{{short description|Dutch footballer (1908-1941)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}} {{Infobox football biography | name = Law Adam | image = Law Adam (1931).jpg | fullname = Lawrence Adam | birth_date = {{Birth date|1908|6|11|df=y}} | birth_place = Probolinggo, Dutch East Indies | death_date = {{death date and age|1941|5|15|1908|6|11|df=y}} | death_place = Surabaya, Dutch East Indies | height = | position = Forward<ref name=NFT>{{cite web|url=http://www.national-football-teams.com/player/20631/Law_Adam.html|title=Law Adam|publisher=National Football Teams|accessdate=31 August 2015}}</ref> | youthyears1 = | youthclubs1 = | years1 = {{0|0000}}–1927 | years2 = 1927–1933 | years3 = 1933 | clubs1 = HVV | clubs2 = Grasshoppers | clubs3 = HVV | caps1 = | goals1 = | nationalyears1 = 1929 | nationalyears2 = 1930–1931 | nationalteam1 = Switzerland | nationalteam2 = Netherlands | nationalcaps1 = 1 | nationalcaps2 = 11 | nationalgoals1 = 0 | nationalgoals2 = 6 }}
'''Lawrence "Law" Adam''' (11 June 1908 – 15 May 1941) was a Dutch-Swiss football player who played as a forward. He was born in Probolinggo, Dutch East Indies and died in Surabaya, Dutch East Indies.<ref name=NFT/> Law Adam is reportedly the first European footballer to use the Scissors move, also known as the ''step over'', earning the nickname "Adam the Scissorsman" in the 1920s and 1930s.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Simpson|first1=Paul|last2=Hesse|first2=Uli|title=Who Invented the Stepover?: and other crucial football conundrums|date=2013|publisher=Profile Books|location=London|isbn=9781847658425|page=38|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sQecAQAAQBAJ&dq=law+adam+scissors+man&pg=PA38|accessdate=31 August 2015}}</ref>
== Club career == Adam started his football career for HVV Den Haag in the Netherlands. At the age of 19, he started his study in Zürich, where he played for Grasshopper Club Zürich. He made his debut for Switzerland in a match against Austria in 1929.<ref name="RSSSF">{{cite web|url=https://www.rsssf.org/miscellaneous/adam-intlg.html|title=Law Adam, Goals in International Matches|publisher=Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation|date=2 July 2005|accessdate=30 November 2007}}</ref> The Dutch national team visited Switzerland a year later, and Adam was invited to play for his native Netherlands. Switzerland won the match 6–3.<ref name="RSSSF"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.voetbalstats.nl/nedxi/111.html |title=Zwitserland - Nederland 6 - 3 |publisher=Voetbalstats.nl |accessdate=28 November 2007 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071022053948/http://voetbalstats.nl/nedxi/111.html |archivedate=22 October 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Law Adam would play eleven matches for the Netherlands, scoring six goals.<ref name="RSSSF"/> He scored both goals in the 2–0 victory of the Netherlands over Germany in Düsseldorf in 1932.<ref name="RSSSF"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.voetbalstats.nl/nedxi/121.html |title=Duitsland - Nederland 0 - 2 |publisher=Voetbalstats.nl |accessdate=10 December 2007 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117130302/http://www.voetbalstats.nl/nedxi/121.html |archivedate=17 November 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
In the spring of 1933, Adam returned to HVV Den Haag, but heart problems forced him to end his career a few months later, at the age of 24.
== Death == Adam died in 1941, at the age of 32, during a friendly match between football clubs Thor and Anasher in Surabaya in the Dutch East Indies. Adam had scored two goals and given three assists during the match, and left the pitch in the eighth minute of the second half, with his hand on his heart. Referee W.A. Lambeck wrote about the death of Adam in magazine ''De Scheidsrechter''. He recalled asking Adam if it was serious, to which Adam had replied: "No, but my heart is playing up again and they've got a nice lead, so I can get dressed now."<ref name="Lambeck">{{cite web|url=http://www.sportgeschiedenis.nl/2007/10/08/vergeten-sporthelden-law-adam.aspx|title=Vergeten Sporthelden: Law Adam|author=Jurryt van de Vooren|publisher=Sportgeschiedenis.nl|date=8 October 2007|accessdate=30 November 2007|language=Dutch}}</ref> Lambeck continued: "When I entered the dressing room after the final whistle, Adam was on the massage table, all blue. The doctor and the heart specialist, who were immediately summoned, tried to revive the spirits by giving him injections in the heart area. Half an hour later, they could only establish death."<ref name="Lambeck"/>
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{NFT player|pid=20631}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adam, Law}} Category:1908 births Category:1941 deaths Category:Dutch men's footballers Category:Swiss men's footballers Category:Dutch people of Indonesian descent Category:Sportspeople of Indonesian descent Category:Netherlands men's international footballers Category:Switzerland men's international footballers Category:Grasshopper Club Zurich players Category:Association football players who died while playing Category:People from Situbondo Regency Category:Dual internationalists (men's football) Category:Dutch expatriate men's footballers Category:Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Category:Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Category:Men's association football forwards Category:Sport deaths in Indonesia Category:HVV Den Haag players Category:20th-century Swiss sportsmen Category:20th-century Dutch sportsmen