Abe Lenstra

Abe Lenstra
Abe Lenstra (1951)
Personnel
birthday	November 27, 1920
place of birth	Heerenveen ,  Netherlands
date of death	2nd September 1985
Place of death	Heerenveen, Netherlands
position	striker
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1936-1955	VV Heerenveen
1955-1960	SC Enschede
1960-1963	Enschedese boys
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1940-1959	Netherlands	47 (33)
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
	VV Heerenveen (player-coach)
1 Only league games are given.

Abe Lenstra ( ['ɑ: bə' lɛnstɾa] , born November 27, 1920 in Heerenveen , Netherlands ; † September 2, 1985 ibid) was a Dutch football player . He played for Voetbalvereniging (VV) Heerenveen in his Frisian homeland since he was young and in Enschede from 1955 . In his 47 games for the Dutch national team , he scored 33 goals. Next to Johan Cruijffhe is considered one of the best Dutch players of the 20th century. He was voted Dutch Sportsman of the Year twice. But although he achieved great fame with the fans on the football field, his stubborn, moody manner made him hardly any friends among his teammates. The athlete spent the last eight years of his life in a wheelchair after a cerebral hemorrhage . His hometown club SC Heerenveen named his stadium after Abe Lenstra after his death .

The early years

Heerenveen, around 1920 to 1940 (aerial photo of the Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie )

Heerenveen was at the beginning of the 20th century, a larger place that never became a city, in Dutch as vlek , Frisian as Flekke referred. It was founded by peat cutters in the middle of the 16th century, when commercial peat cutting began in the Fens landscape of southwest Friesland . It is named after the owners of the Venn and peat extraction entrepreneurs, the "Lords of the Venn". Due to its location on two intersecting canals, which served both to drain the moor and to remove the peat, and through the construction of the connecting road (1828) and later the railway line from Leeuwarden to Zwolle and a tram to the west, Heerenveen became one central place of trade and commerce. Until the 20th century it was in the areas of the three municipalities Schoterland , Aengwirden and Haskerland ; it was not until 1934 that these were merged into a gemeente and Heerenveen was made the capital. Ice skating became the main sport on the canals and bog ponds, which were often frozen over in winter . Organized football began at the beginning of the 20th century. Four months before Abe Lenstra was born, what would later become VV Heerenveen was founded under the name Athleta .

Abe Lenstra was born on November 27, 1920 as the second son of warehouse worker Mindest Jans Lenstra and his wife Janke, née Suierveld. After his brother Jan, who was one and a half years older, was named after grandfather Lenstra, the younger offspring was given the first name of Janke's father, Abe Wytzes Suierveld. The name had been a family tradition at least since the year 1500, when an ancestor named Abe Hania married a woman of noble origin. The family initially lived in a working-class neighborhood; Both grandfathers and Mindest Lenstra were supporters of Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis , who was elected as the first socialist in the Tweede Kamer in the Frisian electoral district of Schoterland in 1888 for the Frisian People's Party . Abe and his brother grew up in an atheistic environment; On Labor Day, the red flag hung on her workers' house as on almost all the houses on her street . When father Lenstra had achieved a better position as a traveling salesman, the family moved to a more middle-class environment, but retained their political convictions; Janke Lenstra was the second chairwoman of the local women's association of the Sociaal-Democratische Arbeiderspartij SDAP ; The socialist daily Het Volk came into the house as a newspaper ; only the VARA program ran on the radio .

Like so many players of his generation, Abe Lenstra learned to play football on the street. With schoolmates, his own and those of his older brother, he never missed an opportunity to kick paper balls, tennis balls, and soccer balls. By nature he was "right-footed", but through constant practice he was able to kick the ball equally well with both legs as a child. In May 1931 he was first noticed at an annual school tournament that was supported by VV Heerenveen . Abe was the youngest and smallest participant and played in a team with his brother Jan. After the tournament the following year, the new coach of VV Heerenveen, the Englishman and ex-professional of Charlton Athletic Syd Castle , also recognized the boy's talent. Abe Lenstra became a member of the association three days after his twelfth birthday. While his one and a half year older brother Jan was already in the first junior team, Abe was initially used in the second junior team. But in his first games he scored so many goals as a center forward that he quickly moved up to Jan's team.

Career in the club

1932–1950: Down-to-earth amateur in Heerenveen

In the 1932/33 season, the Austrian Otto Pinter , a former Rapid Vienna player , took over training with the Frisians. While Castle had introduced the English style of play with long passes on the wings, Pinter was an admirer of the more technically demanding combination game of the " wonder team " from his home country. Lenstra took this over from Pinter. The Austrian compared Abe's game intelligence and technique with that of Matthias Sindelar , who was considered the best player on the continent at the time. Looking back in 1970, Lenstra said of his first coach:

“I had the talent, but I also learned a lot, especially from Otto Pinter. ... We tried everything that I couldn't yet. ... When we were done, he said: 'We're a little further!' That was very important to me, especially in the early days. "

- Abe Lenstra, 1970

On March 1, 1936 Abe Lenstra made his debut on the side of his brother in the second men's team of VV Heerenveen, Jan played left winger, Abe on half left. Abe scored three goals in the 12-1 win over Alcides Meppel; Jan was called up to the first team after his six goals. Abe had to wait until the summer before he also came to a friendship tournament in the squad, which now again coached Castle, who had returned from England. On July 16, 1936, at the age of 15, he came to his first assignment with the "men", here initially on half-right, since the half-left position was occupied by the team's top scorer, Jan "Bob" Krikke. In the match against Gorredijk, which ended 2: 2, he scored the equalizer to 1: 1 - "a magnificent goal", as the chronicler of the newspaper Nieuwsblad van Friesland reported. In the following season 1936/37 Abe Lenstra already conquered a regular place.

The striker was one of the top goalscorers in the tweede class , the second highest division in the Netherlands, with 19 goals this season , and thus contributed significantly to the rise of VV Heerenveen. From 1937 the team established itself in the top division Eerste Klasse Noord . Thanks to Lenstra, who is still considered the best football player Heerenveen ever produced, the team was able to move into the finals of the Dutch championship every year from the 1941/42 season to the 1950/51 season as Northern champions. Best placement in the Dutch championship was second twice in the seasons 1946/47 and 1947/48. Football rolled in the north of the Netherlands until the last year of the war, including during World War II . In autumn 1942, VV Heerenveen had to do without its star player for a while: the KNVB banned Lenstra because he had violated amateur status - but not in football: like several Frisian players, he had participated in ice skating events and received prize money for it. During the hunger winter of 1944/45 there was still enough food in Friesland, so that many people came over from the south and west of the country, where supplies had been cut off. The members of VV Heerenveen took in Ajax players who had fled by boat from Amsterdam across the IJsselmeer . Hiltje "Hil" Lenstra-Wisman, who had married Abe in 1944, remembered that Arie de Wit was staying with the newly married couple ; a total of about 80 Amsterdam residents were at the Heerenveenern, with whom Abe was involved in football during the day in the stadium. In addition, he continued to dedicate himself to speed skating and was able to win some regional championships on the short track; a participation in the national championship he had to cancel in 1945 due to a training injury, but beat the master Kees van Eikeren in a race in Heerenveen the following year .

