harder and outmussling the Plesman team. Attached you will find a photo of the similar Condoom sportshall I saw today. Now my memory may need some refreshing with regards to the details of the tournament and the final match. I welcome any comments or critique.

Rob Bos reageerde, ook in het Engels:
If I may add a comment, those sissi’s Willem mentioned, the non-rugby-oriented soccer specialists, did the following. They first selected the best players for themselves and organized that team for the following reason. They wanted to be mentioned in the alumni book, therefore making sure beforehand they would be the champions of the tournament. And then they organized the tournament.

One element just was sort of beyond their control. Theo Widdershoven claimed to be the referee for at least the final match. The rest is history. We played it fair but with a well limited touch. And it speaks for itself we – rugby educated – supported each other better, corrected our own individual mistakes if still possible, better, were fitter compared to soccer players and or field hockey players. A rugger rather dies of exhaustion than loose. All the ingredients which are a bare necessity for a succesfull team. Prowse – if I remember well – came to watch and of course liked what he saw happening.

When the rugby club organized the 7-a-side tournament we introduced the rule that per team no more than 2 rugby-club-players were allowed. All in the spirit of fairness. Last but not least: Oud tegen Jong rugby. 1969 has beaten 1968. Prowse was involved with Nijenrode for 13 years back then and he told me he had never seen the first years beating the second years team. Quite a memorable achievement!

Reactie Nijenrode 1969:
De vloer van Het Condoom bestond volgens mij uit het gemalen rubber van oude autobanden. Het rubcourt-toernooi komt bij mij boven, was dat het bewuste voetbaltoernooi? De regels voor het 7-a-side toernooi waren: maximaal 2 eerste team rugbyspelers, minimaal 2 niet-leden van de rugbyclub en minimaal één eerstejaars per team van 7 spelers. En zo was het winnende team precies samengesteld!

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