Dutch football legend Willem van Hanegem has spoken highly of fellow icon Rinus Israël (83), who passed away on Tuesday. The two played together for many years for the Dutch national team and Feyenoord, including in the European Cup final they won against Celtic.
Captain Israël scored the equaliser in the 1970 final as his side came back to win 2-1 against Celtic, who had won the tournament three years earlier. Subsequently, he became the first Dutch footballer to lift the European Cup itself.
A tough-tackling fondly defender nicknamed IJzeren Rinus (“Iron Rinus”), Israël formed a solid partnership at the back with Theo “the Tank” Laseroms during his eight years at De Kuip. In that time, he played 219 matches and scored 21 goals. Speaking of his old teammate, Van Hanegem gushed proudly:
“Rinus Israël is one of the best central defenders I have ever seen. He had an extraordinary kick, like a line. Look at his pass to Ove Kindvall, who gave Feyenoord the European Cup with that goal… What a ball. In those days, it was not common for central defenders to be so good at football. Such men were mainly expected to defend well. But he could do that too.
“Theo had the reputation of being tough, but Rinus was the meaner of the two. Where you could see Theo’s fouls from a mile away, Israël was much smarter. You never saw what he was doing.”
Israël began his career in his native Amsterdam with DWS, winning the Eredivisie title in 1964. He won a further three league titles at Feyenoord, as well as the KNVB Cup, the infamous European Cup and the Intercontinental Cup. In 1970, he was named footballer of the year, an accolade he won again in 1975 with Excelsior.
Despite struggling with knee injuries that prompted Feyenoord to let him go in 1974, Israël played professionally for another seven years with PEC Zwolle until he retired in 1982 at the age of 40. Van Hanegem continued, regarding the defender who turned out 47 times for Oranje:
“His death surprises me. I hadn’t heard that he was doing badly, although I knew that walking was difficult. We recently sat somewhere, also with the brothers Van de Kerkhof and Wim Rijsbergen there. We chatted about football the whole time. No, I actually still can’t believe that Rinus is no longer here. He was 83, but even if he had been 103, I would have been surprised by his death.”
