On March 11, 1928, football was broadcasted for the first time on Dutch radio. Han Hollander reports on behalf of AVRO to Holland – Belgium. You can read this article for free, but the donation is good – at the bottom of this page.

Less than a hundred years ago, the Dutch national team was just as popular as it is now. You only had to come to the game itself if you wanted to watch it live, because before 1928 there was no live broadcast. There was no television at all.

So the good news for football fans was that Han Hollander first informed her in 1928 to broadcast a match for the Dutch national team. How busy those days was with the Orange Home Games, you can see in this video from 1934. In the end, Han Hollander goes to his booth with a beautiful view of the stadium.

We will not be discussing the 1928 international match between the Netherlands and Belgium itself, because after ninety minutes the annual tame Derby capable of landing At 1-1. That match was a coincidence Not In the Olympic Stadium, as is sometimes said later, but in its predecessor: the Nederlandsch Sportpark. It was demolished in 1929.

Miserable time

But why was Han Hollander chosen for this radio report and not someone else? His wife said in 1938: “He wrote a lot about sports and sports newspaper reports and magazines. One afternoon, he was unexpectedly asked if he felt like he was trying to beat a soccer match for AVRO. My husband said: Yeah, I would like to give it a try, but Then it turned out that others had already been asked of them. But when it came to the strikes, others thanked them for the honor and then my husband did. “

I forgot to say my husband wasn’t enjoying it in the lead up to that match. They were among the most miserable people in my life, and during that time I managed to slap myself in the face many times because when asked if I wanted to burden myself with it, Hollander said of this. And the He said. I faced the biggest difficulties at that time, as I was no longer a person in my family. I just plucked up and jumped through it all. It was the worst time of my life. “

greeting

However, on March 11, 1928, the time finally came. Since it was the first time, of course something went wrong. Newspaper Motherland: “It is a pity that the programs gave an incorrect time to start broadcasting, which caused many to actually adjust the start time of the broadcast.” Moreover, Hollander was so nervous that he began his report by saying, “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.” It was two o’clock in the afternoon.

Willem Vogt, the director of AVRO, who led Hollander throughout the match, said things went smoothly after that. “He kept the atmosphere going. In boring moments he talked about the players and the characteristics of the game. And when things got tight, he stole the heart of the non-athlete.” douairières [een weduwe van iemand van adel] Enthusiastic and sincere. “

Also Motherland We felt good: We realized that our hearts beat faster every now and then in a struggle over a goal, and this is evidence that the sports journalist was following the game well. Both broadcasters definitely deserve a word of appreciation for this first attempt.