Thursday, July 31, 2025
The White One, Part 4
Was Willy Brokamp missed in Germany in 1974? It seems churlish to suggest such a thing, given how thrillingly the Dutch played, not least his replacement on the left side of the attack, Rob Rensenbrink. But it is worth remembering that in the final, Rensenbrink had to go off injured. The one other left-sided attacker in the squad, the much-loved Ajax veteran Piet Keizer, perhaps made the cut for sentimental as much as footballing reasons; in his one game at the finals, against Sweden, he had been unimpressive. Rensenbrink's replacement in the Munich showpiece was René van de Kerkhof: a doughty warrior, but not an incisive attacker or finisher. Could that have been Brokamp's moment instead?
It was, in any event, not the sort of thing that a character like Willy Brokamp would have lost much sleep over.
Ironically, after being merely a provincial star while the big boys from Amsterdam were winning three successive European Cups, Brokamp did eventually end up at Ajax. But not before a last-ditch tactic by the management at MVV Maastricht kept him in Limburg for one more precious season...and started the affable Brokamp on a new career.
In the face of increasingly seductive offers from the big clubs following Brokamp's career apogee in 1973, MVV knew that a serious sweetener would be required if their talisman were to remain at the club. So they arranged for Brokamp to take over the management of the well-known Maastricht café Aux Pays-Bas ("In the Netherlands"). They knew their man well.
Some explanation is in order here. In Holland, a café is generally a bar as well, with coffee available but liquor flowing freely as well. With his sociable nature and fondness for a good time, Brokamp had long fostered an ambition to run his own establishment. It was to be the start of a beautiful friendship; a common joke in the years to come was that Brokamp was his own best customer.
The seeds of his future career had been planted, but eventually the lure of a big move (and a big city) was too much to resist. With the legendary Ajax side of the early seventies gradually disintegrating, and their attacking stars in particular either leaving for pastures new (Johan Cruyff) or passing their peak (Keizer), some new firepower was needed up front. Willy Brokamp signed for Ajax prior to the 1974/75 season.
Brokamp later expressed surprise that Ajax had paid so much for a player already in his late twenties, but his initial performances suggested that he was going to prove good value. In his first game, away against NAC Breda, he opened the scoring with a superb bicycle kick as Ajax won 4-1. With Keizer now pulling the strings from midfield behind a forward line of Brokamp, Johnny Rep and the excellent centre-forward Ruud Geels, things looked promising for the Amsterdam club.
Sadly, an ongoing dispute between Keizer and the Ajax management disrupted the team, and results fell away. Brokamp stayed at Ajax for two seasons and notched a creditable 23 goals in 55 games (he was not, it must be stressed, the main striker), but the success of the early 1970s proved elusive.
His time in Amsterdam is, in any case, generally remembered for other reasons. The store of Brokamp anecdotes grew exponentially when he was let loose in one of the most fun-loving cities of Europe.
The club management wisely stationed the newly-arrived Brokamp in a house far from the famous Amsterdam entertainment district, Leidseplein. Brokamp promptly rented an apartment in Leidseplein anyway, without telling the club, and made the most of his new digs. "There's more than just football," was his life's motto.
In another irony, Brokamp's second year at Ajax coincided with the return of Rinus Michels to the club. Although Brokamp bore the totaalvoetbal maestro no particular animus as a result of his ejection from the World Cup squad - he more or less ignored all his coaches, apart from his mentor at Maastricht, George Knobel - he seemed to delight in playing the odd prank on Michels. On one occasion, in a game for which Brokamp was benched, Michels was preparing to make a substitution. Another player was supposed to enter the fray, but Brokamp simply strolled up to the sideline and subbed himself on, with Michels temporarily distracted.
Another apparently unconfirmed story involves Brokamp turning up for a morning training session in a tuxedo. The reason? He had been at a friend's wedding the night before, and the night had, well, turned into morning. Brokamp simply saved some time by skipping the inconvenient going-home bit.
Now 30, Brokamp headed back to Maastricht in the summer of 1976 after his eventful stay in Amsterdam. MVV awaited him, but, perhaps more importantly, so did the Aux Pays-Bas. To be concluded in Part 5.