Abe Lenstra (right) in conversation with Dutch soccer player Piet Kraak ; 1949

Lenstra was a complete player; he had the ability to shoot from a standing position, both right and left footed. "Intuitive, creative, technical," said Kees Rijvers about him: "Especially when things went well." With velvety technology, a great overview, lightning-fast shot and a few deceptive movements, he eliminated his opponents. He was one of the first great players who preferred to play the ball with the instep . He ran the hundred meters in 10.9 seconds and often seemed phlegmatic on the pitch. Sometimes he gave the impression that he wasn't in the game at all - only to surprise friends and foe with a brilliant pass, a clever trick or a fatal shot. He himself was quite pragmatic:

“A good football player is a bit of a pike; you don't have to do much if you just snap it up early. "

- Abe Lenstra

Abe Lenstra listens to a radio broadcast with his daughter (1948)

As a fighter who led his team to victory even when the deficit was almost hopeless, he made a name for himself in two games. The first was a match in Maastricht on June 21, 1947, when Heerenveen won 7-6 after trailing 4-0. His best-known game in the dress of the Frisians he completed on May 7, 1950 against Ajax Amsterdam , in whose team at that time Rinus Michels was among others . Half an hour before the final whistle, the score was 1: 5 against Heerenveen. But the Frisians managed to make a 6-5 victory from the deficit. Lenstra scored the first two goals and played a major role in preparing the other goals. Like any genius, Lenstra also had its quirks. The following year Heerenveen played in the championship under the possibilities, and Lenstra, who did not feel quite fit, simply skipped the home game against Blauw Wit . He didn't even come to the sports park to see the game; He told a journalist that he was “tired of football”.

1950–1955: The difficult path to paid football

Abe Lenstra with his family (1952)

Abe Lenstra with his daughter (1952)

Abe Lenstra while working in the municipal administration (1952)

Abe Lenstra scores 1-0 for Heerenveen against IJ.VV Stormvogels (1952)

Abe Lenstra was courted by many European professional clubs; Huddersfield Town had already made a written offer in 1937 , which Mindest Lenstra, at the time a member of the board of directors of VV Heerenveen, intercepted and withheld from all. AC Milan allegedly offered 60,000 guilders for a three-year contract and 325 guilders salary without bonuses, Inter Milan and Rot-Weiss Essen later vied for him; the Fiorentina offered him the end of 1950 100.000 guilders , for this time a huge amount; Lenstra was to receive 50,000 guilders when the contract was signed and another 50,000 after his first league appearance; plus 600 guilders monthly salary. When that didn't work, the Florentines are said to have even sent a blank check. But Lenstra did not sign, he did not want to lose his pensionable job with the city. His dominant father and family background certainly played a part in the decision. Mitten Lenstra - one of the few people Abe still listened to - had advised his son: "Be careful that money doesn't get power over you." Abe rejected all offers from abroad with the argument that he did not want to sell as a "slave":

"When you become a professional, you have nothing more to say and the club can do what it wants with you."

- Abe Lenstra

In addition to football, Abe Lenstra continued to work in the municipal administration in the residents' office in his hometown, where he earned almost 500 guilders a month in 1955, almost twice as much as the average employee. Abe had two daughters with his wife Hiltje. The small family was able to live quite luxuriously with the financial donations and gifts from his fans, among others, while his brother Jan, who had not played football for a long time, had to feed five children. "If I received 25 cents, then he got a guilder," Jan Lenstra later described how the money was going. But Abe wasted no thought on supporting his brother - the family ties had more or less loosened over the years and after the death of father Mindest Lenstra in January 1955 at the latest, they hardly existed.

Nevertheless, he would have preferred not to leave “his” Heerenveen at all; had it not been for violent differences of opinion in the association in 1954/55 on the introduction of profitability. The board wanted to keep the amateur status; Lenstra only wanted to stay with a professional club VV Heerenveen as a player-coach and had used his contacts to attract well-known players to Friesland. But after the old board resigned, the new chairman, Hendrik Schut, a teacher, and treasurer Anne Post took up these positions who couldn't cope with Lenstra's dominant, demanding nature. “Like fire and water,” Schut later described their relationship. Lenstra and many of his contemporaries considered the new board to be amateurs, incapable of running a professional club. Germ Hofma , Lenstra's long-time team-mate, later said that Schut “was able to lead a school class, but it stopped there. With a board made up of business people, Heerenveen would have grown bigger than PSV. ”Lenstra was still playing the season but without his father it was easy for him to make the decision to leave Heerenveen and his club behind.

1955–1960: As a semi-professional at the Enschede Sports Club

As early as the summer of 1954, Hennie Möring , a former player at the Enschede sports club and now a businessman, made contact with his former national team mate. At that time, the sports club had already decided to switch to professional football as soon as possible, which became the standard in the Netherlands in November 1954 when the two leagues of KNVB and the new association of professional footballers, NBVB , merged. Möring offered Lenstra an equivalent position to his work in Heerenveen at the municipal administration of Enschede, which later went to another applicant. In order to persuade Lenstra to change, he was promised the position of managing director in a newly founded wholesaler for sporting goods. A bonus of 15,000 guilders did the rest, and so Abe Lenstra agreed to go to Enschede as a semi-professional for the 1955/56 season. The clubs' negotiations on a transfer for the 34-year-old player were dominated by the businessmen from Enschede and the amateurs from Heerenveen: through negotiating skills and legitimate trickery, the Frisians only received income from two friendly games of the sports club of a little more than 11,000 guilders - for a player who would have been worth 100,000 guilders to other clubs, as Egidius Joosten , founder of the NBVB and the first Dutch professional club Fortuna'54 , later confirmed.

Abe Lenstra (top row, 1st from right); 1956

Lenstra was only officially at the sports club from July 1, 1955, but in May and June he already competed in two friendly matches against Preußen Münster and FC Schalke 04 in the new dress. Club member no. 765 met not only well-known teammates such as Joop Odenthal or Gerrit Voges in Enschede , but also his former bond coach Jaap van der Leck and some of the club's “homegrown players ” such as Joop Janssen . The young left winger remembered what the Enschede felt when they found out that the idol would join them: “Nobody expected Lenstra to come to Enschede. For us it was too good to be true; Who wouldn't have wanted to play with Abe? ”Van der Leck had already trained the team for a year and was 5th in the Eerste class ; the team was thus qualified for the new, two-track Hoofd class . On August 8, 1956, the club opened its new Het Diekman stadium with another friendly against Preußen Münster, which Enschede won 3-0; Lenstra scored the first goal in the game and the stadium with a penalty. Lenstra was also successful in the first championship game three weeks later, scoring two goals in the 5-1 win over PSV in Eindhoven , two of 13 in 16 games before the winter break. At the end of the season, the sports club and Rapid JC took second place and thus clearly managed to participate in the Eredivisie set up for the following season . To participate in the championship finals, Rapid JC and the sports club played a deciding game in Nijmegen on June 17, 1956, which the later champions from Kerkrade won 4-3.

The first season of the Eredivisie, meanwhile František Fadrhonc had taken over the coaching position from van der Leck, the men around Lenstra finished in third, behind champions Ajax Amsterdam and Fortuna'54. The Frisian was not satisfied with the new coach, he played too defensively for his taste. Since Lenstra did not like to let himself fall back into the defense, his fellow men had to walk correspondingly longer distances, which was not particularly beneficial for the team atmosphere. Nevertheless, Abe Lenstra and this team - which meanwhile also Rinus Schaap , one of his few friends, played in - were on June 15, 1958 very close to finally winning the Dutch championship. He was unable to play in thirteen games during the season due to jaundice, injuries and an internal suspension (because he did not want to play on the left wing as ordered by Fadrhonc). But at the end of the season he was fit. SC Enschede and DOS from Utrecht were tied at the top, and the champions had to be determined in a play-off; Enschede lost (again in Nijmegen) after the third extra time (seven and a half minutes) of the game by a goal from the then “best center forward in the Netherlands” Tonny van der Linden with 0: 1. Joop Janssen saw the reason for missing the title in the discrepancies within the team: "Because of all the friction between the players, we awarded the championship one hundred percent, and not just in 1958." The team fell apart; Lenstra also wanted to leave the club, but a move to Blauw Wit Amsterdam failed because of the high transfer fee of 80,000 guilders, which Enschede called. Instead, Lenstra extended the sports club by two years.

