NETHERLANDS: UVS (1960-) / LSVV '70 (2020-)

Sportpark Kikkerpolder I, Leyden = Leiden (UVS & LSVV '70)

Netherlands, province: South Holland 

13 VI 2011 / UVS - vv SCO '63 3-0 / District West II, Sunday League 2 - promotion play-off final (= NL level 6)

25 VI 2022 / SV Die Haghe - AFC (Za) 0-0 A.E.T. - SV Die Haghe won penalty shoot-out (4-3) / Saturday League 1A, relegation play-off final - neutral venue (= NL level 6)

Note 1: UVS (Uit Vriendschap Saâm - in English: United in Friendship), founded in 1914, played their football at their own park at Wassenaarseweg between 1938 and 1960. This ground, however, was severely damaged by armed forces of the German oppressors during World War II. Nonetheless, UVS stayed put here for 15 more years after the end of the war. In 1955, the club acceded to the ranks of the newly founded professional league pyramid. Five years later, the move was made to the newly built Sportpark Kikkerpolder, officially renamed Sportpark Kikkerpolder I in the early 1970s after the construction of the nearby Sportpark Kikkerpolder II for LVV Lugdunum. Until 1975, UVS shared the premises of Sportpark Kikkerpolder (I) with RKSV DoCos, who disposed of their own main pitch at the park. In their seven seasons of professional league football (1955-62), UVS remained largely unsuccessful, playing at the third and lowest level of the league pyramid and ultimately being condemned to relegation into non-league after finishing bottom of their division in 1962. In non-league, the club reached the Sunday League nationwide championship final in 1968, ultimately losing out to Amsterdam's DCG in a match played at RCH's Heemsteeds Sportpark attended by 22,000 (!) spectators. In the following decades, UVS remained an important club in Sunday League, with a total of 18 seasons in Zondag Hoofdklasse between the introduction of that league level in 1974, and 2005. Ultimately, in 2014, like so many other clubs in South Holland, UVS withdrew from Sunday League football, henceforth focusing on the Saturday League pyramid. In 2015, Sportpark Kikkerpolder I, which had largely remained unchanged since 1960, was thoroughly renovated, with all old stands and terraces being knocked down and replaced. Since 2020, UVS have shared their main pitch with the first team of students' football club LSVV '70 (Leidse Studentenvoetbalvereniging 1970).

Note 2: Below, a compilation of photos of two different match visits, the first before the major renovation of the ground in 2015, and the second after the completion of those works: pictures 1-23 & 38 = June 2011 / pictures 24-37 = June 2022.

All photos: (c) W.B. Tukker / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author

NETHERLANDS: HFC DCO (±1970-2006) / vv Young Boys (2006-2012)

Sportpark Schalkwijk, Haarlem (formerly HFC DCO & vv Young Boys)

