The DWS Amsterdam Dutch Champion – from:dws.amsterdam.co
Article by Giovanni Manenti
Holland is one of the last countries on the Old Continent to have a football championship with a Single Group Maximum Division, given that it only happens since the 1956-’57 season – only West Germany will do worse with the Bundesliga inaugurated in 1973-’64 – thanks to the birth of the Eredivisieequal to our Serie A, which is supported by the Eerstedivisie, along the lines of the Italian Cadet Tournament…
Furthermore, perhaps also due to this delay, many clubs do not yet have a consolidated structurewith the exception of the three “large” Ajax Feyenoord and PSV Eindhovenproof of this is that, of the 18 teams that participated in the aforementioned first edition, a good part have disbanded or merged into new clubs.
One of these, which will certainly say little or nothing to our readers, especially the younger ones, is the second team from Amsterdam – a city known for the national and international exploits of Cruyff’s Ajax first and of van Basten and Rijkaard later subsequent times – i.e. the DWS (acronimo di By Wilskracht Strong, a significare literalmente “Strong by will”), ffounded in 1907 and experiencing its first “Moment of Glory” in 1939 and 1951 …
At the time, in fact, in the same way as the German Meisterschaft, five regional tournaments were held in the Netherlands, with the winning teams facing each other in a final round and DWS finished second in 1939, just two points behind Ajax and in 1951, three points behind PSV Eindhoven.
But on the occasion of the report birth of the Eredivisie, the DWS is not part of it, unlike the BVC Amsterdam (which finishes in 13th position…), even risking the relegation from Group A of the Eerste Divisiewhich sees him in penultimate place, with things not improving much the following season, with BVC finishing 14th and DWS eleventh in their respective categories…
This determines, at the end of the season, a merger between the two Clubs, with the maintenance of DWS as the name which, thus taking over the sporting rights of the dissolved BVC, participates in the Maximum Division for the first time national team, which also ended in 15th position, while the following two years were undoubtedly better, which saw the second Amsterdam team finish in tenth and eighth place respectively.
This trend could suggest a growth path towards the top of national football and instead in 1962 there was an unexpected failure resulting in the DWS – which fields as extreme defender a “right” Jan Jongbloed, who made his debut there at the age of 19 in mid-October 1959 – to know the bitter fate of relegation, even if only for one point of difference against ADO Den Haag …
Here, however, if the relegation that occurred could have had the effect of interrupting the desired growth path, it instead becomes a springboard, given that it is immediately compensated by the immediate rise in the Eredivisie at the end of the following season which the DWS dominated by winning the Eerste Divisie Tournament with 46 points (the result of 22 wins, 2 draws and 6 defeats…) and, above all, with 61 goals scored compared to just 21 conceded.
It is likely that it will be affected in the reported relegation Jongbloed’s absence for half the Championshipcertainly in the next one Defender Rinus Israel does his part for Promotionjust as in the season of the return to the Eredivisie a decisive component is made up of what has happened purchase of center forward Frans Geurtsen from Veloxwhose qualities the defenders of the First Division will soon notice…
An Eredivisie which had so far recorded, in its first seven editions, two victories each for Ajax and Feyenoord, while on the other three title occasions it went to DOS (also later merged with current Utrecht…), Sparta Rotterdam e PSV Eindhovenwith the latter Champion in charge when the Tournament kicks off on 25 August 1953, with DWS winning 2-1 over Heracles (Geurtsen’s brace, just for fun…), but above all with the surprise defeats of Ajax 1-2 in Sittard and Feyenoord, even overwhelmed 0-3 in Groningen.
Curiously, it is precisely the calendar that lends a hand in resolving these questions, in the sense that it is the second day the DWS to have to go to Rotterdam, conquering the “The tub” thanks to the Geurtsen center in the final part of the match, while in the third round it involves the “derby in Amsterdam” and in this case it is Ajax, who had redeemed themselves the week before with a 3-0 win over ADO, who asserted themselves with the same scorewhile PSV also leaves their first point of the season in The Hague…
PSV who, on the fifth matchday, also visits DWS to take the entire lead with 2-1 which leads him to isolate himself at the top of the standings with 9 points and two points ahead of his closest pursuers, while the DWS continues to suffer internal defeats in the following rounds – Sport Club Enschede (which in 1965 would form the current Twente…) and NAC Breda also took victory – so that after 11 rounds the gap from the top was 6 points.
At the beginning of the season, no one asked the newly promoted team to fight for the title, even a subsequent series of three consecutive victories allows DWS to finish the first round in fourth position with 19 points (including the recovery against Groningen, vice versa played on 26 January 1964…) and, what matters most, just two points behind the duo formed by Ajax and PSV Eindhoven…
A perhaps unexpected projection into the upper areas of the Rankings which the DWS – coached by the English coach Leslie Talbot – is nevertheless forced to confirm at the start of the second half of the season with matches on reverse pitches against Feyenoord, Ajax and PSV Eindhovenfrom the outcome of which it will be possible to clarify what future to have in the continuation of the Tournament.
