User:Aecis/Bok de Korver

Johannes Marius ("Bok") de Korver (born January 27, 1883 in Rotterdam – died October 22, 1957 in Rotterdam) was a football player from the Netherlands, who twice won a bronze medal with the Netherlands national football team at the Summer Olympics: in 1908 (London) and in 1912 (Stockholm).

De Korver played for Sparta Rotterdam between 1902 and 1923. He won the Dutch national title five times. De Korver scored his most notable goal in 1912, in a match again AFC Ajax. His goal won Sparta the national title.

Biography
Born in Rotterdam, Binnenweg 91. Second son of Engelbertus de Korver and Johanna van Ooijen. Father opened up a hardware store on the Kruiskade in 1885. Was elected to the municipal council for the liberal party Vrijheidsbond in 1913. Bok went to elementary school and "HBS". After leaving school, De Korver became a civil servant in for the municipality of Rotterdam. Became referendaris, and head of sports and recreation of the municipality.

It is not known where the nickname "Bok" (Goat) came from. Two versions:
 * 1) The unstoppable and stubborn way of playing
 * 2) The way he made headers.

De Korver first joined Constantia in 1900. Became Volharding, which would later merge with Olympia to become VOC. Volharding shared the ground Schuttersveld with Sparta, Victoria, Celeritas, Rapiditas. Joined Sparta at the start of the 1902-1903 season.

De Korver married 23-year old Henriette Jeanette Fruin on 1914-12-03. The couple moved to Burgemeester Meineszlaan 108. De Korver was mobilized when WW1 broke out, and was stationed in Leerdam. Played football for an army team there. De Korver died on October 22, 1957, aged 74. He was buried in Haren (Groningen).

Sparta Rotterdam
De Korver joined Sparta in 1902. Started out in the third team. Played his first match on 1902-10-19, against RAP from Amsterdam. Won the Dutch national title in 1909, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1915.

Most notable goal on 1912-05-19: scored the equalizer (1-1) against Ajax with his knee, which gave Sparta the national title.

A special match between Sparta and UVV was organised for De Korver on 1918-02-17, in honour of his 350th match for Sparta and the 400th match of his career. A pamphlet written for the occasion wrote: "Moeder zei Juliaantje onlangs tot Hare Majesteit, Moeder wat staan onze portretten toch dikwijls in de bladen, veel meer dan andere mensen. Neen Juliaantje. Er is een mens, wiens portret meer in de bladen staat dan het onze. En dat is meneer De Korver uit Rotterdam. O ja zei Juliaantje, die een echt bijdehand kind is, Maar Bok is ook een voetballer en wij zijn Koningin he moe.? De Koningin zweeg." ("Mother," little Juliana recently said to Her Majesty, "Mother, our portraits are in the magazines so often, much more than other people." "No, little Juliana. There is a person, whose portrait is in the magazine more often than ours. And that is mister De Korver from Rotterdam." "Oh yes he is," said little Juliana, who is a really smart kid, "but Bok is a footballer after all and we are Queen, aren't we, mum?" The Queen remained silent.")

Sparta won the match 4-0. Received a lot of media attention, national magazines even had special editions for the occasion.

Sparta's reign of the 1910s was coming to an end, and the club was relegated in 1920/21. Sparta won the title in the next season, and returned to the highest level after only one year. To celebrate the title, bronze statues of Bok de Korver and of club chairman M.J. Overeynder were revealed.

End of career
Shortly after the celebrations, De Korver became seriously ill, so much so that doctors feared for his life. The cause for this was a neglected pneumonia. He was forced to end his career at age 40, after pneumonia. His last match was a home match against Feyenoord on 1923-03-18.

Netherlands
De Korver played 31 caps for the Netherlands between 1905 and 1913, scoring one goal. Was captain of the team from 1908 to 1913. He won two Olympic bronze medals, in 1908 and 1912. De Korver captained the latter team. He was a player of the Dutch national team that beat England for the first time ever, on 1913-03-24 (2-1).

First goal?
Bok de Korver was a player for the team that played against Belgium on 1905-05-14. This was the first international match played on Dutch soil. According to newspaper reports of the time, De Korver scored the first goal of the match, after 74 minutes. This was the first goal of the Netherlands national football team scored on Dutch soil.

Local newspaper Rotterdamsch Nieuwsblad, which had organized the match, wrote: "De Korver, Sparta’s captain, die van het begin van den wedstrijd af enorm spel vertoond heeft, ja zelfs Kamperdijk en Kessler heeft overtroffen, neemt den bal van Van der Stappen af, passeert Dedecker, Poelmans en van Hoorden, zal schieten, maar de bal gaat rakelings langs het doel … Reeds juicht een deel van het publiek, maar alles is weer te beginnen! Drie minuten later haalt De Korver ongeveer dezelfde truc uit, thans met succes, want voor het goal gekomen, richt hij den bal en met een niet al te hard maar zeker schot heeft Nederland door een Rotterdammer de leiding gekregen (1-0)."

