Real reason for Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink’s iconic name on back of his shirts
He had one of the most famous names in all of football, but have you ever wondered why Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink had to include where he came from on the back of his shirt?
The Dutch forward wowed fans from 1996 to 2012, and not just because of his devastating record in front of goal. The 43-year-old also captured the attention thanks to his name, which often straddled all of his kit.
His jersey at Celtic didn't look too bad as the Hoops somehow managed to squeeze all 20 characters of his surname in a line above his number. But the kit manufacturers at Hull City couldn't quite manage to replicate that.
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After joining the Tigers in 2009 in their second season in the Premier League, Vennegoor of Hesselink was handed the no.29 shirt – no problems there.
However, the length of his name caused a quandary or two for the kit makers, who ultimately decided to loop the words 'Vennegoor of Hesselink' from one side to the other, creating one of the division's most iconic jerseys.
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A Guardian article from 2004 explained why the Dutchman included the entirety of his name on the back of his shirts. The explanation read: "According to our research, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink was thus named because, way back in the 17th century, two farming families in the Enschede area of Holland intermarried.
"Both the Vennegoor and Hesselink names carried equal social weight, and so – rather than choose between them – they chose to use both.
"'Of' in Dutch actually translates to 'or', which would mean that a strict translation of his name would read Jan Vennegoor or Hesselink."
At 50p per letter, any Hull or Celtic fan wanting to get 'Vennegoor of Hesselink' on the back of their shirt would have had to fork out more than a pretty penny – £10 to be exact.
The Dutchman enjoyed a prolific career with Twente and PSV before joining Celtic in 2006, scoring 33 goals in 89 games for the Hoops. He joined Hull three years later but was unable to replicate that form in the Premier League, finding the net just three times in a single season at the MKM Stadium.
He later joined Rapid Wien before retiring with PSV in 2012.
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