René van de Kerkhof was the first foreign signing by Lazio on the re-opening of the frontiers in 1980. Unfortunately, his stay in Rome only lasted four days.
He was born on September 16, 1951 at Helmond near Eindhoven. He had a twin brother Willy, also a footballer.
The twins started playing football in the youth teams of Twente where René debuted professionally making 99 appearances and scoring 34 goals. In 1973 they both signed for PSV Eindhoven immediately winning the national cup. In 1974-75, 1975-76 and 1977-78 they won the League and in 1975-76 another national cup. In 1977-78 PSV won the UEFA Cup beating Bastia 3-0 on aggregate.
Arrival to Lazio
In 1980 Lazio had been at the centre of the totonero scandal when Pino Wilson, Massimo Cacciatori, Bruno Giordano and Lionello Manfredonia were arrested at Pescara on Sunday March 23.
Rumours that there was something wrong in Serie A had begun to circulate earlier in the year. At Cagliari, Maurizio Montesi broke his leg and from the hospital spoke to the few journalists who went to see how he was. He was alone, none of the Lazio players had had the decency to drop by. He started talking of match fixing, agreements between clubs over results, and illegal betting. He said that Wilson was the man who was organising all of this in the Lazio team.
In Italy one could not legally bet on the result of a single game or on the scores of a series of games. There was just the Totocalcio where one had to guess the result of 13 games. There was however an illegal betting system called Totonero run by illegal bookmakers similar to how legal bets were organised in the UK.
Match fixing had always been a problem in Italy and taken place since the early 1950s. Clubs and/or players would agree to share points during the season in a “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” system. But then the players started to bet on these games. It was easy money, they knew what the result would be so why not have a little wager.
Alvaro Trinca was the owner of a restaurant in the centre of Rome where Lazio and Roma players would often go and eat before games. Massimo Cruciani was a fruit seller and was very friendly with a number of players. Both would hear the players talk of match fixing and therefore started to bet and win large sums of money. They teamed up and devised a plan which was to offer money to the players to fix games as well as bet money for them.
Their plan failed miserably and they were hugely indebted with people with whom you do not want to be indebted with. Apparently, they first asked the clubs for money but not all wanted to pay, then they presented their case to the Italian Football Federation but that was not going to solve the debts, so they then tried by resting their case with the law. They were later both arrested and started talking to the magistrates.
On March 23 1980, the Italian police arrested a number of players of Lazio, Milan, Bologna, Avellino, Genoa and Perugia. The scandal had exploded and Lazio were right in the middle of it.
Lazio had managed to stay in Serie A and in May there was the first sentencing for the scandal. Their players were allegedly involved in the match fixing of Milan Lazio that ended 2-1 for the hosts and Lazio Avellino which finished 1-1.
The first sentencing between May and June gave Cacciatori and Wilson a life ban, Giordano and Manfredonia an 18-month suspension, Maurizio Montesi four months and Lazio were fined 10 million lire. At the time fans thought that all in all this was acceptable.
Others had even more severe sentences. Milan were relegated (there was a direct involvement of the club President), Avellino, Bologna and Perugia given a 5-point penalty. Among the various players, Enrico Albertosi got a life ban and Paolo Rossi 3 years.
President Umberto Lenzini had sold Giordano to Milan in exchange for money, Stefano Chiodi and Alberto Bigon. Sor Umberto wanted to build a team that could compete for a UEFA Cup qualification and a number of players had arrived. Thanks to the help of young Sports Director Luciano Moggi, the new signings were goalkeeper Maurizio Moscatelli, one of the best keepers in Serie B, young midfield players Dario Sanguin and Giuseppe Greco, plus the more experienced defenders Arcadio Spinozzi and Giorgio Mastropasqua. The star signing was René Van de Kerkhof. There was also a new manager, Ilario Castagner who had taken Perugia to an historical second place in 1978-79.
Lazio left for the pre-season training which took place at San Terenziano in Umbria. After three days came the appeal. The fans were optimistic but they were wrong. Lazio were relegated to Serie B for the game against Avellino, Giordano and Manfredonia got a three-and-a-half-year suspension, Cacciatori 4 years and Wilson three years. Paolo Rossi’s suspension was reduced to two years, Albertosi to four.