Before the championship playoff, Lenstra had tried his hand at singing; He was the first Dutch athlete to record a record in the studio on May 21, 1958, a single entitled Geen woorden, maar daden ("No words, but deeds") and Bij ons in Holland ("Bei uns in Holland") ). According to journalist Jurryt van de Vooren, he is said to have deposited the A-side with the stadium announcer before the game against DOS so that he could play it at the award ceremony. That didn't happen because Enschede lost. The single was released by Philips , but could not achieve great sales success and is now considered a rarity.

Abe Lenstra (1960)

Even without success as a singer, Lenstra earned well. The sports club paid 75 guilders for each victory, 45 guilders in the event of a draw and after a defeat Lenstra was still able to collect 25 guilders. In 1958 he came to around 3,600 guilders from the club, about the maximum amount approved by the KNVB for Dutch professionals; In addition, there were bonuses from the KNVB for international matches between 50 and 150 guilders and for guest appearances, for which sums in the three-digit range were paid. In addition, his friend and manager Willem ter Riet later announced that he received another five to six hundred guilders a month from the club. This made him one of the best paid Dutch professional football players of his time; In an international comparison, however, the sum was rather small: in England professionals were already paid the equivalent of between 15,000 and 20,000 guilders per season in these years.

Supporter Abe Lenstra on March 6, 1960 during the game between SC Enschede and AFC Ajax

In the 1959/60 season, the sports club Enschede got into relegation after nine defeats in a row in the first half of the season. The relationship between Fadrhonc and Lenstra had already deteriorated and when the coach informed his star that he could no longer let him play on the half-left, there was a scandal. As on several occasions in the past, Lenstra refused to accept the decision; his standing was no longer high enough. The coach and club banned him from the first team and banished him to the second. But his ambition was big enough to want to show them again. As Hiltje Lenstra put it after his death:

“Abe had to prove himself over and over again in certain situations. It has been written off four or five times over the years. That really gnawed at him. "

- Hiltje Lenstra-Wisman, wife

He played well, scoring eight goals in six games. Since the team had fought their way out of the relegation zone again without Abe Lenstra, Fadrhonc brought him back - not without good reason, because he scored nine goals in the remaining nine games of the season with Lenstra, played at times like in his prime, was at 4: 1- Victory against PSV "absolutely brilliant" and led his team to ninth place in the table.

1960–1963: Still one of the boys at the age of 40

Between the ages of 34 and 39, Lenstra scored 89 goals in 135 games at SC Enschede. But age was now taking its toll; for an almost 40-year-old there was no place in the Eredivisie team of the sports club. Various clubs, including again Blauw Wit, made him offers, but negotiations failed again because of the requested transfer fee. Ultimately, it was the city rival Enschedese Boys who took over Lenstra for 45,000 guilders. The team of the workers' association had just moved up from the Tweede class to the Eerste class . Lenstra knew many of the green-white players, as he had often watched the boys practice ; The move was ideal for his family, as life could go on without moving or other changes. Ironically, the first game for the new club was a cup match against the sports club, in their home stadium Het Diekman . While the boys proudly presented the old Frisian star, the sports club was able to present its successor in this match - none other than the 1954 world champion , Helmut Rahn . But Lenstra, who was almost ten years older than him, and his team were the better on that day: the boys surprisingly won 2-0 against their higher-class rivals, Lenstra scored the opening goal. In this way he gained the sympathy of the fans and laid the foundation for two successful sporting seasons in which some journalists even called for his comeback to the national team and after which the boys qualified as fifth for the new Eerste divisie . Lenstra left coach Bas Paauwe in April 1962 and took over responsibility as player-coach - but without the actually required coaching license.

For the following season in the second highest class, the boys enlisted the young gymnastics teacher Folkert Visser , who had the required certificate. Visser was mainly active as a fitness trainer, all other tasks were in Abe Lenstra's hands. Halfway through the 1962/63 season there was a good chance of promotion to the Eredivisie; but in the meantime it had become clear that the club was not well positioned financially; the only chance to continue playing in paid football in the future was a merger with the sports club, which was also in financial difficulties. Lenstra was told that it would be better not to advance with the team. Lenstra lost interest in the game, and with it the team lost their strength. In retrospect, it turned out that his seventh goal of the season against DHC Delft on November 4, 1962 should be the last league goal of his career. The board ordered seven game days before the end of the season that Lenstra should only be a coach and no longer play. The Enschedese Boys ended the season in third place - behind the promotions, but without Lenstra. On the next match day he was in a match of the old international on the field, he was no longer seen at his club. He put the player Lenstra on the transfer list, but without consequences.

Abe Lenstra ended his active career in 1963 at the age of 42. He scored 651 goals in 677 league and cup games in 26 seasons for Heerenveen, Sportclub Enschede and Enschedese Boys. Including his 33 goals in international matches, Abe Lenstra has a total of 684 goals in 724 official games - an average of 0.94 goals per game. For comparison: Pelé scored 765 times in 827 official games (0.93) and Johan Cruijff scored 400 goals in 709 competitive games (0.56).

Stations

• VV Heerenveen (1936–1955, last Eerste class B )
• SC Enschede (1955–1960, most recently Eredivisie )
• Enschedese Boys (1960–1963, most recently Eerste divisie )

National team

1937–1940: The long way to the Elftal

After Lenstra was promoted to top scorer with Heerenveen, he was selected for the youth team of Friesland . With him as right winger, the offspring in Dokkum won 6-3 against a men's team from Leeuwarden. At the age of 16, Lenstra was allowed to play for the first time with a selection from the Northern Netherlands in November 1937, in Hanover it went against a north German selection team. Lenstra was so impressed by the backdrop of the Hindenburg arena , with two stands designed for more than 20,000 spectators, according to his own statement, that the game "completely missed him"; his team lost 3-0. The press, however, already saw "a player who can be of importance for the north in the long run." The "revenge game" in Haren a year later, the northern Dutch won 4-2; Lenstra scored all four goals.

In February 1938 Abe Lenstra was appointed to the squad of the Dutch U-21 team, alongside later senior national players such as Bertus de Harder , Frans van der Veen and Han Engelsman , all of whom were older. Although he was only a substitute against the Belgian team in Rotterdam , that didn't detract from his pride in his calling - he was the first Frisian ever to be allowed to put on the orange shirt. After the 7-3 victory of the youth players, they watched the subsequent international match against Belgium , in which an outstanding Kick Smit with four goals led his team to a 7-2 victory. Smit occupied the half-left position on which Lenstra played in the club; van der Veen became his substitute after this match day - there was initially no place for Lenstra in the A-Eleven. It took more than two years before he was officially supposed to appear for the Netherlands for the first time.