Netherlands, province: North Holland = Noord-Holland

11 VI 2011 / vv Young Boys - vv Montfoort 1-2 / Zaterdag Hoofdklasse, promotion play-off (= NL level 4)

Timeline

• 1930 / Foundation of a football club in Haarlem, which takes on the name HFC Ajax. It is unclear where this club had its home ground in the first thirty odd years of its existence.
• 1931 / As HFC Ajax applies for membership of the Haarlemsche Voetbalbond (HVB), the Haarlem sub-branch of the Netherlands’ Football Association (KNVB), the club is ordered to change its name due to the denomination Ajax already being in use by several older member clubs. Thereupon, the club takes on the name HFC DCO, i.e. ‘Door Combinatie Overwinning’ – the name perhaps pointing to its origins as a merger of two older (recreational) clubs.
• 1941 / Gaining promotion from HVB (Sunday) Division 1, HFC DCO accedes to KNVB District West II’s Sunday League 4 for the first time.
• 1951 / HFC DCO finishes as runners-up in District West II’s Sunday League 4F, 10 points behind runaway champions BVC Bloemendaal.
• 1956 / Finishing bottom of the table in District West II’s Sunday League 4E – incidentally just like the season before – HFC DCO fails to save its skin in the promotion-relegation play-offs, thus dropping back into the ranks of the HVB after fifteen years.
• 1969 / Winning promotion from the ranks of HVB Sunday Division 1, HFC DCO manages a return to Sunday League 4 after an absence of thirteen years.
• ± 1970 / Moving away from Terrein Belgiëlaan - occupied nowadays by the Rudolf Steiner College, a secondary school - HFC DCO settles at the newly laid-out Sportpark Schalkwijk, only a stone's throw away from the old ground, with the entrance of the new ground being situated at Tennispad. 
• 1972 / HFC DCO finishes as runners-up in District West I’s Sunday League 4C, 5 points behind champions VSV.
• 1973 / Runaway champions in District West I’s Sunday League 4C, 12 points ahead of closest followers AVV ZSGO, HFC DCO wins promotion to Sunday League 3 for the first time in club history.
• 1976 / Champions in District West I’s Sunday League 3B, 5 points ahead of closest rivals IJVV Stormvogels, HFC DCO wins promotion to Sunday League 2 for the first time in club history.
• 1981 / In the best season in club history, HFC DCO manages a second place in District West I’s Sunday League 2B, 7 points behind champions JOS.
• 1983 / Finishing in second-last place in District West I’s Sunday League 2B, HFC DCO drops back into Sunday League 3 along with bottom club vv Ripperda.
• 1985 / Finishing in third-last place in District West I’s Sunday League 3B, HFC DCO descends into Sunday League 4 along with SV Real Sranang and bottom club RKVV DSS.
• 1987 / Finishing in joint first place in District West I’s Sunday League 4C with SV Geel Wit ’20, HFC DCO goes on to win a tie-break match against its derby rivals, thus gaining promotion to Sunday League 3.
• 1988 / HFC DCO narrowly misses out on the title in District West I’s Sunday League 3B, finishing only 1 point behind champions ZVV Zaandijk.
• 1989 / Champions in District West I’s Sunday League 3B, 1 point ahead of runners-up vv Ripperda, HFC DCO wins promotion to Sunday League 2.
• 1991 / Finishing in third-last place in District West I’s Sunday League 2A, HFC DCO goes on to suffer defeat in a relegation play-off, thus dropping back into Sunday League 3 after two seasons, along with vv SEW and bottom club RKVV Limmen.
• 1995 / Champions in District West I’s Sunday League 3B, 2 points ahead of closest rivals Hellas Sport Combinatie, HFC DCO wins promotion to Sunday League 2.
• 1998 / Former DCO youth academy defender Patrick Zwaanswijk makes his professional league debut at FC Utrecht, going on to have spells at Oita Trinita, NAC Breda, and Central Coast Mariners, ultimately hanging up his boots in 2013.
• 2000 / Former DCO prodigy goalkeeper Serge van den Ban, who had moved to AFC Ajax’s youth academy several years before, makes his professional league debut at the age of 20 with HFC Haarlem, going on to have spells at FC Dordrecht, MVV, and SC Telstar, bowing out into non-league with vv ADO ’20 in 2009.
• 2003 / Coached by Ger Boer, HFC DCO finishes in third-last place in Sunday League 2B, going on to suffer defeat in a relegation play-off and thus dropping back into Sunday League 3 along with SV Beverwijk and bottom club ASV Blauw-Wit Osdorp. That same year, former DCO prodigy defender Robert van Boxel, who had moved to HFC Haarlem’s youth academy several years before, makes his professional league debut with PSV at the age of 20. Van Boxel goes on to have spells at ADO Den Haag, AGOVV Apeldoorn, MVV, SC Cambuur, and Sparta Rotterdam, ultimately hanging up his boots in 2015.
• 2006 / Coached by Eugène Goudmijn, HFC DCO finishes bottom of the table in District West I’s Sunday League 3B, thus dropping back into Sunday League 4 along with the club in second-last place, ASV De Dijk. However, following the 2005-06 season, the club concludes a merger with three other non-league clubs from Haarlem; RKSV TYBB, DSC ’74, and HIS – the last-mentioned club focusing on football for the disabled. The result of the merger is the foundation of vv Olympia Haarlem – renamed SV Olympia Haarlem two years later. As all activities of the new merger club move to Sportpark Overhout (Noord), RKSV TYBB’s ground, only several dozens of yards down the road from Sportpark Schalkwijk, the now vacated former park of HFC DCO is taken over by the ambitious Saturday League 4 club vv Young Boys, which moves away from its (sole) pitch at Sportpark Overhout (Zuid). In the previous two years, vv Young Boys – in itself a merger of HFC Spaarnestad and vv EHS – had won back-to-back promotions from Saturday League 6 and 5.