The Sportkroniek, the official magazine of the Dutch football association, wrote: "[..Bok de Korver..] neemt het leder Van der Stappen af, passeert De Decker, laat aan Poelmans zijn rug zien; verschalkt, steeds in vliegenden ren, den toeloopenden Van Hoorden en laat dan een schot volgen, dat jammer genoeg even ernaast gaat. Eenmaal is geen maal! denkt Bok! - doet alles nog eens dunnetjes over, zoo het kan, nog vlugger, laat aan de Belgische verdediging geen tijd, zich te herstellen; - Thornton wil uitloopen; maar voor zulks geschiedt, is het gebeurd! - met een schuin schot zit de bal in het net! Onmogelijk om te beschrijven wat nu volgde! Een gejuich als een oordeel! hoeden, petten gaan in de lucht; de geestdrift is grootsch en algemeen!"

Other contemporary sources who had named De Korver as the first goal scorer on Dutch soil, were Maasbode, Het Sportblad en Clubnieuws van DFC.

According to a Belgian book about the history of the Belgian national team, Onze Rode Duivels Deel 1, the goal was scored by De Korver.

However, According to football historian Matty Verkamman, the goal was scored by Willem Hesselink. In het standaardwerk (Matty Verkamman, Het Nederlands Elftal 1905-1989; Matty Verkamman, Oranje Toen en nu Deel 1 (2001), page 28: "Alles is mooi. Het weer is mooi, de wedstrijd is mooi en het scoreverloop is mooi. Doe Hans gaat weer eens uit zijn dak, want met zijn Sparta-bril op ziet hij in het slotkwartier zijn Bok de Korver 1-0 maken. In werkelijkheid wordt dat doelpunt geproduceerd door Willem Hesselink." The KNVB statistics for the match list Willem Hesselink as the goal scorer as well.

Source:

Note I: The current statistics do not list De Korver as the player who scored the goal. Because of this, the goal has not been added to his statistics. Note II: There seems to be more confusion over this match. According to contemporary sources, the 4-0 was scored by Dolf Kessler. According to the above mentioned Onze Rode Duivels Deel 1, the goal was scored by Guus Lutjens. Matty Verkamman and the KNVB state that the goal was scored by Eddy de Neve.

Sportsmanship
Legend has it that De Korver never made a foul during his career. He believed that a footballer should use technical and tactical skills and speed to defeat an opponent, not physical strength. He thought training was unsportsmanlike to the opponent, because the opponent might not have had the time and/or the opportunity to train before the match. He loved to smoke cigars.

Public perception
De Korver was the first Dutch football player to be the subject of a biography, in 1916.

A pamphlet in 1918 wrote: "Moeder zei Juliaantje onlangs tot Hare Majesteit, Moeder wat staan onze protretten toch dikwijls in de bladen, veel meer dan andere mensen. Neen Juliaantje. Er is een mens, wiens potret meer in de bladen staat dan het onze. En dat is meneer De Korver uit Rotterdam. O ja zei Juliaantje, die een echt bijdehand kind is, Maar Bok is ook een voetballer en wij zijn Koningin he moe.? De Koningin zweeg."

De Korver was made an honorary member of the Netherlands Football Association on 1919-07-13, aged 36.

Legacy and tributes
De Korver was an honorary member of Sparta and of the Royal Netherlands Football Association. The now disbanded football club BDK from Amsterdam, established in 1928, was named after De Korver. A park in Gouda was named Bok de Korverplantsoen.

The west stand of Sparta's stadium, Het Kasteel, was renamed Bok de Korver Stand on April 1, 2007. At the unveiling of the new name, poet and Sparta supporter Jules Deelder read his poem Spartageest ("Sparta spirit"): "Als de geest van Bok de Korver Zich warm loopt langs de lijn En de kreet Sparta naar vore Boven het Kasteel uit stijgt weten wij de tijd gekomen Ons te gorden tot den strijd En de vijand te bestormen Tottie een hartverzwakking krijgt Nimmer zullen wij versagen Strijden om elke meter grond Nooit de Spartamars beschamen aan geen enkel voetbalfront Als Spartaan zijn wij geboren Als Spartanen sterven wij In de geest van Bok de Korver En de naam van Cor van Rijn"

External link

 * Dutch Olympic Committee