Extreme Football Tourism: NETHERLANDS: vv EWC '46

Sportpark Oude Linde, Well Limburg (vv EWC '46)

Netherlands, province: Limburg

19 VII 2015 / EWC '46 - JVC Cuijk 3-3 / Pre-season friendly

Timeline

± 1914 / Foundation of a first football club in Well in Limburg, although it is unclear if this club – probably simply named ‘Well’ – ever joined a league association.
1919 / The football club in Well folds.
1920 / Refoundation of the football club in Well under the name Herleving Well. Herleving Well joins the so-called RKLVB (Roomsch-Katholieke Limburgsche Voetbalbond), a league association of Roman-Catholic clubs from Limburg not affiliated to the official Netherlands’ Football Association, NVB. It is unclear how long Herleving Well exactly existed, but it cannot have been more than just a couple of years.
1927 / Foundation of a new football club in Well, RKWVC (Roomsch-Katholieke Wellsche Voetbalclub). The club, which joins RKLVB, plays its home matches at Terrein Kobus Swemers, a piece of farmland situated in Knikkerdorp, a hamlet situated to the east of Well.
1930 / Winning the title in RKLVB Division 2, RKWVC accedes to RKLVB Division 1. Also in 1930, the club moves from Terrein Kobus Swemers to a newly laid-out pitch, Terrein Grote Waaij.
1935 / RKWVC moves to a newly laid-out pitch situated at Kasteellaan.
1937 / Due to the hardships of the economic crisis, impelling many players to discontinue their club membership, RKWVC folds, ceasing all activities.
1940 / After 3 years in which football was practiced in Well only on an irregular basis – with makeshift teams from the various neighbourhoods of the village playing each other –, the first year of German occupation sees the foundation of not one, but two new football clubs; the first, RKVV Erica – soon renamed vv Erica –, is formed as a conglomerate of various neighbourhood teams. Its ground is situated at the back of Café Rutten, Rijksweg. The other club is none other than a refoundation of RKWVC. With RKLVB meanwhile having been forced by German occupation authorities to merge with the official Netherlands’ FA (NVB), RKWVC – like Erica – applied for NVB membership, but was refused on grounds that (1) German occupation authorities did not want any reference to religion in club names and (2) the remaining letters of the name, WVC, were already taken by two other NVB membership clubs. As a result, the club changes its name to become Walaria. Walaria initially plays its home matches at a pitch situated at Rijksweg, near Tramhalte (tram stop) Vink, but not much later, a move is made to Terrein Wellsmeer – alternatively referred to as Broekweiland – at Kasteellaan.
1941 / Finishing in joint-first place with AVV America in Afdeling Limburg Division 2, vv Erica meets its fellow-champions for a tie-break match at a neutral venue, Servatius’ ground in Venray. Losing the match 2-1, Erica misses out on promotion to Afdeling Limburg Division 1. Somehow, the club must have won promotion in one of the two following years, but further information regarding this matter is lacking.
1942 / In nearby Wellerlooi, a football club is founded under the name (vv) RESIA (’42) (RESIA = ‘Rooms en Sportief in Alles’), but its membership application is turned down by the Netherlands’ Football Association for unknown reasons; thereupon, the decision is taken to temporarily become a sub-branch of Walaria, playing its football under the flag of that club.
1944 / Clinching the title in Afdeling Limburg Division 1 with the maximum of points (32 points from 16 matches), vv Erica, coached by Grad Nillesen, wins promotion to NVB Sunday League 4, but due to league football being suspended altogether in the Netherlands in the 1944-45 season, the club cannot take up its place in that division until 1945. Directly after the liberation of the southern half of the Netherlands, in the latter stages of 1944, vv RESIA ’42 breaks away from Walaria, becoming an independent KNVB member.
