NETHERLANDS: TSV NOAD (B) (1958-1971) / TSV NOAD (1971-2017)

Eginhardstraat / Melis Stokestraat, Tilburg (formerly TSV NOAD)

Netherlands, province: North Brabant

3 IV 2016 / TSV NOAD - vv Gilze 4-2 / District South I, Sunday League 3B (= NL level 7)

Timeline

• 1910 / Foundation of TSV NOAD as one of the few non-catholic sports club in Tilburg. Oddly, it is not entirely clear what the name stands for: Tilburgse Sportvereeniging 'Nooit/Niet Opgeven Altijd Doorspelen/Doorgaan'. The club starts life on a pasture situated just to the east of Tilburg, near Koningshoeven Abbey. 
• 1920 / Abandoning their first ground, TSV NOAD moves into Tilburg's Gemeentelijk Sportpark, then known as Het Tilburgsche Sportpark, at Goirleseweg.
• 1923 / After three years at the communal stadium, NOAD leaves for a newly built ground of their own at Industriestraat. One year later, the Gemeentelijk Sportpark is taken over by Willem II.
• 1954 / Upon the introduction of professional league football in the Netherlands, NOAD is one of three clubs from Tilburg acceding to the professional league pyramid - the other two being TSV LONGA and Willem II. Given the fact that NOAD had a history of 40 uninterrupted seasons at the highest (non-)league level to look back on, the choice was no more than logical.
• 1956 / NOAD manages to win promotion to Eredivisie, the top flight of the Netherlands' football pyramid.
• 1957 / NOAD's ground, hemmed in between two railway lines, is demolished and taken over by the Netherlands' Railway Service, who need the premises for a new marshalling yard. NOAD embarks on an involuntary groundshare with their fiercest rivals, Willem II, at Tilburg's Gemeentelijk Sportpark at Goirleseweg. 
• 1958 / In November 1958, NOAD's new ground is inaugurated at Eginhardstraat in Tilburg's town centre. The park consists of two grass pitches and one gravel pitch. This ground - in no way suited to host professional league football - is used for lower team football and training purposes (as well as for P.E. lessons by local schools), while NOAD's flagship team continues to play its matches at Goirleseweg.
• 1961 / After three seasons at Eredivisie level (1957-59, 1960-61), TSV NOAD is relegated to the second tier of the league pyramid. 
• 1971 / The Netherlands' Football Association eliminates a large number of clubs from its national league system, with the criterion being the number of spectators. As NOAD never drew much of a crowd at Goirleseweg - even less so after the club's relegation to the third tier of the pyramid in 1962 -, the club is one of the victims of this measure. Starting life as a non-league side in Sunday League 2, NOAD moves its first team football to Eginhardstraat. In the following decades, the ground undergoes several renovations, one involving the main pitch being given a quarter turn and the addition of a covered stand. At some point, the ground's entrance was switched from Eginhardstraat to Melis Stokestraat.
• 2017 / TSV NOAD concludes a merger with TSV LONGA and RKTVV, becoming FC (Fusieclub) Tilburg. All activities are moved to LONGA's stadium at Spoordijk, while RKTVV's Sportpark Noord is taken over by Willem II for the benefit of their youth academy. NOAD's ground is abandoned, due to be redeveloped for housing.
• 2022 / NOAD's former clubhouse at Melis Stokestraat, which housed asylum seekers at some point, goes up in flames. With this building gone, only the covered stand recalls the days of football on this location. It remains to be seen when redevelopment works will commence.

Note: Below, a compilation of photos of two different visits: pictures 1-17 = match visit, April 2016 / pictures 18-27 = non-matchday (ruin) visit, July 2022.

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