Karel Lotsy

Karel Lotsiy

Karel Johannes Julianus Lotsy (born March 3, 1893 in Baltimore , Maryland ( USA ), † August 29, 1959 in Koog aan de Zaan ; actually Karel Lotsij ) was a Dutch football and sports official . From 1942 to 1953 he was chairman of the Dutch football association KNVB . In 1959 he became the first chairman of the Dutch Sports Confederation.

Live and act

Youth and advancement

Lotsy was born the son of the biologist Johannes Paulus Lotsij in Baltimore, where the father taught at Johns Hopkins University . The family came from Dordrecht ; However, Karel Lotsy spent his childhood in Malabar in what was then the colony of the Dutch East Indies . When he was eight, the family returned to the Netherlands, first to Leiden and later to Haarlem , where he became a member of the HFC and played football with moderate success. At the age of 18 he was given responsibility for the association as the second secretary.

His studies in botany took him to Paris, the United States and Sweden in the pre-war years, before returning home as a soldier. After the end of the war, he took on a managerial role in fire insurance, which one of his grandfathers had founded. From 1917 to 1919 he was chairman of the HFC, and in 1921 he became the first team coach of the HFC. The team was relegated twice in a row; Lotsy led it back to the premier league within two years. During this time he developed a method of concentration and mental training , for which he later became known. He was convinced that mind and psyche are of fundamental importance in sport and that the team's successes were thanks to his mental training.

He resigned his office in Haarlem and concentrated on his functionary duties as chairman of the football district Dordrecht and as a board member of the regional association of the KNVB. In these functions he accompanied the Dutch Olympic team to the Olympic Games in Paris . At the following games in his own country he was already chairman of the football rules committee.

The football and sports official

National players celebrate Lotsy after defeating Ireland on April 8, 1934

Karel de Kerel ("Karl the Guy" was his nickname) was considered a dynamic and charming person with great organizational talent. In 1930 he was elected to the main board of the KNVB, in 1931 he became chairman of the technical commission and shortly afterwards head of the selection commission for the national team. Before Lotsy's tenure, the Elftal had won only three of 21 games; after his takeover there were eleven of the next 21. One of the reasons for this was that Lotsy prepared the players mentally for the encounters with his now further developed concentration training; Lotsy became famous especially for his speeches in the dressing room , which were supposed to give the players the final motivation shortly before the match - the so-called "donderspeeches" , " thunder speeches" . Faas Wilkes later described these situations: "He made you drunk with his words, it was a kind of mental doping."

Before 1934, Lotsy also took on functions in the National Olympic Committee of the Netherlands and at FIFA . At the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936 he served as Chef de Mission for the first time ; he also held this position of head of the Dutch delegation in 1948 in London and in 1952 in Helsinki .

Sympathizer of the occupiers

During the years of Nazi Germany occupation , football became even more popular than before. "Attendance at football matches in the Netherlands doubled between 1940 and 1945," says the director of the Bevrijdingsmuseum Groesbeek ("National Liberation Museum"). With the exception of Gerrit Vreeken , the stars of the time - Abe Lenstra , Faas Wilkes , Leen Vente - were never suspected of having collaborated with the occupiers - "that was more a matter for the officials." Thus, Jewish players were removed from the teams without much ado ; some players like Bram Appel were assigned to do forced labor in the " Reich " and had to play for German clubs. During this time Lotsy was initially, until autumn 1941, advisor to the main department of education, science and cultural maintenance of the Reich Commissioner for the occupied Dutch territories; In 1942 - after the death of his predecessor Dirk van Prooye - he became chairman of the KNVB.

Lotsy at the KNVB cup handover in 1944

Lotsy, who was nicknamed "Sport- Mussolini " in the 1930s , gave his consent to Jewish referees being banned. From him the statement has been handed down: "The chance is within reach that the new spirit will prevail." After the end of the war, the DFB President Peco Bauwens tried to "wash away" Lotsy and other officials; In a letter to FIFA Secretary General Ivo Schricker in March 1949, he claimed that Lotsy had "been brought to a concentration camp as an enemy of Germany" by the SS. For the football historian Nils Havemann , however, this also served to justify Bauwens' own role during the Third Reich.

At the zuivering after the war, the Dutch equivalent of denazification , Lotsy was acquitted in 1945 by the zuiveringsscommissie voor de sport , the purge commission for sport. However, some 30 years after Lotsy's death, a discussion arose about his role during the war. The historian and reviewer Jef Abbeel writes about Lotsy that in 1992 he was "exposed by [André] Swijtink as the ideal front man of the occupiers" in Swijtink's dissertation In de pas. Sport en lichamelijke opvoeding in Nederland tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog (German: "In lockstep. Sport and physical education in the Netherlands during the Second World War"). This view was put into perspective in the 2009 Lotsy biography De Dordtse magiër, de val van volksheld Karel Lotsy (“The magician from Dordrecht, the case of the folk hero Karel Lotsy”). Author and journalist Frank van Kolfschooten writes in it that Lotsy fell victim to journalistic, scientific and political errors. Van Kolfschooten said it was the extreme difference between Lotsy's reputation in his generation and his image among those born after him that prompted his research. His findings led him to conclude that it is the younger generation who are wrong.

