Extreme Football Tourism: May 2017

Westvliet, Voorburg (vv Wilhelmus)

Netherlands, province: South Holland

13 XII 2009 / Wilhelmus Reserves - VUC Reserves 1-2 / District West II, Sunday Reserves' League 1A (side pitch)
25 V 2017 / Wilhelmus - PVC 1-2 A.E.T. / Districts West I & West II, Sunday Leagues 2&3, promotion-relegation play-off semi, second leg (aggregate score: 2-4 PVC) (= NL levels 7&8)

Note 1: combination of photos of two visits: photos 3 & 5 date back to 2009, when a match on one of the side pitches was visited (no images of that match visit have been included); all remaining pictures (1-2, 4, 6-19) were taken in May 2017. Note that, between my two visits, the wooden stand on the side opposite the main stand (photo 5), purchased by Wilhelmus from SC Feyenoord in 1994, was replaced by terracing (photos 7 & 8).

Note 2: in the 2017 match, Wilhelmus had three players sent off in a game which was marred by tensions between both clubs on and off the pitch. The winning goal was a penalty scored in the 118th minute. As the home bench made its displeasure at the penalty having been awarded heard, the referee and his assistants decided to leave the pitch. This means it is up to the Dutch Football Association to decide what to do with the remaining two minutes of play. If 1-2 is indeed the final score, Wilhelmus are relegated to Sunday League 3, a level at which this proud club played for the last time in 1970.

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

Gemeentelijk Sportpark De Braak Noord, Helmond (formerly RKSV MULO)

Netherlands, province: North Brabant = Noord-Brabant

27 V 2017 / RKSV MULO - WVV Constantia 1-2 / District South II, Sunday League 4 - promotion play-off semi, second leg (aggregate score: 4-3 MULO)

