Georges Meuris

Meuris (top row, 5th from right) with the championship team in 1933

Georges Meuris (born March 14, 1907 in Forest / Vorst , Brussels , † September 8, 1984 in Bruges ) was a Belgian - French football player and coach .

Club career

Beginnings in Belgium (until 1927)

The 173 centimeter tall Meuris, who was used in both defense and midfield , began playing football in 1921 in his birthplace at CS La Forestoise . He moved up to the first team and rose with this in 1926 to the highest national league, even if he was not called up in this and in 1927 had to accept direct relegation. At the same time he left the club; he did not have the status of a professional footballer because the Belgian league was not professionally oriented at the time.

Pre-war years in France (1932–1939)

In the summer of 1932 he was included in the squad of the northern French club Olympique Lille , located on the Belgian border , which in the same year co-founded Division 1 and thus the newly introduced national professional league. On September 11, 1932, he was in the opening game against Olympique Marseille , which ended in a 1: 2 defeat, on the field and thus made his debut in paid football. From then on, he was called up in all games and at the end of the season made it into the finals of the only two-pronged league in the opening year. In the final for the championship on May 14, 1933 Meuris was also called up and came through a 4-3 win against AS Cannes to his first title win.

In 1934 he moved to league rivals SO Montpellier in the south of the country, where he became an undisputed top performer. With Montpellier, however, he had to accept relegation to the second division a year later, so in 1935 he decided to move to the US Valenciennes-Anzin , which was competing in the first division . This led to the fact that he had to witness the second descent in series with Valenciennes in 1936. Nevertheless, he managed again to remain in the elite class of French football, since he moved to the capital club Red Star Paris ; this had previously only held thanks to the better goal difference against Valenciennes in the league. At Paris he was also fixed, but rose again in 1938 and remained loyal to the club in this case. On the sporting level, the second division championship was won a year later and the associated return to the top division, but the beginning of the Second World War on September 1, 1939 brought about the cessation of regular game operations anyway.

War and time as a player-coach (1939–1947)

Despite the war, Meuris was offered the opportunity to continue his career after 1939, which took place as part of the unofficially held championship. At first he remained loyal to Red Star Paris, became champions of the northern group with the team in 1941 and at the same time made it into the cup final of the occupied zone of the country. With a 1: 3 against Girondins Bordeaux , however, they missed the leap into the national final. This succeeded, however, with the qualification for the national cup final in 1942 , in which he led the team as captain on the field and thanks to a 2-0 win against FC Sète won the trophy for the only time in his career.

In the same year he turned his back on the capital and moved to the west of the country for SCO Angers , where he received a post as player-coach. During the last years of the war, the club competed in amateur leagues, but was placed in the second division following the resumption of regular play in 1945. The then 38-year-old Meuris decided to continue his professional career and, in addition to his coaching responsibility, played regularly as a player for a team that just missed promotion both in 1946 and a year later. He played alongside his son Robert Meuris , born in 1928, who was offered a regular seat by his father despite his young age. In 1947, in the year of his 40th birthday, he ended his active career after 160 first division games with two goals and 86 second division games with two goals in France and a first division year without a mission in Belgium. Simultaneously with the end of his time as a player, he gave up his coaching position at Angers.

Coach time (after 1947)

Immediately after the end of his career, he took over responsibility as a coach at a lower-class club from Angers and held it until 1949. He then returned to Belgium, where he was introduced in 1963 as a coach at the first division club Cercle Bruges . He carried out the office of coach until he could not avert relegation to the second division in 1966 and forfeited his post. In 1967 he was hired in the same position at the second division club KWSV Thor Genk and worked there until 1968.

Stations

• until 1927: CS La Forestoise
• 1932 to 1934: Olympique Lille
• 1934 to 1935: SO Montpellier
• 1935 to 1936: US Valenciennes-Anzin
• 1936 to 1942: Red Star Paris
• 1942 to 1947: SCO Angers (player-coach)
• 1947 to 1949: CS Jean Bouin (player-coach)
• 1963 to 1966: Cercle Bruges (trainer)
• 1967 to 1968: THOR Waterschei (trainer)

National team

After Meuris, who was born in Belgium, received French citizenship on December 21, 1932, he was eligible to play for the French national team. For this he made his debut on May 23, 1937 in a 2-0 defeat in a friendly against Ireland. However, the then 30-year-old did not make another appearance in his new home jersey.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ season 1932/1933 , pari-et-gagne.com
2. ^ Robert Meuris complete profile ( memento from December 15, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ), soccerdatabase.eu
3. ↑ Georges Meuris - Fiche de stats du joueur de football , pari-et-gagne.com
4. ↑ ^{a b} Georges Meuris complete profile ( memento from December 15, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ), soccerdatabase.eu
5. ↑ Georges Meuris ( Memento of the original from December 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , sco1919.com  
6. ↑ Joueur - Georges MEURIS , fff.fr