After the Second World War

The criticism of Lotsy's behavior during the occupation only arose after his death, so that he remained in his position after the war, and as the association chairman even became more powerful than before. Karel Lotsy was the KNVB. During this time, when professional football was beginning to take hold all over Europe, he clung to the “noble and true spirit” of amateur football in the Netherlands. The best players therefore emigrated to the professional leagues of other nations, especially to France , where they found better financial and sporting conditions than at home. The development of Dutch football stagnated, which Lotsy recognized in 1948; In the foreword to a football textbook ( Beter voetbal ) he wrote that the level of play was undoubtedly worse than it was before the war and had not been able to keep pace with developments in other countries. The international professionals were banned and were no longer allowed to compete in the national team. Lotsy had already drawn his ideal of the national player in 1941:

“The player who is called up to the national team and who follows this call takes on the duty to fully contribute with the help of all known means. As soon as he has become the ambassador of his country in his field, his sport has lost the character of the 'game' for him; his sport is then for him a matter of absolute seriousness, a mission. "

However, the post-war generation of national players thought little of their association chairman, and the “donderspeeches” also lost their effect. While in the 1930s he was still mostly dealing with “significantly less mature working-class boys who hung on his lips”, after the war he met more self-confident young men. Kees Rijvers , international since 1946, later recalled:

“Lotsy had had a lot of success with his thunderous speeches about people, flag and country in the thirties, but in the forties the world had changed. They meant nothing to us anymore. Most of the players chatted together when Lotsy had spoken. "

Until his resignation as chairman of the KNVB - on January 24, 1953 Lotsy was adopted in the Jaarbeurs Utrecht and made a knight of the Orde van de Nederlandes Leeuw - he stuck to his principle of amateur football. In his acceptance speech in Utrecht he emphasized once again that for him “a clean sport for the benefit of a happy and healthy youth” is the top priority, which his listeners rewarded with applause lasting several minutes. Only after the international professionals had convinced the football press and supporters in the Netherlands of their skills in the so-called Watersnoodwedstrijd on March 12, 1953 and after the entrepreneur Gied Joosten had founded the independent professional football association NBVB in January 1954, did Lotsy's successor HF Hopster open the way for free the professional football in the older association; At the end of 1954, both football associations merged to form the new KNVB. When Lotsy heard that his successors had given in to public pressure, he is said to have referred to them as "lafaards" ("Duckmouses" or "washcloths"). In January 1956, as one of the vice-presidents of the world association , he led a top-class FIFA delegation to enforce the “one country, one association” principle in South Africa . The reason given for this is his good contacts, which he had through business relationships. Karel Lotsy also drafted the final report for the FIFA committees, in which he spoke out in favor of the South African Football Association, which supports apartheid , and against the South African Soccer Federation , which is open to all population groups .

When the Nederlandse Sport Federatie , the Dutch sports association, was founded in 1959 , Lotsy was the first to take over the office of chairman; a short time later he died.

Others

In the Netherlands, several streets - for example in Gouda and in his hometown Dordrecht - were named after Karel Lotsy. After discussions about his work during the occupation, the Karel Lotsylaan in Amsterdam was given the new name Gustav Mahlerlaan in 1997 .

Lotsy's great-uncle Dirk Lotsy was one of the eleven football players who played for the Dutch national team's first official international match against Belgium on April 30, 1905 .

literature

• Frans Oosterwijk, Voetbal in de jaren vijftig, in 99 beelden , ANP Photo / Nieuw Amsterdam Uitgevers, Amsterdam 2007, ISBN 978-90-468-0264-9 .

