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Gerrit Keizer

 

Gerard Pieter (Gerrit) Keizer (August 8, 1910 – December 5, 1980), also known as Gerard Keyser, was a Dutch football goalkeeper. As well as being highly successful in his native country, he was also one of the first players from outside Great Britain or Ireland to play in English football.

 

Keizer joined Ajax Amsterdam at the age of 16, and two years later made his debut for the side, against Stormvogels on April 1, 1929. For the first few years of his career he deputised for Ajax's No. 1 Jan de Boer, and in 1930 he moved to England, in order to improve his English.

 

Keizer first played as an amateur for Kent side Margate; at the time, Margate acted as a "nursery" club of sort for London giants Arsenal, and soon Keizer was spotted by Arsenal's manager, Herbert Chapman. Keizer was immediately pitched into the Arsenal first team, and played in Arsenal's first twelve First Division matches of the 1930-31 season, making his debut against Blackpool on August 30, 1930. He also played in the Gunners' Charity Shield victory over Sheffield Wednesday that season.

 

While playing for Arsenal, Keizer was still on the books of Ajax, and would resort to flying between England and the Netherlands after a Saturday match for Arsenal, so that he could play for Ajax's reserve side on the Sunday. This earned him the nickname The Flying Dutchman from his team-mates and the press alike.

 

Keizer's playing style was distinctly flamboyant, to the point of erratic; he truly lived up to the "crazy" stereotype of the goalkeeper. He never kept a clean sheet in his first-team matches at Arsenal, and with stiff competition from Arsenal's existing 'keepers, Bill Harper and Charlie Preedy, Keizer was dropped in October and never played for the first team again. He left Arsenal in July 1931 for Charlton Athletic, and later played for Queens Park Rangers.

 

He finally returned to Amsterdam in 1933, and became Ajax's number one for the next fifteen years; he played 302 matches for the club, despite the Second World War intervening. He also played for the Dutch national side twice, his debut coming in a 1934 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Belgium, a 4-2 win that saw them reach the finals; Keizer did not make the squad for that tournament, however.

 

After the war, Ajax were in deep financial trouble and could not even afford their own kit. Keizer flew to London to ask his old club Arsenal for any help, and Arsenal obligingly donated a set of kit and some footballs. Ajax thus played their first matches after the war in Arsenal's red and white shirts, rather than their own. Keizer continued to make repeated trips across the Channel, but in 1947 he was discovered to be smuggling British banknotes amongst the sportswear; he was fined 30,000 guilders and sentenced to six months' imprisonment.

 

After his release from prison, Keizer went into business and went on to become one of Amsterdam's leading greengrocers. In 1955 he returned to Ajax, this time as a member of the club's board. He died in 1980 aged 70.