Once in Oranje: Bert van Marwijk

They stood ready in line, lip syncing to the Wilhelmus. This time, a man who may only have played once in the orange jersey but who managed to add some caps as a coach: team manager Bert van Marwijk, former player of Go Ahead Eagles, AZ’67, MVV, Fortuna Sittard and FC Assent. Van Marwijk coached several amateur teams before moving professional to old club Fortuna Sittard. He later moved on to coach Feyenoord to the 2003 UEFA Cup and also worked at Borussia Dortmund.

He’s most famous for his coaching qualities, but our team manager can look back at quite a career. He started out as a youngster with Go Ahead Eagles. Bertje has long hippy hair and is an old school left winger. A street player with dribbling skills, sublime technique and a dangerous cross. The experts predict a golden future for the laconic player. He’d surely play 30 internationals or more. Injuries put an end to his ambitions.

“I played professional when I was 16 years old, but it was too early and too much. From my 19th, I started to get chronical problems with my knee and my ligaments. I needed to camouflage that on the pitch,” says Van Marwijk. “No one knew of my problems. In those days, most players were told to stop playing football. I was scared as hell that would happen to me. And I figured that if I told people, clubs wouldn’t want to sign me. I always attended medical tests with shivers of fear. But I played football till my 36th year. Not too bad….”

In his last season at Go Ahead in 1975 (Van Marwijk was 23 years old) George Knobel calls him up for the friendly against Yugoslavia. “I was signed by AZ’67. That club was making it’s way up to win the title in 1981. They were pretty visible and I think my invitation for Oranje had something to do with that transfer. I knew most players from the youth teams I played for. Johan Neeskens was always my buddy I shared my room with.”

“Those days were weird. Very amateurish, but therefore also exciting. Willem van Hanegem declined his invite at the last moment. Heini Otto was at the airport to drop goalie Jan Jongbloed off. Knobel saw Otto and asked if he brought his football shoes. He said yes, and was invited along. He even played for 20 minutes!”

Van Marwijk started from the beginning. “I wasn’t too lucky with my direct opponent. A huge bloke, Baljan. Every time I got the ball, the guy would charge upon me and I’d fly over the fence. I hardly touched a single ball in the first half. I needed some space to do my thing, and he never allowed any space.”

Holland trails 2-0 at half time. “Knobel said in the dressing rooms he’d make some changes. I knew exactly what time it was, as we say. I normally couldn’t stand it to be benched, but in this case Knobel was right. It wasn’t my match. Nico Jansen, a tough and rugged fighter, came on for me and we did gain some control. But we still lost: 3-0.”

Van Marwijk plays well for AZ’67 in the following season and new team manager Ernst Happel wants to take Van Marwijk along to the WC1978 in Argentina. But a back injury spoils that idea. Two years later, Van Marwijk is part of the pre-selection for the EC1980, but he would be the last person to be dropped.

Despite the setbacks, Van Marwijk is proud of his career. “I’m grateful that I managed to play for so long with all those injuries.” His career did help him a lot with his current job as a coach. “I think players need to understand that you understand them. Sometimes I can almost read their minds, because I’ve been there too, you know. I played 450 games at top level in Holland, so that gives you lots of situations you can look back on. Players feel that.”

Statistics:

30 May 1975

Yugoslavia – Nederland 3-0 (2-0).

Score: 12. Savic 1-0, 18. Danilo 2-0, 81. Izevic 3-0.

Referee: Somlai.

Nederland: Jan Jongbloed; Henk van Rijnsoever, Wim Rijsbergen, Niels Overweg, Jan Everse jr.; Peter Arntz (71. Heini Otto), Jan Peters, Johan Neeskens; Bobby Vosmaer, Kees Kist, Bert van Marwijk (46. Nico Jansen).