Pim Mulier

Willem Johan Herman Mulier, also known as Pim Mulier (10 March 1865 – 12 April 1954) was one of the leading figures in the sporting history of the Netherlands. He was a co-founder of the oldest football club still in existence in the Netherlands, Koninklijke HFC in 1879, and the founder of the first tennis club in the Netherlands in 1884. He also organized the first athletics competition in 1886 and he was the founder of the Dutch Football and Athletics Association in 1889, which became NVB within a few years when athletics was abandoned, much to his sorrow. In 1890 he ice skated past eleven cities in Friesland, which became a precursor to the Elfstedentocht, and he even designed the medal for participation himself. In 1891, Mulier, with the assistance of Charles Goodman Tebbutt, introduced bandy to the Netherlands and subsequently also introduced hockey, which emerged from that bandy. He was also involved in the founding of the International Skating Union, of which he was President from 1892 until 1895. Mulier was the major pioneer in establishing and promoting cricket and football in the Netherlands as he founded clubs in both sports. He was the first chairman of the Football Association, the Athletics Association, and of Koninklijke HFC, and the first secretary of the Dutch Association for Physical Education. Mulier was also instrumental in organizing events within various sports, such as the Eleven Cities Skating Tour in Friesland and the International Four Days Marches Nijmegen (both in 1909), which are currently among the largest sporting events in the Netherlands. He also played a major role in the founding of the Dutch Olympic Committee in 1912. Besides being a sports pioneer, he was also known as an expert art collector, skilled draftsman, interior designer, painter, illustrator, journalist, language expert, and...