Five Brothers and a War

Margrietstraat 20

That level of national interest in football did not come about suddenly, but has been in existence for years. Similarly, Kees’ and Bertus’ interests also began over a period of time. Kees’ interest started with kicking anything that was not nailed down. Whether it was a pebble, can or anything that was within reach of a foot, pretty much everything seemingly was just asking to be kicked. Leendert and Marie, being somewhat more restricted in their view of the world, did not quite see it as football potential in the making. That became clear when Kees got a beautiful pair of brand new shoes, which he was only allowed to wear on Sundays when going to church. Yet, on one particular Sunday, a small stone was seemingly demanding to be kicked. Without giving it a second thought, Kees sent it flying across the street. At least that was the intention. Had he paid more attention, he would have noticed that the concrete sidewalk pavers were not laid flush and rather than striking the rock cleanly, he kicked the edge of the paver with the edge of the sole instead. Shoes were not constructed like they are today. The sole was kept in place by dozens of little shoe nails around the perimeter of the sole. Obviously, these were not meant to kick concrete. His nice new shoe suddenly looked like the gaping mouth of a shark, with his stocking-covered toes peeking out from the ends of the nails. He quickly remembered the hype that brand of shoes was given, something like “Top-of-the-Line – indestructible – quality Robinsons will last for years.” Having to face his parents’ music, he tried a long-shot defense when reminding his parents of those earlier descriptions. “But Mama, it only proves these people have been exaggerating!” Leendert had an older brother, Gijs, who had fallen out of his high chair as a toddler and hurt himself so much that it stunted his growth. Not only that, he developed a big hump on his back that greatly affected his potential to earn a living. This uncle ended up having his own shoe repair shop. He had been doing this long enough to hammer new life in Kees’ abused footwear. When Leendert traveled to Rotterdam, he always stopped off to deliver a bunch of shoes that needed the attention of new soles or heels. A nice set-up, benefiting everybody. A trip to Rotterdam had to be scheduled that week to fix the mess.

van Pelt

The stone-kicking was an indication of “boys being boys”, but it was also an indication of the level of interest in the sport of football. The three older boys, Leen, Piet and Jan, had levels of interest ranging from none to slight. On the other hand, Kees and Bertus were fanatics. The new house on Margrietstraat had a large vacant field across the street, and it was perfect for playing football. It was certainly not a perfect football pitch, but it was flat enough and had some grass. There were enough boys in the new neighborhood interested in playing.

Gijs van Pelt’s shoe repair shop was located on Rotterdam’s Havenzichtstraat, which was also where Leendert, Marie and their young family lived in the late 1920s. The shop was below ground, occupying the space behind the two windows on the lower right, behind the bicycle.

Five Brothers and a War

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