Soccer Legend
If there ever were to be a Hall of Fame in the Oosterparkwijk in the city of Groningen, then surely there would be a spot reserved for Klaas Snip.
A born and bred Oosterparker, who as a footballer found success mainly on the fringes of professional football. A big player at small clubs, that’s how Klaas may be remembered in the sports history of the North. His domain was the then second division, where he made a name for himself as a goal scorer at clubs like Oosterparkers, Tubantia, Veendam, Zwartemeer, and Be Quick. It’s no coincidence that Oosterparkers is the first club in this list. That’s where his footballing journey began. And through Oosterparkers, he made the headlines almost weekly as the provider of goals.
Klaas Snip was not just a fierce character on the field, but above all, a footballer with “gogme,” as Louis van Gaal tends to say about players who can “read” a match. He not only scored easily himself but also put his teammates in promising positions in front of the goal.
Zwartemeer
During his time in Zwartemeer, he formed a super duo with Tony Roosken. In the 1963/1964 season, the two of them found the net a whopping 44 times; Roosken twenty-nine times and Klaas fifteen times. But it was Klaas Snip who often set up Roosken’s goals. Zwartemeer’s all-time top scorer praised Klaas Snip a few years ago in a book about the history of Zwartemeer and SC Drente. Roosken was quoted as saying, “We formed a golden duo.”
With Roosken, he played avant-la-lettre in a two-striker concept. At that time, it was customary to play with five attackers in the so-called “W-system,” where the wingers and the center forward were the advanced pawns. However, Snip and Roosken thrived in the reverse variant, the “M-shape,” with the inside forwards as (two) deep attackers. Snip later explained, when he spent his last active footballing days as a nearly forty-year-old in GRC 2, why he preferred the “M-system.” “Then you get more space to make plays.” With that vision, Klaas Snip was ahead of his time. Today, the two-striker system is even more or less sanctified in international top football.
Thanks to the connection between Roosken and Snip, Zwartemeer played one of the few leading roles in its professional history. Ultimately, they achieved a second place in the second division A. Promotion chances then arose in the play-offs, but the decisive match in Kerkrade against Roda JC was lost. Nevertheless, Zwartemeer’s treasurer had never been happier. After this successful season, he could finally show a positive balance; a whopping 20,644.65 guilders.
Clubs
Klaas Snip never stayed long at a club as a semi-professional footballer. In a period of less than ten years, he went through a total of five clubs. Thus, he was one of the first football nomads in our country. The ease with which he moved from club to club also had to do with his job. He often changed clubs because he had to relocate for work.
This was found in a nostalgic section of Voetbal International. Snip was a Decorator at HEMA. However, when Hengelose Tubantia signed him, there was also a nice bonus in the secondary aspect. Additionally, “Voetbal International wrote the following” When Klaas joined Tubantia, he could choose between a Fiat 500 or a complete furnishing for their new home.” Klaas chose the car. It reflected his status as a big shot at marginal professional clubs. Most contracted players had to make do, figuratively speaking, with a sack of potatoes.
Text: Dagblad van het Noorden dated October 18, 2007.
