Abe Minderts Lenstra (27 November 1920 – 2 September 1985) 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, rugb ...

and national football icon in the 1950s who played as a forward. He is regarded as one of the greatest players ever to hail from the Netherlands. He was also a

Frisia Frisia is a cross-border cultural region in Northwestern Europe. Stretching along the Wadden Sea, it encompasses the north of the Netherlands and parts of northwestern Germany. The region is traditionally inhabited by the Frisians, a West G ...

n legend, most notably with the club where he made his name as a football player,

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, fry, It Hearrenfean ) is a town and municipality in the province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the municipality had a population 50,859 (1 July). ...

Career

Lenstra played for a host of clubs such as SC Enschede,

Enschedese Boys Enschedese Boys is a non-league football club from the Dutch city Enschede. In 1965 the professional team of ''De Boys'' merged with their rivals Sportclub Enschede to FC Twente (both clubs continued in non-league football). Currently ''Enschede ...

, PH: DOS '19, WSV, DOS Kampen and vv LTC. However, it was with VV Heerenveen (the previous name of current day sc Heerenveen) where he first was selected for the Dutch national team. When in 1954 professional football was introduced in the Netherlands the already 34-year-old Abe Lenstra moved from ''VV Heerenveen'' to the bigger ''SC Enschede''. It was in Enschede where he missed his best chance of ever winning the Dutch title: in 1958 ''SC Enschede'' lost the first and last Eredivisie final ever after 180 minutes from

DOS Utrecht DHSC is a football club in the Ondiep district of Utrecht, Netherlands. The club plays in the 2022-23 Vierde Divisie. History VV DOS (1901–2004) Voetbalvereniging Door Oefening Sterk, in short VV DOS, was established in 1901. The club won ...

. In 1960, he made the move to the rivals ''Enschedese Boys'', where he ended his professional career in 1963. With the national team, for which he played a total of 47 caps scoring 33 goals, he struck a partnership with other internationals such as

Faas Wilkes Servaas "Faas" Wilkes (, 13 October 1923 – 15 August 2006) was a Dutch football forward, who earned a total of 38 caps for the Dutch national team, in which he scored 35 goals (average 0.92 goals per game). However, for a prolonged period of ...

and Kees Rijvers. He was known to stand by his principles and objected to play for the national squad if he was not selected for the position he favoured. It was Lenstra who put the name of sc Heerenveen on the footballing map, where the club was also fondly referred to as 'Abeveen'. In 1977, long after he retired from football, he was diagnosed with having a

brain haemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

and spent the remainder of his life using a wheelchair. He died in 1985, just a few days before the first ever international match in the stadium that a year later would bear his name.

Legacy

Today, his name has been closely associated with sc Heerenveen and its stadium: The (first and second) Abe Lenstra Stadion has been named in his honour as a lasting memorial.

Honours

Heerenveen * Northern First Division: 1941–42, 1942–43, 1943–44, 1945–46, 1946–47, 1947–48, 1948–49, 1949–50, 1950–51 *

Netherlands Football League Championship The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...

Runner-up: 1946–47, 1947–48 SC Enschede *

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...

Runner-up: 1957–58 Individual * Netherlands national team all-time top scorer: 1958–1959 * Dutch Sportsman of the Year:

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

top scorer: 1946–47, 1947–48

External links

Abe Lenstra
at sc Heerenveen official website

References

Yme Kuiper, 'Abe Lenstra (1920–1985). Van Us Abe tot nationaal idool,' in: ''Fryslân, Nieuwsblad voor geschiedenis en cultuur'', jg. 6 (2000), nr. 2, pp. 50–53
Online site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lenstra, Abe 1920 births 1985 deaths Dutch footballers Association football forwards Netherlands international footballers Olympic footballers of the Netherlands Footballers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Footballers from Friesland Sportspeople from Heerenveen SC Heerenveen players Sportclub Enschede players Eredivisie players 20th-century Dutch people

Career

Legacy

Honours

External links

See also

References