Web links

• Lotsy's biography at the Instituut voor Nederlandse Geschiedenis

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "[Wij hebben] seed work, om duidelijk te maken dat de geest, dat de psyche in de sport het voornaamste is." From the epilogue to: Joris van den Bergh , Mysterieuze krachten in de sport , 1941, cited fromDigital library voor de Nederlandse letteren
2. ↑ "De successen, the mijn goede oude club in the jaren hairalde, amplified mij dan ook niet weinig in mijn geloof aan de kracht van een goeden geestestoestand der spelers." From the foreword to the new edition 1938: Joris van den Bergh, Te midden der Kampioenen , 1929, quoted fromDigital library voor de Nederlandse letteren
3. ↑ Karel Lotsy 1941 , information and caricature at flickr.com
4. ↑ 'Hij maakte je dronken met zijn woorden, het was een soort mental doping.' quoted from: Mik Schots & Jan Luitzen, Oranje magie . Amstelsport Amsterdam / Antwerp 2010, ISBN 978-90-482-2010-6 , p. 108
5. ↑ ^{a b} Wiel Lenders, quoted in: Andreas Gebbink, "Attack over right wing - football in World War II", NRZ from August 20, 2002, online version at the House of the Netherlands / Center for Dutch Studies at the University of Münster
6. ↑ Erik Brouwer, Karel Lotsy, Nederland thought al wereldkampioen te in 1934 , in De Volkskrant of July 8, 2010; Online version viewed on March 22, 2011
7. ↑ Andreas Gebbink, "Attack on the right wing - football in World War II", NRZ from August 20, 2002, online version at the House of the Netherlands / Center for Dutch Studies at the University of Münster
8. ^ Nils Havemann: Football under the swastika. The DFB between sport, politics and commerce. bpb (licensed edition), Bonn 2005 ISBN 3-89331-644-2 , pp. 251-253
9. ↑ "Swijtink besluit: in vele opzichten sloot de sport snel aan bij de jaren '30, met meestal dezelfde bestuurders en met Karel Lotsy as chef d'équipe van de Nederlandse ploeg op de Olympische Spelen van Londen in 1948, net zoals in Berlijn ( 1936). Pas in 1992 hij ontmaskerd as ideal stroman van de bezetter, door Swijtink, in zijn proefschrift “In de pas. Sport en lichamelijke opvoeding in Nederland tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog ”. Dit was de aanleiding tot de naamsverandering van de Karel Lotsylaan in Amsterdam. ” (“ Swijtink concludes: in many ways the sport quickly followed on from the 1930s, mostly with the same drivers and with Karel Lotsy as head of mission of the Dutch team at the Olympic Games in London in 1948, as well as in Berlin (1936). It was not until 1992 that Swijtink unmasked him as the ideal straw man for the occupation, in his dissertation “In de pas. Sport en lichamelijke opvoeding in Nederland tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog” was also the reason for the name change of Karel Lotsylaan in Amsterdam. ”) Jef Abbeel, Weermannen en noordrasmeisjes , review of the books Sport in de oorlog: meer verzetje dan verzet (Ad van Liempt and Jan Luitzen) and Sportman doet niet aan politiek (André Swijtink ), Sargasso's boekrecensies of November 13, 2010, viewed on March 22, 2011
10. ↑ 'Karel Lotsy was geen collaborateur' , Historiek.net of April 23, 2009, viewed on March 22, 2011
11. ↑ Jurryt van de Vooren, De others waarheid over Karel Lotsy ( Memento of the original from December 25, 2010 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. , Sportgeschiedenis.nl from August 18, 2009, viewed on March 22, 2011. 
12. ↑ "Karel Lotsy wás de KNVB." In: Frans Oosterwijk, Voetbal in de jaren vijftig, in 99 beelden , ANP Photo / Nieuw Amsterdam Uitgevers, Amsterdam 2007, ISBN 978-90-468-0264-9 , p. 4.
13. ↑ ^{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. 4.
14. ↑ Willen wij ons huidige spelpeil, dat ontegenzeggelijk minder is dan vóór de oorlog en helaas geen gelijke tred hield met de spelontwikkeling elders, weer omhoog brengen ... , in Beter voetbal , Voorwoord van de bondsvoorzitter, 1948, quoted from Digitale bondsvoorzitter de library Nederlandse letteren
15. ↑ "De voetballer, die geroepen is 'internationaal' te zijn en die aan die oproep gehoor geeft, aanvaardt daarmede de plicht zich, met behulp van alle middelen wilted zijn, op het hoogste in te. Zodra hij op zijn gebied de gezant van zijn land has become, heeft zijn sport voor hem het character van 'spel' lost, zijn sport is dan voor hem een ​​zaak van holy serious, een missie ... " From the afterword to: Joris van den Bergh, Mysterieuze krachten in de sport , 1941, quoted from Digitale bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse letteren
16. ↑ Johann Mast, Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste grote sportidool , Tirion Uitgevers, Baarn 2007, ISBN 978-90-4390-983-9 , p. 127
17. ↑ "Lotsy had met zijn donderspeeches over volk, vlag en vaderland veel succes gehad in de jaren dertig, maar in de jaren veertig was de wereld changed. Het deed ons helemaal niets. De meeste spelers zaten te etteren than Lotsy aan het woord was. ”, Quoted in: Johann Mast, Abe. Het levensverhaal van Nederlands eerste grote sportidool , Tirion Uitgevers, Baarn 2007, ISBN 978-90-4390-983-9 , p. 84
18. ^ Frans Oosterwijk, Voetbal in de jaren vijftig, in 99 beelden , ANP Photo / Nieuw Amsterdam Uitgevers, Amsterdam 2007, ISBN 978-90-468-0264-9 , p. 5.
19. ^ Paul Dietschy / David-Claude Kemo-Keimbou (co-editors: FIFA): Le football et l'Afrique. EPA, supra, 2008 ISBN 978-2-85120-674-9 , pp. 217-220; There are also two photos of Lotsys during this stay in South Africa.