Van der Hart was one of the players to play the Watersnoodwedstrijd of 12 March 1953 . This was a match played in the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris and to raise money for the victims of the North Sea flood of 1953 . In 2003 , Van der Hart told Dutch public broadcaster NOS that players such as himself and Bram Appel , Theo Timmermans , Bertus de Harder and Kees Rijvers had heard of the flood over the radio and realised their country was in a state of panic . While the KNVB , which still did not want to be connected to the professionals in any way , forbade the match , a personal intervention from Prince Bernhard the match was played . 8,000 Dutch fans travelled to Paris to attend the match and saw their team beat a strong French team by a score of 2 – 1 with goals scored by De Harder and Appel . The match played crucial role in introducing professional football in the Netherlands . In 90 minutes , the players showed the spectators how much better players could improve when they played the sport professionally . Only 17 months later , the first professional match in the Netherlands was played
North Sea flood of 1953
North Sea flood of 1953
Cor van der Hart