Andro Charles Willem Knel (8 October 1967 – 7 June 1989) was a Dutch

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. During his career he served

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently compete in the Eredivisie, the top flight ...

and

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eerste Divi ...

. He died at the age of 21, when on 7 June 1989 he was killed in the

Surinam Airways Flight PY764 Surinam Airways Flight 764 was an international scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands to Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport in Suriname on a Surinam Airways DC-8-62. On Wednesday 7 June 1989, the fli ...

air crash in

Paramaribo Paramaribo (; ; nicknamed Par'bo) is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's ...

. Born in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, Knel moved from Rotterdam to

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

(Den Haag) with his family when he was 10 years old. He played in the youth squads of HMSH, DWO, ADO and

FC Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation ...

before making the switch back to Rotterdam when he moved to

. He made his professional debut in the 1986–87 season, aged 19. He loved Jamaican

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

and his

dreadlocks Dreadlocks, also known as locs or dreads, are rope-like strands of hair formed by locking or braiding hair. Origins Some of the earliest depictions of dreadlocks date back as far as 1600–1500 BCE in the Minoan Civilization, one of Europe' ...

combined with his position of attacking midfielder made many people compare him with

Ruud Gullit Ruud Gullit (; born Rudi Dil; 1 September 1962) is a Dutch footballer and subsequent manager who played professionally in the 1980s and 1990s as a defender, midfielder or forward. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all t ...

who also had dreadlocks in those days.

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...

and

Peter Tosh Winston Hubert McIntosh, OM (19 October 1944 – 11 September 1987), professionally known as Peter Tosh, was a Jamaican reggae musician. Along with Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer, he was one of the core members of the band the Wailers (1963� ...

were his main artists. Knel became loved at

Het Kasteel The Sparta Stadion, nicknamed Het Kasteel () is a football stadium in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It is the home ground of Sparta Rotterdam. It has a capacity of 11,026. History and layout The stadium is located in the neighbourhood of Spangen, whe ...

. There were various cheer banners with rasta colours, messages and other signs featuring Knel. He had no driver's license and made his way to training by tram or by roller skates. In total he played 44 professional matches for Sparta in which he scored one goal. In the winter break of the 1988–89 season

manager

Hans Verèl Hans Verèl (21 April 1953 – 9 November 2019) was a football defender and midfielder from the Netherlands, who played for Sparta Rotterdam, SVV and FC Den Bosch. Playing career Verèl made his debut for Sparta on 20 May 1973 against Den B ...

brought Knel to NAC for whom the club paid 185,000

guilder Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch and German ''gulden'', originally shortened from Middle High German ''guldin pfenninc'' "gold penny". This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the Holy Roman Empir ...

s (about

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

84,000). Also at NAC he soon became a fan favourite and stole many of their hearts. Not just with his performances on the pitch, but also with personality off the pitch. He was invited by

Sonny Hasnoe Sonny is a common nickname and occasional given name. Often it can be a derivative of the English word "Son", a name derived from the Ancient Germanic element *sunn meaning "sun", a nickname derived from the Italian name Salvatore (especially in N ...

, the founder of the

Colourful 11 Surinam Airways Flight 764 was an international scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands to Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport in Suriname on a Surinam Airways DC-8-62. On Wednesday 7 June 1989, the f ...

to be part of the team and travel to Suriname to play in the "Boxel Kleurrijk Tournament" with three Surinamese teams. The Surinam Airways Flight PY764 crashed during approach to

Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport , also known as Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport, and locally referred to simply as JAP, is an airport located in the town of Zanderij and hub for airline carrier Surinam Airways, south of Par ...

, killing 176 of the 187 on board, including Knel, making it the worst ever aviation disaster in Suriname's history. Among the dead were a total of 15 members of the Colourful 11, only three of them survived. Hundreds of fans of both NAC Breda and Sparta Rotterdam came together in memorial of Knel. A temporary Knel monument was revealed and the numbers of supporters visiting the monument proved his popularity. Due to the sad moments of Knel's death a special relationship between fans of both teams was created. Ten years after the disaster both clubs released a combined edition of their fanzine in memorial of Knel. The fans also introduced the Andro Knel Trophy, which is held every time the clubs play each other competitively in the Dutch leagues. Prior to the match the fans play against each other to decide which team wins that year's Andro Knel Trophy.

References

Official website

Knel in De Rat

* Iwan Tol: Eindbesteming Zanderij; het vergeten verhaal van het Kleurrijk Elftal () {{DEFAULTSORT:Knel Andro 1967 births 1989 deaths Association football midfielders Dutch footballers Dutch sportspeople of Surinamese descent Sparta Rotterdam players NAC Breda players Eredivisie players Footballers from Rotterdam Footballers killed in the Surinam Airways Flight 764 crash