He has since played for regional selections and the B national team; the most memorable use in the "second choice" of the KNVB was on May 7, 1939 in a game against Belgium, in which he made a draw with three goals in the last ten minutes from a 1: 4 deficit. Van der Veen had meanwhile made seven international matches in which he only scored one goal. The day Lenstra shone in Tienen, the Elftal lost 2-1 in Switzerland. The selection committee appointed Lenstra for van der Veen for an upcoming friendly against Yugoslavia - which was not an official international match but was declared a training game. The Yugoslavs had previously identified as "unbeatable" in force in the weeks Englishman defeated and against world champions Italy narrowly lost. The game in Amsterdam couldn't have started better for Abe: Just three minutes after kick-off, he headed a de Harder's cross past goalkeeper Ljubomir Lovrić to make it 1-0. The game ended 4-1 and the press was full of praise for the Frisian. In December 1939 an anniversary game took place on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the KNVB, against the neighbors from Belgium; Lenstra was allowed to play as a right half-forward, but only scored one goal that was not given because of offside. In addition, this second mission in Oranje was not an official international match.

1940–1953: From debut to first resignation

Abe Lenstra (bottom row, 1st from right) before the game against Switzerland; 1948

On March 31, 1940, at the age of 19, he finally made his debut in the senior national team , again in De Kuip . The previous game against Belgium , which had been postponed from March 3rd to 17th due to the cold winter, the Dutch lost 7-1 in Antwerp ; Shortly before the end, Kick Smit was only able to score the consolation goal. Against Luxembourg , the selection committee and bond coach Bob Glendenning bet on five debutants; besides Lenstra these were Kees Slot , Herman Choufoer , Jan Poulus and Heinz Vroomen . The game was referred to the following day in De Telegraaf as De Schande van Rotterdam ("The Shame of Rotterdam"); Luxembourg had won 5-4. For four of the debutants, their first game was also their last game in Orange . Lenstra, however, was one of the better players, filled Smit's position on the half-left as a preparer and came to a close in the tenth minute: on presentation by Guus Dräger , he scored the first goal of his national team career with the 1-0 Interruptions should last nearly twenty years. With his debut he became the first Frisian to play in the Elftal , which made his compatriots in the northern Dutch province proud. Lenstra later said of his debut:

“What a day! Friesland finally had a national player. I didn't understand at all what an honor I had been given. As a boy of 19 you don't even get it. "

- Abe Lenstra

But there were still prejudices against the young Frisian in Holland, not only among the Oranje legioen , the fans of the national team, but also among the established players. Abe was mocked because of his origins as a Friese boertje , as a "Frisian peasant". In his second game, against Belgium in April, he later recalled, “for 90 minutes one of my team-mates kept beating about me and moaning. When I got the ball, he would call me to hand it over, I couldn't do anything with it. ”Lenstra did not mention the name; It was Leen Vente , who had been a regular player in the center-forward position and two-time World Cup participant since 1933 and scored his 19th goal in this, his 21st, game. Vente was obviously afraid that Abe's super talent could take his place in the national team. In a photo taken after the 4-2 victory, you can see nine players, eight of them laughing; only Lenstra leaves the field with bowed head. After the game he skipped the banquet and drove straight back to Heerenveen. He said goodbye to his comrades in the dressing room with the words: “ I will never play soccer again with the guy (ndl. Vent , meaning Vente, of course)! You'll never see me here again. Adieu! ”At least the first part of the statement turned out to be right. For the next international match - in Luxembourg the Dutch wanted to take revenge for the "Shame of Rotterdam" on May 12, 1940 - Abe was appointed; Lente, on the other hand, had to report to the military as part of the mobilization and was in a barracks at the time. But the team was never able to travel to Luxembourg for the game, as German troops marched in on May 10, 1940 and occupied the Netherlands; the Second World War now prevented further international matches. After the war, Vente was too old for the national team; Lenstra, on the other hand, had made a name for himself through his success with VV Heerenveen and in 1946, on March 10th in the 6-2 victory in Luxembourg , was back in the team in the first post-war game. In 1948 he took part in the Olympic Games , but did not score a goal in either of the Dutch games.

goalkeeper re. runner re. Defense Middle runner left Defense left runner Half right (7 times) Half left (25 times) Right winger (5 times) Center forward (3 times) Left winger (7 times)

Appearances in the national team (by position; number in brackets)

The idiosyncratic Frisian could be used in all positions in the storm. In his appearances in the national dress he played five times on the right winger, seven times on the half right, three times as a center forward, seven times on the left winger - and in 25 international matches he was used in his favorite position as a left half-forward. For a while he had problems with it, there was an argument between him and the selection committee of the national team if they didn't want him to play on the half-left. After the composition of the selection committee had changed in December 1952, also for this reason - it now also included ex-national player Harry Dénis - Abe was there for the first time as team captain when the KNVB selection against an international match on March 7, 1953 Denmark , the proceeds of which should go to the victims of the Dutch storm flood. Lenstra scored the Oranje's goal in their 2-1 defeat in Rotterdam . This game was the official Dutch charity game, but was later in the "media shadow" of an unofficial game in favor of the flood victims, the so-called Watersnoodwedstrijd , five days later in Paris, in which a selection of Dutch international professionals - mainly playing in France's professional leagues - against the Equipe tricolore won 2-1. Abe Lenstra was among the colleagues of the writing guild in the press box in Prinzenpark ; at the invitation of a friend from Sport en Sportwereld magazine , he was supposed to write an article about the game. Lenstra had predicted before the game that the French would win "about four to zero". His match report then raved about the Dutch professionals who, not only in his opinion, have improved enormously in terms of technology, tactics and fitness since they left the Netherlands. When later asked if he would like to have played, he said:

"And if I would have wanted! Finally players from whom you could have gotten good passes! "

- Abe Lenstra

In the following internationals with his teammates from the Dutch amateur leagues Lenstra looked listless; his friend Kick Geudeker from Sport en Sportwereld wrote that the team captain was "not only uninterested, absent and uninvolved, but also technically bad" in the international match against Belgium on April 19, 1953. A little later Lenstra announced that he was voetbalmoe , tired of football. The games in the club were enough for him; he now preferred to play tennis or pursue other hobbies.

1954–1959: Comeback as a semi-professional among professionals

Abe Lenstra (1956)

It was not until the end of 1954 that the KNVB merged with the NBVB, the newly founded association of professional clubs, and professional football had made its way bit by bit, that Lenstra returned to the Oranje Elftal district . On March 13, 1955 there was the first international game in which professionals were used. Lenstra owed his nomination to his good performance in a training game of the extended squad against Austria Wien . Players like Frans de Munck , Cor van der Hart and Faas Wilkes returned to the team after years as pariahs; between the pros, however, it was Abe Lenstra who scored the only goal in the 1-1 draw against Denmark, which was still played with pure amateurs. The professionals who were cheered before the game were whistled. Lenstra received an invitation to the next game, which he had to turn down due to a thigh injury. But after his injury healed, the selection committee passed him over to the following games. It seemed as if the 34-year-old's departure from the national team was finally sealed. It was not until December 1955 that he was invited again to a benefit game for refugee aid; The opponent in Rotterdam was Rot-Weiss Essen, the club that wanted to bring him to Germany two and a half years earlier. While the press assumed that the association had only invited him as an attraction for a larger audience, Lenstra himself saw a new opportunity. He took advantage of it, scored a critically acclaimed goal in the 4-1 win and ensured that the game was later seen as the "resurrection of the national player [Lenstra]". He made his fourth comeback in 1956. It was not least thanks to the Austrian bond coach Max Merkel that Lenstra got the chance. The Austrian considered him “one of the greatest [soccer players]. A man with an incredible feel for the ball, a pedigree footballer. ”But Merkel initially had problems that the selection committee wanted to reappoint Lenstra to the group of national players. In his autobiography he wrote of the Frisian:

“I only had some problems with one player, Abe Lenstra. He made me feel a little too star and I was afraid he might ruin the good spirit in my group. "

- Max Merkel

After a clarifying one-on-one conversation in the first training camp in Dutch international match history, in Venlo , the two got along so well that Lenstra later answered the question about his best coach with “Max Merkel”, even though he only played three games under him completed. The first was on March 14, 1956 in Düsseldorf in front of 40,000 spectators - 10,000 of them Dutch fans - against the reigning world champion Germany . In the program, Abe was given superlatives: Holland's football idol, master of technology, tricks, direction, spiritus rector , sniper and brilliant playmaker. In this, his best-remembered international match, Lenstra did not really do justice to it, only shone as a two-time goalscorer against Fritz Herkenrath , but he led the team to a deserved 2-1 work victory. The goal was an own goal by Cor van der Hart.