Timeline

1915 / At a Roman-Catholic secondary school in Helmond, the St Henricus MULO for boys, the initiative is taken by two school officials, Fr Vitricius and Fr Rath, to form a football club, as they observed with regret how a considerable part of their pupils had joined secular football clubs in Helmond, notably Wilhelmina and Vitesse. The new club is given the name RKHSV (Roomsch-Katholieke Helmondsche Sportvereeniging) MULO – MULO simply being the abbreviation of the school-type, the second-lowest level in the complicated Dutch secondary school hierarchy (‘Meer Uitgebreid Lager Onderwijs’). The first club board consists of Noud Schampers, Frans Weijnheimer, and Herman Holtus. The club becomes a founding member of the Helmond branch of the Roomsch-Katholieke Voetbalbond (RKVB) Bisdom Den Bosch, which later becomes a sub-branch of the RKF (Roomsch-Katholieke Federatie), a Roman-Catholic football association, which was a fierce rival of the official Netherlands’ Football Association (NVB, later KNVB) in the pre-war years. Initially, club members of RKHSV MULO are exclusively boys of the St Henricus MULO – but it is not long before permission is given to admit others to the membership as well. At some point in the club’s early years, RKHSV MULO drops the H from its name, thereby becoming RKSV MULO; meanwhile, due to membership being open to school boys as well as to others, the acronym MULO is given a new explanation: ‘Met Uiterste Leeuwenmoed Opwaarts’. It is unclear where RKSV MULO’s ground was situated in the first five decades of its existence.
1919 / A new Roman Catholic club is founded in Helmond, Kolping – with Kolping expressly being a club for the town’s Catholic working-class. The need for such a club has arisen due to RKSV MULO making use of a ballot committee, thereby weeding out potential unwanted elements in an effort to sustain its higher middle-class character.
1921 / Asserting itself as a powerhouse in the ranks of the RKF in a very short amount of time, RKSV MULO manages to win the RKF national title only six years after its foundation.
1925 / RKSV MULO wins the RKF national title for the second time.
1927 / RKSV MULO wins the RKF national title for the third time.
1929 / RKSV MULO wins the RKF national title for the fourth and last time.
1940 / Having spent the first decades of its existence in the RKF Afdeling Helmond, RKSV MULO is now constrained to make the step to the official Netherlands’ FA (renamed NVB following the German oppression of the Netherlands, abandoning the royal epithet ‘koninklijk’ for obvious reasons) as all other football associations are abolished by German occupation authorities. For the 1940-41 season, the club is placed in District South’s Sunday League 3G.
1941 / In spite of clinching the title in District South’s Sunday League 3G in the club’s first season in the ranks of the NVB, finishing 3 points ahead of closest followers VSV ’34, RKSV MULO does not win promotion to Sunday League 2 due to an unsuccessful round of promotion play-offs.
1944 / RKSV MULO finishes in joint second place in District South’s Sunday League 3G with vv Geldrop, 14 points behind runaway champions Geel-Bruin, another club from Helmond. Following the 1943-44 season, the club concludes a merger with that same club, Geel-Bruin, resulting in the foundation of RKSV Geel-Bruin MULO. Geel-Bruin was a relatively young club, founded in 1938 under another name, HTMS (Helmondse Textielmaatschappij Sportclub), but dropping the reference to its mother company and taking on the name Geel-Bruin three years later (one year after joining the NVB for the same reason as RKSV MULO). As Geel-Bruin managed to win the promotion play-offs, RKSV Geel-Bruin MULO starts its life in Sunday League 2 – although having to wait for its first match at this level until mid-1945, as no regular league football takes place in the Netherlands in the 1944-45 season due to the liberation of the country from the German yoke in those months.
1947 / Shedding the reference to the 1944 merger, RKSV Geel-Bruin MULO changes its name, reverting to the old RKSV MULO.
1948 / Finishing in last place in District South I’s Sunday League 2B, RKSV MULO drops back into Sunday League 3.
1949 / Champions in District South I’s Sunday League 3A, 7 points ahead of closest rivals WVVZ, RKSV MULO fails to reclaim its place in Sunday League 2 in the subsequent round of promotion play-offs.
1950 / Champions in District South I’s Sunday League 3A, 2 points ahead of closest followers SV Deurne, RKSV MULO fails to reclaim its place in Sunday League 2 in the subsequent round of promotion play-offs.
1951 / Finishing in second-last place in District South I’s Sunday League 3B, RKSV MULO descends into Sunday League 4 for the first time, along with bottom club RKVV Best Vooruit.
1952 / Champions in District South I’s Sunday League 4A, 2 points ahead of runners-up GVV ’12, RKSV MULO wins the subsequent round of promotion play-offs and thereby managing a return to League 3 after just one season.
1955 / As a professional league pyramid is formed in the Netherlands, RKSV MULO’s 21-year-old goalkeeper René Dijckmans signs a contract with RKSC Helmondia ’55, a merger between MULO’s town rivals SC Helmondia and RKSV Kolping SDW. which makes the leap to join the professional football league. After spending five seasons at RKSC Helmondia ’55, Dijckmans goes on to wear the colours of SC Enschede, NEC, Willem II, and AVC Vitesse, before reverting to non-league at MULO in 1965.
1957 / Finishing in joint last position in District South I’s Sunday League 3A with vv UNA, RKSV MULO suffers a defeat against that club in a relegation tie-break, dropping back into League 4 as a result.
1964 / With no information being available about the ground or grounds where the club spent the first 59 years of its existence, RKSV MULO now moves into the newly laid-out northern end of Gemeentelijk Sportpark De Braak, in the shadow of Stadion De Braak, where professional league side RKSC Helmondia ’55 plays its home matches.
