Extreme Football Tourism: NETHERLANDS: vv ZTS (1979-2017) / SJV Rood-Wit Zaanstad (2017-2019)

Thursday, 2 June 2011

NETHERLANDS: vv ZTS (1979-2017) / SJV Rood-Wit Zaanstad (2017-2019)

Gemeentelijk Sportpark Hoornseveld West, Zaandam (formerly vv ZTS & SJV Rood-Wit Zaanstad)

Netherlands, province: North Holland

June 2011 & November 2022 / no match visited

Timeline

1979 / Foundation of Voetbalvereniging (vv) Zaanstad Türk Spor (ZTS). Probably from the club's foundation onwards, ZTS was home at one of the side-pitches of Gemeentelijk Sportpark Hoornseveld, of which the main pitch was used by former professional league side ZFC. vv ZTS's pitch and clubhouse were situated immediately at the back of ZFC's main stand. In the first decades of its existence, vv ZTS's first team does not manage to climb out of the 'bubbling under' of local divisions below Sunday League 4 in the so-called Noord-Hollandse Voetbalbond (NHVB).
± 1992 / ZTS's neighbours Hellas Sport Combinatie - a merger concluded in 1990 between ZFC and ZVV - are moving into a new clubhouse at the eastern end of their main pitch. ZFC's old clubhouse behind their main stand is now granted to ZTS (cp. picture 7 below).
2003 / Obtaining the title in Sunday League 4C, vv ZTS wins promotion to Sunday League 3 for the first time in its existence. In the following years, the club manages a total of eight seasons in L3, subdivided in two spells (2003-08, 2009-12).
2013 / In March 2013, all of ZTS's teams are excluded from taking part in league football by the Netherlands' Football Association after a string of incidents on and off the pitch. By way of punishment, the club is not allowed to take part with any of its squads in the following season either. In December 2013, ZTS's small covered stand is consumed in a fire, probably caused by vandalism perpetrated by ZTS club members, although the culprit(s) was/were never caught.
2014 / Having completed their one-year ban, ZTS returns, with the club's first team restarting at the bottom of the league ladder - in Sunday League 5, in which it clinches the title rightaway. In the following years, the club alternates spells in Sunday Leagues 4 and 5.
2017 / Consciously shedding the reference to its origins as a club of Turkish migrant workers, vv ZTS changes its name to become Sport- en Jeugdvereniging (SJV) Rood-Wit Zaanstad - commonly referred to simply as RWZ.
2019 / Abandoning Sportpark Hoornseveld West, SJV Rood-Wit Zaandam moves to Sportpark Poelenburg. This ground had been left unused for one season following its previous user, ZVV Zilvermeeuwen, concluding a merger with Hellas Sport Combinatie in 2018 to form FC Zaandam - with all activities moving to Sportpark Hoornseveld Oost.
2020 / Rood-Wit Zaandam's former clubhouse at Sportpark Hoornseveld West is destroyed beyond repair due to a fire - again, almost certainly caused by an act of vandalism.
2022 / RWZ's former main pitch at Sportpark Hoornseveld is removed as the park is undergoing a complete reconstruction which is due to be finished in 2023 or 2024.