The surviving Telstar players from the promotion year 1963/64 were honored on Friday evening for their achievements. Before the match against FC Groningen, they walked a lap of honor past the crowd. “There are still people who have seen us play football, which is nice,” says 85-year-old Ko Bakker.
From the twenty-man selection that was promoted to the Premier League in 1964, Jaap Pirovano, Ko Bakker and Paul van Egmond were able to come to Telstar’s last home game this season. “You recognize people you haven’t seen for a long time,” said Jaap Pirovano, who played 28 games for Telstar in the 1963/64 season.
Merger club Telstar is promoted immediately in the first season as a first division club. Before the winter break the club was only a mid-table team, but after that it started to take off. Since January, Telstar has had an unbeaten run of thirteen matches. The promotion is secured during a visit to Fortuna Vlaardingen. Jan Allart scores the only goal of the match and with that Telstar is assured of second place in the first division.
Text continues below photo.
“That was a madhouse of course,” says Ko Bakker about the promotion. “It was a big party.” For the first time, Velsen has a club in the Premier League. Telstar remained active at the highest level for fourteen consecutive seasons, until relegation in the 1977/78 season.
