PSV is marking 75 years of freedom in Eindhoven between Sept. 12 and 18. Daily stories online about the club in wartime. In part 4, PSV's sports grounds evolve and players are expected in Germany.
The 1941-1942 football season had almost nothing but disappointments and low points for PSV. After the southern championship of the year before, coach Jan van den Broek's team had to content itself with an eighth place in the league table of twelve teams. Meanwhile, the war is having an increasing impact on the club.
Forced changes
It is noteworthy that PSV does not actually play a role in the league for a moment that year, especially since not much has changed in the composition of the team. The most important mutations are the loss of goalkeeper Leo Boumans and right winger Wim Middel. Also, this is the last season of good-old Sjef van Run, who as a 38-year-old is clearly on his way out. On the other hand, midfielder Miel d'Hooghe has made his definitive breakthrough in the first team and will be part of it until 1958.
That fact, however, is in stark contrast to the consequences the war has for the club. From all over the Netherlands young men were called up for the so-called "Arbeitseinsatz" in Germany, and some PSV players did not escape this either. The best-known among them is Harry van Elderen, the only 18-year-old right winger of the first team. He was considered one of the club's greatest talents and was put to work in a German steel factory to help manufacture weapons. In the course of 1942, Van Elderen disappeared from the PSV scene only to return there five years later. In those intervening years he is a member of Tegelen, a club the vicinity of Venlo.
A newcomer to the first team is Ben van Gelder, the later secretary and manager of PSV who will be very decisive for its international development between 1954 and 1980. Van Gelder plays only four games that season for his new club, for which he makes his debut on March 29, 1942. By his own admission, Van Gelder was not a great talent. 'I couldn't play football. I could run hard and that's a lot to say.'
Harry van Elderen (in white) played over 250 duels for PSV, but that would have been many more without the war | Photo from For Red-White sung
Renewed sports park
Despite the mediocre performance of the first team, PSV as a club went through an important development. In the spring of 1941, the Philips group decided to undertake a major modernization of the sports park on Frederiklaan. This requires substantial investments during the raging war, which Frits Philips is happy to make. The athletics track is made ready for international competition requirements and expanded to a size of 400 meters. In the winters, the grounds are used for skating competitions, of which the people of Eindhoven have full use.
In addition, there will be a raised grass edge around the sports field, which will be fenced off with a fence and a wooden armrest. The old stands will disappear, and furthermore, the sports park will be enriched with a professional microphone system, through which the results can be announced. Under the stands there will be a meeting room for the board and the groundsman will now have his own home at the complex.
The Philips Sportpark thus grows into one of the best accommodations in the Netherlands. On Sunday, September 7, 1941, Frits Philips performed its festive opening with a short speech and "a bang shot. The Sportkroniek, the official organ of the Nederlandsche Voetbalbond, paid due attention. The magazine writes: "The grounds look beautiful and possess around the large football field a beautiful cinder track of international dimensions and on both sides of the field large spaces for the jumping numbers. The throwing numbers can be finished on the midfield, except for the shot put which has found a place behind both goals. For the 100-meter sprint, fixed starting blocks have been installed in the track. The whole thing is surrounded by a wall several meters high, while a picturesque planting gives the sports park a rural character. The accommodation allows at least 20,000 spectators. This has given PSV unquestionably the best accommodation of any southern football field and the best athletics facility.'
In the winter of 1942, the Philips Sports Park, where the current stadium still stands, turned into a skating rink | © Philips Company Archives
Larger youth section
The Catholic newspaper Het Huisgezin describes the innovations as "therefore so important, because they meet a long-standing need. The practice of athletics only comes into its own when the appropriate accommodation is available. The focus here is on youth. If a club is to be strong and flourish, it must above all cultivate good reserves. By providing the youth with various facilities, it is hoped that the interest in these circles will be greatly stimulated so that in this way a larger youth section can be created, from which wonderful reserves can be cultivated.
Especially for the occasion, PSV is organizing an athletics competition in which the best athletes in the Netherlands will participate. The layout of the renovated sports park is mainly based on the ideas of top athlete Henk Kamerbeek, a member of PSV athletics and eleven-time national champion ball hurling. According to De Sportkroniek, both the government, the Dutch Football Association, the Dutch Athletics Union and the press are widely represented in the process. The magazine writes: "We pay tribute to the alert board of Philips Sportvereniging, which with diligence and still in these times has accomplished such a wonderful work.
At least 20,000 people attend the 1942 Dutch Athletics Championships | Photo from For Red-White Sung
Attack on Russia
For the Philips company, the war takes a violent turn when Adolf Hitler decides to attack Russia in June 1941. German industry is now almost entirely focused on producing new war gear. The country requires Philips or obliges the company to supply radio equipment and transmitting equipment. The consequence is that Philips starts making radio sets for Telefunken and Siemens, among others. On the one hand there is no escaping the German coercion, on the other Philips thereby guarantees employment for thousands of people. For Frits Philips it is especially important that workers are protected from Arbeitseinsatz in this way. However, his position is not uncontroversial. For example, resistance fighter and Philips' company lawyer Jan Hamming accuses him of being too lax.
In receivership
Messrs. Bormann and Merkel, as Verwalters, still oversee operations. Of the two, Merkel is the most "compelling" in Frits' experience. He makes Philips the suggestion of taking the National Socialist Movement (NSB) under his wing. 'That would be much better for the Netherlands as well,' the recommendation reads.
Frits feels nothing for it and turns to God. He prays, "Lord, take away this hatred from my heart against men who, though possessed of the devil's system, are still fellow men.
In July 1942, Bormann and Merkel are relieved of their duties at Philips by the occupying forces because they are now seen as "too lenient" toward the company. They are replaced by Dr. ing. Ludwig Nolte, who comes from AEG and has much more technical knowledge than his predecessors. Nolte will supervise the planning and production of Philips more strictly than before. For Frits this is annoying, because he is now more than before placed under the guardianship of the occupier.
Tomorrow in part 5: the infernal bombardment on the Philips factories.