Van der Lez, Karel

In September 1906, Karel van der Le joined the RAP football club from Amsterdam ^{[3] [4]} . He began to play for the third composition of the club ^[5] , and a year later he moved to Ajax ^[6] . At that time, he lived in the southern part of the city at 19 Vanningstrat ^[7] . Karel began playing for the third team of Ajax ^[8] . In addition to football, he played cricket in the sports society of VVV , where his older brother France also performed. In the 1908/09 season, van der Le played for the Ajax 2 team, which played in the reserve second class ^[9] , and in the course of the season ended up in the first team. In the main squad he made his debut on January 24, 1909 in the second round match of the Netherlands Cup against Vitesse , playing in the position of a defensive midfielder ^[10] . The meeting ended with the victory of the Amsterdam 3-0 0 ^[10] . At the end of the season, Karel took part in the final match of the Golden Cross tournament, in which his team defeated the Blau-Wit ^{[11] [12]} in extra time.

In the second-class championship, Karel played for the first time on March 6, 1910 in a match against the AFC club - at the Hath Houten stadium his team defeated the guests 1-0, thanks to a goal by Henk Alofs in the second half ^[13] . In April, he became one of the six Ajax players who were called up to the Amsterdam team ^[14] . Until the end of the season, Karel played in several more official matches, including in the final of the Golden Cross tournament, which again ended in the victory of Ajax. In the championship, Amsterdamians took third place in the western group of the second class ^[15] .

At the beginning of the 1910/11 season, Ajax had a head coach, he became the Irishman Jack Kiruen , under his leadership, the team became the winner of the western group of the second class, and according to the results of the joint tournament for the first time in its history went to the first class of the Netherlands ^[16] . Van der Le during the season received more playing time, becoming a player in the main team.

In the first round of the Dutch championship in the 1911/12 season, his away team lost to the HFC with a score of 4: 2 ^[15] . Karel took part in 17 championship matches ^[15] , and Ajax took the 8th place in the western group following the season. At the end of May 1912, Karel went with the team to Austria-Hungary - on May 26 in Budapest , the Ajax players played a match with the local MTK club, and the next day went to Vienna for a match with Wiener ^[17] . The second game of Amsterdam brought together about four thousand spectators and was remembered by controversial refereeing ^[17] . First, the main referee of the meeting appointed an unmotivated penalty kick into the goal of the guests, and then did not even notice a rough game against van der Le, who was forced to leave the field before the end of the match ^[17] . Due to the rough play of the Austrians, the midfielder Ge Fortgens was also injured ^[17] . After another violation, the Amsterdam team protested and this time the referee, with a loud whistle of local local fans, removed the Wiener player from the field ^[17] . In the end, with the score 2-0, the Ajax players did not continue the match and decided to leave the field ^[17] .

At the end of December 1912, it was announced that van der Le was seriously ill ^[18] , so in subsequent matches he was replaced by Chris Canvas ^{[19] [20]} . At the age of twenty-one, he was forced to end his career at Ajax for health reasons, in his last season he played 10 matches in the Dutch championship ^[21] . In early March 1913, Karel went to the Dutch East Indies ^[22] . In April of that year, at the annual meeting, van der Le and Alofs were elected honorary members of Ajax ^[23] .

He later resumed his sports career, playing cricket for the BBB team ^[24] .

Karel was born in June 1891 in Amsterdam ^[25] . Father - Karel Vauterius Franciscus van der Le, worked as a sales representative, mother - Anna Lodesen, both parents were from Amsterdam. In addition to Karel, the family had four more children: the eldest son Vauterius Franciscus and three daughters - Johanna Gesina, Henrietta Johanna Georgina Karolina and Maria. The head of the family died in August 1902, and in May 1903, Anna and her children moved to Vanningstrat 19.

His brother France was a member of various sports associations, played football and cricket, and also served football and cricket matches as a referee, started in the Amsterdam Football Union and gradually began to serve the matches of the Dutch championship. In the 1911/12 season, France was the second treasurer at Ajax, and in the 1915/16 season he acted as commissioner. ^[26]

Karel was married to Stefanne Petronella Cornelia de Har, a native of Zwoll ^[25] . Their marriage was registered on April 27, 1918 in the city of Surabaya ^[25] . They spent most of their lives in the Dutch East Indies . During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia , which lasted from spring 1942 to autumn 1945, van der Le was in a prison camp ^[27] . His wife Stefanna died in April 1949 in Medan on the island of Sumatra ^[28] .

He died on March 9, 1962 at the age of 70 in The Hague .

• Evert Vermeer, Marcelle van Hoof. Ajax 100 Jaar Jubileumboek 1900-2000. Amsterdam: Luitingh-Sijthoff, 1999 .-- ISBN 90-245-3497-6 .

• Profile on afc-ajax.info (nid.)
• Profile on smitruhland.net (nid.)