60-year-old Suriname vice-president names himself captain for crunch cup clash before ‘dishing out money in changing room’ (VIDEO)
Suriname’s 60-year-old vice president featured for the team he owns in a CONCACAF league fixture on Tuesday night, naming himself as captain and starring alongside one of his reported 50 kids at the stadium named in his honor.
Ronnie Brunswijk owns Inter Moengotapoe and took matters into his own hands for their last-16 clash against Olimpia.
Starring up front with his son Damian for most of the match, his overbearing influence still amounted to nothing despite completing 14 out of 17 passes in his 54 minutes on the pitch.
Online, video clips have emerged of Brunswijk not being the most mobile of players while barking instructions at his colleagues and shouting at one for not laying off a pass to him.
The 60 year old Vice President of Suriname is playing in CONCACAF because he owns the team pic.twitter.com/icimSs8yls
Come full time, Inter Moengotapoe had been thrashed 6-0 and have a mountain to climb in the second leg in Honduras next week if they wish to advance in the regional equivalent of the Europa League.
With his lengthy cameo, Brunswijk became the oldest ever player to make an appearance in an international club competition.
After the match, unverified footage appeared on social media purportedly showing Brunswijk dishing out money in the opposition changing room, in the latest chapter in the colorful story of his life.
Seguro todos leyeron la historia Ronnie Brunswijk, presidente del Inter Moengotapoe y Vicepresidente de Surinam que ayer jugó un partido de Concacaf a los 60 años. Después del partido fue al vestuario de Olimpia a repartir dinero. Concacaf va a tener que intervenir pic.twitter.com/ytZ55tH3Ki
In the late 80s and early 90s, he was a rebel leader of the Jungle Commando in Suriname’s Interior War only ended by a peace treaty being signed in 1992 after hundreds of deaths.
In 1999, the Netherlands prosecuted him in absentia for drug trafficking with an Interpol warrant for his arrest still active when he became the vice-president of his former Dutch colony in July last year.
Brunswijk has been described as a popular Robin Hood-type figure in Suriname with an alleged 50 kids, who has distributed money gained through his crimes including bank robbing to the poor, and has sometimes thrown cash from his helicopter – which perhaps helps to explain the glee the Olimpia players seem to exhibit in the purported clips of him dishing out notes.
Suriname Vice President Ronnie Brunswijk (60) played 54 minutes for Inter Moengatapoe in a CONCACAF Champions League match against Honduran side Olimpia today.
In 2002, he constructed the 3,000-capacity Ronnie Brunswijkstadion stadium, but his influence in football has long attracted controversy.
Three years later, he received a suspension for allegedly threatening some players with a handgun in the middle of a match, though the ban was later withdrawn due to a lack of evidence.
Lastly in 2012, though, he was finally reprimanded and suspended for a year when verbally abusing a referee.
It remains to be seen whether Brunswijk runs out for Inter Moengotapoe in the second leg and spearheads their comeback in Honduras, with reports that he cannot leave the country without the risk of facing legal trouble.
