Rik Larnoe

Rik Larnoe came from the De Zwaantjes district in Hoboken and lived a short distance from the Beerschot Stadium. He had his début with the national squad in the 1920 Olympic football (soccer) tournament, playing the quarter-final against the Netherlands. In the final, he scored the second goal, securing Belgium’s 2-0 against Czechoslovakia. He earned 22 caps through 1924, when he finished his international career at the Olympics in Paris. At home in 1919 Larnoe débuted as a striker in the first season after the First Division resumed in Belgium after World War I. He had a regular place in the championship team of Beerschot, winning the Belgian title in 1922 and 1924-26. He quit playing competitively in 1927 after 150 matches and scoring 75 goals for his club in the First Division. Later he opened a café near Ronse, but returned in the 1950s to Antwerpen.