Puck van Heel

Football player infobox
playername= Puck van Heel
fullname = Gerardus Henricus van Heel
nickname =


dateofbirth = January 21, 1904
cityofbirth = Rotterdam
countryofbirth = Netherlands
dateofdeath = death date and age|1984|12|18|1904|01|21
cityofdeath = Rotterdam
countryofdeath = Netherlands
height =
currentclub =
clubnumber =
position = Midfielder
youthyears = 1919–1923
youthclubs = Sportclub Feyenoord
years = 1923–1940
clubs = Feyenoord
caps(goals) = 322 (43)
nationalyears = 1925–1938
nationalteam = Netherlands
nationalcaps(goals) = 064 0(0)
pcupdate = 6 June 2007
ntupdate = 6 June 2007

Gerardus Henricus "Puck" van Heel (21 January 1904 – 19 December 1984) was a Dutch footballer born in Rotterdam. He earned 64 caps for the Netherlands national football team, and played in the 1934 and 1938 World Cups. During his club career, he played for his home town club of Feyenoord.

He held the Dutch caps record from April 4, 1937 [1937 in association football] (when he equaled the total of Harry Dénis) until May 22, 1979 (when his total was surpassed by Ruud Krol).

Van Heel was born on the southside of Rotterdam, the fourth of eleven children, into a Roman Catholic family. His father worked in the shipyards of Rotterdam. [Cite url|url=http://www.inghist.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/BWN/lemmata/bwn4/heel|title=Puck Van Heel Biography (Dutch)] He joined the amateur club Sportclub Feyenoord, a youth academy for Feyenoord Rotterdam, and made his amateur debut in the red and white on October 12, 1919.

Playing career

Van Heel was a cornerstone of the Feyenoord success pre World War II, winning five Dutch Eredivisie Championships and two KNVB Cups. During his time there, he become the team captain and a figure head for the club. He was also one of the 11 Feyenoord players, (Adri van Male, Pleun de Groot, Joop van der Heide, Bas Paauwe, Gerard Kuppen, van Heel, Jan Linssen, Piet Smits, Manus Vrauwdeunt, Leen Vente, Piet Kantebeen) chosen to play at the inauguration of their new stadium on March 27, 1937. The stadium was christened Feijenoord Stadion but would become known as "De Kuip". The game was against Belgian side Beerschot and watched by 37,825 spectators. Feyenoord were runaway victors with a final scoreline of 5 - 2.

Van Heel earned his first international cap at 21 years of age, on April 19, 1925. He would be part of the Dutch team for the next 13 years, until his retirement from international duty on October 23, 1938. His final game, a 2 - 2 draw with Denmark, would be his 64th cap for the Dutch national side. He equaled Harry Dénis's record of 56 caps on April 4 1937 and would earn his 57th on May 2 1937, both of these games were against Belgium. He would remain the most capped Dutch player until 1979 when Ruud Krol would exceed his total.

Van Heel played in the 1934 [1934 FIFA World Cup squads] and 1938 [1938 FIFA World Cup squads] FIFA World Cups under British manager Bob Glendenning.

Career Honours

Club

Feyenoord
*Eredivisie
**Winner (5): 1923-24, 1927-28, 1935-36, 1937-38, 1939-40
**Runner-up (4): 1930-31, 1931-32, 1932-33, 1936-37
*KNVB Cup
**Winner (3): 1930, 1935
**Runner-up (1): 1934

International

*FIFA World Cup
** Appearances (2): 1930, 1934

References