Football during World War II
Football during World War II - Zwaar Water
Football during World War II - Zwaar Water
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<strong>Football</strong> <strong>during</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>War</strong> <strong>II</strong><br />
Resistance Museum Amsterdam 29 4 2009 • 11 4 2010<br />
1<br />
Many people are surprised to hear that football<br />
was played <strong>during</strong> the war. But football was<br />
immensely popular in the Netherlands <strong>during</strong> the<br />
war. Tens of thousands of Dutch people joined<br />
football clubs and the stadiums were fuller than<br />
ever. <strong>Football</strong> provided a distraction from the<br />
horrors of war.<br />
But the measures introduced by the German<br />
occupying authorities also had an impact on<br />
football. Shortages,<br />
air-raid prevention,<br />
anti-Jewish measures<br />
and raids made it<br />
increasingly difficult for<br />
football to continue.<br />
The world of football<br />
under occupation<br />
reflected society as a<br />
whole. This exhibition<br />
uses the example of<br />
football to show the<br />
difficulties the Dutch<br />
faced in their daily lives.
Contents<br />
1. <strong>Football</strong> continues<br />
3<br />
2. <strong>War</strong>time violence<br />
4<br />
3. Shortages<br />
5<br />
4. Persecution of jews<br />
6<br />
5. Collaboration<br />
7<br />
6. Forced labour<br />
8<br />
7. Resistance<br />
9<br />
8. Winter of famine 10<br />
9. Liberation 11<br />
10. Netherlands - Germany 13<br />
11. <strong>Football</strong> and society 14<br />
1. <strong>Football</strong> continues<br />
1.0 “<strong>Football</strong> was more popular than ever<br />
<strong>during</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>War</strong> <strong>II</strong>. <strong>Football</strong> was a<br />
distraction from the miseries of war.<br />
It’s something I understand all too<br />
well. I was born in Yugoslavia, where<br />
war raged for many years. The city<br />
where I was born, Belgrade, was under<br />
constant bombardment. Even as the<br />
bombs were falling, I wanted to go<br />
outside with my father to train. It was<br />
a way to forget our worries and allowed<br />
me to continue to work on fulfilling my<br />
dream.”<br />
Miralem Sulejmani, football player<br />
1.1 <strong>Football</strong> provided a welcome distraction <strong>during</strong> the<br />
difficult war years. The matches were the weekly<br />
highlight for many people. The German occupying<br />
forces allowed the football to continue, as they<br />
believed that people who were involved in sports<br />
would not join the resistance movement. To gain<br />
control of the many football associations and clubs,<br />
the Germans set up a single football association.<br />
The KNVB became the new unified association<br />
under the name Nederlandsche Voetbalbond<br />
(Dutch football association - NVB). The Germans<br />
banned the K for ‘Koninklijk’ (royal). Karel Lotsy,<br />
who had been prominent in Dutch football for<br />
many years, was appointed as chairman of the NVB<br />
in May 1942. He managed to get a lot out of the<br />
German occupiers. Douwe Wagenaar from football<br />
club De Volewijckers says: “During the war, you<br />
needed certain favours from the Germans, if you<br />
wanted to play football, like shoes, balls and oil<br />
for lawn mowers. He took good care of things like<br />
that.”<br />
1.6 Sports journalist Ad van Emmenes with Karel Lotsy<br />
to his right.<br />
1.7 “At the beginning of the war, the Germans united<br />
all associations into a single organisation, so they<br />
would know exactly what was going on in football.<br />
They were pleased we were playing football. If we<br />
played in the Olympic Stadium in 1943 or 1944,<br />
there were 50,000 people in the stands.”<br />
Jaap van der Leck, coach of De Volewijckers<br />
1.8 “We played football for ourselves. You have to<br />
imagine that you’re confronted with the war the<br />
entire week (…). And there were no newspapers<br />
either. Well, except those full of German<br />
propaganda.”<br />
Wim Koek, keeper of ADO Den Haag<br />
1.9 German soldiers in the Feyenoord stadium ‘De<br />
Kuip’. They could get half-price tickets for the<br />
matches.<br />
1.10 Propaganda photographs. The Dutch army fought<br />
the Germans from 10 to 15 May. Following the<br />
surrender of 15 May 1940, every Dutch soldier was<br />
effectively a prisoner of war. The occupying forces<br />
soon organised friendly matches between German<br />
and Dutch soldiers. The occupying authorities<br />
hoped to emphasise the brotherhood between the<br />
German and Dutch nations. After a few weeks they<br />
even released the Dutch soldiers. They hoped the<br />
Dutch would choose the side of Hitler-Germany.<br />
1.11 <strong>Football</strong> players had to carry a Dutch <strong>Football</strong><br />
Association identity card at all times and show it on<br />
request.<br />
1.12 School football matches also continued. The<br />
season’41-’42 was won by the team from the<br />
Amsterdam graphic design college (Amsterdamse<br />
Grafische School - AGS).<br />
1.3 In 1942, Karel Lotsy, together with Joris van den<br />
Bergh, wrote the book De mysterieuze krachten in<br />
de sport (The mysterious forces in sport). It was the<br />
first standard work about sports, and dealt mostly<br />
with football.<br />
1.4 The executive of the Dutch <strong>Football</strong> Association,<br />
with Karel Lotsy second from the left at the table.<br />
1.5 “We are trying to act as normal. We will act as<br />
normal again. So we will also play sports, we will<br />
once again play …. football.”<br />
Ad van Emmenes, sports journalist at the Sportkroniek, in<br />
the official magazine of the Dutch <strong>Football</strong> Association,<br />
May 1940.<br />
1.13 “We always cycled to Hilversum to watch football.<br />
The teams were ‘Hilversum’ and ‘’t Gooi’, both first<br />
division teams at the time. There were seats in the<br />
stadium, but they were only for the rich people,<br />
and then there were the stands, where all the<br />
supporters were mixed together. It was just great<br />
fun. There was a huge racket <strong>during</strong> the matches.<br />
That was partly because of the rattles we used to<br />
spur on the players.”<br />
Arie Bos, supporter of SC ‘t Gooi<br />
1.14 A packed Kuip stadium <strong>during</strong> the ADO-Hermes<br />
D.V.S match, season ’42-‘43.<br />
2 3
1.15 On 19 August 1940, Feyenoord won the Dutch<br />
championship with a 2-0 win over Heracles. Team<br />
captain Bas Paauwe being carried around on the<br />
shoulders of this teammates.<br />
2.<strong>War</strong>time violence<br />
2.0 “On 11 September 1944 – I was still a<br />
baby – our village, Breskens in Zeeland,<br />
was bombed by allied airplanes. We<br />
had been warned by the air-raid alarm<br />
and were safely at a farm outside the<br />
village. My father and brother returned<br />
home to fetch some things, when the<br />
bombs came. They sought refuge with<br />
other villagers in a warehouse. My<br />
father leaned over a baby to protect it.<br />
After the bombing had ended, it turned<br />
out that my father and brother had been<br />
killed. The baby survived.”<br />
Willem van Hanegem, coach<br />
2.1 Loud sirens warned of upcoming air raids.<br />
Everyone had to find a safe place, even <strong>during</strong><br />
football matches. These were often false alarms,<br />
so many people stopped reacting to them. The<br />
Amsterdam football team De Volewijckers played<br />
a match against Heerenveen in the Ajax stadium<br />
on 26 March 1944. Supporter Tip de Bruin: ‘Eleven<br />
minutes after the match had started, the sirens<br />
went off (…), but the spectators didn’t move. A<br />
calm voice asked the fans to vacate the stands.<br />
Everyone stayed where they were (…), and then<br />
the match was cancelled.”<br />
2.3 “If the sirens went off <strong>during</strong> matches, I was always<br />
pretty scared. There would often be some level of<br />