1946 / A merger is concluded between the two clubs from Well, RKVV Erica and Walaria, resulting in the foundation of RKVV EWC ’46 (Rooms-Katholieke Voetbalvereniging ‘Erica-Walaria Combinatie’ 1946). The merger club drops the reference to its Roman-Catholic origins later on (probably in the course of the 1960s), thus becoming vv EWC ’46. The first chairman, chosen in 1946, is Harry Roncken. The club’s initial ground is situated at Tramhalte Vink – incidentally also the pitch where Walaria started its life back in 1940. RKVV EWC ’46’s first team starts its life in KNVB Sunday League 4, the level attained by (RK)VV Erica two years previously.
1947 / RKVV EWC ’46 wins the title in District South II’s Sunday League 4F, but misses out on promotion in the subsequent round of play-offs against other League 4 title winners. In fact, the club also wins the 4F title in 1948 and 1949, but does not manage to win promotion on either occasion for the same reasons.
1959 / Finishing in last place in Sunday League 4G, RKVV EWC ’46 descends into Afdeling Limburg Division 1 for the first time.
1961 / Probably having played at Tramhalte Vink for the past 15 years, EWC makes the move to a newly laid-out ground, Terrein Sterrenbos.
1966 / Having played in Afdeling Limburg for the past 7 seasons, EWC ’46 manages a return to District South II’s Sunday League 4.
1969 / Winning the title in Sunday League 4H, EWC ’46 accedes to Sunday League 3 for the first time in club history. The stay at that level lasts for 4 years, with relegation following in 1973.
1973 / Having played at Terrein Sterrenbos for the past 12 years, EWC now makes the move to the newly laid-out municipal sports facilities inaugurated by mayor Leon Huyben – and given the name Sportpark Oude Linde.
1977 / Winning the title in Sunday League 4H, EWC ’46 manages a return to League 3 after an absence of 4 years.
1978 / In the best season in club history, vv EWC ’46 finishes in 4th place in District South II’s Sunday League 3D.
1979 / Finishing bottom of the table in League 3D, EWC drops back into Sunday League 4.
1981 / vv EWC ’46 finishes in last place in Sunday League 4H, thus descending into Afdeling Limburg after an absence of 15 years at that level.
1984 / With both club’s youth academies slowly shrinking, EWC and vv RESIA ’42 from nearby Wellerlooi field a first combined youth team.
1986 / EWC wins promotion from Afdeling Limburg Division 1 back to Sunday League 4. Also in 1986, the clubhouse at Sportpark Oude Linde undergoes a first round of renovations.
1991 / Second-last in Sunday League 4H, EWC ’46 descends into Afdeling Limburg Hoofdklasse. The club manages an immediate return to League 4 level in the following season, though.
1996 / The clubhouse at Sportpark Oude Linde undergoes a second round of renovation works.
1999 / Having finished runners-up in Sunday League 4H the previous year, EWC ’46 now finds itself at the bottom of the ranking at the end of the season, thus descending into Sunday League 5 – the successor of Afdeling Limburg Division 1, created in 1996.
2000 / By 2000, EWC ’46 and vv RESIA '42 have merged their youth academies completely.
2003 / Second-last in the final table of Sunday League 5F at the end of the 2002-03 season, vv EWC ’46 descends into Sunday League 6.
2007 / Clinching the title in Sunday League 6E, the club finds its way back to League 5. In the following years, the club alternates short spells in League 5 (2007-09, 2010-12, 2013-14) and League 6 (2009-10, 2012-13).
2014 / Winning the promotion play-offs after finishing runners-up in Sunday League 5F, vv EWC ’46 manages a return to Sunday League 4 after a 15-year absence.
2022 / Finishing in 4th place in Sunday League 4G, EWC qualifies for the promotion play-offs. Seeing off SJVV in R1 (10-5 aggregate), the club is defeated emphatically in the final double against BSV Olympia ’18 (11-1 aggregate) – thus missing out on a return to League 3.
2023 / EWC ’46 finishes second-last in Sunday League 4F, thus dropping back into League 5. Taking the far-reaching decision to withdraw its first team, the club will continue independently with recreational teams for the 2023-24 season before being absorbed into SJO SSA MSH Maasduinen (the provisional merger club of RKVV HRC ’27, RKVV Montagnards, and RKSV Stormvogels ’28) in the summer of 2024.