Why were Lazio relegated? There was no legal reason since none of the club managers were involved. The only reason was the fact that first sentences were considered too lenient and the Sports Justice system wanted to set an example. Hence, Lazio, always everybody’s favourite scapegoat, were relegated because it had a large number of players involved. But others were involved far deeper and got off lightly or with no penalisation at all. Lazio were a sacrificial lamb to keep the media happy.
Were the players guilty? Who knows. Wilson has hardly ever spoken about it. In his official biography though, he admitted having reached an agreement with some Milan players regarding Milan-Lazio. The plan was to let them win in Milan and Lazio in Rome. The Biancocelesti did not have much of a chance in Milan and the points at the end of the season could have been useful in case of a battle to stay in Serie A. He had nothing to do with betting, as also shown in the case files and his name appeared only for the Milan match.
These types of agreements had always happened in Italian football, this was no different from other similar agreements like in the last matches of the season when one team needed a point to stay in Serie A and the other maybe a point for a UEFA Cup qualification. The games would practically be non- starters. This is a violation of every Sports Code, and if the agreement is reached among clubs, if found guilty, these should be relegated or given point deductions. And if it is between players, these, if found guilty, should be suspended. If the players take money all that has to be done is to verify and check.
Manfredonia stated in an interview that he paid a rather large price compared to what he actually did. So maybe when Wilson announced that they were going to lose the Milan game, he complied. He did not play the match against Avellino, so he can’t have been guilty for that.
Giordano proclaims his innocence to this day. In his official biography he claims that Trinca and Cruciani tried to blackmail President Umberto Lenzini who refused to pay. When the magistrates asked him if he had got some extra cash Giordano denied it, saying “check my bank statements”. This is probably what they did and as a consequence none of the players were found guilty in the legal court case.
Where does the truth lie? A few facts are almost certain. Milan- Lazio was fixed by the players. The club had nothing to do with it. The rest is just speculation. Lazio, some Lazio players and Lazio fans paid a very high price for the Italian Football Federation's need to find guilty parties, whether they were actually guilty or not. And unfortunately, it would not be the only time. Claudio Vinazzani’s friendship with a Neapolitan illegal bookie, who was fixing games, translated into a 9-point deduction for the 1986-87 season, despite Lazio not being involved. President Claudio Lotito’s requests for decent referees would cost Lazio a 30-point deduction in the 2005-06 season and 3 for the following one in the Calciopoli farce. Stefano Mauri’s friendship with a player who fixed games cost him a six-month suspension and jail time, even if he was innocent.
And now?
Van de Kerkhoff was a problem. Serie B clubs were not allowed to have foreign players but Lazio had already bought him. They asked the Federation for an exception. It was refused. On August 2, the Dutch star was forced to pack his bags and go back to Eindhoven. His stay at Lazio lasted four days.
After Lazio
He stayed for another three years with PSV. In 1983 he signed for Apollon Smyrnis in Greece and a year after went to play in Hong Kong for Seiko where he won the first division and the Senior Shield. In 1985 we went back to Holland and played three years for Helmond Sport and two for FC Eindhoven before retiring.
René made 47 appearances for the Netherlands. He was on the pitch in the final of the 1974 World Cup lost against Germany, playing the second half. In 1976 he was at the Euros. The Netherlands had won their group made up of Poland, Italy and Finland, and had beaten Belgium 7-1 on aggregate in the quarter finals. The semi-finals were played in Yugoslavia (a type of final four) and they lost to Czechoslovakia but won the 3rd place final against Yugoslavia.
In 1978 René was the player who ideally was to substitute Johan Cruijff who had decided not to go to Argentina for safety reasons. Without their star player they came second in their first group phase. In the second group phase they achieved first place and had to play the final against Argentina. In difficult circumstances and with a very home sided referee, Holland lost 3-1 in extra time.
Rene van de Kerkhoff was an exceptional winger who scored lots of goals, 20 just in 1973-74 and 130 goals in total in 468 league games in Holland. He remains in the hearts of early 80's Lazio fans as one of their greatest regrets.
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