Triptych that opens with the home victory for 2-0 over the Rotterdam Cluband then it was the Eindhoven match that determined the turning point of the season, when a brace in the second half from the usual Geurtsen allows DWS to take the entire lead for 2-0 and project himself alone at the top of the ranking, taking advantage of the contemporary crisis of both the Philips club and Ajax…
Ajax against whom the return derby was played on 5 March 1964 after being postponed from the original date of 19 January, and the draw was 1-1 (goals from Voogt and Swart…) does nothing but comfort Talbot’s boys on the fact that they have a “opportunity not to be missed” to give them the title, also because, on paper, the calendar now appears to be all downhill.
With in fact, only 9 days left of the Championship – and also comforted by an unbeaten streak lasting 10 rounds – however, the DWS begins to sense a sort of “short arm”, alternating the two away successes 2-0 in Amsterdam against BWA and 1-0 in Enschede, the now usual half missteps at home, where both Sparta and Go Ahead Eagles achieved a draw, 1-1 and 0-0 respectively…
The shifts at the conclusion of There are now only five tournaments and the advantage is minimal (2 points over Sport Club Enschede and 3 over PSV, which committed yet another suicide, coming out defeated by Volendam…), when the DWS goes to the NAC Breda pitch where the positive streak ends, thanks to the 1-2 defeat to overturn the half-time lead gained with Lenz at the end of the first half.
Luckily it is Sport Club Enschede did not go beyond a 2-2 draw at home with Feyenoordthus remaining at a delay length, but at the same time taking advantage of it PSV to reach a similar gap thanks to the 3-2 away win in Utrecht, recovering from a 0-2 deficitso that the Ranking, 360′ from the end reads: DWS p.35, PSV and Enschede p.34 …
A final therefore to be experienced and which sees Sparta give up a point to Ajax in the following round, while PSV won 3-1 at home against MVV Maastricht and the DWS “exaggerates” con an embarrassing 9-0 (!!) home win over ADO which sees Geurtsen score 5 times.
At this point it is important to keep your nerves, having the outgoing champions breathing down your neck and, in this respect, the calendar helps, given that the most difficult commitment is the subsequent trip to Sittard against Fortunaand then closed with two rounds in front of their own fans against DOS Utrecht and Groningen…
And things aren’t looking good in Sittard, considering that after a first half that ended goalless, midway through the second half Petakovic gave the locals the lead – and this while PSV is strolling in Amsterdam against BWA and Enschede is on equal terms against Ajax – but in the final minutes the result was reversed thanks to the centers of Temming and Vonhof and the 2-1 in the 90th minute was worth more than half a titleallowing the advantage over the Eindhoven Club to remain unchanged.
Here, therefore, is the 10 May 1964 17 thousand flocked to the “Olympic Stadium” of Amsterdam to encourage the DWS in the match against DOS Utrecht, resolved in their favor with a 3-1 on which Geurtsen scores a brace, rendering PSV’s 2-0 win over Sparta useless, while Sport Club Enschede leaves the scene with a 2-2 draw in Volendam, even though there are still 90 minutes to go…
Moreover, for on the last day scheduled for Monday 18 May 1964, the direct confrontation in Enschede between the Sport Club and PSV takes place, another advantage for the DWS which, however, is hosting – this time in front of 43 thousand spectators (!!) – the quiet Groningen, plays with the coronaries of its spectators, as, after going to the locker room at 0-0 at the start, he fell behind in the 10th minute of the recovery…
It is true that the news coming from Enschede is comforting, with PSV 0-2 down at half-time, but it is always good not to take risks and, as is logical, to “remove the chestnuts from the heat” thinks Geurtsen, who scored the point of the provisional 1-1 in the 69th minute (as well as his 27th of the season which crowns him “Top Scorer” …), before, in the space of just 60”, Lenz and Temming score the final 3-1 and the party begins.
Il DWS had a subsequent excellent season, which saw it finish in second placealbeit 5 points (45 to 40) behind champion Feyenoord – and Geurtsen confirming himself as top scorer with 23 goals – behaving very well even in European Cup, where it eliminated the Turkish team Fenerbahce in the first round (3-1 and 1-0) and the Norwegian team Lyn Oslo in the round of 16 (5-0 and 3-1), before surrendering with honor (1-1 and 0-1) against Vasas Gyor in the quarter-finals…
However, even good stories are destined to end and, after other good placings – fourth in 1966, eighth in 1967 and ninth in 1968 and 1969 – the corporate problems that lead to it also begin for the DWS in 1972 to merge with BWA (i.e. Blau Wit Amsterdam) and Volewijckers to create FC Amsterdamcontinuing its activity at an amateur level only.
Furthermore, even the newborn Company will not have a long life, as, after finishing fifth in 1974 and reaching the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup the following yearrelegated to the Eerste Divisie in 1978 and then definitively disbanded in 1982…
Curiosity, who has neverabandoned ship” from 1959 until 1977 (both as DWS and FA Amsterdam…) do you know who he is…!? But Jon JongboedObviously …
Only representative of the second Amsterdam team selected for the Final Phases of the ’74 World Cup in Germany, where he started in all 7 matches played by the “Oranje” national team including the 1-2 defeat in the final against the German hosts…
I like:
“Like” Loading…
2023-11-21 20:38:30
#FABULOUS #60s #DWS #AMSTERDAM #DUTCH #CHAMPIONS #SportHistoria