Together with Faas Wilkes and playmaker Kees Rijvers , Lenstra formed the centerpiece of the attack of the Dutch team as a left half-striker in the 1950s, called the "Golden Inner Trio" (Gouden binnentrio) . The three had played together for the first time in the first post-war international match on March 10, 1946 in Luxembourg - in the 6-2 victory of the Dutch, however, Lenstra did not score a goal; Wilkes, however, scored four times. Due to the fact that Wilkes and Rijvers were banned from the national team as international professionals, there were - despite the noble nickname - only ten games that all three played together. Of these, however, only one was lost, and only after extension. Experts on Dutch football of the 1950s also like to claim that all three on a team were "too much of a good thing". In the last game the three played together, Lenstra had one of the “saddest experiences of his career”. It was September 25th, 1957. In qualifying for the World Cup in Sweden, the Dutch needed a win against Austria . In the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium , however, Hanappi had put the Austrians in the lead after half an hour; Bondscoach Elek Schwartz followed the deficit until Lenstra scored the equalizer in the 61st minute. In his autobiographical notes Voetbal-leven ("Football Life") Lenstra describes what followed:

“A hundred seconds before the final whistle, I missed the chance of my life. After a solo run out of midfield, I came very close to the Austrian goal. A hit was possible. But I shot keeper Schmidt right in the hands! I could have howled. "

- Abe Lenstra

The game ended in a draw, Austria went to the World Cup .

Lenstra's last game in Orange was on April 19, 1959, again in Amsterdam, in a 2-2 draw against Belgium, in which the 38-year-old scored the next goal to make it 2-1 in the 73rd minute. In total, he came to 47 games in the national team; in three of these encounters he wore the captain's armband . Only a little over a year later, on May 28, 1960, he made his debut again in Orange - in the team of the old international.

Act as a trainer

Abe Lenstra (1971)

After the war Lenstra had already led the training of VV Heerenveen as a player- coach, at that time "a stroke of luck, because the team flourished" and the club won the fourth Noord title in a row with him . During the active time he also successfully supervised the youth team of the Enschedese Boys, which he led to the national championship in 1962, and was de facto, if not nominally, since April 1962 active as a player-coach for the second division team. “Abe never felt like becoming a coach,” said Hiltje Lenstra after his death, “but he tried anyway.” So he became a coach at lower-class clubs: at SOS in Hellendoorn , in Wijhe, at DOS Kampen , DOS '19 in Denekamp , the WSV in Apeldoorn and at FC Assen. Even back then, he displayed some behavior that was rather unusual for a trainer. He made the players run in the woods and leapfrog while he sat in his car in the cold; he didn't change clothes for training and often didn't come to games. In Assen , his last coaching engagement lasted only six months. An argument with players about their hair length resulted in them pushing him into the shower in his clothes.

His successes as a coach remained manageable. When he coached FC Assen, he was also employed in Hoogeveen as managing director in the jewelry store of Klaas Oosterhof , the former left winger of SC Heerenveen. "As a coach," said Oosterhof later, "Abe was a disaster."

Lenstra in the eyes of others

Dutch swimmer Hannie Termeulen (left), Abe Lenstra (center) and Dutch athlete Fanny Blankers-Koen (right) advertise a Dutch children's foundation (1952)

Abe Lenstra (right) with Kees Kuijs , Faas Wilkes , Cor van der Hart and Ferenc Puskás at an anniversary game by Willem II Tilburg (1966)

Ús Abe : Statue of Abe Lenstra at the Abe Lenstra Stadium

Lenstra enjoyed enormous popularity among football fans both in Friesland and throughout the Netherlands. Heerenveen was also called Abeveen because of him in the 1950s . In the championship years, i.e. 1947/1948, VV Heerenveen had an average attendance of around 18,000 per game - in a place that only had around eight thousand inhabitants. "From all parts of Friesland, Groningen and Drentes [people] flocked to the 'Friese Haagje' to see the championship team from Heerenveen play," says Thom Mercuur's book Rondom Abe . Lenstra was Heerenveen, and Heerenveen was Lenstra. He himself was also called ús Abe ("us' Abe") in West Frisian . With Faas Wilkes and Kick Smit , Abe Lenstra served as a template for the commercially successful, soccer-playing comic strip hero Kick Wilstra ; the football hero's adventures first appeared in magazines and in the second half of the 1950s also as books.

To this day, Abe Lenstra is considered one of the greatest Dutch football players. In 1951 he was voted the Netherlands' first sportsman of the year ; In 1952 he was awarded this title a second time. Lenstra's popularity also took advantage of the advertising industry: he made advertisements for C&A and Coca-Cola , among others , and even his wife was discovered for advertising - she campaigned for Maggi Goldbouillon .

Years after he left the national team, the Dutch fans chanted his first name when the team played badly. Riemer van der Velde , former president of SC Heerenveen, sees Lenstra as the greatest, even before King Johan :

"If Abe Lenstra had not been born in Amsterdam but Johan Cruijff , then Abe would not have been voted footballer of the century, but Cruijff."

- Riemer van der Velde, sc Heerenveen

Lenstra's national team mate Jan van Roessel shared this assessment:

“Lenstra or Cruijff? Then I say Lenstra. A headstrong figure, but a magician on the ball. "

- Jan van Roessel, team-mate from the national team

As a person, Abe Lenstra was less popular with his fellow sportsmen. He was headstrong and moody; In conversations with former teammates from Lenstra, Tom van Hulsen, editor-in-chief of Voetbal international , found out that everyone honored and respected the Heerenveener as a footballer, but nobody found him likeable. The national players were happy when Abe had another argument with the KNVB, because then the atmosphere at Oranje was immediately better. Jan Steenhuizen, former chairman of SC Heerenveen and a doctor by profession, characterized him with the words:

“Abe was a disgust as a person, a bad man. No wonder he used to have so many problems as a footballer. "

- Jan Steenhuizen, sc Heerenveen

And Ajax player Cor van der Hoeven , who played three international matches with Lenstra in 1950, confirms:

“Abe did not enjoy a great reputation among the other players in the national team. [...] If you played behind him as a runner, you kept running in vain. He wasn't interested in our criticism. Abe said, 'I'll do it the way I want,' and that was it. "

- Cor van der Hoeven, national team-mate

One reason for this was that Lenstra always enjoyed full freedom in Heerenveen and the other players had to work for him. This did not work with the stars of the national team who were used to success. Faas Wilkes commented on this shortly before his death in 2006:

“Abe would never have said it that way, and certainly not to a journalist: he always wanted to be the greatest. He was great too, but he didn't need to. "

- Faas Wilkes, national team-mate

The last few years

In addition to his coaching jobs, Lenstra had earned his living as a brewery representative. Before his career as a trainer ended at the end of 1972, the brewery had transferred him to back office. The new job was in Zwolle, and in 1971 the Lenstras moved to Staphorst , north of Zwolle , a puritanical village dominated by the church - not the ideal environment for the working-class child from Heerenveen, which Abe Lenstra still could not deny, so that the four of them Years later moved to the less rural Almelo. Abe Lenstra also played football in his mid-fifties - with his hair dyed black in the meantime - whether in charity or anniversary teams or with the old international organized by his friend Rinus Schaap. In October 1975 he played his first game for the old men, the twelfth team of the Almelo club Prins Hendrik , and the media rush was still great.

