Inter Moengotapoe faced Olimpia of Honduras in the Concacaf League, the second-tier competition from North and Central America. In the middle of the football contest, a man of almost two meters came out onto the field. Nothing out of the ordinary, beyond that the guy in question is 60 years old. Oh, and that was the vice president of Suriname. I also forgot to mention that he has been the bodyguard of a military dictator for years. And well, he was convicted of bank robbery and revered for his alms to the poor. Drug trafficker convicted in two European countries and wanted by Interpol.
In your resume we can also add that is the father of at least 50 children, according to The New York Times. He is Ronnie Brunswijk, the man who has done it all. EVERYTHING.
➡ Ronnie Brunswijk (60 years old), vice president of Suriname and owner of the Inter Moengotapoe club, is playing as a starter vs Olimpia in the #ConcacafLeague ⚽️
🙌😎Historical moment pic.twitter.com/KkLg2BsPNr
– TUDNRadio (@TudnRadio) September 22, 2021
The son of subsistence farmers from one of the poorest regions of one of the poorest nations in the Western Hemisphere, Brunswijk has become known around the world after his debut as the oldest professional footballer in the world. He signed up for Inter Moengotapoe’s starting lineup. Wearing the number 61, a tribute to his 1961 birth year, he played 54 minutes as a forward alongside his son, Damian.
Let’s just say Brunswijk had a peculiarly imposing presence on the field. At 60, he has surpassed Japan’s Kazuyoshi Miura, who at 54 still plays for Yokohama FC. He was born on March 3, 1961, which makes him six months older than Concacaf itself, the league where it plays. To understand all the hype that has been formed around this player in the sports media, you have to understand some important information about his private and professional life.
After attending boarding school at the age of 10, Brunswijk became a paratrooper for the Surinamese army and eventually became the personal bodyguard of military dictator Desiré Bouterse, who took control of the small South American country in 1980 after a coup from state. But after several clashes (Brunswijk said it was Bouterse’s violent treatment of political opponents, including a community of descendants of enslaved people called Maroons), they parted ways.
Over time, Brunswijk earned a reputation as a kind of Robin Hood, stealing government funds and giving the money to the poor. In a New York Times report last year, Brunswijk explained that the criminal charges against him were fabricated by the Bouterse regime and that he made his money from a gold mine. It shouldn’t have been that way, because he ended up leading a 1,200-strong rebel army in Suriname’s devastating six-year civil war, from which the country is still recovering three decades later.
Brunswijk too has been accused of using drug trafficking to finance his cause, and in 1999 a Dutch court convicted him in absentia for operating a cocaine smuggling ring and sentenced him to six years in prison. A year later, a French court issued a similar sentence. Brunswijk denied any involvement in the drug trade, saying his wealth comes from timber and gold mining established after the civil war ended in 1992.
![the amazing life of Ronnie Brunswijk Ronnie Brunswijk.](https://i.blogs.es/dd048d/e_2fsafvgay9af9/450_1000.jpeg)
Such is the epic of his story, that his persecutor ended up teaming up with him. Chandrikapersad Santokhi, a former police officer tasked with locating Brunswijk in the 1980s, became president of Suriname. Brunswijk, who had become a political power actor in the country and briefly presided over the country’s National Assembly, was elected vice president after forming a coalition government with Santokhi, becoming the first Maroon person to hold the post.
Since then he has continued to distribute his wealth to the impoverished Maroon community. It has even been mentioned several times that he has bought cars for his entire soccer team. After the debut match, a shirtless Brunswijk was spotted handing out cash to the opposing team’s players Olimpia in the dressing room, a questionable generosity that has piqued the interest of Concacaf itself. There is video of the moment.
A little clearer … pic.twitter.com/XwFK37Et66
– Ronnie Brunswijk 🇸🇷💵 (@ Purry08) September 22, 2021
“We are extremely concerned about the content of a video that circulates on social networks and that raises possible integrity problems around the Concacaf League match between Inter Moengotapoe and CD Olimpia,” the institution explained in a statement. “The matter will be referred to the Disciplinary Committee, who will initiate a formal investigation and provide an update when that process is complete.”
No, Brunswijk’s presence on the pitch did not give his team much strength: they lost 6-0. But he cares little. It has already done it all.