Edu Snethlage

Everardus Snethlage was born on 9 May 1886 in Ngawi, Dutch East Indies, to a former German pastoral family. Snethlage began playing football with HVV Quick, which he joined in June 1901, at the age of 15, together with his two-year older brother Bram, who would also make it to the first team. Snethlage would only play in the lower teams for a year. As early as 1903, barely 17 years old, he was already a regular in the first team. Initially, Snethlage played in midfield as a right winger, but from the 1906–07 season onwards, he was drafted into the frontline, first as a center forward, but soon as inside right. This adjustment proved to be a game-changer as he formed for years a formidable attacking partnership with Caius Welcker, as they formed the most feared right wing that the Netherlands had known until that time. The two of them were nicknamed "scientific" by the media, likely referring to them being students. They played a crucial role in helping HVV Quick become the champions of the Netherlands in 1908, a championship in which they played together in every match. After a match in Antwerp against "Manchester University", he was declared the star of the match by the English referee James, who stated that "Snethlage is one of the few players in (continental) Europe that is at the same level as the English professional footballers", and adding that he would be in the highest salary class in England as a professional. Snethlage was indeed so coveted by the English that…

Snethlage represented the Dutch team at the 1908 Summer Olympics, playing both matches as an inside right as he helped his nation win the bronze medal in the football tournament. Snethlage spent the night before the bronze medal match in the London nightlife, emerging only at the field with just a few minutes to go. The manager Edgar Chadwick was furious, but put Snethlage on the team, who played great and scored the second and decisive goal in a 2–0 win over Sweden. In all of his international matches, Snethlage formed the right wing together with Caius Welcker, just like with Quick. Coincidentally, Snethlage's international career started with a 12–2 defeat against England amateurs, the biggest loss in the history of the Dutch team, and ended against the same opponent with a 9–1 loss, being the captain in the latter. Between these two games, Snethlage played a further nine, scoring 10 goals. Snethlage became the all-time top scorer for the Netherlands national team on 21 March 1909. His opening goal of the match against Belgium was his seventh goal for the Netherlands, breaking the then record of six goals that Eddy de Neve had held since 14 May 1905. Snethlage improved his record by scoring a hat-trick in the Low Countries derby against Belgium on 25 April 1909. He was, therefore, the first player to reach double figures for the Netherlands national team and retired from the team being its all-time top scorer. When he sustained his knee injury, Snethlage had been in the…

HVV

Dutch championship: 1907–08 KNVB Cup: 1908–09, 1909–10, and 1910–11 Netherlands

Olympic Games Bronze medal: 1908