Paul "Pauke" Meijers (2 June 193414 October 2013) was a Dutch

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player.

Club career

A right winger, Meijers followed in his father Hendrik's footsteps and started his career at

NEC Nijmegen NEC Nijmegen (''Nijmegen Eendracht Combinatie''), commonly known as NEC (), is a professional Dutch association football club based in Nijmegen. The club currently competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, following promotion fr ...

, making his professional debut against

Rigtersbleek VV Rigtersbleek is a football club from Enschede, Netherlands. It plays in the 2017–18 Sunday Eerste Klasse E. History From 1954 to 1961 Rigtersbleek played professional football. In 1954/55 in the Eerste Klasse and in 1955/56 in the Hoofdklas ...

in September 1954 and joined

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

from

De Graafschap VBV De Graafschap () is a professional football club from Doetinchem, Netherlands, playing in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football. It was formed on 1 February 1954 and they play their home games at the De Vijverberg stadium. ...

in 1957 for a then Dutch record 55,000

Dutch guilders The guilder ( nl, gulden, ) or florin was the currency of the Netherlands from the 15th century until 2002, when it was replaced by the euro. The Dutch name ''gulden'' was a Middle Dutch adjective meaning "golden", and reflects the fact that, wh ...

and went on to play 98 official games for the Rotterdammers. He also had spells at

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 ...

and

AGOVV AGOVV () is a Dutch association football club based in Apeldoorn. It was established on 25 February 1913. The club played in professional football from 1954 to 1971 and from 2003 to 2013. AGOVV's male first squad plays in 2022–23 in the Tweede ...

International career

Meijers made his debut for the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in a September 1953 friendly match against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. It would end up as his only cap. He was the second player in NEC history to make the national team. He also played for the Dutch army team.

Personal life and death

Meijers was the father of former

Helmond Sport Helmond Sport is a professional association football club based in the city of Helmond, North Brabant, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system. The club was founded on 27 June 1967, as ...

manager

Eric Meijers Eric Meijers (born 6 August 1963) is a Dutch football manager. Coaching career Meijers is mostly known for his ten-year spell as head coach of Achilles '29, which he turned into a mainstay of Dutch amateur football and a national Topklasse in 201 ...

. Meijers suffered from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

and died on 14 October 2013.Oud-Feyenoorder Pauke Meijers overleden
- RTV Rijnmond

References

External links

*

- Feyenoord
NEC stats
- NEC Archives {{DEFAULTSORT:Meijers, Pauke 1934 births 2013 deaths Footballers from Nijmegen Men's association football wingers Dutch footballers Netherlands men's international footballers Deaths from dementia in the Netherlands Deaths from Alzheimer's disease NEC Nijmegen players De Graafschap players Feyenoord players NAC Breda players AGOVV players