panic.”<br />
Bob Janse, right midfielder for Hermes/DVS from<br />
Schiedam<br />
2.4 From: Official Programme Ajax stadium<br />
2.5 On 14 May, the Germans carried out major air<br />
bombardments on the city of Rotterdam and more<br />
than 800 people were killed. Allied bombs also hit<br />
targets in the Netherlands <strong>during</strong> the occupation,<br />
hitting important targets such as Schiphol airport<br />
and the Amsterdam port. Cities near the German<br />
border were also hit accidentally.<br />
1.16 During the years of occupation, the football<br />
competition was divided across five districts: West<br />
I, West <strong>II</strong>, East, South and North. The winners in the<br />
five districts, the district champions, played each<br />
other in a winners’ competition for the national<br />
title.<br />
2.6 “Ajax had to play against Excelsior. When we<br />
arrived in Rotterdam, we were told we would<br />
not be going to the stadium immediately. A bus<br />
had been arranged to take us on a tour of the<br />
devastated city centre. Everyone was shocked<br />
by the devastation we saw. The men didn’t feel<br />
like playing the match any more, and the stands<br />
were completely silent. We lost that match, I can’t<br />
remember the score. Back in the train, there was<br />
none of the elated atmosphere that was common<br />
after away matches. The men didn’t play cards and<br />
there was very little talk.”<br />
Frieda Schubert, the wife of Jan Schubert, player<br />
for the Ajax first eleven.<br />
2.8 Going to the evening training sessions was<br />
difficult, because the streets were pitch black.<br />
Allied pilots had a hard time finding their way<br />
over the Netherlands if everywhere was dark. So<br />
street lights were banned and windows had to<br />
be blacked out with thick curtains or black paper.<br />
Shielded bicycle lights only let through a small<br />
amount of light. Ajax player Gé van Dijk: “The<br />
black-out measures made it difficult to go out in<br />
the evenings. I didn’t go to the Ajax club evenings<br />
in café Suisse very often, because it was so difficult<br />
to get there.”<br />
3.Shortages<br />
3.0 “<strong>Football</strong> improved my financial<br />
situation a lot. We certainly weren’t<br />
a rich household. Nobody earned<br />
money with football <strong>during</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>War</strong><br />
Two, and there was no such thing as<br />
professional football. Players would<br />
be happy with the extra meal they<br />
would sometimes get <strong>during</strong> training<br />
sessions.”<br />
Ruud Gullit, coach<br />
3.1 There were shortages of all sorts of things <strong>during</strong><br />
the occupation. Many products were only available<br />
in exchange for vouchers. For instance, you could<br />
only buy food and clothes if you had the right<br />
vouchers. These vouchers were distributed among<br />
the people. <strong>Football</strong> players were lucky. Jan Bens, a<br />
player in the Feyenoord first eleven <strong>during</strong> the war,<br />
says: “We were privileged. We would always get<br />
a meal after the training, because Feyenoord took<br />
care of that. I didn’t experience hunger <strong>during</strong> the<br />
war, while there were people dying of starvation.<br />
As Feyenoord players, we had an advantage. The<br />
baker and the butcher, who were Feyenoord fans,<br />
often gave us something extra.”<br />
3.2 A long line of people waiting outside the Quick<br />
sports shop in Nijmegen. The Germans no longer<br />
allowed the football shoe maker to make leather<br />
shoes. Quick became the only store in the region<br />
to receive a permit to sell clogs.<br />
3.3 “By refereeing lots of matches, I was often given<br />
extra food, butter vouchers or bread vouchers.<br />
Sometimes I went home with five kilos of<br />
potatoes.”<br />
Dirk Nijs, referee from Rotterdam<br />
3.4 Dutch <strong>Football</strong> Association notifications and<br />
measures relating to the shortages<br />
1940<br />
• The NVB handled the distribution of football shoes.<br />
There were 33 pairs of shoes for every 100 players<br />
and they had to last for at least three years.<br />
1941<br />
• NVB handled the distribution of football outfits.<br />
<strong>Football</strong> shorts and shirts could be obtained in<br />
exchange for a textile voucher: Eight points for a<br />
pair of shorts, 20 points for a shirt.<br />
• The paper shortages meant clubs were no longer<br />
allowed to publish their magazines.<br />
• The German occupiers made everyone hand over<br />
their metal objects, because metal was needed<br />
for the war industry. The NVB reported that this<br />
did not apply to sports trophies such as cups and<br />
medals.<br />
• The German occupier claimed land to be used for<br />
food production. The NVB reported that this would<br />
not happen to football pitches.<br />
1942<br />
• The Amsterdam district failed to get permission<br />
to replace goal nets with chicken wire, because<br />
it would be too dangerous. The nets had to be<br />
repaired for as long as this was possible, or play<br />
would have to continue without nets. The NVB<br />
arranged for a repair man in connection with the<br />
‘pressing balls issue’.<br />
1943<br />
• Because of weakening bodies, the NVB gave the<br />
players permission to play with a lighter ball: a<br />
number four instead of a number five.<br />
1944<br />
• The football competition was suspended due to<br />
the railway strike and the winter of famine.<br />
3.5 “I wanted to buy real football shoes with the<br />
shoes voucher. At the time, you still had those oldfashioned<br />
boots with steel noses. They had leather<br />
studs with three small nails. My parents didn’t like<br />
it, but the cobbler still gave me those boots for<br />
the shoe voucher. This meant I couldn’t buy normal<br />
shoes, but I didn’t care. I’d wear clogs.”<br />
Jan Hobby, junior member of DWS in Amsterdam<br />
3.6 “During the war, my father was one of the founders<br />
of the Emmeloord Sports Club. The first ball was<br />
paid for with five pounds of butter, which could<br />
only be bought using vouchers at the time. He was<br />
also responsible for the materials at the club. After<br />
the match, the balls would be hung from the ceiling<br />
to dry above the heater. Balls would regularly<br />
have leaks. This meant taking out the inner ball,<br />
repairing it, putting it back in and re-inflating<br />
the ball. The outer ball would also be sewn if the<br />
stitching came loose.”<br />
Guus Avis, Emmeloord<br />
3.7 Sports journalist Ed van Opzeeland still remembers<br />
clearly how he would play football as a child with<br />
“that unbelievably heavy ball with the irritating lace<br />
that would stick out and often get in your eyes”.<br />
3.8 “There was almost nothing for sale. Our balls were<br />
inflated pig’s bladders, which we get from the<br />
Keuninhg butcher shop. We didn’t play with a real<br />
leather ball with laces until a few years after the<br />
liberation.”<br />
Thom Mercuur, Heerenveen<br />
3.9 The Heracles squad, season ‘40-’41.<br />
4 5
4.Persecution of jews<br />
4.0 “Jews were allowed to do less and less<br />
<strong>during</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>War</strong> Two. From 1941, they<br />
were no longer allowed to play football<br />
at a club. Jews were even banned from<br />
going to watch football matches. If I<br />
had lived then, my career would have<br />
been over, because I’m Jewish.”<br />
Daniël de Ridder, football player<br />
4.1 “In 1941, from one day to the next, I was told by<br />
Quick in Nijmegen that as a Jew I was no longer<br />
allowed to play there. My membership was<br />
cancelled. I was devastated,” says Louis de Wijze.<br />
In 1942, Louis was imprisoned in the Westerbork<br />
transit camp in Drenthe. From there, more than<br />
100,000 Dutch Jews were transported to camps in<br />
eastern Europe in overflowing cattle trains. Most<br />
were murdered in the gas chambers at Auschwitz<br />
