Sjoerd Ruiter

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Sjoerd Ruiter (born November 2, 1951 - † March 29, 2017 ) was a Dutch football player . From 1970 to 1973 the midfielder was under contract with AFC Ajax in Amsterdam . He was considered one of the greatest talents in Dutch football , but retired from professional football at the age of 20.

life and career

Sjoerdje , as the young Ruiter was called, grew up in Amstelveen as the son of a seafaring father and a depressed mother. He joined Ajax's B youth team in 1967. In the A youth he was a team-mate of Johan Neeskens , Gerrie Kleton and Louis van Gaal ; in the Dutch U-17 national team , he played alongside Bert van Marwijk and Wim Rijsbergen . At the time, he was considered Ajax's greatest talent and one of the greatest in Dutch football, at the latest after the well-known sports journalist Maarten de Vos from De Tijd- who had observed Ruiter in a youth international match - for him the description of de Tweede Cruijff , who coined the "second Cruijff ". The future coach of the Belgian national team , Raymond Goethals , also compared the 17-year-old with the playmaker of Ajax and the Dutch national team, who was at the height of his career at the time : "This Sjoerd Ruiter resembles Cruijff in all his behavior." The press and fans celebrated him as the successor to Cruijff. At the U-19 international match against Germany in Geleen on October 18, 1969, the audience cheered him on with “Vooruit Cruijffie” chants; Ruiter scored the opening goal, which Schalke Klaus Beverungen equalized to make it 1-1.

Ruiter, still 18 years old, received a contract for the first team in 1970. He was used in the B-Elf, the second team of the Amsterdam, where he aroused the desires of other clubs. But before the end of his three contractual years - and without playing in the "First" - he announced his resignation from professional football during the 1972/73 season . He does not want to sign a new contract or move to another club, although clubs like the Go Ahead Eagles , Royal Antwerp and Standard Liège would have liked to sign him. But Ruiter no longer wanted to appear as a professional. Psychologically, he was not up to the pressure of expectations from the comparison with Cruijff. He later said, “As Sjoerd Ruiter, I was a good footballer. But not as a new Cruijff. ”And“ I was always not quite right. Felt insignificant, worthless. That's why I never talked, I was totally closed off. " Johnny Rep later described the situation:" Sjoerdje didn't even know how to walk anymore. I can still see the newspaper story before me. Maarten had romanticized everything enormously, even made Sjoerd a kind of superstar. In retrospect, this article wasn't that good for him ... ”After his resignation, AFC Ajax did not release the player from his contract: Ruiter had to take a year off before he was allowed to kick the ball again with an amateur club. But he didn't like that anymore either and stopped playing football completely. Because of his anxiety disorders he was treated in a psychiatric day clinic for several years .

In later years, Ruiter's end of career was repeatedly taken up in the press; even when it came to the fact that highly acclaimed talents - especially those who were compared to Cruijff - did not make their breakthrough. "Sjoerd has become a symbol for top talent who didn't make it," said 2015 sports journalist David Endt, who trained with Ruiter as a B-youth.

On the night of March 28 to 29, 2017, Ruiter died at the age of 65 from complications from a stroke .

Web links

Notes and evidence

  1. ↑ Life data according to Ruiter's profile at AFC-Ajax.info, viewed on April 22, 2017
  2. ↑ a b c d Mark van den Heuvel, De eerste 'Nieuwe Cruijff' the ten onder went , reportersonline.nl of October 27, 2014, viewed on April 22, 2017
  3. ↑ "The Sjoerd Ruiter lijkt in al zijn handelen op Cruijff" , quoted from Eerste 'Nieuwe Cruijff' Sjoerd Ruiter (65) overleden , obituary at AD.nl from March 30, 2017, viewed on April 22, 2017
  4. ↑ 1: 1 tegen W. Duitsland , facsimile of a newspaper report by Friese Koerier on the website ruitersporen.nl , viewed on April 22, 2017
  5. ↑ cf. Opnieuw Ajacied gewond , facsimile of a newspaper report by Friese Koerier about Ruiter's moped accident on ruitersporen.nl , around October 1971, viewed on April 22, 2017
  6. ↑ De nieuwe Cruijff worstelt nog altijd , De Volkskrant from April 18, 1995, viewed on April 22, 2017
  7. ↑ “As Sjoerd Ruiter was ik een goeie voetballer. Maar niet als nieuwe Cruijff ”, zei Ruiter later, zich bijna pardoning. Quoted from Met De Nieuwe gaat het vaak mis , metronieuws.nl of January 7, 2016, viewed on April 22, 2017
  8. ↑ 'Ik was anyway al niet helemaal in orde. Voelde me niks waard. Dus praatte ik nooit, what heel gesloten. ' Quoted from Mark van den Heuvel, De eerste 'Nieuwe Cruijff' the ten onder went , reportersonline.nl of October 27, 2014, viewed on April 22, 2017
  9. ↑ 'Sjoerdje wist even niet meer hoe-ie moest lopen. Ik zie dat verhaal in de krant nog zo voor me. Maarten had het enormously geromantiseerd, maakte really een soort super vedette van Sjoerd. Achteraf bezien is dat article niet zo goed geweest voor hem ... ' quoted from Mark van den Heuvel, De eerste' Nieuwe Cruijff 'the ten onder went , reportersonline.nl from October 27th 2014, viewed on April 22nd 2017
  10. ↑ cf. Among other things: Facsimile of newspaper clippings from De Waarheid , on the website ruitersporen.nl , undated, viewed on April 22, 2017
  11. ↑ cf. Met De Nieuwe gaat het vaak mis ("With [the comparison, translator's note] The new one ... one is often wrong"), metronieuws.nl of January 7, 2016, viewed on April 22, 2017
  12. ↑ Sjoerd has become het symbool van een top talent dat het niet heeft gered , quoted from Yoeri van den Busken, Het mysterie van het greatest Ajax talent , Voetbal International from July 9, 2015, viewed on April 22, 2017
  13. ↑ Eerste 'Nieuwe Cruijff' Sjoerd Ruiter (65) overleden , obituary at AD.nl of March 30, 2017, viewed on April 22, 2017
  14. ↑ This is probably the broadcast from 1974 announced in this newspaper article from the Leeuwarder Courant
personal data
SURNAME Ruiter, Sjoerd
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ruiter, Sjoerdje (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH November 2, 1951
DATE OF DEATH 29th March 2017