Five Brothers and a War

van Pelt Football

In those years, football was played with a heavy emphasis on offense, where there were two defenders, three mid-fielders, and five forwards, obviously with the goalkeeper being the eleventh player—the 2-3-5 formation (although at the time, those numbers were reversed to 5-3-2, again showing the proclivity for creating offense). The two outside forwards were the wingers, and were expected to be the fastest. Usually Bertus ended up on the right wing. On certain occasions, the coach put him in the striker position, which was the center of the front 5 line. All the forwards were supposed to be quick, and Bertus loved being either the striker or the right winger. As he was not only fast, but also tall for his age, he also had the advantage of being in the middle as he could out-jump the opposition when delivering headers into the net. It was not uncommon that he scored multiple goals in the same game, and assisted on others, so he was a force to be reckoned with. It was for that reason that in 1942, in the middle of the war, when Bertus was 14 and Kees was 16 years old, two top club coaches visited Leendert and Marie asking them to allow the two boys to play on Sundays, but they stood by their religious convictions and decided that there was no choice between church and football. Lower leagues played their matches on Saturdays while the upper leagues played on Sundays. Few professional leagues existed in the world in the 1930s and 1940s. Holland did not have one—all leagues were amateur, but many youths dreamed of reaching that level of prestige—and being able to play on Sundays.

van Pelt

Five Brothers and a War

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