and Sobibor. Others were forced to work and often<br />
treated so badly that they also died. “Destruction<br />
through labour’, the Nazis called it. Yet even in<br />
the camps, football was played. Louis says: “In<br />
Auschwitz, I had to carry bags of cement. It was<br />
very hard work (…). I heard there was to be a<br />
football match. I couldn’t believe my ears and<br />
made sure I could play in it. For the first time in a<br />
long time, I didn’t feel like a number or an invisible<br />
member of the herd. I scored two goals and we<br />
won the match 3-2.” .<br />
4.2 The main measures against Jews in sports<br />
30 August 1941<br />
Jewish referees were no longer allowed to referee<br />
sports matches.<br />
15 September 1941<br />
Jews were no longer allowed to go to sports<br />
facilities. The NVB orders all football clubs to put<br />
up a sign ‘Verboden voor joden’ (no entry for<br />
Jews).<br />
1 November 1941<br />
Jews were no longer allowed to be members of<br />
(sports) associations or go to sports matches.<br />
4.3 “I remember receiving a note from the NVB,<br />
signed by Karel Lotsy. He sent a note to all Jewish<br />
referees. The note said that, as a Jew, I could no<br />
longer act as referee.”<br />
Leo Horn, Jewish referee<br />
4.4 “There was a lot of fear that they would raid our<br />
club. Because the Germans knew full well that a<br />
lot of Jews played at our club. Dozens of people<br />
from our club were rounded up in the Jewish<br />
quarter. Sometimes you had a match and a lot of<br />
people would not turn up and the match would<br />
be cancelled. People became afraid. There was a<br />
constant fear of what would happen. Nobody cared<br />
that football was suddenly off-limits for Jews.”<br />
Michél Agsteribbe, member of HEDW<br />
4.5 One of the HEDW squads.<br />
4.6 “I kept going to Ajax for as long as possible, until it<br />
became too dangerous. Suddenly there was a sign<br />
that said ‘No access for Jews’ and because I just<br />
happened to belong to the chosen people, I could<br />
no longer go there. (…) I spent a year in hiding<br />
with various people and always followed Ajax in the<br />
newspapers.” David van Minden, member of Wilhelmina<br />
Vooruit and an Ajax fan<br />
4.7 Jew Herman Menco from Winterswijk was living<br />
in hiding with football player Sjaak de Bruin<br />
in Rotterdam in 1942-1943. Occasionally, with<br />
bleached hair, he would be smuggled into the<br />
De Kuip stadium among the crowds. A great<br />
outing but a very dangerous one, too, because of<br />
potential raids.<br />
4.8 “My Jewish father was a huge Ajax fan. We would<br />
go to the stadium together every Sunday. Once<br />
Jews were no longer allowed to go to matches, I<br />
would go alone. It was horrible. If Ajax had won, I<br />
would whistle the club song when walking into our<br />
street. If I wasn’t whistling, it meant we had lost.<br />
My father would always be waiting eagerly by the<br />
window to find out the result. If we had lost, he<br />
would have no appetite that evening.”<br />
Pelle Mug, Ajax fan<br />
4.9 Jew Han Hollander was football reporter for AVRO<br />
radio. He did not go into hiding, as he thought<br />
he would be safe due to the fact that he had a<br />
certificate signed by Hitler, which he was given<br />
<strong>during</strong> the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Hollander was still<br />
arrested and murdered in camp Sobibor, together<br />
with his wife and daughter.<br />
(4.9.1 of 4.14 ipv 4.5) Joop Levi sent letters to his uncle<br />
Jacob from camp Westerbork. He wanted to be<br />
kept up to date on the results of the The Hague<br />
football clubs. On 13 July 1943, he and his parents<br />
were deported to Sobibor and murdered.<br />
4.10 <strong>Football</strong> clubs with a lot of Jewish members, such<br />
as HEDW in Amsterdam and De Ooievaars in The<br />
Hague, had to withdraw from the competition.<br />
Other teams also had to do without players. The<br />
Wilhelmina Vooruit club magazine, Onze Revue,<br />
wrote in 1941:<br />
“Last Sunday was a very dark page in the history<br />
of WV: defeats and players who didn’t turn up (…).<br />
Numerous players simply failed to didn’t turn up,<br />
both among the juniors and the apprentices.”<br />
4.11 HEDW team. Barend Noordberger, shown<br />
kneeling bottom right, wrote on the back of the<br />
photograph: “All the Jewish football friends before<br />
the war.”<br />
4.12 Members list Wilhelmina Vooruit for the 1941-<br />
1942 season. After the war, the club secretary put<br />
crosses in front of the names of those members<br />
who did not survive the war.<br />
5.Collaboration<br />
5.0 “There were people who chose the side<br />
of the enemy <strong>during</strong> the occupation.<br />
They became members of the NSB, the<br />
national-socialist movement, which<br />
supported the Germans.”<br />
5.1 ADO Den Haag was known as an NSB club <strong>during</strong><br />
the war. Most Dutch people saw the NSB members<br />
as traitors. Herman Choufoer, left-back player for<br />
ADO at the time: “Sometimes hateful comments<br />
from opponents would make you realise that they<br />
considered ADO an NSB club. That was because<br />
a player in our first team began openly expressing<br />
his support for the NSB. It was Gerrit Vreken.<br />
Sometimes he would travel to away games in his<br />
uniform. I can still picture him in his black boots<br />
now.”<br />
5.2 Gerrit Vreken was unemployed and was called<br />
up for labour duty in Germany in 1940. His uncle,<br />
who was a member of the NSB, told him he would<br />
be better off reporting for the Arbeidsdienst<br />
(labour service). This would allow him to stay<br />
in the Netherlands. The Arbeidsdienst was set<br />
up by the Germans to fight unemployment and<br />
to demonstrate to the Dutch how just good<br />
national-socialism was. Vreken: “I was 18 and<br />
knew nothing about politics. It allowed me to<br />
stay in the Netherlands and continue to play<br />
football with ADO. (…) If you wanted to stay in the<br />
Arbeidsdienst after the first year, you had to join<br />
the NSB as a sympathiser. I thought about it for a<br />
long time. But I was in trouble, so what could I do?<br />
For me it was always an escape route.”<br />
5.3 <strong>Football</strong> team ADO, season ‘42-’43. Standing<br />
top left Herman Choufour, with to his right Gerrit<br />
Vreken. Seated bottom left goalkeeper Dolf<br />
Niezen.<br />
4.13 <strong>Football</strong> team Camp Westerbork, with Louis de<br />
Wijze to the left on the top row.<br />
5.4 “In a club with more than one hundred people,<br />
three made the wrong choice: player Gerrit Vreken,<br />
the secretary and an honorary chairman. Our<br />
team at ADO was referred to as the Hitler eleven<br />
until long after the war had ended, but that is<br />
really going too far. Even as teammates, we too<br />
sometimes had problems with Vreken. There was<br />
often an icy silence when he entered in his uniform.<br />
We didn’t like passing the ball to him then.”<br />
Dolf Niezen, goalkeeper at ADO<br />
5.5 “One time, a few of our supporters travelled with<br />
us to The Hague with the intention of beating<br />
up a few ADO supporters whom they knew to be<br />
NSB members. It resulted in serious fighting in the<br />
stands.”<br />
Douwe Wagenaar of De Volewijckers from Amsterdam<br />
5.6 From left to right: an ADO training session in the<br />
season ‘42-’43, supporters after the team won the<br />
district title in 1941, the national title in 1942 and<br />
the national title in 1943.<br />
Below: photo album, published when the club won<br />
the national championship in the season ‘42-’43.<br />
5.7 ADO became known as the NSB-club, but there<br />
were NSB members playing at other clubs, too.<br />
Harry Pelser was one example. He played in the<br />
Ajax first eleven from 1939 to 1944. His father Joop<br />
played for Ajax before the war and was a member<br />
of the club executive. The Pelsers were a true<br />
NSB family. From 1942, father Joop worked for the<br />
German bank Lippman Rosenthal & Co, founded<br />
