Leonardus van der Kroft

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Leo van der Kroft (1981)

Leonardus "Leo" van der Kroft (born February 2, 1929 in The Hague ; † November 24, 2016 ) was a Dutch football referee . His international career as a referee lasted until 1976, later he worked as a functionary and in referee training.

Career

Its first international deployment took place on February 23, 1966. He acted as linesman in a friendly football match between England and Germany at Wembley Stadium .

On August 23, 1972, he made Dutch football history when he dealt the first yellow card in the history of the first division, the Eredivisie , on the first match day of the 1972/73 season in the game Feyenoord Rotterdam against NEC Nijmegen . Willem van Hanegem , with whom van der Kroft otherwise maintained personal, friendly relationships and shared holidays, was the recipient of the newly introduced disciplinary measures.

In May 1974 he directed the last game of the British Home Championship between Scotland and England, which was played in league mode that year . Due to a 2-0 success in front of 95,000 spectators in Glasgow's Hampden Park , the Scots managed to be crowned the winner of that year together with England. Leo van der Kroft regards this game as his personal highlight.

In 1976, van der Kroft was scheduled as a referee for the soccer tournament at the Summer Olympics in Montreal . Controversial decisions on March 17th this year in the quarter-final second leg between Real Madrid and Borussia Mönchengladbach at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu caused irreparable damage to its international reputation.

After a 2-2 lead after a 2-0 lead in the first leg at the Düsseldorf Rheinstadion, the Mönchengladbachers, who were among the best teams in Europe at the time, were under pressure in Madrid. Van der Kroft warned Borussia Berti Vogts , Dietmar Danner and Uli Stielike within the first 15 minutes . After 28 minutes, Jupp Heynckes scored the opening goal for Borussia. In the 52nd minute, a controversial free kick decision van der Krofts equalized by Santillana . The Mönchengladbacher dominated the game, however, and in the 69th minute Henning Jensen allegedly scored another opening goal on a pass from Hans Klinkhammer . Even though the linesman left the flag down, van der Kroft decided offside . In the 82nd minute, defender Hans-Jürgen Wittkamp scored a goal for Borussia Mönchengladbach, but this time the Dutch linesman Ben Hoppenbrouwer indicated a previous foul, after which van der Kroft did not give this goal either. Van der Kroft's decisions in this game were largely met with incomprehension, but an official protest by Borussia against the factual decisions made by van der Kroft had no consequences.

After this game, Leonardus van der Kroft had no further international appearances and ended his referee career at the end of the season.

In later years he worked, among other things, as a functionary at the Dutch Football Association KNVB and in referee training at FIFA , as well as a delegate of UEFA and FIFA.

According to his family, he died after a brief illness on November 24, 2016.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Just Fontein: Oud-Scheidserecht Van der Kroft (87) overleden: man van de eerste gel kaart | Sport | de Volkskrant. In: De Volkskrant. Retrieved November 25, 2016 (nl-NL).
personal data
SURNAME Kroft, Leonardus van der
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kroft, Leo van der
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch football referee
DATE OF BIRTH February 2, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH The hague
DATE OF DEATH November 24, 2016