Willem Frederik Hesselink (8 February 1878 – 1 December 1973) was a Dutch football player and one of the founders of local club Vitesse in 1892. He was known for his blue woolen cap, which he seemed to wear day and night, and was nicknamed ''the Cannon'', although he was also referred to as ''the Doctor'' because of his doctorate in chemistry.

Career

In 1890, Hesselink had been part of an attempt to get a cricket club off the ground in

Arnhem Arnhem ( ; ; Central Dutch dialects, Ernems: ''Èrnem'') is a Cities of the Netherlands, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands, near the German border. It is the capita ...

and two years later he was one of the founders of Vitesse. Cricket was the initial activity of choice but football took over quickly and Hesselink was soon the star of the team. Hesselink also excelled in athletics, holding several national records including the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

. A team made up of him and his brothers became national champions in

tug of war Tug of war (also known as tug o' war, tug war, rope war, rope pulling, or tugging war) is a sport in which two teams compete by pulling on opposite ends of a rope, with the goal of bringing the rope a certain distance in one direction against ...

. In 1899, he made the move to HVV and won the

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

twice. In 1900, Hesselink was a member of the HVV side that participated in the

first edition The bibliographical definition of an edition is all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a book pr ...

of the Coupe Van der Straeten Ponthoz, regarded by many as the first-ever European club trophy. In the tournament, he scored one goal in the first round in an 8–1 trashing of hosts Léopold FC. He also featured in the final which ended in a 2–1 loss to RAP. In 1903, Hesselink moved to

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

to study Philosophy and Chemistry and joined

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional association foo ...

. Hesselink became Bayern's first international star. In three years he would grow out to be their star player, manager and chairman. Despite playing for

, during the years 1902–1905, he would still regularly play games for Vitesse. In January 1906 Hesselink left Munich, leaving a club that had grown considerably in his time at the helm in the hands of Kurt Müller, and returned to the Netherlands. Hesselink continued his footballing career, rejoining Vitesse and later becoming treasurer and president.

International career

In 1905 Hesselink started in the first-ever home match of the Netherlands national team, a 4–0 victory against

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. Some historians attribute one of the goals scored to him.

Personal life

Over the years Hesselink built up a colourful

curriculum vitae In English, a curriculum vitae (,

including doctorates in

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

and

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

, becoming director of the Keuringsdienst van Waren, being

expert witness An expert witness, particularly in common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge as ...

in several murder trials, founding a laboratory, and writing several health books. His thesis on the secrets of

Port wine Port wine (, ; ), or simply port, is a Portuguese wine, Portuguese fortified wine produced in the Douro, Douro Valley of Norte, Portugal, northern Portugal. It is typically a sweetness of wine, sweet red wine, often served with dessert wine, ...

made on the banks of the

Douro The Douro (, , , ; ; ) is the largest river of the Iberian Peninsula by discharge. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in the Spanish Soria Province, province of Soria, meanders briefly south, then flows generally west through the northern par ...

has proved to stand the tests of time and is still quoted regularly. He died in December 1973 aged 95.

Honours

HVV Den Haag * Dutch championship: 1899–1900, 1900–01 * Coupe Van der Straeten Ponthoz runner-up:

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15 ...

References

1878 births 1973 deaths Dutch men's footballers Footballers from Arnhem Men's association football forwards Netherlands men's international footballers FC Bayern Munich footballers SBV Vitesse players Dutch football managers FC Bayern Munich managers Dutch football chairmen and investors FC Bayern Munich board members Dutch expatriate men's footballers Dutch expatriate football managers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in West Germany Expatriate men's footballers in West Germany Expatriate football managers in West Germany HVV Den Haag players {{Netherlands-footy-forward-stub