Amsterdam and Basketball
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Amsterdam and Basketball Amsterdam Centuries in Motion Amsterdam and Basketball 190509_052019 Centuries in Motion Amsterdam and Basketball Centuries in motion Centuries in motion 1 Inhoudsopgave Introduction Amsterdam Society for Young Men Basketball in the The Apollohal The FAMOS Concertgebouw Kersttoernooi 4 6 8 10 14 Basketball in The liberator on the basketball Dick Schmüll Rinus Michels The Harlem wartime court Globetrotters 16 18 20 22 24 Basketball at Museumplein The first Piet Leegwater The Olympic basketball sports hall tournament that never happened 26 30 32 34 The Wheelchair Basketball World The Centre for Top Sport and The formation Jesper Jobse Championships Education of BC Apollo 36 40 44 46 Dutch women in the American Ton Boot The hybrid city Credits league 48 50 54 56 2 Amsterdam and Basketball Centuries in motion 3 Introduction msterdam has been a home to That turning point came after the Second Abasketball for nearly a century. From World War, when the Canadian liberators the local outdoor courts where children breathed new life into the sport. The shoot their first hoops to the sports halls impact of the Second World War also led where basketball players are moulded to the development of a new form of the into professionals, basketball is firmly sport: wheelchair basketball. The sport anchored in the city. At Museumplein, took its first steps to professionalisation in the heart of the city, the open and when Dick Schmüll founded the Dutch accessible variants of the sport unite Basketball Association in 1947. In with the professional competition. Since Amsterdam, people began to realise 1954, its outdoor courts have served as that sports facilities were an essential a public training ground for countless enrichment of the modern city. The generations of basketball players, construction of public outdoor courts including Ton Boot. But the square was made the sport more and more acces- also the stage for the spectacle of the sible to Amsterdammers, while modern FIBA 3x3 Europe Cup in 2017 and the sports halls gave basketball the indoor 3x3 World Cup in 2019. room it needed to grow. The birthplace of basketball in Amster- In the past few years, basketball has once dam is the club house of the Amsterdam again begun to take off in Amsterdam. Society for Young Men, where the very Since 2009, Topsport has been coaching first exhibition game took place in 1930. burgeoning basketball talents like Emese In the years that followed, the sport was Hof and Laura Cornelius, getting them added to school tournaments in the city, ready to compete on the international introducing Amsterdammers to basket- stage. To top it off, the formation of ball at a young age. In spite of this, BC Apollo Amsterdam in 2011 means basketball remained a sport in its infancy the city once again has a worthy com- in its first years. It was something to be petitor in the national basketball league. played in the breaks between other With the international competitions at sports, as it was for legendary soccer Museumplein, the nearly 200 outdoor player Rinus Michels. As Amsterdam courts and 29 basketball teams, the sport Basketball at Museumplein. Unknown photographer, 1955, Amsterdam City Archives began to expand over the course of the has become a prominent feature of the 20th century, so too did the growth of city. Amsterdam will undoubtedly remain basketball: from a hobby played on a a home for basketball in the future! small scale to a professional sport with a professional arena. 4 Amsterdam and Basketball Centuries in motion 5 1930 Amsterdam Society for Young Men The rise of basketball in Amsterdam was thwarted by korfball, which was regarded as a pure Dutch sport at the time. Main entrance of the Amsterdam Society for Young Men’s club house In 1903, an American correspondent for Bosje in 1928. The new building had a on Stadhouderskade. Het Algemeen Handelsblad attended a space for indoor sports and was able to Unknown photographer, basketball game in Kentucky. His report is host the first basketball game in January 1928, Amsterdam City one of the oldest descriptions of the of 1930. Archives sport in the Dutch language. “Each side has 5 players and the goal is to throw the Basketball players vs korfball players ball into a small basket, several metres In these early days, basketball was largely new sport only took hold in Amsterdam, frustration of Sport in Beeld, that in 1932 above the ground. The ball is as big as regarded as a fun winter training activity and it was not until after the Second wrote: “Why are sports editors so wary of the one used in the soccer game, but it for korfball players, nothing more. The World War that it sprouted in other all things new, of all that is groundbreak- cannot be kicked, only thrown from the areas – thanks in large part to Canadian ing, of all that is emerging and evolving? one to the other. Tackling each other is soldiers. Why are people so indifferent when it forbidden, players can merely obstruct comes to baseball or basketball, ping one another.” ‘Why are sports editors so wary of pong or badminton?” all things new, of all that is ground- Fun for training breaking, of all that is emerging and In the meantime, the basketball players This anecdote did not lead to a break- evolving?’ kept on playing. The first club was through for basketball, for the sport was founded in 1931, at the AMVJ pre- completely unknown in our country at In October of 1930, a team of Dutch dictably. On 8 January, 1934, the building the beginning of the last century. Even korfball players joined a handful of played host to the first ever tournament, korfball had yet to take off. In 1920, exhibition games against an English featuring fifteen teams, of which seven (!) a test match was to be played between basketball team at the AMVJ building. were from the AMVJ itself. With that, Dutch korfball players and American The korfball players struggled with the basketball finally became a serious sport basketball players at the Olympic Games rules of the game. “One step is permit- in our country, more than thirty years in Antwerp, but it never came to pass. ted,” sports magazine De Corinthian after the sport was first mentioned in In the subsequent years, there were a observed. “Solo play too, though in that a Dutch newspaper. number of different exhibition games of case one is required to let the ball the sport, including one at the Military bounce between every step. The Dutch AMVJ Basketball is still around today, Gymnastics and Sports School in Utrecht players were repeatedly surprised by this playing their games at Sportcentrum in 1924. The real breakthrough, however, Exhibition game at the Amsterdam Society dribbling.” Ookmeer. Their old home at Leidse Bosje came courtesy of the Amsterdam Society for Young Men’s club house. is now the property of NH Hotel Group. for Young Men (AMVJ) who took up Vereenigde Fotobureaux N.V., 1930, The majority of sports journalists had no residence in a new building at Leidse Amsterdam City Archives interest in basketball either. Much to the 6 Amsterdam and Basketball Centuries in motion 7 1931 Basketball in the Concertgebouw In the 1930s, basketball was played in the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam’s iconic concert hall) to raise awareness for the sport. For the first time, women played too. In the early years, basketball was not An eclectic mix taken very seriously by the rest of the The 1931 basketball game was the finale sporting world. The Netherlands was of an exhibition evening with roughly korfball country. 300 athletes from different disciplines, “in addition to various exercise routines With just a handful of exhibition games for young and old, all manner of sporting at the AMVJ building, it was impossible activities, including the very newest.” to break through this sporting isolation. Even swimmers and rowers took part, On 13 February, 1931, newspaper Het albeit without water. “An eclectic mix,” Algemeen Handelsblad therefore according to the Handelsblad, “but a announced a new endeavour: “Each joyous and lively sight! No wonder the Baskettball [sic] enthusiast is eagerly many spectators welcomed the multitude anticipating the arrival of the evening of of strapping gentlemen with rapturous Saturday, 18 April, on which a Baskettball applause.” Gymnastics competition at the Concertgebouw. There are no photographs known of the [sic] game will be played between the basketball games. Vereenigde Fotobureaux N.V., 1930, Amsterdam City Archives strongest A.M.V.J. team and a very The final basketball game was tough, strong London quintet, in the Concert- “the Englishmen proved to be more gebouw.” skilled and productive. The A.M.V.J.-ers opponent. The game between Brusselse the cradle of women’s basketball! appeared to have made considerable Athletic Club and AMVJ finished in a All of the efforts to raise awareness for This international basketball game was progress. The game ended in a 26–10 draw with a score of 8–8, a highly unusual the sport worked as the first basketball extremely unique, and was considered a victory for the visiting team.” result for the sport. league was started in 1934, composed significant opportunity to raise awareness almost entirely of Amsterdam clubs with for the sport. The fact that the Concert- The first women’s basketball game The most significant development of the the one exception from Bussum. There gebouw was selected to host the game Two years later, the AMVJ hosted another event, however, was the very first wom- was even interest from other sports, made it extra special, although the such sporting event at the Concert- en’s basketball game.