Wim Hanse

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Wim Hansen (5 February 1924 – 19 October 1967), more commonly known as Wim Hanse, was a Dutch football player. Between 1939 and 1949, he played for Racing Club Haarlem. He also played for the Netherlands national team.

At the age of 16, Wim Hanse made his debut for Racing Club Haarlem (R.C.H.) in the away match against Koninklijke HFC. As a result of 4 goals scored by the young Hanse, R.C.H. won the game with a score of 1–4. After a 5–0 win against BVV De Kennemers, Hanse joined the standard line-up as a striker.^[1]

In the 1941/42 season, R.C.H. won the league and played playoffs for promotion against De Volewijckers and VV DOS. The club didn't manage to promote as a result of two losses. Another setback for Hanse's team was the fact that, during the later phases of World War II, the German occupiers needed more and more young men for the war, so some of Hanse's teammates were sent to Germany or disappeared entirely during the 1943/44 season.

In the same season, the R.C.H. eleven needed to walk almost 2 hours to an away game at Oostzaan, because of sudden absence of transportation from Amsterdam. Despite this, they spectacularly won the match with 5–1. The subsequent season, 1944/45 was cancelled prematurely because of the Dutch famine.

During that same precarious period, Hanse was selected for the Netherlands national team, for which he played at least 1 game (0–3 against England in De Kuip).

After the liberation, R.C.H. had a few good seasons in the Tweede Klasse, with the 1948/49 season as the highlight. During the deciding match against RKVV Velsen, Hanse managed to score the winning goal, making R.C.H. champions of the league. This championship allowed them to compete in a promotion league. The first three promotion matches were won effortlessly, but because of the two subsequent losses, a win against D.H.C. on 1 May 1949 was essential. Hanse scored a whopping 4 goals during this match, and his assist on Koster resulted in the game ending in a 5–1 victory. After 12 years, Racing Club Haarlem finally managed to return to the Eerste Klasse, at the time the highest Dutch football league.

In the 1949/50 season, Wim Hanse only played in 4 games. A few days after the victory over SC 't Gooi, a disease was diagnosed that ended Hanse's football career. His position as a striker was taken over by Klaas de Boer. Hanse was missed severely at the club, as proven by the following (translated) words about him in the 1951 club magazine: "He was our striker for nine years and he has done countless times, what a striker is expected to do: making goals. He had an extraordinarily fierce sprint and could shoot on target at full speed, without having a preference for his left or right foot. His whole body seemed to be geared towards making goals, because he could just as easily score with his head as he did with his legs. For years he, along with great technical players like Biesbrouck and De Wette, formed an almost ideal trio. For a considerable amount, our promotion was his work and because of that, it's such a shame that he could only play a few matches in the Eerste Klasse."

During Hanse's time at R.C.H. he scored 178 goals in 168 matches, and was the team's top scorer in every year that he played for the club. Despite his short career, Hanse is an indispensable part of the history of R.C.H. and Haarlem's football history as a whole. In 1953, he was appointed as a member of merit by his old club. Wim Hanse passed away on 19 October 1967, at the age of 43. He left behind a wife and two daughters.