The football world mourns the death of Wim Suurbier. The Ajax icon and the sixty-fold Orange international died on Sunday evening at the age of 75 from the consequences of a cerebral hemorrhage.
“I have too many beautiful memories of him to get one out of it,” Ruud Krol tells WE. “I have experienced so many beautiful things with him. He will occupy much of my heart.”
For years, Krol was a teammate of Suurbier at Ajax and the Dutch national team. Together they formed the duo ‘Snabbel en Babbel’. “We were inseparable. We had the greatest fun on and off the field,” said the 83-time Orange international.
Krol and Suurbier met for the last time in March. “We had the most fun again. That was Wim to his feet. He was fast with his legs and fast with his mouth. He had the heart in the right place.”
“He was a top defender with a sense of humor”
Willem van Hanegem also keeps good memories of the right back. “When I think of Suurbier, I immediately smile,” he writes in his column in the AD. “For his humor and certainly also for his playing. And we should not forget the latter.”
“No clown has died,” continues Van Hanegem, who played with him for years at Orange. “A former top defender with a wonderful track record and also with a sense of humor.”
Arie Haan was also impressed by Suurbier as a footballer. “If Wim was not there, you knew it was a difficult matter,” Haan characterizes his former teammate FOX Sports. “With his speed and his razor-sharp tackles down the line, he was the best right back. Attackers never came to see him.”
‘Hard to understand that so many boys are no longer there’
Suurbier was part of the Ajax that won the European Cup I three times in the early seventies. Johan Cruijff, Piet Keizer, Barry Hulshoff, Velibor Vasovic, Nico Rijnders, Dick van Dijk, Gerrie Mühren and Suurbier of that team have now passed away.
“It is difficult to understand that so many boys are no longer there,” said Sjaak Swart, also one of the strongholds of Ajax in the heyday, at WE. “While the memories are still alive. On the field we could read and write with each other. On the right flank we played a lot of opponents together.”
Suurbier suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in late April and was found at home by his ex-wife. He has since been in intensive care at the VUmc in Amsterdam.
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