by the occupying authorities to steal Jewish<br />
property. Harry was also a member of the NSB. A<br />
teammate says: “He was a member of the party<br />
and I saw him read the NSB newspaper Volk en<br />
Vaderland (folk and fatherland). But the teammate<br />
adds: “Harry didn’t betray people.” Harry later<br />
said that in his family joining the NSB was a logical<br />
move. His mother signed him up.<br />
6 7
5.8 Gejus van der Meulen, goal keeper for HFC in The<br />
Hague, was very popular before the war. Between<br />
1924 and 1934, he played more than 50 matches<br />
for the Dutch national side. In addition to playing<br />
football, he was a doctor. During the war years,<br />
he rapidly lost popularity. As early as in the first<br />
months of the war, Jewish patients were no longer<br />
welcome in his practice. Van der Meulen joined the<br />
NSB in September 1940. In 1941, he joined the<br />
Vrijwilligers Legioen Nederland (Dutch volunteer<br />
legion) to fight for the Germans. After training in<br />
Germany, he became an army doctor at the war<br />
front. Many Dutch volunteers died, Van der Meulen<br />
survived.<br />
5.9 ADO booked its greatest successes <strong>during</strong> the<br />
occupation. The club won the district title in the<br />
’40-’41 season and won the national title the next<br />
two seasons.<br />
6.8 The Netherlands – Czech republic (3-4) in Berlin, 6<br />
August 1944.<br />
6.9 Foreign drafted labourers who played football well<br />
were asked to play in the German competition. This<br />
meant better food and better football matches.<br />
But the players were also expected to do the<br />
Hitler salute at the start of the matches. Noud<br />
Bierings played for Hertha BSC in Berlin: “You<br />
knew that salute was coming. I was really worried.<br />
I decided to see what Appel did. He did a sort of<br />
half-hearted salute, using only his forearm. I did the<br />
same thing. I think the Germans understood that to<br />
some extent, because I never heard them complain<br />
about it.”<br />
6.10 The Dutch team of forced labourers <strong>during</strong> the<br />
match between the Netherlands and Flanders (4-5),<br />
14 June 1943 in Berlin. Bram Appel is standing fifth<br />
from the right.<br />
6.Forced labour<br />
7.Resistance<br />
6.0 “These days, it is perfectly normal for<br />
a football player or manager to work in<br />
Germany, just as I did with teams like<br />
Schalke 04 and HSV for many years.<br />
Dutchmen also played in Germany<br />
<strong>during</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>War</strong> Two. How was that<br />
possible, as Germany was the enemy<br />
after all?”<br />
Huub Stevens, manager<br />
6.1 In 1943, all Dutch men aged between 17 and 40<br />
were called up to work for the war industry in<br />
Germany, including football players. One of the<br />
most popular players to be called up was Bram<br />
Appel. “I received a letter stating that I had to<br />
pack my bags and report to the Hollands Spoor<br />
train station the next day for transport to Berlin. If I<br />
failed to appear, my parents would be arrested.”<br />
Bram Appel departed. In Germany, football<br />
competitions were organised between the workers<br />
at the various factories. Later, matches were<br />
organised between the workers from different<br />
countries. Bram Appel: “Those national matches<br />
in Germany drew huge crowds, and were almost<br />
always sold out. (…) The matches were a big<br />
distraction for the men working over there. (…) I<br />
scored 57 goals in 1944.”<br />
6.2 Call-up for forced labour<br />
6.3 Many men did not respond to the call up for<br />
Arbeitseinsatz (forced labour). From 1943 onwards,<br />
the Germans organised raids to pick up young men<br />
and send them to Germany. <strong>Football</strong> stadiums were<br />
very good locations for those raids; there were lots<br />
of men and it was it difficult for them to escape.<br />
Bob Janse, right mid-fielder at Hermes/DVS in<br />
Schiedam: “Watching football matches became<br />
more and more dangerous. In 1943, the deciding<br />
match between Neptunus and HVV was played on<br />
the Sparta pitch. I remember the panic when a raid<br />
took place <strong>during</strong> that match. A lot of people were<br />
rounded up that day.”<br />
6.4 After the match between PSV and Longa, the<br />
Germans conducted a raid targeting the 20,000<br />
spectators leaving the stadium, 27 February 1944.<br />
6.5 “Our street was part of the route to the Olympic<br />
Stadium. There was always a jolly busyness on<br />
the Sundays when there were football matches.<br />
One Sunday in 1943, the German soldiers and<br />
SS officers came and closed off the Stadionweg.<br />
A raid! Peaking through the net curtains of our<br />
living room window, we saw the Germans place a<br />
machine gun across the road. I grabbed my father’s<br />
camera and when one of the soldiers had turned<br />
away, I took a photograph. My mother was crying<br />
with fear, because if the soldier had looked back, I<br />
could have been arrested for espionage.”<br />
Jules Schweppe<br />
6.6 “You were going to a country is at war, which was a<br />
bit scary. (…) I had my football boots in my bag. I<br />
told my father I was taking those with me. A good<br />
move son, he said. I also had a shirt and shorts<br />
with me. And socks, the blue and white ones of<br />
Eindhoven. I thought to myself, if I get a chance to<br />
play football, I’m taking it.”<br />
Noud Bierings, football player for Eindhoven<br />
7.0 “There was virtually no organised<br />
resistance against the German<br />
measures in the football world. There<br />
were individual football players, like<br />
my father who played for SC Varsseveld,<br />
who joined the resistance. He worked<br />
as head of the distribution office. That<br />
allowed him to get food vouchers to<br />
hundreds of people in hiding.”<br />
Guus Hiddink, manager<br />
7.1 The Volewijckers from Amsterdam-Noord became<br />
known as a resistance club. That was largely<br />
because of the two brothers Gerben and Douwe<br />
Wagenaar. Gerben, left midfielder and team<br />
captain, became a key leader in the resistance.<br />
He was wanted by the Germans, so he could no<br />
longer play football. Led by his brother Douwe,<br />
who was club chairman, the Volewijckers players<br />
showed their anti-German colours. On 3 August<br />
1943, they played a match against VUC in orange<br />
shirts instead of their green and white club shirts.<br />
Says Douwe: “I was arrested immediately after the<br />
match. (…) After three days I was released again.”<br />
The club ensured that the players did not have to<br />
work in Germany. Douwe: “One of our members<br />
worked at the labour office. If one of our boys was<br />
under threat of being called up for forced labour,<br />
he would put their cards to the back of the box<br />
again.” Manager Jaap van der Leck remembers<br />
how a young man walked into the dressing room<br />
after a match against ADO in 1944. “There was<br />
a sudden raid and he was afraid he would be<br />
arrested. We got him to safety using the laundry<br />
basket.”<br />
6.7 The Nederlandse Arbeidsfront (Dutch labour front)<br />
organised the football matches and other activities<br />
for the Dutch workers in Germany, including<br />
the national side matches between the forced<br />
labourers from different countries. “<strong>Football</strong> meant<br />
everything to me. It was the only thing we had in<br />
Germany,” says Cor van Tongeren. He was invited<br />
to play a national match against Serbia. The foreign<br />
teams were also expected to do the Hitler salute.<br />
Luckily, this was not monitored very closely. Van<br />
7.2 “There was no real organised resistance in the<br />
Tongeren: “You already hated the Germans, so<br />
sports world. (…) In those days, you took refuge in<br />
you’re not going to do the Hitler salute. It just<br />
sports, so to speak. You thought the war was bad,<br />
wasn’t done.”<br />
but didn’t quite go as far as Gerben Wagenaar<br />
