Bok de Korver was the best known and most popular player of his era in the Netherlands. He played for the Rotterdam club of Sparta, with which he won six national championships between 1909 and 1915. He played in the very first Dutch national team match on 30 April 1905 against Belgium, and would eventually win 31 caps. In 1908 and 1912 he played on the Dutch teams that won the bronze medals in the Olympic football competitions, but his largest national team success was undoubtely in 1913. The Dutch team beat England 2-1, the country’s first victory over the “inventors of the game”. However, the English were an amateur side and their loss made little if any impact back home.
De Korver himself was an amateur too, and he considered training to be an unfair advantage over other players, so he never trained. This cost him a spot on the national team for two years, as he refused to show up for the team’s training. However, due his immense popularity and his undoubtable playing qualities he was eventually admitted back on the team. Fair play was important for De Korver, who supposedly never made a foul during his playing career. Such was his fame that a club in rival city Amsterdam was named after him: BDK.
Netherlands