The General Dutch Football Association De Zwaluwen (Dutch: Algemene Nederlandse Voetbalvereniging De Zwaluwen, ANVV De Zwaluwen) was a football organization founded on 17 July 1907 with the main goal of improving the level of football in the Netherlands. Later historians ascribe this entity as "a sort of Dutch National Team before 1930 that also represented sometimes the national team", and which would be considered a B team by today's standards.[1]
The Zwaluwen football team plays one-off games against local or foreign clubs, regional teams, or collectives of other confederations, and as such, no governing body in the sport officially recognizes the team.[1] The selection was especially important before the 1940s, serving as a springboard for possible selection in the Dutch national team.[1]
History
The ANVV De Zwaluwen was founded on 17 July 1907, and its first board of directors consisted of Cornelis Hirschman, Jan van den Berg, Cees van Hasselt, N. G. Jannink, and Bill Dijxhoorn, who were all members of the committee of the Dutch national team.[2] During the 1910s and 1920s, this Zwaluwen team served as a springboard for possible selection in the Dutch national team and often held the middle ground between the U21 side and the Dutch B team, although on occasion, they also field a near complete A team.[1] There were also a few occasions where a club team played under the name De Zwaluwen, such as VV Zwaluwen founded in 1935. De Zwaluwen employed professional trainers who were also (part-time) stationed at clubs, such as the one-time national coach John Bollington.[3]
De Zwaluwen team in 1948.
The first-ever goal in the history of De Zwaluwen was scored by Edu Snethlage on 21 November 1907 at the HVV stadium in a match between two Zwaluwen test teams, and two years later, on 23 May 1909, Snethlage played for the last time in Zwaluwenverband in Amsterdam on the grounds of RAP against the Bolton Wanderers.[4] During its first years, De Zwaluwen regularly played against the Dutch national team, but after the First World War, they began playing annual matches against the so-called Red Devils, the Belgian equivalent of De Zwaluwen, on Mardi Gras in Brussels. On 5 September 1933, De Zwaluwen achieved its biggest-ever winning margin following a 6–2 victory over Corinthians FC in Haarlem.[5]
