As in many European countries, black players from former colonies played a key role in the development of Dutch football in the late 20th century. Ruud Gullitt and Frank Rijkaard led the way in the 1980s while Clarence Seedorf, Edgar Davids and Patrick Kluivert became defining figures in Dutch, European and world football over the next two decades.
The inspiration for all these players was Humphrey Mijnals, who in 1960, became the first black footballer to represent the Netherlands.
Mijnals was born in Moengo, Suriname, in 1930. Moving to the capital city Paramaribo, he won four titles with SV Robinhood, Suriname’s most successful club, in the first half of the 1950s. Following a brief sojourn in Brazilian football with América of Recife, Mijnals was apparently spotted by a Dutch vicar who recommended him to the USV Elinkwijk club in Utrecht.
He joined Elinkwijk in 1956, then in the top Eredivisie, for a transfer fee of 3,000 guilders.
Initially played as a centre-forward, Mijnals was soon flourishing at the heart of the Elinkwijk backline. Described by David Winner, author of Brilliant Orange, as combining ‘a formidable physical presence with the skills of a John Barnes’, Mijnals encouraged the team to adopt a short-passing game in contrast to the conventional ‘kick and rush’ style of Dutch football at the time.
Mijnals’ consistency earned him a call-up to the Dutch national side. He had already represented Suriname over 40 times but his selection against Bulgaria in April 1960 made him the first black player to wear the famous orange shirt.
Press reaction was mixed but he was praised for his ‘unparalleled improvisations’, encapsulated in an acrobatic bicycle-kick clearance, a photograph of which was circulated across the international sports press.
Mijnals only played twice more for the Netherlands. He fell out with national coach Elek Schwartz when he was left out of a tour match against Suriname in Paramaribo and publicly criticised the decision on his return to Holland.
Following five years at Elinkwijk, he moved to DOS Utrecht, before finishing his career at Sport Club Het Gooi in the third tier of Dutch football.
A football icon in both of the countries he represented, Mijnals was named Surinamese Player of the Century in 1999 and received the Sports Medal of the city of Utrecht in 2008. Shortly after his death in 2019, a Dutch fashion label launched a tee-shirt celebrating Mijnals and listing two-dozen Surinamese-Dutch footballers for whom he had ‘paved the way’.