Report: SoccerProject meeting in Ghent (by Visje69)

In July Belgian and Dutch SoccerProject managers were very lucky to be invited to a real SoccerProject meeting. Visje69 was one of the organisers. Here you can read his report on what happened. And you can also check out the pictures.

Before

It all started about two years ago. A first meeting was held in Betekom (Flemish-Brabant). Very successful the first meeting was ended and plans were set up for a second meeting, this time in Limburg. This meeting also went as good as flawless. After the second meeting, there was a first conversation about where the meeting would be held next year. Pretty soon, many voices started suggesting that Ghent would be a perfect location for the SP Meeting. Also because of the large amount of managers coming from Ghent and East-Flanders, Ghent was quickly chosen (pushed? ) as a location for the next meeting. Nobody was yet picked for organisation because July/August was still far away. A Couple of months later, voices had been rising again about how the meeting would be. Immediately Ghent was pushed forward as the best location. I myself (Ian Smaele), being from Ghent, saw myself instantly as organiser of the meeting. Of course I wasn’t alone to decide. Pretty soon after that Raffin (Lieven Vrombaut) and Matt (Matthias Moerman) where also appointed as organisers of the meeting. The organising trio was formed. The first steps had been set. The organisation, with its cool, relaxing, stressing and hard times could begin.

The preperations

Over the internet there was a lot of talking about possible locations. Soon enough it became clear that it would be that simple to talk without acting. A first mini-meeting was necessary between the organisers. Very soon a first meeting was arranged in what would be our favourite café. The one and only (what’s in a name) Café Zottegem at Ghent Sint-Pieters. At that first mini-meeting the first brick was laid for the meeting. Small arrangements like what, when, where, who and how where put in a primary phase. Some things where already decided: Name cards would have to be there, there would be a barbecue, there would be a football match and there would have to be the possibility to talk it over at the end. Also we decided that we would try to do all this for the most democratic price. For the rest of the afternoon we chatted about SoccerProject and other stuff. For myself it was the first time that me, Matt and Raffin met so for me it was a pleasant first meeting with what later on would be more than SP-players.

After some more small meetings, soon all became clear. The date was set at July 29^th 2007. Matt found the perfect location and took care of the meat-orders. Raffin took care of the vegetables and I would be taking care of the meat, the BBQ’s and the subscriptions. All three we would help with the set-up and breaking down of the meeting. The price was set at 2, 4, 5 or 6.5 euros depending on what you were going to do or the amount of meat you took. We were entirely prepared to make the best of it.

SoccerProject in the newspaper!!

Isis, better known as the person that is fully working on the newsletter and as the little sunshine at the forum, sent a press release to different press agencies . To our great surprise,(we were hoping on it of course!!) we got a response from “De Gentenaar” from East-Flanders. Isis contacted us extremely fast and told us the amazing news. We (Raffin and me) had a meeting with the journalist, matt couldn’t be there unfortunately. Raffin and me went to Café Zottegem. An interview of about 60 minutes made sure that we had an article that was about half a page long!! Pretty good, we thought. The title of the article “Belgian Manager game conquers Europe” was a very good title. Certainly if you see how many foreign managers play SoccerProject. With this interview in the back of our minds we had great renewed courage to start with the meeting.

The Meeting!!

Sunday 29th of July. THE day many managers were looking forward to had arrived. 35 subscriptions. Most people ate and played football. We were busy from 9 o’clock in the morning with the preparations for this meeting. Still the managers were expected starting from 2 pm. Everything still had to happen. Transporting the BBQ’s, cutting the vegetables, setting up the chairs and tables and everything that was involved. Almost everything went fluently, thx to everyone who helped. Around 13.30 the first managers started to arrive. Bats 1903, Sjarel, Isis, Geronimo and so many others. Everyone who had subscribed, was there. Even Mr.Charlie, who had just driven 800km from Switzerland to Belgium. After a normal football match, which ended in a tie, we had a little chat at the end and started with the barbeque. Many cooking talents were tested but soon it seemed that Raffin was the best manager for the job. Everyone ate his meat together with the vegetables that were there. Some time later everyone was silently chatting amongst each other when slowly the managers started returning home. When our location closed up, some managers had the idea to throw a ball at the nearest bowling alley. Hilarious things were seen in bowling “De Meibloem” in Ghent. A lovely day was closed down with a drink and around 23u everyone decided to go home. The organisation and Sjarel agreed: It was a very good meeting and certainly one to do again.

Afterwards

From the great amount of reactions we had afterwards, it seemed that everyone had a heck of a good time. What most people found the coolest, was the faces behind the names. You no longer spoke against a name, but against a person. Not longer guessing about who it could be. And as a good meeting does, there was a nice chat about where the meeting would be next year. If we can give a good word of advice it would be this: Think before you start, and IF you start, start early, because you need a lot of time.

SOOOOOOO…. See you next year at the next SoccerProject Meeting

Visje69

Pictures of the SoccerProject meeting: click here! (By the way: some of them might look drunk, but nobody was )