Abe Lenstra in a wheelchair in the election for Dutch Sportsman of the Year (1978)

On March 21, 1977, the sportsman, who had hardly smoked or drunk all his life, suffered a stroke while driving home after training . He survived, but the cerebral hemorrhage confined him to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Hil and Abe Lenstra returned to Heerenveen the following year on the initiative of the Abe weer thuis ("Abe back home") committee. The honorary chairman of this committee - which primarily ensured that Lenstra got a handicapped accessible apartment - was Prince Bernhard , himself an admirer of Lenstra's football skills.

Eight years later, Abe Lenstra died at the age of 64 in his hometown, two days before the Elftal international match against Bulgaria in Sportpark Noord , the stadium of SC Heerenveen, to which the KNVB had invited him as a guest of honor. His body was cremated in the crematorium in Goutum on September 6, 1985 .

Sports journalist Nico Scheepmaker wrote in his obituary on September 3, 1985:

“A legend has died insofar as a legend can die. He was a living legend, now he's a dead legend; but the legend remains, as long as people still live on earth who saw Abe play football with their own eyes. "

- Nico Scheepmaker, Leeuwaarder Courant, September 3, 1985

The Abe Lenstra Stadium in Heerenveen

The veneration of Lenstra by the Heerenveener continued to have an effect. Half a year after Lenstra's death, on March 15, 1986, the Heerenveener Sportpark Noord was renamed the Abe-Lenstra-Stadion . When the club built a new stadium in 1994, it was also named Abe Lenstra Stadium . At its main entrance is a statue of the football player Lenstra. One street by the stadium is called Abe Lenstra Boulevard ; the official address of the association is number 19 on this boulevard. In 1995 Lenstra's life even became the basis of a musical in which scenes from the legendary 6: 5 win against Ajax were re-enacted. Abe! was premiered in the stadium named after him as part of the Frysk Festival ; the then Heerenveen professional Ronnie Pander took over the role of Lenstra.

Achievements and honors

• Champion of the first class Noord : nine times in a row, from 1942 to 1951 (VV Heerenveen)
• Dutch runner-up: 1947, 1948 (with Heerenveen) and 1958 (with SC Enschede)
• Dutch Sportsman of the Year : 1951, 1952
• Appointment to Johan Cruijff's Oranje-Elf of the century 2000 (as the only deceased player)
• Honorary member of VV Heerenveen since August 24, 1956
• Honorary citizen of Heerenveen since June 16, 1965
• Inclusion in the canon of the Frisian history of the province of Friesland
• 100th place in the vote on De Grootste Nederlander , 2004
• Speed ​​skating champion from Overijssel , year unknown

literature

• Thorsten Moser: A Chapter in German-Dutch Football History - Helmut Rahn and the Sportclub Enschede , Books on Demand, Hamburg 2020, ISBN 978-3-7526-4870-6
• Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion Uitgevers, Baarn 2007, ISBN 978-90-439-0983-9
• Thom Mercuur (Ed.): Rondom Abe. Een voetbalepisode in Friesland , De Drijvende Drobber, Leeuwarden, undated , ISBN 90-70330-07-5
• Eppie Dam: Abe, een beeld van en speler , Bornmeer & Stichting It Fryske Berneboek, o. O., 2007, ISBN 978-90-5615-136-2
• Yme Kuiper: Abe Lenstra (1920–1985). Van Us Abe dead nationaal idool. In: Fryslân, Nieuwsblad voor geschiedenis en cultuur. Vol. 6, Issue 2, 2000, pp. 50-53. ( Online version )
• Jan Luitzen: Abe Lenstra (1920–1985) - De Rechtslijnige dwarserik. In: Mik Schots, Jan Luitzen: Tovenaars in Oranje. AW Bruna, Utrecht 2004, ISBN 90-229-8813-9 , p. 178ff.

Web links

Commons : Abe Lenstra  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Abe Lenstra in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Abe Lenstra: groots en grillig ( Memento from August 27, 2004 in the Internet Archive ), biography at SC Heerenveen (Dutch)
• Abe Lenstra. A voetball legend uit Friesland. (Dutch)
• Abe Lenstra. In Fryske sportheld. ( Memento from December 19, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (Frisian)
• Lenstra's international match statistics at Voetbalstats.nl

