Gerrit Keizer

Who was Gerrit Keizer?

Gerard Pieter Keizer, also known as Gerard Keyser, was a Dutch football goalkeeper. As well as being highly successful in his native country, he was also one of the first players from outside Great Britain or Ireland to play in English football.

Keizer joined Ajax Amsterdam at the age of 16, and two years later made his debut for the side, against Stormvogels on April 1, 1929. For the first few years of his career he deputised for Ajax's No. 1 Jan de Boer, and in 1930 he moved to England, in order to improve his English.

Keizer first played as an amateur for Kent side Margate; at the time, Margate acted as a "nursery" club of sort for London giants Arsenal, and soon Keizer was spotted by Arsenal's manager, Herbert Chapman. Keizer was immediately pitched into the Arsenal first team, and played in Arsenal's first twelve First Division matches of the 1930-31 season, making his debut against Blackpool on August 30, 1930. He also played in the Gunners' Charity Shield victory over Sheffield Wednesday that season.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gerard_Keizer_in_the_Margate_team_of_1929-1930.TIF