Eddy de Neve

Eduard Karel Alexander de Neve (1882-01-01 or 1885-01-02 in Batavia, Dutch East Indies - 1943-08-30 in the Dutch East Indies) was a Dutch football player, who played for Velocitas Breda, HBS Den Haag and the Netherlands national football team.

Biography

De Neve was born on either 1882-01-01 or 1885-01-02, as the son of Eduard Karel Alexander de Neve, a major in the Royal Dutch East Indies Army, and Johanna Christina Fokker. His father died when De Neve was nine or ten years old, and the family moved to the Netherlands. In The Hague, De Neve joined football club Quick. When he joined the Royal Netherlands Army, he started to play football for Velocitas Breda, which was affiliated with the Royal Military Academy of the Netherlands. He moved to HBS Den Haag in 1905, and won the Dutch national football title in his first season back in The Hague.

De Neve was part of the first Netherlands national football team, which played for the Coupe Van Den Abeele against Belgium on 1905-04-30. De Neve made the opening goal of the match after 80 minutes.cite web|url=http://www.envb.nl/wedstrijd_eersteinterland.htm|title=België - Nederland 1-4 n.v. 1-1 (0-0). 30 april, 1905. Vier goals en stoere woorden van Eddy de Neve|publisher=Eerste Nederlandse Voetbalboeken Boekhandel|accessdate=2007-11-30|language=Dutch, based on cite book|title=Oranje Toen en Nu deel 1 (1905-1914)|author=Matty Verkamman|year=2000-01|language=Dutch] An own goal by Dutchman Ben Stom in the 86th minute was the equalizer, and the score was 1-1 after regular time. De Neve scored three goals in extra time, after 106, 117 and 119 minutes, and the final score of the match was 4-1. The Netherlands had won its first match ever, and De Neve had scored all four Dutch goals. [cite web|url=http://www.voetbalstats.nl/nedxi/hist19050430-1.html|title=30-04-1905 De allereerste interland|publisher=Voetbalstats.nl|date=2005-04-30|accessdate=2007-11-27|language=Dutch]

He was also in the Dutch squad for a return match in Rotterdam two weeks later, on 1905-05-14. The Netherlands won the match 4-0, with De Neve having scored two goals. De Neve played the third and final international match of his career on 1906-05-13, again against Belgium, this time resulting in a 2-3 loss.

De Neve had scored six goals in three caps. He would remain the top scorer of the Dutch national team until 1909-03-21, when Edu Snethlage of De Neve's former club Quick scored the opening goal of a match against Belgium, his seventh goal for the Dutch national team.

A knee injury and military service in the Dutch East Indies forced De Neve to end his career as a football player in 1907. He was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant on 1909-07-27, and was honourably discharged from the army two months later. In the same year, his brother Gilles was eaten by cannibals on the island of Sumba in the Dutch East Indies.cite news|url=http://www.nos.nl/nosstudiosport/columns/onkenhout/archief/050503_onkenhout.html|title=Het trieste leven van Eddy de Neve|author=Paul Onkenhout|publisher=NOS Studio Sport|date=2005-05-02|accessdate=2007-11-27|language=Dutch]

De Neve worked for several Dutch companies and plantations in the Dutch East Indies, but he struggled to get by. On 1913-02-01, he got engaged to Daisy Maud Green in the port of Genoa, Italy. The two got married on 1914-08-14 in Lubuk Sinapeng in the Dutch East Indies. They had one son, Gilles jr. The couple were divorced after twelve years; Daisy Maud and Gilles jr. moved to The Hague, while De Neve remained in the Dutch East Indies.

He published his memoirs, entitled "Koning Voetbal" ("King Football"), in 1938, on the occasion of the Dutch East Indies taking part in the 1938 FIFA World Cup.

De Neve was notified by letter that his only child, Gilles jr., had died in the crash of his Royal Air Force Supermarine Spitfire in Kent, England in 1941. Eddy de Neve died on 1943-08-30, 58 years of age, in a Japanese concentration camp in the Dutch East Indies.

References