Individual evidence

1. ↑ on the history of Heerenveen cf. Sabine Broekhoven, Saskia van Ginkel-Meester, Chris Kolman, Yme Kuiper, Ronald Stenvert: Monuments in Nederland. Fryslân , entry Heerenveen , on the website of the Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren and entry Heerenveen on the website of the Historisch Informatiepunten in de Gemeente Heerenveen , both viewed on July 25, 2020
2. ↑ History of SC Heerenveen , sc-heerenveen.nl, viewed on July 25, 2020
3. ↑ Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion Uitgevers, Baarn 2007, ISBN 978-90-439-0983-9 , p. 9.
4. ↑ Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion Uitgevers, Baarn 2007, ISBN 978-90-439-0983-9 , p. 10ff.
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Lenstra, Abe (1920–1985) , Instituut voor Nederlandse Geschiedenis, version of March 13, 2008, viewed on July 3, 2008.
6. ↑ "Ik had het in de poten, maar ik heb ook veel gelerd, vooral van Otto Pinter. [...] We test everything uit wat ik nog niet kon. 'Come over here,' say it. En na afloop riep ie altijd: 'We zijn weer een piece of verder.' Vooral in the beginning period was dat belangrijk voor me. ”, In: Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion, Baarn 2007, p. 20.
7. ↑ Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion, Baarn 2007, p. 27.
8. ↑ "Abe Lenstra was veruit de best voetballer who Heerenveen heeft presented." In: Abe Lenstra: groots en grillig ( Memento from August 27, 2004 in the Internet Archive ), biography at SC Heerenveen , accessed on May 9, 2015.
9. ↑ Exception: in 1944/45 there was no game operation. Netherlands Eerste Klasse Noord Final League Tables 1916–1950 , statistics at rsssf.com
10. ↑ Netherlands Final League Tables 1898–1954 , statistics at rsssf.com
11. ↑ Frits Barend, Henk van Dorp: Voetbal in den oorlog. Publisher supplement to Vrij Nederland No. 17, May 5, 1979, p. 26 and 28. ( Photo taken online ( Memento from May 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive ))
12. ↑ Hil Lenstra-Wisman survived her husband for 26 years and died at the age of 87 in December 2011. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: Weduwe Abe Lenstra overleden. ), Association homepage of sc Heerenveen from December 16, 2011.
13. ↑ Het Gouden Inland Trio. In: Johan Derksen et al: Het Nederlands Elftal 1905–1989. De historie van Oranje. Weekbladpers BV / Voetbal International, Amsterdam 1989, ISBN 90-236-7211-9 , p. 154.
14. ↑ Thom Mercuur (ed.): Rondom Abe. Een voetbalepisode in Friesland , De Drijvende Drobber, Leeuwarden, undated , ISBN 90-70330-07-5 , pp. 74f.
15. ↑ Het Gouden Inland Trio. In: Johan Derksen et al: Het Nederlands Elftal 1905–1989. De historie van Oranje. Weekbladpers BV / Voetbal International, Amsterdam 1989, ISBN 90-236-7211-9 , p. 161.
16. ↑ ^{a b} Frans Oosterwijk: Voetbal in de jaren vijftig, in 99 beelden. ANP Photo / Nieuw Amsterdam Uitgevers, Amsterdam 2007, ISBN 978-90-468-0264-9 , p. 62.
17. ↑ “With a fluwelen techniek, a grandiose inzicht, a flitsend schot, plus a couple of ski movements interlocked hij zijn tegenstanders. Abe was een merkwaardige speler that soms de indruk wekte dat hij te weinig aan het spel deelnam, maar ineens in een flitsend moment vriend en vijand versteld doet staan door een vlijmscherpe pass, een handige truc of een dodelijk schot. "From: Abe Lenstra . Een voetballegende uit Friesland , seen on June 30th, 2008.
18. ↑ "Een goede voetballer is net een snoek; je hoeft niet veel te doen, als je maar op tijd toehapt. ”Quoted from CV Abe Lenstra , Voetbalfocus , viewed on July 3, 2008.
19. ↑ "een 'genie met remmingen'", Biography Abe Lenstra (voetbal - Heerenveen) ( Memento from September 17, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), 3voor12 website from June 20, 2007, viewed on July 4, 2008.
20. ↑ “Zoals tijdens het kampioenschap van Nederland in 1951. Heerenveen speelde matig en Abe, die zich niet geheel fit voelde, liet de thuiswedstrijd tegen Blauw Wit aan zich voorbijgaan. Hij kwam zelfs niet naar het sports park om het duel te zien. Tegenover een journalist liet hij weten voetbalmoe te zijn! ”, Abe Lenstra: groots en grillig ( Memento from August 27, 2004 in the Internet Archive ), biography at SC Heerenveen , accessed on May 9, 2015.
21. ↑ Het Gouden Inland Trio. In: Johan Derksen et al: Het Nederlands Elftal 1905–1989. De historie van Oranje. Weekbladpers BV / Voetbal International, Amsterdam 1989, ISBN 90-236-7211-9 , p. 153.
22. ↑ Het Gouden Inland Trio. In: Johan Derksen et al., Het Nederlands Elftal 1905–1989. De historie van Oranje. Weekbladpers BV / Voetbal International, Amsterdam 1989, ISBN 90-236-7211-9 , p. 157.
23. ↑ ^{a b} Abe Lenstra. Een voetballegende uit Friesland , seen on June 30th, 2008.
24. ↑ The sum corresponds to a purchasing power of around € 400,000 in 2018; calculated with the purchasing power converter Waarde van de gulden / euro of the Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis
25. ↑ ^{a b} Abe gaat NIET , article in a Dutch magazine of December 19, 1950, facsimile in: Thom Mercuur, Rondom Abe , De Drijvende Drobber, Leeuwarden, undated, p. 67
26. ↑ ^{a b c} Abe Lenstra: groots en grillig ( Memento from August 27, 2004 in the Internet Archive ), biography at SC Heerenveen , accessed on May 9, 2015.
27. ↑ "Pas op dat het geld je niet in de macht krijgt.", In: Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion, Baarn 2007, p. 163.
28. ↑ "As ever prof wordt, heb je niks meer te vertellen en kan de club met je doen wat ze wil" ; quoted from Abe Lenstra. Een voetballegende uit Friesland , seen on June 30th, 2008.
29. ↑ The total corresponds to a purchasing power of around € 1,750.00 in 2018; calculated with the purchasing power converter Waarde van de gulden / euro of the Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis
30. ↑ Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion, Baarn 2007, p. 163f.
31. ↑ Heerenveen, club met rijke en mooie historie ( Memento of August 27, 2004 in the Internet Archive ), SC Heerenveen website, accessed on May 9, 2015.
32. ↑ Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion, Baarn 2007, p. 161.
33. ↑ Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion, Baarn 2007, p. 169.
34. ↑ “Nobody had watched the Lenstra naar Enschede zou komen. Voor ons was het te mooi om waar te zijn; how wild he nou niet met Abe samenspelen? ”, in: Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion, Baarn 2007, p. 173.
35. ↑ Herman van Veen in his ( page no longer available , search in web archives: weblog of March 13, 2006 ), accessed on May 9, 2015.
36. ↑ "Door al die wrijvingen in de spelersgroep zijn we honderd procent zeker het kampioenschap misgelopen, en niet alleen in 1958.", in: Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion, Baarn 2007, p. 181.
37. ↑ The sum was very high for the time. In the previous season there had been only one transfer for more than 50,000 guilders, in the 1959/60 season there were seven, and even in 1962/63 only ten. See DB Jochems : Voetbalfinanciën toen en nu. In: M. Rooij (Ed.): Voetballen toen en nu. Koninklijke Nederlandsche Voetbalbond 1964, OCLC 6942949 , pp. 130f.
38. ↑ The song Geen woorden, maar daden is based on a club song of the Rotterdam club Coal 1 and, as Hand in hand, comrades, became the “anthem” of Feijenoord fans in the 1960s with slightly changed lyrics .
39. ↑ Information and cover photo at geschiedenis.nl , viewed on July 3, 2008.
40. ↑ In the blog of SC Heerenveen there is more information and a link to an audio sample
41. ↑ Hand in hand voor Abe Lenstra ( Memento of March 24, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), NU.nl of February 3, 2007, viewed on July 3, 2008.
42. ↑ Abe Lenstra zingt , historen.nl , viewed on July 3, 2008.
43. ↑ On average, the 386 contract players of the 18 Eredivisie clubs earned around 2,800 guilders in the 1958/59 season. See DB Jochems : Voetbalfinanciën toen en nu. In: M. Rooij (Ed.): Voetballen toen en nu. Koninklijke Nederlandsche Voetbalbond 1964, OCLC 6942949 , p. 127.
44. ↑ all figures according to Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion, Baarn 2007, pp. 174f.
45. ↑ "Het was op een Gegeven moment zo dat Abe zich telkens moest bewijzen. Wel four of vijf keer will be afgeschreven in the loop of the year. Dat heeft really aan hem. ”In: Het Gouden Binnentrio. Johan Derksen and others: Het Nederlands Elftal 1905–1989. De historie van Oranje. Weekbladpers BV / Voetbal International, Amsterdam 1989, ISBN 90-236-7211-9 , p. 159.
