Club kleuren

1939: The last tour

In the year that World War II began, a change of guard took place at De Flamingos. After ten calm years in the board, chairman C.M. (Kees) Pleyte d'Ailly decided that it was time to make way for J.L.F. (Jacob) de Meyere. When he took over the chairmanship of The Flamingos, Kees d'Ailly had already made a name for himself in the cricket world as a director. Almost forty years before, he had been president of the NCB that was only a few years old at the time and had skilfully guided the union through its early years. He was a man of calibre. He had been a wise leader of De Flamingos and was celebrated on April 22 with many kind words.

Very soft wickets

1939 was also the year of what turned out to be the last tour to England for quite a while. The report of this tour, written by Jan van den Bosch, is compelling reading. First of all, he recalls the fact that the Flamingos had to deal with very soft wickets during all matches, an advantage for bowling, a disadvantage for batting. The best batting was performed by Willem Hans Gallois who even managed to stand on a "gluepot" in the match against the Adastrians, the club of the Royal Air Force, and almost single handedly took the victory.

But then there was the fielding, in those years certainly not the part of the game in which the Dutch cricketers excelled. Van den Bosch could stop talking about this. "Fielding was the touring team's strongest weapon, as everyone excelled at it. All reports in the English newspapers emphasized the splendid fielding of the Dutch. The anticipation, picking up and throwing the ball, everything was done well. Catches were almost all held, with some being very difficult."

What will become of them?

At the end of his account, the reporter became somewhat melancholic. He realizes that the tour described by him may well have been the last for a long time. Will The Flamingos ever again see the glorious English cricket grounds they so loved to visit? And their friends from overseas, what will become of them? And The Flamingos themselves? Not long after returning, many of them will have to dress in H.M.'s uniform "to perhaps watch over the fortunes of our homeland at distant posts." Of course, many Flamingos will be able to cling to their precious memories, but that's just a surrogate. Yet when all the horrors have disappeared, there is hope again. “Then the flamingos' wings will flap again, and these birds will go back across to play the game that is so dear to them among the green hills of Kent and Surrey."

News in Laren

Not long after the Flamingos returned from England, the following scene took place in Het Gooi, recorded from the mouth of Max Slingenberg, umpire in the game described here.

Guus Hamburger's field on the Eemnesserweg in Laren looked more idyllic than ever. The day he invited VRA and The Flamingos to a friendly game had everything to live on in everyone's memory as a perfect cricket day. Red and Whiter Fik Davidson strode to the middle to add luster to the day with a nice innings.

His performance started serenely, but it did not stay that way for long. There was a lot of noise at the boundary. Latecomers reported knowing for sure: the Germans had invaded Poland. After all, the radio news service never lied. Fik Davidson suddenly didn't feel like it anymore. Immediately after hearing the message, he gave his wicket away and rushed to the side. "I have to go" some heard him say. And he left. For a very long time. Via Paris he travelled to America where he was safe from the Nazi terror. He would not return to his homeland until 1945.

Davidson had seen it right and so saved his skin. Cricket would hardly be on the agenda for the Flamingos in the years that followed. The message that Secretary Jan van den Bosch published in the weekly Cricket on June 12, 1940 speaks volumes in this regard:

"In this way I inform all secretaries of the associations with which The Flamingos had already established a match, that the board has decided to cancel all matches. This is due to the very limited transport options which will make it virtually impossible to bring members from different parts of the country together.”

The message was clear: the birds were no longer flying!

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