Professional League?

Surprisingly, I’ve heard many people complaining about the relatively recent development of foreign players coming to Denmark. Actually, to be more accurate, I’ve heard lots of complaints about clubs that “buy” players in order to become successful. Coming to Marienlyst last year, it was only natural that I would hear that a few times. So, let’s examine the idea of professional clubs in Denmark and see what the positives and negatives are.

In my mind the biggest change that professional players have made to the club system has to do with money. Immediately, it became clear who had money and who didn’t. It also became clear which clubs had ambitions and which clubs were content with remaining as they were. As I’ve argued earlier, foreign players seem to be here to stay in Denmark. What does that mean for the elite division? Well, in my mind it means two things. To be competitive, teams will have to improve their rosters. Whether that means looking outside of Denmark or not remains to be seen. Already in the last two to three years we have seen a tremendous refocusing on youth volleyball and on developing players from the inside. Teams like Gentofte and Lyngby have wonderful youth programs which will bare fruit in the coming years. If teams are unable or unwilling to develop their own players, then they will be forced to find players from outside of the country. What does that mean? They will have to find money to pay them and that means they will have to work doubly hard finding sponsors and drawing fans/attention to the sport. In this case, competition absolutely breeds competition. It also means that teams will have to provide a strong, stabile, professional environment for their players if they expect them to remain a part of the club. (This is a topic for another post so I won’t get into it now) In any case, I see all of these things as a positive for Danish volleyball.

What do foreigners offer the league?

Most foreigners that I know are required to help out at the club they play at, usually coaching. That means new ideas. As a foreigner I know that I have learned a lot about volleyball in my time here. The more viewpoints we have and are able to assimilate, the more our collective volleyball knowledge grows. Foreigners bring new ideas and new viewpoints to the game. They also learn new things. In this sense, volleyball in Denmark can only benefit. Let’s take a look at a concrete example: Makoto from SK Aarhus is playing and assistant coaching for their elite team. There is no doubt that he has brought some fresh insights into playing volleyball. He plays the game differently than most and if we can all learn to take something from that then we have all reaped the benefits.

Foreigners raise the level of play. If you look at the top teams from the last three years you will find that most of them have had at least one foreign player. This is not only an external phenomenon, by that I mean teams beating other teams because of their foreigners, it is definitely an internal phenomenon as well. Foreign players generally help to raise the level of the other players on their own team. I know this was the case while I played in Aarhus and it is definitely the case in Middelfart right now.

In many ways, professional players add spice to volleyball in Denmark. Think of it as an infusion of new neighbors into what is a fairly small community in the first place. Volleyball in Denmark is small and everyone knows each other. Foreigners not only offer good volleyball, they offer excitement and, most of all, entertainment in several ways. If anyone saw my first Danish speaking interview last year then they know all about that entertainment factor that I’m talking about… But, whether it is a new outrageous personality, or Geo Santos hitting ceiling balls in warm-ups the point is that each year there is something new and fresh to see and that can never be bad for the sport.

What are the dangers?

Money, money, money. The danger is that certain teams will have all the power and other teams will have nothing. Essentially destroying any possibility for a league with any excitement. This has happened in a lots of sports leagues around Europe: Belgium has Maaseik and Roeselare in volley, SAS ligaen has FCK and Brøndby, etc… You can’t punish a team for their ambition their ability, sometimes things like this happen. Then it is up to the other teams to do what they can to catch them.

Some Danish players might get lost in the shuffle. A couple of years ago, Middelfart brought in a foreign setter instead of letting Martin Stenderup develop into their main setter. The more foreigners there are in the league, the more there is a risk of Danish players taking a back seat. On the other hand, if those players, especially the young ones, look at it as a learning experience they could get quite a bit out of it. I’m sure Martin learned quite a bit from Lee when he was here even if he wasn’t on the court very much. Now, he has his chance to prove that he deserves to be playing all the time. Development doesn’t necessarily have to happen during matches. A certain amount of court time is necessary for experience, but if you are good enough to do it you will get your chance when the time is right.
Clubs will be able to “buy” championships if they have enough money. This statement is clearly and directly untrue. There is always talk of this in lots of different sports and it is simply not true. The teams that spend the most money on talent almost never win championships. Real Madrid? This year’s New York Yankees? A good example from last year was Middelfart. They had three foreigners. Three! And they could barely manage to stay in the Elite division. Now, they have two foreigners and several new Danish players and they are one of the top teams in the league. It is and always will be team chemistry, stabile management, strong training environment and effective coaching that separate the really good teams from those that just have money. Yes, you do have to have players with ability, but there are plenty of quality players out there to be had.

I think it is fair to say that since I have been in Denmark, this year is the best the entire league has looked as far as level of play. There are at least five teams playing nice volleyball. There are also several teams that are building up their young players for the future. None of these things are bad. Foreigners have had an impact on the sport and in my opinion the impact has been positive. Does that mean that Denmark could, or even should, have a full time professional league in the future? I don’t have an answer for that and I think the first step is to get more people interested/invested in the game. But I will ask this: Isn’t that the dream for almost all of the young athletes in the country? To go and play for a team professionally in another country? Wouldn’t it be great if those same kids could dream of playing for SK Aarhus or Marienlyst or Gentofte one day instead?