Tony Noy, emigrated to Australia from Gennep as an eighteen year old with his family and was soon playing in the Melbourne competition, first with Slavia, and then with Wilhelmina, enticed there by Van Hoboken with the promise of a job for his father and cheap housing for his family.
Noy was a key member of Wilhelmina’s 1958 Dockerty Cup winning side against Juventus (played in front of a then record crowd of 16,000 at Olympic Park), and the 1959 First Division title winning team. He was with Wilhelmina again in 1960 as the powerful Dutch side looked to retain the title. The club finished fourth.
At the end of the season Noy headed to Holland to try out with Vitesse Arnhem. But the FIFA ban meant he couldn’t play senior professional football and wasn’t permitted to be paid for playing anywhere in the country. So Noy got to work for Van Hoboken, who arranged a car and a retainer to help him recruit Dutch players for Wilhelmina.
Noy placed notices in local newspapers and word soon spread of what he was up to. At one point he tried to meet Rapid JC player Leo Beerendonk at training but a club official told Noy he wasn’t welcome and refused to admit him into the ground.
Around twenty players got in touch with Noy and six eventually returned with him in time for the start of the 1961 season. Rapid JC may have stopped Noy from getting into training but it didn’t prevent Beerendonk, who’d also played for the Dutch Military, leaving with him alongside two other Rapid JC players. The six joined two Amsterdammers who Van Hoboken had lured over to Australia the previous season, one of which was Dick van Alphen, a young Dutch ‘B’ team representative.
The presence of the eight Dutch imports and quality players like Noy and captain-coach De Bruckyere, meant Wilhelmina once more challenged for the 1961 premiership but the team missed out on the title again, finishing the season in third spot. The side did manage to win the knockout State Cup, defeating Maltese side, George Cross, 3-1.
Source: The Footy Almanac
