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'''Official Dutch Federation'''
(AllianceID: 1039)

[[Image:odflogo.gif|Official Dutch Federation]]

The Official Dutch Federation is the oldest Dutch [[federation]]. Besides an active in-game forum we also have a [http://www.officialdutchfederation.nl homepage] and an external [http://www.officialdutchfederaion.nl/forum forum].

== Members ==
'''President''':
* ''Swiebie''
'''Vice-Presidents''':
* ''Pieet''
* ''Karlos4''
* ''Gelwin''
'''Ere-Presidente'''
* ''GM-Pandarve''
'''Public Relations'''
* ''Casartelli''
'''Founder'''
* ''Damazinho''

...and about 660 others.

Active users on Hattrick-Wiki include: [[User:Pieet|Pieet]], [[User:Swiebie|Swiebie]], [[User:Diggie|Digster]] and [[User:GM-Lau|GM-Lau]]. Other famous members include Grifo, well known from the term: [[Grifo Match]].

== Activities ==
* mathie organizes a TOTO.
* -joram organizes a Logo-contest at the extern forum.
* Sader organizes a Stadioncontest at the extern forum

== History ==
April, 2002. The Dutch Hattrick community is just a minority in the Hattrick world. No more than 300 teams are battling in 4 divisions to be the first one to beat the almighty Stiphout Vooruit. Those were the days that Frankie achieved a winning strike of 83 victories. The Netherlands was no more than a Hattrick 'dwarf', compared to giants like England, the US, and Oceania (who had more than 3000 users each!!).

It wasn't easy back then. Match reports were delivered only on the next morning sometimes. The conference was full of spam (with an all-time record of 2300 postings in 1 topic) and all the power was in the hands of foreign GameMasters.

Naturally, the Dutch just had to revolt to all this. Global conferences were invaded by Dutch users demanding their own GameMaster, their own rules and a Dutch channel for all their complaints.

The time had come for a powerfull voice in the Netherlands, a voice of the people! The Official Dutch Federation was born.

It all commenced with small, innocent things. The name "Nederland Cup" was changed to the "KNVB Cup" and there was a close interaction with the NHPF (Dutch Hattrick Promotion Federation). As the achievements of the ODF were growing, the number of members rised.

No more than one month after it all began, a select group of ODF members commenced with their work on the largest project so far: a Dutch translation. THis was followed shortly by the very first Dutch GameMaster: GM-Geckow.

The growth of the ODF knew no limits. Four months after the founding, the ODF had a spot in the world's top 10 listing. In October, Hattrick achieved the number of 1,000 Dutch Hattrickers, which had risen to 10,000 in March of the next year. The ODF was no stranger to such growth: the ODF-Cup became the largest friendly cup of Western Europe, making it a quite prestigious prize. In those glory days, the ODF was the Hattrick World's number 6, with 400 active members. The ODF was a solid name in the Dutch Hattrick community and the Netherlands became a strong Hattrick power.

The growth of the Dutch Hattrick community created some problems for the ODF: the Netherlands were no longer a small community, and 'fight for your right' was no longer needed. All the objectives of the ODF were achieved. The oldest Dutch federation was no longer 'fresh', and Dutch newbies had no notion of the federation's history.

Halfway 2004, the federation was at its long-time bottom. Almost half its members decided that the mission had been accomplished, and they left the federation. The time had come for someone to take up this new challenge. The heads of the federation left and new members replaced them. The new, fresh ODF was (re)born. Pandarve was the one to take up the challenge, and she was the one to -almost personally- bring the federation back to life.

New activities were deployed, and bit by bit the federation conference came back to life. The ODF began organising unique games for its members (Dutch: "Wie is de mol?" (Who is the mole?) and "Expeditie Robinson" (Expedition Robinson)). In the latter game, other federations joined the ODF in what became a huge success. Everyone enjoyed these unique games, and Pandarve was unlimitedly complimented for what she had started.

The new ODF was a fact, and Pandarve had achieved a major task: she brought back to life this ancient, perhaps near-dead federation. The time had come to pass the federation keys to someone else. Swiebie took over the challenge, and by now he is running a very active and healthy federation with over 600 members.

To be continued....

[[Category:Federations]]
[[Category:Dutch Federations]]