8<br />
and say: I’m joining the underground movement.<br />
9<br />
You were too afraid. In fact, you were sticking your<br />
head in the sand.”<br />
Jaap van der Leck, manager of De Volewijckers<br />
7.3 “If there was ever any suggestion that we should<br />
stop playing as a sign of resistance, there would be<br />
immediate protests from the players. <strong>Football</strong> was<br />
the only diversion they had.”<br />
Bob Janse, right midfielder at Hermes/DVS<br />
7.4 In 1941, Leo Horn, being a Jew, was no longer<br />
allowed to referee matches. He adopted a false<br />
identity and became active in the resistance. As<br />
doctor Van Dongen, with the staff of Aesculapius<br />
mark on his bicycle, he got dozens of people<br />
in hiding to safety. Later he joined the armed<br />
Amsterdam resistance group Stanz. With this<br />
group, he took part in a spectacular attack on a<br />
German ammunitions truck. The loot consisted of<br />
guns, grenades, uniforms and thousands of rounds<br />
of ammunition.<br />
7.5 The Stanz resistance group from Amsterdam-Zuid<br />
<strong>during</strong> an instruction session on plastic explosives.<br />
Leo Horn is seated in the middle.<br />
7.6 Jan Wijnbergen played football for the Ajax first<br />
eleven. In 1941, he got involved in the resistance<br />
movement. “After I had distributed what later<br />
turned out to be the appeal to join the February<br />
strike, I was asked to deliver things or make<br />
contacts more often. I was still playing for Ajax at<br />
the time, but that combination became impossible<br />
eventually. I often had to cancel football training.<br />
Ajax were obviously not pleased with that.”<br />
Eventually, Wijnbergen stopped playing football. “I<br />
was convinced that the resistance work was more<br />
important than playing football.”<br />
7.7 Most sports journalists continued their work under<br />
the German occupation. Kick Geudeker, who<br />
founded the weekly magazine ‘Sport in en om<br />
Amsterdam’ (Sports in and around Amsterdam) in<br />
1940, was one of the few to join the resistance. He<br />
worked for the illegal newspaper Het Parool. He<br />
was helped by the half-German sports caricaturist
Bob Uschi, who worked for Het Volk and later<br />
for De Telegraaf newspaper. With his German<br />
passport, Uschi was well-equipped for courier<br />
work.<br />
7.8 Arie de Jong was the treasurer for football club<br />
Unitas in Gorinchem. When he joined the NSB,<br />
the Unitas members decided not to re-elect<br />
him in September 1943. Unitas member Huub<br />
Sterkenburg put forward a different candidate who<br />
was elected by a large majority. The NSB supervisor<br />
of the clubs in the region decided that Unitas had<br />
to appoint De Jong anyway and that Sterkenburg<br />
had to be ejected from the club membership.<br />
Karel Lotsy, the most powerful man in football<br />
<strong>during</strong> the occupation, warned Unitas they would<br />
have to obey if they wanted to continue as a club.<br />
But Unitas refused. The NSB supervisor repeated<br />
his demands in April 1942, but Unitas refused to<br />
comply. Arie de Jong was subsequently appointed<br />
as “authorised agent” at the club. This meant<br />
he had complete authority. Virtually all Unitas<br />
members cancelled their membership in protest.<br />
8.Winter of famine<br />
8.0 “There was great famine in the western<br />
part of the Netherlands in the final<br />
winter of the war. A lot of people died<br />
of hunger, including many children.<br />
The football competition had come to a<br />
virtual standstill. My club, Heerenveen,<br />
invited dozens of young Amsterdam<br />
football players at the time. They came<br />
to Friesland to stay with guest families<br />
and get their strength back.”<br />
Foppe de Haan, manager<br />
8.1 There was virtually no football played <strong>during</strong> the<br />
winter of famine. The competition ground to a halt.<br />
People’s main concern was to find food and fuel.<br />
Even goalposts and stadium seating were used as<br />
fire wood.<br />
Jan Hobby from DWS went to Friesland to regain<br />
his strength. In Heerenveen, the youngsters from<br />
Amsterdam were greeted with a plate of porridge,<br />
which they devoured. The hearty Friesian food was<br />
too much for many of the little players. Jan Hobby<br />
remembers: “After eating one spoonful of gravy I<br />
immediately had to go to the toilet with diarrhoea<br />
because it was far too greasy for me. And one time<br />
I walked away from the table because my foster<br />
brother Piet complained <strong>during</strong> the meal. (…) I<br />
knew what it was like to be hungry.”<br />
7.9 Booklet from 1947 about the resistance at Unitas<br />
and a reaction to it from the KNVB.<br />
7.10 Fan mail for the popular football player Daan<br />
de Jongh, forward at ‘resistance club’ De<br />
Volewijckers.<br />
7.11 Caricature of Daan de Jongh, forward at De<br />
Volewijckers, drawn in 1944 by Bob Uschi, who was<br />
involved with resistance newspaper Het Parool.<br />
7.12 Notebook with handwritten reports on De<br />
Volewijckers matches by forward Daan de Jongh.<br />
7.13 De Volewijckers from Amsterdam-Noord – known<br />
as the resistance club– had its most successful<br />
period <strong>during</strong> the war years. The club was<br />
promoted from the third to the first division in<br />
1941, moved to the top division in 1943 and, in<br />
1944, not only became district champion but also<br />
national champion, pushing its biggest rival ADO<br />
out of the top spot.<br />
8.2 In September 1944, the Dutch government in exile<br />
in London called for a railway strike. They wanted<br />
the transports of German soldiers to be stopped<br />
because the allies wanted to carry out airborne<br />
landings near Arnhem. The Germans stopped<br />
food transports in retaliation. And travel became<br />
impossible. Ad van Emmenes, editor in chief of<br />
the Dutch <strong>Football</strong> Association magazine: “For<br />
me, it was the end of my trips to matches. (…) The<br />
railways resisted and then there was nothing.” For<br />
a while, De Volewijckers team used a horse and<br />
cart to travel the country and play friendly matches<br />
as national champion. But almost nobody wanted<br />
to play football any more because of the famine.<br />
Bob Janse, right midfielder at Hermes/DVS in<br />
Schiedam says: “It was almost impossible to travel<br />
any more. The strange thing was that there was<br />
also virtually no football played in fields or in the<br />
streets any more, as if football had had never been<br />
played there before.”<br />
8.3 Publication from the illegal newspaper Vrij<br />
Nederland about the consequences of the railway<br />
strike.<br />
8.4 German propaganda emphasised that the railway<br />
strike only caused misery and famine for the Dutch<br />
population. It did not affect the Germans too<br />
much, because their troops were transported in<br />
German trains. The strike still continued until the<br />
liberation.<br />
8.5 Transport of children <strong>during</strong> the winter of famine.<br />
They travelled across the IJsselmeer to the<br />
provinces of Friesland and Groningen in the holds<br />
of cargo ships.<br />
8.6 Referral from a doctor for one of the young football<br />
players who was sent to Heerenveen:<br />
“Willem Kuppers is malnourished, though<br />
otherwise healthy. A move outside the city is<br />
urgently necessary.”<br />
8.7 Bertus Moehring of football club Blauw-Wit was<br />
one of the young football players chosen and<br />
allowed to go to Heerenveen. Bertus stayed with<br />
Jan Lenstra, the brother of the famous player Abe<br />
Lenstra. Once the children had regained their<br />
strength, they returned to football. Bertus played a<br />
match against Heerenveen’s fourth junior team. In a<br />
letter to his parents, he wrote: “We won the match<br />
3-2 and I even scored a goal.”<br />
8.8 Jan and Jeltje Lenstra with their daughter Minnie<br />
in front of the farmhouse where Bertus Moehring<br />
stayed.<br />
