Go Dutch at Johnstown

Dressed in his black tracksuit a famous Dutch footballer from the past strode around the playing grounds at Johnstown House Hotel & Spa on Saturday showing some of the young Irish footballers of the future how it should be done. Arnold Muhren was one of the coaches from the famous Ajax of Amsterdam academy involved in the 'Ajax Coach Development Weekend," held at the luxurious Enfield venue. A number of teams from Dublin, including a schoolboys representative side, were also brought along. While Muhren put the players through their paces the coaches stood around and watched, some taking notes, others just observing. The coaches came from various parts of the country including Dublin, Clare, Sligo, Kildare and Meath. They had paid €85 for a two-day pass or €60 for one day to get the opportunity to watch and learn from Muhren and others such as Eddie Van Schaick, who works in the Ajax youth academy. Also there was Ajax goalkeeping coach Jan Splinter as well as Ronald Joorse who conducted an athletics skills programme specialising in movements based on judo and other martial arts. The consensus among at least some of the coaches was that the course was worth the financial outlay - and the effort. The weekend was organised by former Manchester Utd youth player Colin Telford who runs the Football Coaches Association of Ireland. He aims to conduct similar courses along with Ajax personnel in the future. Coaches who spoke to the Meath Chronicle were particularly impressed with the athletics skills aspect of the programme which is all about strengthening "the core" strength of a young player utilising a range of exercises based on martial arts. Inevitably there was a lot of curiosity surrounding Muhren, who more seasoned Manchester Utd fans will recall from his days in Old Trafford in the 1980s. Muhren was the first Dutch professional to sign for an English club when he joined Bobby Robson's Ipswich Town in 1978 and he went on to help the Tractor Boys win the UEFA Cup in 1981. Muhren moved to Old Trafford and scored a penalty in the 1983 FA Cup final replay against Brighton which United won 4-0. He also enjoyed success with Ajax on the European stage. His biggest day came when he helped Holland win the 1988 European Championship. They defeated the Republic of Ireland along the way in a tournament where, under Jack Charlton, they made their debut and recorded that memorable victory over England. In the final, Muhren supplied the cross for Van Basten to score a spectacular volley against the USSR. "I was 37 at the time and you don't expect to be in the Dutch national side at that age. The cross was a reasonable cross, it wasn't a very good one but Marco Van Basten made it a very good one, he was a player with special qualities," he recalled when he took time out to speak to the Meath Chronicle. Muhren spoke about the importance of young players working on their technical skills - the passing and movement - not just now and again, but every day if possible, if even for a short while. "The message is if you want to become a good player you have to work at it and not once or twice a week, you have to work at it everyday and for a youngster I think technique is the most important thing, you have to receive and control the ball, pass the ball, that's the most important thing. When you get older tactics become more important," added Muhren. "Everybody needs to work on their technique even those who play on the first team are doing the same things. It doesn't matter if you're 12 or 30 you have to work on it every day." He emphasised the importance of teaching the youngsters how vital it is to concentrate when playing, about keeping drills fresh and competitive so that the youngsters don't lose focus. Among the 40 or so coaches who turned up for the weekend was Stephen Murphy from Meath & District League side Knightsbrook and Cian Smith from Mornington who had been involved with Rossin Rovers. Murphy, who had attended a goalkeeping course on Saturday morning, felt that the development weekend was very informative. "It showed techniques that could be used at any level, it's not just for the youth teams you could use the same techniques for the players on the senior teams," he said. Smith was one of those who was greatly interested in the martial art-type techniques demonstrated by Joorse. "He was trying to develop the core strength of the player and a different way of training where he was trying to make it fun for everybody, they (the young players) were using upper body strength, they were very much using each other as the tools for the training rather than just the ball. "What I was getting from it is if the kids can build their core, their balance, they will be in a much better position to enhance their football skills at a later stage." Among those who had travelled up from Clare to see what he could learn from the development weekend was Tom Egan. "You're never going to improve soccer if the coaching isn't good, this gives us different ideas on how to develop young players," he said. He also spoke of the challenges facing soccer coaches in counties like Clare where hurling is king. Egan was also greatly interested in how the core strength of young players were developed. It was one of the lessons he took from what he felt was a very informative weekend in the Royal County. Meeting one of the great masters of Dutch football was an added bonus.