Bovelander made his debut for the Netherlands men's national field hockey team on Wednesday, October 2, 1985 in a friendly match against New Zealand resulting in a 3-1 win, and went on to play 241 international games, scored 215 goals, and participated in three Olympics. He was famous for his devastating penalty corners, and was nicknamed Flop, Floppie and Boem Boem Bovelander. He played his last game for the Netherlands in the 1996 Olympic Hockey Final in Alanta. Thanks in particular to two penalty corners from 'the cannon with the angel's face', the Netherlands won the Olympic title at the expense of Spain, 3-1. Earlier, he took all the bronze medal at the Olympics in 1988 in Seoul and was fourth at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. During the Men's FIH Hockey World Cup in Lahore, Pakistan in 1990, Bovelander was played a pivotal role in winning the world title with nine goals, a significant improvement on his first World Cup in 1986 in London, where the Dutch hockey team finished seventh. The third World Cup in which Bovelander participated was the hockey world championship in Sydney. The team lost the final after penalties from Pakistan. In 1987, Bovelander won gold with the Dutch hockey team at the EuroHockey Nations Championship in Moscow. Four years later, he picked up a silver at the European Championship in Paris. His seventeen goals during that tournament are still the highest number scored by a single player during a European Championship tournament. Bovelander, nicknamed Flop, Floppie or Boem Boem, spent his entire career with HC Bloemendaal, the club with which he won the Dutch league title six times, one indoor title and one EuroHockey Club Champions Cup in 1987. With a tally of 276 goals he was, for many years, the top scorer in the Dutch Hockey League until he was overtaken on the 6 November 2011 by Roderick Weusthof and later by Taeke Taekema.
Post-Sports Career
After his hockey career, Bovelander completed his biology studies, but remained active in hockey. Among other things, Bovelander was a member of the top sport committee of HC Bloemendaal for five years, and more than a year under the national coach Joost Bellaart for the national team as manager and assistant trainer. Bovelander studied medical biology in Leiden, but nowadays mainly earns a living as an organiser of hockey camps and clinics, youth and corporate events. The company that he runs together with his brother Jeroen is called Bovelander & Bovelander. He also wrote a weekly column in the free daily newspaperDe Pers. Bovelander is also active as an ambassador for Right To Play.
