RAIPUR: Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, a tiny suburb in the bustling Belgian capital of Brussels, has been in the news over the last month.
The borough, home to a lakh and about 3.2 square kilometres in total area, was thrust into the spotlight after Belgian police conducted raids and arrested seven people who were allegedly involved in the Paris bombings in November.
The place already had a reputation for housing extremists. “Molenbeek,” according to The Guardian, “is the source of the highest concentration in Europe of jihadi foreign fighters going to fight in Syria and Iraq.” And since those arrests, the spotlight has been trained on it with the world’s media quick with op-eds.
“Is Molenbeek the new jihadi capital of Europe?” asks one analysis piece. “Molenbeek is Europe’s crucible of terror,” screams another. But what everyone fails to talk is about its other side — a thriving community as well as a hockey club that was formed way back in 1922.
Royal Daring Tennis Hockey Club, Molenbeek (Daring), for many years, have been a fixture on the hockey calendar in Belgium, but only recently did they make the step up to the Euro Hockey League (a sort of UEFA Champions League for top hockey clubs in Europe). While many of the world’s best players do not play for Daring, they do have in their ranks Tanguy Cosyns, an upcoming Belgian who has already caught the eye in the ongoing Hockey World League.
Speaking to Express, Cosyns, still only 23, feels the media is wrong to say the city is without rules. “It’s weird because the media says that it’s a city where there are no rules. That’s not really the case. I’m living next to this small city and there is no real problem. It’s only a little neighbourhood which is very weird. In Brussels, there is no reason to be scared, as there is no real problem,” he explained.
Cosyns also shares a very special bond with Daring, for his brother Jof captains the side, while his father Gerald is the club president. “It’s a young club. Four years ago, I was playing for WatDucks (Waterloo Ducks) and my father was president at Daring. Shane McLeod (current Belgium coach) was coach of WatDucks.
“I left the club to join my brother and father. We started to build a team with strong players like Manuel Brunet (Argentina) and Sergi Enrique (Spain). We also have another very young Belgian player (Victor Wegnez), who is playing for the national team. So we started to build a strong team and have had a couple of good days. This year, we played the Euro Hockey League (EHL).”
Even otherwise, Cosyns will never forget what Daring has done for his career. “I actually played with my father in the first team at Daring. I think that happened around 2006.”
The topic shifts back to Molenbeek and terrorism, and he readily agrees he initially felt worried. “Yes, sure, in the beginning I was a bit scared. But we have to start living again and don’t have to be scared all the time. I think the security (forces) of Belgium is really good. They do a good job and we’ll have to be confident about them.”
Denis van Damme, a marketing and communication officer for the Royal Belgium Hockey Association, concurs with the young star. “It’s important to note that not all parts of Molenbeek are like that. It’s clean and free of extremist elements for most part.”
He also explains the existing hockey structure within Belgium, using Daring as an example. “They have a total of 520 members, so it’s a medium-sized hockey club. In Belgium, a family cannot own a club. A group of like-minded people come together to form a club and then submit documents to us. There is a board of directors and the lead guy among them is appointed club president.”
Van Damme, who happens to have an Indian phone number ‘because of the amount of tournaments you guys have,’ also makes an interesting comparison between the countries. “Belgium is like India, in the way there are two segments of people — the French speaking and the Flemish speaking. However, it’s different in hockey. So things could get a little difficult at times, but not in hockey. It’s a very tolerant sport that way. “Just like most of Molenbeek.”