46. ↑ Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion, Baarn 2007, pp. 200f.
47. ↑ The sum corresponds to a purchasing power of around € 115,000 in 2008; calculated with the purchasing power converter Waarde van de gulden / euro of the Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis
48. ↑ This merger was carried out in 1965, from it the FC Twente'65 emerged.
49. ↑ all figures according to Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion, Baarn 2007, p. 7.
50. ↑ Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion, Baarn 2007, p. 31.
51. ↑ Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion, Baarn 2007, p. 36.
52. ↑ Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion, Baarn 2007, p. 34.
53. ↑ Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion, Baarn 2007, p. 38f.
54. ↑ Match dates at voetbalstats.nl
55. ↑ Match dates at voetbalstats.nl
56. ^ "Wat een dag," zei hij later zelf over zijn officiële debuut. “Eindelijk has Friesland an international. Zelf besefte ik not wilted eer my beurt was gevallen. As jongen van negentien jaar heb je dat niet door. “Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion, Baarn 2007, p. 42.
57. ↑ "Negentig minutes long liep een van mijn medespelers op mij te razen en te schelden ... As ik een bal in m'n bezit kreeg, schreeuwede hij: 'Here ermee ... jij ken d'r toch niks van!' “Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion, Baarn 2007, p. 43f.
58. ↑ Mik Schots, Jan Luitzen, Oranje magic . Amstelsport Amsterdam / Antwerp 2010, ISBN 978-90-482-2010-6 , p. 109.
59. ↑ Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion Uitgevers, Baarn 2007, ISBN 978-90-439-0983-9 , p. 43f.
60. ↑ “Met the vent voetbal ik nooit sea! Mij ​​zien jullie here no sea. Aju! “Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion, Baarn 2007, p. 44.
61. ↑ ^{a b c} Johan Derksen, Abe was een klier van een vent, een nare man ( Memento from February 22, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ), Voetbal international from July 9, 2007, viewed on July 3, 2008.
62. ↑ In this game on March 12, 1953, the Dutch professionals faced a combination of French national players from the two clubs Stade Reims and Racing Paris ; it is not counted as an official international match in France either. See L'Équipe / Gérard Ejnès: La belle histoire. L'équipe de France de football. L'Équipe, Issy-les-Moulineaux 2004, ISBN 2-9519605-3-0 , p. 366f.
63. ↑ "Nou en of. Eindelijk spelers van like men goede passes zou can get. ”Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion Uitgevers, Baarn 2007, ISBN 978-90-439-0983-9 , p. 149.
64. ↑ "Het was niet alleen ongeïnteresseerd, afwezig en onverschillig, maar ook technically poor." Quoted from: Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion Uitgevers, Baarn 2007, ISBN 978-90-439-0983-9 , p. 149.
65. ↑ “Een van de grootsten. Een man met een ongelooflijk balgevoel, een rasvoetballer. ”Quoted from Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion Uitgevers, Baarn 2007, ISBN 978-90-439-0983-9 , p. 185.
66. ↑ Quoted from Yme Kuiper, Abe Lenstra (1920–1985). Van Us Abe tot nationaal idool ( Memento November 20, 2005 on the Internet Archive ), viewed June 30, 2008.
67. ↑ ^{a b c} Yme Kuiper, Abe Lenstra (1920–1985). Van Us Abe tot nationaal idool ( Memento November 20, 2005 on the Internet Archive ), viewed June 30, 2008.
68. ↑ ^{a b c} Abe Lenstra at senior-plaza.nl , viewed on July 3, 2008.
69. ↑ Quoted from Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion Uitgevers, Baarn 2007, ISBN 978-90-439-0983-9 , p. 186.
70. ↑ There are film reports about this and the following game against Belgium on the website Geschiedenis.nl
71. ↑ ( page no longer available , search in web archives: game data ) at KNVB, accessed on May 9, 2015.
72. ^ Frans Oosterwijk: Voetbal in de jaren vijftig, in 99 beelden. ANP Photo / Nieuw Amsterdam Uitgevers, Amsterdam 2007, ISBN 978-90-468-0264-9 , p. 63.
73. ↑ ( page no longer available , search in web archives: game statistics ) at KNVB , accessed on May 9, 2015.
74. ↑ Kurt Schmied is meant ; compare game line-up at the ÖFB ( Memento from May 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 1.1 MB)
75. ↑ “Trieste enjoyed miste ik honderd seconden voor het einde real de kans van mijn leven. Na a soloren van het middenveld af kwam ik heel close to het Oostenrijkse doel. Een doelpunt zat he dik in. Laat ik nu precies in de handen van keeper Schmidt schieten! Ik kon wel huilen. Het was een van de somberste ervaringen uit mijn loopbaan. ”Quoted from Yme Kuiper, Abe Lenstra (1920–1985). Van Us Abe tot nationaal idool ( Memento November 20, 2005 on the Internet Archive ), viewed June 30, 2008.
76. ↑ Statistics at voetbalstats.nl
77. ↑ De grote kampioensploeg: negen titels op rij! ( Memento of August 27, 2004 in the Internet Archive ), SC Heerenveen website, accessed on May 9, 2015.
78. ↑ Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion Uitgevers, Baarn 2007, ISBN 978-90-439-0983-9 , photo page 7 after p. 192.
79. ↑ Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion, Baarn 2007, p. 229.
80. ↑ "the small Frisian Hague", a term used there for Heerenveen and the surrounding area, alluding to the elegant The Hague, cf. Het Friese Haagje on frieslandwonderland.nl
81. ↑ Thom Mercuur (ed.): Rondom Abe. Een voetbalepisode in Friesland , De Drijvende Drobber, Leeuwarden, undated , ISBN 90-70330-07-5 , p. 77
82. ↑ De Kick Wilstra Site , viewed June 26, 2008.
83. ↑ "As niet Johan Cruijff maar Abe Lenstra was born in Amsterdam, dan was niet Cruijff maar Abe tot voetballer van de eeuw gekozen." Quoted from Abe - Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste sportidool ( Memento of April 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), Book review at ENVB.nl , accessed on May 9, 2015.
84. ↑ “Lenstra of Cruijff? Dan zeg ik Lenstra. Een eigengereid figuur, maar een tovenaar aan de bal. ”, In an interview with Sport² , quoted in the obituary Levensgenieter from June 2011.
85. ↑ "VI chief editor Tom van Hulsen maakt al jaren de rubriek Anno in dit blad. Hij bezoekt wekelijks ex-voetballers die over hun verleden praten en hoorde daarbij all plaintiffs aan van spelers die ooit de kleedkamer met Abe deelden. Ze waardeerden en respecteerden hem as voetballer, no one fromd hem sympathy. Internationals were blij as Abe weer een een conflict, dan was de sfeer meteen een stuk beter bij Oranje. "Johan Derksen, Abe was een klier van een vent, een nare man ( Memento from February 22, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) , Voetbal international on July 9th, 2007, viewed on July 3rd, 2008.
86. ↑ "Abe what in wezen een klier van een vent, een nare you. Geen wonder dat hij vroeger as voetballer zoveel had problems. "Quoted from Johan Derksen, Abe was een klier van een vent, een nare man ( Memento from February 22, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ), Voetbal international from July 9, 2007, sighted July 3, 2008.
87. ↑ “But there was a good figure bij de other spelers van het Nederlands elftal. [...] As each eighth hem as half speelde, liep je altijd voor niks. Met our kritiek deed hij niks. Abe zei: 'Ik doe het zoals ik het wil' en daarmee was de kous af. "; in: Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion, Baarn 2007, p. 124.
88. ^ "Abe had dat nooit moeten zeggen en zeker niet tegen a journalist. Hij wilde altijd de grootste zijn. Hij wás ook groots, maar dit had hij niet nodig. “, In: Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion, Baarn 2007, p. 192.
89. ↑ Johann Mast: Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste big sportidool. Tirion, Baarn 2007, p. 7; also: Oranje in Friesland ( Memento from February 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), Sportgeschiedenis.nl from June 10, 2009.
90. ^ Website Kanon fan de Fryske skiednis
91. ↑ Facsimile of an undated newspaper tear, in: Thom Mercuur (ed.): Rondom Abe. Een voetbalepisode in Friesland , De Drijvende Drobber, Leeuwarden, undated , ISBN 90-70330-07-5 , p. 75; afterwards Lenstra received a prize money of 120 guilders for the victory in Vriezenveen in addition to the gold medal.

This article was added to the list of articles worth reading on August 2, 2020 in this version .