Bio
Aad van Welzenes
Alfred Emiel Van Welzenes was a player for V.O.C. and Xerxes, an athlete (100 metres) and a referee, active between 1929 and 1947. He is also known for jumping off a bridge.
bridges
He tells the story as if he just happened to walk past and couldn't help himself and jumped off the Willemsbrug into the river Maas. August 1932. It turned out it was a practice dive, because a week or so later (August 28th, Koninginnedag, a national holiday) he climbed the arches of the railway bridge lying next to the Willemsbrug. He had called the news (then called "Polygoon Journaal" which showed the news in cinemas before the feature film) and newspapers and wore all white so he could be clearly seen on camera.
Van Welzenes sat there for a while waiting for the boat that was supposed to pick him up. More and more people shouted jump so he did. It must have been a great dive, arms wide for a while, then straight into the water, 27 metres. Aad van Welzenes was also a good swimmer.
Did you know
STUNT MAN
- Van Welzenes once canceled the winning goal by DHC (Leiden) in an important regional match against ADO (The Hague) because time was up. He had not whistled to indicate end of match but just said the goal came too late. Not everyone understood what had happened. While some players were celebrating others tried to attack him.
- Van Welzenes told writer Richard van Rooijen ("Een eeuw fluiten") he had been officiating in England as well. He had asked Stanley Rous to help him land the job. He recalled about 25 matches and one of them was the Manchester derby between United and City, April 4th 1947.
This happens to be untrue, that particular match never happened and some people wonder if he ever officiated in England at all. - The fastest referee in Holland liked his drink and sometimes came home 2 days after a match after having had some fun in the team's clubhouse and visiting bars. Aad van Welzenes said he could be trusted with those things and that there was nothing wrong with him going out with officials from a team he had just refereed.
The same thing was said by refs like Leo Horn and Frans Derks, These days socializing with a club's players or officials is impossible for a referee. - Van Welzenes liked to travel, he organized football trips and after his retirement he and his wife went around the world visiting countries and matches.
- (sources De Oud-Rotterdammer 2009, Een eeuw fluiten and hethistorischatelier.blogspot.com)
Statistics
Statistics for AAD VAN WELZENES
| Totals | Home | Away | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Penalties | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fouls | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Yellow | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| YellowRed | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Averages | Home | Away | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Penalties | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fouls | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Yellow | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| YellowRed | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Based on 1 international matches