8.9 To show their gratitude for the help Heerenveen<br />
had given the young players, the Amsterdam clubs<br />
gave the Heerenveen football club a tableau made<br />
of tiles shortly after the war. The Friesian foster<br />
parents received a print of the picture.<br />
8.10 “We had an official Amsterdam team of<br />
HONGERWINTER<br />
C-grade juniors, which regularly played against<br />
9.Liberation<br />
9.0 “I was born on 4 May 1945. In the final,<br />
harsh months of the war, there was<br />
no more football: there was so much<br />
hunger and so many shortages. But<br />
immediately after the liberation on 5<br />
May - I was cheering in my cradle –<br />
teams were immediately formed again<br />
and they played against the allied<br />
liberators.”<br />
Jan Mulder, football analyst<br />
9.1 The first post-war international match was played<br />
between the Netherlands and an English military<br />
side in June 1945 in De Kuip stadium. It attracted<br />
60,000 spectators. Top football player Faas Wilkes:<br />
“These days it is completely normal to have a full<br />
stadium. But in those days, in 1945! There were<br />
no trams yet and only the occasional train. You<br />
a Heerenveen B-juniors team. (…) Abe Lenstra<br />
put together and coached the Amsterdam team.<br />
(…) We looked up to him immensely, because<br />
he was very well known in 1942, when I joined<br />
Ajax. He was a star player who could do anything.<br />
(…) Despite his instructions, we always lost to<br />
the Heerenveen boys, although they were close<br />
matches. (…) That was largely due to physical<br />
differences. We were pretty emaciated when we<br />
arrived in Heerenveen. We really had to get our<br />
strength back.”<br />
Robbie Been, youth player at Ajax<br />
8.11 Abe Lenstra, star player at Heerenveen and coach<br />
of the young players from Amsterdam.<br />
8.12 Robbie Been with his little brother Otto,<br />
Amsterdam 1940.<br />
8.13 “When I left for Heerenveen, we were in the<br />
middle of the winter of famine. People fainted in<br />
the streets, and there was almost nothing to eat.<br />
At home, we would sometimes be fed tulip bulb<br />
soup and my mother baked biscuits from sugar<br />
beet pulp, which tasted horrible even if you were<br />
hungry.”<br />
Robbie Been, youth player at Ajax<br />
8.14 Homemade sugar beet grater.<br />
8.16 The remains of the ADO stands after the winter of<br />
famine.<br />
hardly saw any cars on the roads. The whole city<br />
of Rotterdam was devastated. People came to the<br />
stadium on foot, on bikes with no tyres or wooden<br />
tyres. Basically, any way they could. It was an<br />
unforgettable match.”<br />
9.2 Immediately after the Netherlands was liberated<br />
on 5 May 1945, there were football matches again,<br />
against teams of allied troops. Robbie Been was<br />
sent to Heerenveen <strong>during</strong> the winter of famine<br />
and celebrated the liberation there. “I remember<br />
matches from those days between Heerenveen and<br />
British teams from the Royal Navy, the Highlanders<br />
and the RAF. They often had real professionals<br />
playing for them, but Abe always stood out. I didn’t<br />
get back to Amsterdam until July, travelling on the<br />
boat from Lemmer.”<br />
9.3 On 13 May 1945, a team of allied troops played a<br />
team from Leeuwarden at the Sportpark Cambuur<br />
stadium. The Friesians won the match 3-2.<br />
The photograph shows the allied team.<br />
10 11
9.4 Feyenoord supporter Frans Appels attended the<br />
first post-war international match with Faas Wilkes<br />
in De Kuip stadium. The playing of the Dutch<br />
national anthem, the Wilhelmus, is one thing he<br />
will never forget. “Everyone stood and sang along.<br />
After all, it was the first time in five years that we<br />
could sing it without danger of punishment. I had<br />
tears in my eyes. Of course, nowadays, it is difficult<br />
to imagine that it was as important as it felt at the<br />
time.”<br />
9.5 Faas Wilkes, after the liberation.<br />
9.6 Karel Lotsy, chairman of the Nederlandsche<br />
Voetbalbond, attended the first post-war central<br />
training session of the Dutch national side, on the<br />
VUC pitch in The Hague.<br />
9.7 In August 1945, a football match was organised in<br />
Amsterdam as a benefit match for the devastated<br />
city of Arnhem. The ticket price had to be paid in<br />
goods.<br />
9.8 Shortages remained until long after the liberation.<br />
The Ajax first eleven posed dressed in old shirts<br />
from English team Arsenal on 15 May 1947. Seated<br />
on the left is Rinus Michels.<br />
9.9 In May 1945, Amsterdam football teams played<br />
a competition in the city’s Olympic Stadium. The<br />
winners received a small bottle of jenever (Dutch<br />
gin) in a little orange clog from the Bols distillery.<br />
9.10 Members of the NSB and SS were punished by the<br />
courts after the war. They were often also ejected<br />
from their football clubs. Special ‘purification’<br />
committees judged the behaviour of the football<br />
players. They could suspend or withdraw the<br />
membership of members and managers. The<br />
football players in this exhibition also had to justify<br />
their actions:<br />
• The goalkeeper for the Dutch national side,<br />
Gejus van der Meulen, who was an SS doctor<br />
<strong>during</strong> the war, appeared before the Bijzonder<br />
Gerechtshof (extraordinary court) in Amsterdam<br />
on 21 June 1947. He was sentenced to eight years<br />
in prison. The football world turned its back on him<br />
completely.<br />
• On 6 March 1947, Ajax executive Joop Pelser, a<br />
member of the NSB who worked for a bank which<br />
confiscated Jewish possessions, was sentenced<br />
to more than three years in prison by the Tribunal<br />
founded specifically to judge war crimes. The<br />
purification commission at Ajax withdrew his<br />
membership of the club.<br />
• Ajax player Harry Pelser, son of Joop Pelser,<br />
together with many NSB member, was detained at<br />
the Amsterdam Levantkade. Afterwards, he was<br />
forced to grow potatoes in the Noordoostpolder<br />
for 14 months, wearing the same sweater and<br />
trousers for the entire period. “My right shoe was<br />
broken, I had to fix it with pieces of string. Other<br />
than that I was treated well. The guards never beat<br />
me up.” Harry was never punished by the Ajax<br />
purification committee. He never again dared to<br />
talk to his father about the war again. “That period<br />
created wounds that have never healed.”<br />
• Together with many dozens of NSB members<br />
from The Hague, Gerrit Vreken was detained in<br />
the building of the Christian technical school. He<br />
was interrogated after a month. “That was my<br />
chance to make it clear that I had done nobody any<br />
harm and I was released.” The ADO football club<br />
suspended him and his voting rights were taken<br />
away for ten years.<br />
• Bram Appel, like all other forced labourers in<br />
Germany who had played in a German team, was<br />
suspended until 1 January 1947. “I was furious<br />
about that. I was reprimanded, while Lotsy himself<br />
could simply go and watch matches in Germany.”<br />
• On 27 October, Karel Lotsy appeared before the<br />
national purification committee for sports. In a<br />
lengthy written defence, he explained that he<br />
had in fact wanted to prevent national-socialist<br />
influence in football. The committee was convinced<br />
of his ‘healthy patriotism’. Much later, Historians<br />
argued that Lotsy, who had after all been actively<br />
involved in the exclusion of Jews from sports, had<br />
been judged very leniently indeed.<br />
9.11 Gejus van der Meulen, on 21 June 1947, before the<br />
extraordinary court in Amsterdam.<br />
9.12 The Jewish referee and resistance worker Leo<br />
Horn, went on a driving tour with members<br />
of his resistance group <strong>during</strong> the liberation<br />
celebrations. In the photograph on the left, he can<br />
be seen standing in the front of the car. After the<br />
liberation, he became a guard at the internment<br />
