Nick Stienstra (24 December 1954 – 7 June 1989) was a Dutch-Surinamese

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 lea ...

and coach. During his playing career he played for

SV Robinhood Sport Vereniging Robinhood is a Surinamese professional football club based in Paramaribo that competes in the highest level of football in Suriname. Founded on 6 February 1945, Robinhood is the most successful club in Surinamese football, hav ...

. He was killed at the age of 34 in the Surinam Airways Flight PY764 air crash in

Paramaribo Paramaribo ( , , ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's p ...

on 7 June 1989.

Career

In his playing career Stienstra played at

before he moved to the Netherlands, where he was unable to sign on with a professional football club. Instead, he became determined to become a successful coach and started taking courses to become a football coach. In the meantime he was already coaching amateur side RCH from

Heemstede Heemstede () is a town and a municipality in the Western Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. In 2021, it had a population of 27,545. Located just south of the city of Haarlem on the border with South Holland, it is one of the richest ...

. One of his ambitions was to return to Suriname to professionally develop Surinamese football. He was appointed by Sonny Hasnoe, the founder of the

Colourful 11 Surinam Airways Flight 764 was an international scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands to Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport in Suriname on a Surinam Airways Douglas DC-8, DC-8-62. On Wednesday 7 June ...

, to coach the team in Suriname for the "Boxel Kleurrijk Tournament" against three Surinamese teams. The Surinam Airways Flight PY764 crashed during approach to Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport, killing 176 of the 187 passengers on board, including Stienstra, making it the worst aviation disaster in Suriname's history. Of the 18 members of the Colourful 11, there were only three survivors. Stienstra was the only victim of the crash to be buried in Suriname.

References

Stienstra at AndroKnel.nl
* * Iwan Tol: Eindbesteming Zanderij; het vergeten verhaal van het Kleurrijk Elftal () 1954 births 1989 deaths Surinamese men's footballers Surinamese football managers Dutch men's footballers S.V. Robinhood players SVB Eerste Divisie players Dutch football managers Surinamese emigrants to the Netherlands Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Suriname Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1989 Footballers from Paramaribo Men's association football players not categorized by position Racing Club Heemstede managers 20th-century Dutch sportsmen {{Suriname-footy-bio-stub