Gerardus Henricus "Puck" van Heel (21 January 1904 – 19 December 1984) was a Dutch

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

. He earned 64 caps for the

Netherlands national football team The Netherlands national football team ( nl, Nederlands voetbalelftal or simply ''Het Nederlands elftal'') has represented the Netherlands in international men's football matches since 1905. The men's national team is controlled by the Royal ...

, and played in the

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maxi ...

and 1938

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

. He also represented the Netherlands at the 1928 Summer Olympics. During his club career, he played for his home town club of

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club (association football), football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names bef ...

. Normally an inside left and left wing half, Van Heel was a slow player but possessed considerable vision and technical ability and was particularly good passer. He held the Dutch

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

record from 4 April 1937 (when he equaled the total of Harry Dénis) until 22 May 1979 (when his total was surpassed by

Ruud Krol Rudolf ("Ruud" or "Rudi") Jozef Krol (; born 24 March 1949) is a Dutch former professional footballer who was capped 83 times for the Netherlands national team. Most of his career he played for his home town club, Ajax, and he became a coach ...

). Van Heel was born on the southside of Rotterdam, the fourth of eleven children, into a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

family. His father worked in the shipyards of Rotterdam. He joined the amateur club Sportclub Feyenoord, a youth academy for Feyenoord Rotterdam, and made his amateur debut in the red and white on 12 October 1919.

Playing career

Van Heel was a cornerstone of the

success preceding

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, winning five Dutch Eredivisie Championships and two KNVB Cups. During his time there, he became the team captain and a figurehead 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 Leendert Roelof Jan "Leen" Vente (14 May 19119 November 1989) was a Dutch association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), striker. He earned 21 caps and scored 19 goals for the Netherlands national football team, a ...

, Piet Kantebeen) chosen to play at the inauguration of their new stadium on 27 March 1937. The stadium was christened

Feijenoord Stadion Stadion Feijenoord (), more commonly known by its nickname De Kuip (, the Tub), is a stadium in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It was completed in 1937. The name is derived from the Feijenoord district in Rotterdam, and from the club with the same na ...

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 A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

at 21 years of age, on 19 April 1925. He would be part of the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

team for the next 13 years, until his retirement from international duty on 23 October 1938. His final game, a 2–2 draw with

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

, would be his 64th cap for the Dutch national side. He equaled Harry Dénis's record of 56 caps on 4 April 1937 and would earn his 57th on 2 May 1937, both of these games were against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. He would remain the most capped Dutch player until 1979 when

would exceed his total. Van Heel played in the

and 1938

1938 FIFA World Cup squads Below are the squads for the 1938 FIFA World Cup final tournament in France. Hungary and Switzerland were the only teams who had players from foreign clubs. All the three such players represented French clubs. Nine selected players by Germany cam ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

s under English manager

Bob Glendenning Robert Glendenning (6 June 1888 – 19 November 1940) was an English professional footballer, who played as a wing half for several English clubs prior to and just after the First World War. He later went on to coach in the Netherlands, includi ...

Career honours

Club

Feyenoord *

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

: 1923–24, 1927–28, 1935–36, 1937–38, 1939–40; runner-up: 1930-31, 1931–32, 1932–33, 1936–37 * KNVB Cup: 1930, 1935; runner-up: 1934

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heel, Puck Van 1904 births 1984 deaths Association football midfielders Dutch footballers Netherlands international footballers Olympic footballers of the Netherlands Footballers at the 1928 Summer Olympics 1934 FIFA World Cup players 1938 FIFA World Cup players Feyenoord players Footballers from Rotterdam Dutch Roman Catholics