camp for NSB members in Amsterdam, where<br />
Harry Pelser was also detained. The photograph<br />
above shows Leo Horn second from the right,<br />
wearing a helmet.<br />
9.13 A design for a commemorative stone for the<br />
members of Unitas in Groningen who were killed<br />
in the concentration camps because of their<br />
resistance work. The stone was never made.<br />
9.14 A few Jewish survivors decided to keep football<br />
club HEDW going. This had been discussed even<br />
in camp Auschwitz. Maurits van Thijn says: “In<br />
Auschwitz, I kicked a stone around. Bert Thal saw<br />
that and said: ‘I can see that you have played<br />
football or can play’. I said yes. He said: ‘If we<br />
get out of this camp, you should come and play<br />
for us, at HEDW.’” Michél Agsteribbe says about<br />
the inaugural meeting: “It was a meeting where<br />
many people cried. A lot of the guys were gone<br />
of course. About 90 percent were gone. But we<br />
founded the club again anyway, with a lot of new<br />
people.” Sixteen-year-old Jacques Granaat also<br />
joined up: “Everyone who was left went to HEDW.<br />
That was the club to join if you were a Jewish boy.”<br />
This is how HEDW became bigger and more Jewish<br />
than it ever was before the war. A monument was<br />
raised for the club members who had been killed.<br />
10.Netherlands - Germany<br />
10.0 “<strong>Football</strong> matches between Germany<br />
and the Netherlands remained<br />
emotionally charged for a long time<br />
after the liberation. That was all down<br />
to <strong>World</strong> <strong>War</strong> Two. Marco van Basten’s<br />
deciding goal <strong>during</strong> the 1988 European<br />
Championships had great symbolic<br />
value, partly because of the trauma of<br />
1974.”<br />
Frits Barend, television programme maker<br />
10.1 In 1956, the Dutch and German national sides<br />
played a friendly match in Germany. It was a special<br />
match, because it was the first time since the war<br />
and Germany were the <strong>World</strong> Cup holders at the<br />
time. There were 40,000 spectators in the stadium.<br />
Abe Lenstra: “We became quite emotional when<br />
the national anthem was played. Roel Wiersma<br />
stood next to me. He took my hand and squeezed<br />
it. Abe, he said, we will win today. I knew why he<br />
said that. I knew what he felt. What was going<br />
through him, through all of us. We were all charged<br />
up.”<br />
The Netherlands won 2-1. Abe Lenstra, one of<br />
the Netherlands’ most famous football players,<br />
scored both goals. Thousands of Dutch supporters<br />
who had travelled to the match, shouted his name:<br />
A-be, A-be, A-be. It was an historic victory: the<br />
former enemy was beaten.<br />
10.2 The Dutch team, before the match between the<br />
Netherlands and Germany on 14 March 1956 in<br />
Düsseldorf. Abe Lenstra is standing fifth from the<br />
left.<br />
10.3 The first goal from Abe Lenstra (not pictured)<br />
against the Germans, 14 March 1956.<br />
10.4 After the match between the Netherlands and<br />
Germany, Dutch players were borne aloft on<br />
shoulders. Abe Lenstra is second from the right.<br />
10.5 During the 1974 <strong>World</strong> Cup in Germany, the<br />
Netherlands played the final against Germany.<br />
As in 1956, it was an emotionally charged match.<br />
Minister Tjerk Westerterp was in the stadium.<br />
“Among the Dutch spectators in the grandstand,<br />
I felt a sense of ‘we are going to right <strong>World</strong> <strong>War</strong><br />
Two this afternoon’. (…) Many Dutch people<br />
hoped to achieve through football what we had<br />
failed to do <strong>during</strong> the war: beat the Germans.<br />
Willem van Hanegem, who played in the match,<br />
says: “As far as I’m concerned, you cannot dig a<br />
hole deep enough for those Germans. (…) That<br />
hatred, that has always been there. For reasons<br />
that everyone is aware of and that still haven’t<br />
gone away.” The Netherlands lost 2-1. Hans van<br />
Breukelen, who later became goal keeper for the<br />
Dutch national side, remembers he was full of<br />
feelings of revenge and cried sitting in front of the<br />
television in an orange shirt, with tears also for<br />
“the horrors and the terror visited by the Germans<br />
<strong>during</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>War</strong> Two in the Netherlands”.<br />
10.6 The Dutch team, <strong>World</strong> Cup 1974.<br />
10.7 The Dutch team, European Championships 1988.<br />
10.8 Marco van Basten in action <strong>during</strong> the semi final<br />
between the Netherlands and Germany, European<br />
Championships 1988.<br />
10.9 In 1988, the two arch rivals met again, <strong>during</strong> the<br />
semi final of the European Championships on 21<br />
June in Hamburg . The Dutch wanted revenge, for<br />
1974 and for the war. Orange supporters in the<br />
stands sang loudly: “In 1940 kwamen zij, ’88 komen<br />
wij, holadijee, holadijoo (they came in 1940, here<br />
we come in ’88). Goalkeeper Hans van Breukelen,<br />
talking about what he calls the best match of his<br />
football career: “Something had to be put right<br />
to my mind. (…) We were determined to walk<br />
of the pitch the winners and we did. In the last<br />
minute, Marco van Basten put the winning 2-1 on<br />
the score board and we went crazy. I have never<br />
seen a group of players react so strongly and so<br />
exuberantly. We celebrated together with the<br />
30,000 Dutch supporters in the stadium. We had<br />
been freed of all our feelings of unease in one fell<br />
swoop.”<br />
Journalist Simon Kuper: “On the Tuesday night<br />
when the Netherlands beat West Germany by 2-1<br />
in the semi final, millions of Dutch people went out<br />
into the streets to celebrate the moral victory. It<br />
was probably the biggest public gathering since<br />
the liberation.”<br />
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11.<strong>Football</strong> and society<br />
11.0 “People from different backgrounds<br />
meet through football, sports and<br />
games. Children learn to live with<br />
each other and accept each other.<br />
On the pitch, it makes no difference<br />
whether you’re rich or poor, boy or<br />
girl, or whether or not you were born<br />
in the Netherlands. Many football<br />
clubs and well-known football players<br />
make efforts to help young people<br />
advance via sports; in the Netherlands,<br />
but also in the Third <strong>World</strong>.”<br />
11.1 <strong>Football</strong> unites people<br />
Mohammed Allach, football player and<br />
founder of MaroquiStars<br />
11.2 Mohammed Allach founded the MaroquiStars<br />
foundation in 2003 in an effort to involve<br />
Moroccan youths more in society via football.<br />
Allach: “You cannot clap with one hand, is an<br />
old Moroccan saying that indicates the need for<br />
cooperation. (…) Professional football players<br />
play an important role in the way we operate,<br />
as role models and to communicate norms and<br />
values, among other things.”<br />
11.3 The originally Moroccan football club Chabab<br />
from the Amsterdam Slotervaart neighbourhood<br />
is successful. The enthusiastic chairman,<br />
Mahomed Moussa wants to achieve more than<br />
just football. “We want to prove that different<br />
nationalities can work together perfectly well<br />
in this large club. I tell the children at the<br />
club: you can only succeed if you accept your<br />
responsibilities and go for it. We will not deny our<br />
origins, but we are Dutch first and foremost.”<br />
Sporting Maroc, another Amsterdam club,<br />
often hits the headlines because of violence,<br />
intimidation and suspensions.<br />
11.4 FC Chabab celebrating after the 1-0 victory over<br />
DWS, which put the club in the first division.<br />
11.5 “In the football team, my son Oussama plays with<br />
boys from all sorts of cultural backgrounds. The<br />
football pitch really is a meeting place for them.”<br />
Ahmed Zeamari<br />
11.6 E1 of WV HEDW. Bottom row, second from the<br />