• 2007 / Runaway champions in District West I’s Saturday League 3C, 20 points ahead of closest followers SCW, vv Young Boys wins promotion to Saturday League 2 – the club’s third promotion in a row. The successful coach is former Telstar and FC Den Bosch professional league midfielder Radjin de Haan.
• 2008 / Champions in Saturday League 2A, 2 points ahead of closest rivals CSV DVVA, vv Young Boys achieves its fourth promotion in a row, acceding to Saturday League 1.
• 2009 / vv Young Boys finishes as runners-up in Saturday League 1A, 1 point behind champions HSV ODIN ’59, going on to miss out on promotion in the play-offs. Coach Radjin de Haan leaves the club after four seasons.
• 2010 / Champions in Saturday League 1A, 3 points ahead of runners-up SV Huizen, vv Young Boys wins promotion to Zaterdag Hoofdklasse. The successful coach is Guillaume Pocorni, who took over from Ted Verdonkschot in the course of the season. However, in the summer of 2010, the club signs Rinus Israël as its new head coach. Israël is a former professional league defender, who had spells at AFC DWS, RVV Feijenoord, SC Feyenoord, RV&AV Excelsior, and PEC Zwolle (1962-82), also winning 47 caps and being part of the Netherlands’ squad in the 1974 World Cup in West Germany. Two of the players signed by Young Boys that same summer are former DCO youth academy goalkeeper Serge van den Ban and defender Arno Splinter, formerly under contract at AFC Ajax, BV De Graafschap, HFC Haarlem, and AGOVV Apeldoorn. Van den Ban leaves the club mere months later, preferring a deal with vv Ter Leede.
• 2011 / Finishing in third place in Zaterdag Hoofdklasse A, 10 points behind vv Noordwijk and KVV Quick Boys, vv Young Boys qualifies for the promotion play-offs for a place in the newly introduced top level of the Saturday pyramid, the so-called Zaterdag Topklasse. Winning a three-way competition with SVV Scheveningen and KVV Quick Boys, defeating both clubs (4-2 and 0-1 respectively), vv Young Boys qualifies for the semi-finals, in which the club is eliminated by vv Montfoort (3-1 aggr.). Several months later, in October 2011, the police raids the clubhouse of vv Young Boys at Sportpark Schalkwijk, arresting thirteen persons who were caught red-handed taking part in an illegal poker competition. Subsequently, he clubhouse as well as the boardroom are closed on the orders of Haarlem’s town hall. Thereupon, the membership of vv Young Boys expels all members of the presidency from their club. In the following months, news got out of alleged links of the club’s former chairman Kris J., the owner of three coffeeshops in Haarlem, with international drug trafficking. 
• 2012 / In March 2012, as news gets out of the club having a deficit of some 50,000 euros, vv Young Boys presents a plan to restart under a new name, Nieuw HFC Haarlem 1899, in an attempt to revive former professional league side HFC Haarlem, which had gone bankrupt in January 2010. However, nothing comes of these far-fetched plans, as vv Young Boys has to file for bankruptcy itself later that same month, with the club being erased from the Netherlands’ FA membership list on March 23rd, 2012. As such, the club is unable to finish the 2011-12 season, with all its results in Zaterdag Hoofdklasse A being nullified. This heralds the end of vv Young Boys after a meteoric existence of only eight years. Sportpark Schalkwijk is abandoned, later being bulldozered at the behest of Haarlem’s city-council.
• 2014 / Former DCO youth academy striker Stevy Okitokandjo, who had left the club at the age of nine to play for the youth teams of AFC Tubize in 2003 – later moving on to the respective academies of FCV Dender EH, FC Brussels, VC Eendracht Aalst 2002, and KAA Gent – makes his professional league debut at YRKV Mechelen. In an adventurous career, Okitokandjo goes on to have spells at KSV Roeselare, Patro Eisden Maasmechelen, R Excelsior Virton, Leixões SC, SC Olhanense, SB Castelo Branco, CD Matra, CD Trofense, Academia Puerto Cabello (in Venezuela), and Forlì FC.

All photos: (c) W.B. Tukker / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author

NETHERLANDS: vv Staphorst

Sportpark Het Noorderslag, Staphorst (vv Staphorst)

Netherlands, province: Overijssel

4 VI 2011 / vv Staphorst - CSV Apeldoorn 0-2 / Zaterdag Topklasse & Hoofdklasse, promotion-relegation play-off (= NL levels 3 & 4)

Note 1: vv Staphorst saw the daylight in 1959, with its first ground being situated at Ebbinge Wubbenlaan. In 1972, the club moved to their current ground at Parallelweg, renamed Sportpark Het Noorderslag in 1994. In 2009, in a thorough renovation, the clubhouse was knocked down and a completely new stadium was constructed. Three years later, vv Staphorst purchased SV DVS '33's old main stand and rebuilt it at the western side of Het Noorderslag's main pitch.

Note 2: Below, a compilation of images of three different visits: photo 1 = non-matchday visit, July 2017 / photos 2-4 & 17-20 = non-matchday visit, March 2022 (with grandstand) / photos 5-16 = match visit, June 2011 (without grandstand).

All photos: (c) W.B. Tukker / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author