right: Oussama Zeamari.<br />
11.7 Sports presenter Humberto Tan grew up in<br />
Amsterdam’s Zuidoost neighbourhood. He knows<br />
what it is like to live in a disadvantaged area.<br />
He founded the Dutch Street football Union to<br />
give youngsters from those types of areas an<br />
opportunity to get together in a positive way:<br />
“Tournaments were organised in 36<br />
neighbourhoods. In Amsterdam, the<br />
neighbourhoods of Zuidoost, Zeeburg and<br />
Slotervaart took up the initiative.”<br />
11.8 <strong>Football</strong> offers people opportunities<br />
11.9 The 2010 <strong>Football</strong> <strong>World</strong> Championships will<br />
be held in South Africa. The Dutch organisation<br />
Stars in their Eyes wants to create opportunities<br />
for South African youths. Managers and top<br />
players from Dutch teams coach South African<br />
footballers and support them in the fight against<br />
poverty and crime. Eleven-year-old Nkosikhone<br />
“Vice” Mayekiso from Cape Town: “I love football<br />
because it helps me stay away from bad things,<br />
like becoming a gangster. When I grow up I want<br />
to play for a big professional team like Feyenoord<br />
in Holland.”<br />
11.10 Johan Cruyff sets up kicking fields – Cruyff Courts<br />
– to help kids play and live together. “Children<br />
are the future and our children have the right to<br />
grow up in safety and health. We have to make<br />
sure they can. Sports and physical exercise are<br />
incredibly important in children’s development,<br />
just as important as learning to read and write.”<br />
There are also courts in South Africa, the<br />
Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, Morocco and<br />
Great Britain.<br />
11.11 Tile from the Johan Cruyff Foundation. Anyone<br />
who buys a tile supports the foundation.<br />
11.12 The Stichting Meer dan Voetbal (More than<br />
<strong>Football</strong> foundation) organised the Dutch<br />
Homeless Cup for the first time in 2008. Sixteen<br />
teams of homeless people from the Netherlands<br />
participated. The Rotterdam team won and were<br />
given the chance to travel to Melbourne to play<br />
for the <strong>World</strong> Cup. Captain Vincent Gard feels<br />
stronger for the experience: “I hope that, once<br />
we come back to the Netherlands, I can make<br />
a real go of it,. With a new job, a home and<br />
everything that goes with that.”<br />
11.13 Clarence Seedorf set up the Champions for<br />
Children foundation to help disadvantaged<br />
children in his country of birth, Surinam. In 2001,<br />
he had the Clarence Seedorf Sports complex built<br />
and he founded the Para Junior League for young<br />
footballers. Seedorf hopes to keep the kids on<br />
the right path through football.<br />
11.14 Ibrahim Kargbo grew up in Sierra Leone, a<br />
country torn apart by civil war. He played in<br />
the national youth team and currently plays for<br />
Willem <strong>II</strong> in the Netherlands. Kargbo has been<br />
lucky. “I must have lost hundreds of friends I<br />
played football with and who had to join the<br />
army.” Kargbo uses the money he earns playing<br />
football to help his native country, together with<br />
aid organisation CARE. “I bought a piece of<br />
land in Freetown where I want to build homes<br />
and schools for children.” In 2008, Kargbo was<br />
awarded the <strong>Football</strong> for Peace Award.<br />
11.15 <strong>Football</strong> shows you where you belong<br />
11.16 Some professional football players are faced<br />
with the choice which country they should play<br />
for. Ibrahim Afellay says: “I was flattered by the<br />
request to play for the Moroccan national team.<br />
But I think it would be best for me to play for the<br />
Dutch national side.”<br />
Karim EL Ahmadi: “In Afellay’s case, everyone had<br />
an opinion. I understand that he chose to play for<br />
the Netherlands. My instincts told me to choose<br />
Morocco.” Some players have so many doubts<br />
that they change their minds. Like U˘gur Yildirim,<br />
who played for the Dutch national side in 2005<br />
and later went on to play for Turkey. Yildirim: “I<br />
have always felt very Turkish. A Turk who grew up<br />
in the Netherlands. I am glad about that, because<br />
I was able to establish my name as a football<br />
player in the Netherlands. But I prefer to live in<br />
Turkey.”<br />
11.17 Ibrahim Afellay, 2005.<br />
11.18 Tibet is under Chinese occupation. Many Tibetans<br />
have fled to India. They formed a national football<br />
team there to focus attention on Tibet’s right<br />
to independent existence. In 2008, the team<br />
visited the Netherlands. Captain Tenzin Namgyal:<br />
“We want to tell the truth. People have been<br />
fleeing to India for forty, fifty years to live in exile,<br />
because China violates human rights.” Coach<br />
Kelsang Dhundup: “The most important thing is<br />
to support peace through sports, not so much the<br />
winning in itself.”<br />
11.19 <strong>Football</strong> strengthens national sentiments. When<br />
it comes down to it, the entire nation gets<br />
behind the Dutch national side. A supporter says:<br />
“During the 1998 <strong>World</strong> Cup, the match against<br />
Mexico was my first ‘Orange’ international match<br />
in a stadium. I will never forget that. We were<br />
all dressed as Mexicans, with sombreros and<br />
ponchos. But all orange, of course.”<br />
11.20 “I am a huge fan of PSV. My room is covered<br />
in scarves and posters of the best club in the<br />
Netherlands. Since PSV usually with the national<br />
title, I wear my shirt and scarf to the matches with<br />
pride.”<br />
Bart, 11 years old.<br />
11.21 You play football with respect<br />
11.22 “<strong>Football</strong> is a team sport. If everyone respects<br />
their opponents, and their team mates too,<br />
football will never be war.”<br />
Kees Gerbrands, referee<br />
11.23 The campaign “What do you do to keep football<br />
fun?” is aimed at keeping football fun. Marco van<br />
Basten: “<strong>Football</strong> is important to kids. These days<br />
kids spend a lot of time in front of a television or<br />
behind a computer. If you’re playing sports, you<br />
are off the streets, you learn to deal with winning<br />
and losing. In addition, and particularly in team<br />
sports, you learn that you have to help each other<br />
to achieve a good result.”<br />
11.24 Poster KNVB campaign, 2009.<br />
11.25 FC Twente helps ‘young drop-outs’ with the<br />
project Scoren door Scholing (score through<br />
education). Young people are given ten weeks of<br />
lessons at the club’s training centre. Of the 130<br />
drop-outs, 85% find a new purpose: education or<br />
a job. Rodney Bloks: “When the players turned<br />
up to train, we went to study. The goalkeeper,<br />
Sander Boscker, talked to us about grabbing this<br />
opportunity. That made an impression. Thanks to<br />
FC Twente, I managed to follow an internship as<br />
a teacher in a junior school. I know exactly what I<br />
want to do now.”<br />
11.26 Sander Boscker, goal keeper at FC Twente<br />
11.27 The Schilderwijk neighbourhood in The Hague<br />
is changing for the better. The Sporttuin in The<br />
Hague is helping. Five hundred pupils from 10<br />
different schools are members and are given<br />
extra sports lessons. Karin Striekwold, director<br />
of the Het Startpunt junior school: “A few years<br />
ago we were always beaten at tournaments<br />
and the children didn’t know how to behave<br />
themselves. But from the moment we began to<br />
win tournaments and the children were getting<br />
compliments for sporting behaviour, everything<br />
changed.”<br />
11.28 “I have been playing in boys’ teams since I was<br />
six. It’s much more fun and I get better because<br />
of it. Sometimes the boys don’t like losing to a<br />
girl. Then they will start calling me ugly names. I<br />
think they should respect a girl who plays against<br />
boys.”<br />
Eefje, 13, Sporting ’70 D1.<br />
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