1965 / Champions in District South I’s Sunday League 4C, 4 points ahead of closest followers RKVV ELI, RKSV MULO wins promotion to Sunday League 3.
1967 / MULO’s neighbour club, professional league side RKSC Helmondia ’55, gives away its pro licence to the newly founded Helmond Sport, with the club itself reverting to the ranks of non-league. Some years later, Helmondia ’55 inaugurates its own clubhouse at Sportpark De Braak, with that club’s main pitch being situated at the park’s eastern end, to the south of RKSV MULO’s main pitch.
1968 / RKSV MULO’s 19-year-old wingback Tonnie Beekmans joins Helmond Sport, going on to stay with that club for thirteen seasons and wearing its jersey in a staggering 383 official matches.
1969 / Champions in District South I’s Sunday League 3A, 6 points ahead of closest rivals vv Bladella, RKSV MULO wins promotion to Sunday League 2 after an absence of 21 years at that level.
1970 / In the best season in club history, RKSV MULO finishes as runners-up in District South I’s Sunday League 2A, 6 points behind champions vv Geldrop. The club’s performance that season had been bolstered through the efforts of 18-year-old twin brothers René and Willy van de Kerkhof. Following the 1969-70 season, the talented brothers are signed by professional league side FC Twente ’65, where the rapidly establish themselves as valuable first team players. Willy van de Kerkhof, a defensive midfielder, earned himself a transfer to PSV in 1973, spending the remaining fifteen years of his career at the Eindhoven club. Meanwhile, René van de Kerkhof, a winger, wore the colours of PSV, GS Apollon Smyrnis, Seiko SA (Hong Kong), Helmond Sport, and SC Eindhoven before hanging up his boots in 1989. The Van de Kerkhof brothers were part of the Netherlands’ squads taking part in the 1974 and 1978 World Championships – in which the country reached the final – as well as the 1976 and 1980 European Championships, with Willy eventually collecting 63 caps and René 47.
1973 / Finishing bottom of the table in District South I’s Sunday League 2A, RKSV MULO drops back into League 3 along with the club finishing in second-last place, RKVV Best Vooruit.
1978 / Finishing in second-last place in District South I’s Sunday League 3A, RKSV MULO drops back into League 4 along with bottom club vv Bladella. Also in 1978, RKSV MULO’s 18-year-old utility player Rob Landsbergen signs a contract with professional league giants PSV, going on to wear the colours of Willem II, Hyundai Horang-I, Helmond Sport, and NAC before hanging up his boots in 1990.
1984 / Champions in District South II’s Sunday League 4C, 1 point ahead of runners-up RKSV Heeze, RKSV MULO wins promotion to Sunday League 3.
1989 / Finishing in second-last place in District South II’s Sunday League 3A, RKSV MULO drops back into League 4 after five seasons, along with bottom club RPC.
1999 / Clinching the title in District South II’s Sunday League 4H, 9 points ahead of closest followers HVV Helmond, RKSV MULO wins promotion to Sunday League 3 after an absence of ten years at that level.
2001 / Coached by John Slabbers, RKSV MULO finishes bottom of the table in District South II’s Sunday League 3D, thus dropping back into League 4 along with the club finishing in second-last place, RKVV Den Dungen.
2007 / Coached by Werner Klaassen, RKSV MULO finishes bottom of the table in District South II’s Sunday League 4E, thus descending into Sunday League 5 for the first time in club history, with PVV being its fellow drop-out.
2008 / Coached by Tom Vroomen, RKSV MULO clinches the title in District South II’s Sunday League 5E, 5 points ahead of closest rivals vv Bruheze, thus reclaiming its place in League 4 after an absence of just one season.
2009 / Coached by Tom Vroomen, RKSV MULO wins its second title in a row, finishing in first place in District South II’s Sunday League 4F, 3 points ahead of runners-up ASV ’33, thus acceding to Sunday League 3 after an absence of eight years.
2011 / Finishing in third-last place in District South II’s Sunday League 3D, RKSV MULO, still coached by Tom Vroomen, avoids direct relegation, however having to assure itself of a prolonged stay at that level in the promotion-relegation play-offs; in those play-offs, the club meets SV Ruwaard in R1, with the tie finishing 3-3 on aggregate and SV Ruwaard winning the penalty shoot-out. As such, RKSV MULO is retrograded into League 4 along with direct drop-outs vv Boskant and RKSV Juliana.
2013 / Coached by former player Rob Landsbergen, RKSV MULO wins the title in District South I’s Sunday League 4E, 2 points ahead of closest rivals vv Bruheze, thus acceding to League 3.
2014 / Coached by Rob Landsbergen, RKSV MULO finishes bottom of the table in District South II’s Sunday League 3C, thus dropping back into League 4 along with the club finishing second from bottom, SV Budel.
2015 / Still coached by Rob Landsbergen, RKSV MULO suffers its second relegation in a row, finishing in second-last place in District South II’s Sunday League 4F and thus falling back to League 5 level for the second time in club history, along with bottom club vv Mariahout.
2016 / Led by new coach Willem Aarts, RKSV MULO clinches the title in District South II’s Sunday League 5H, 6 points ahead of runners-up VOW, thus managing an immediate return to League 4.
2017 / Coached by Ralf van den Heuvel, RSKV MULO finishes as runners-up in District South II’s Sunday League 4G, 14 points behind champions SV Unitas ’59. Qualifying for the play-offs, the club manages to successively knock out WVV Constantia (4-3 aggr.) and vv Bruheze (7-3 aggr.), thus reclaiming its place in League 3 after an absence of three years.
2018 / As a first step on the way to a fully-fledged merger, RKSV MULO merges its youth teams with the youth academy of neighbour club SC Helmondia, resulting in the foundation of SJO (Samenwerking Jeugdopleidingen) Helmondia-MULO.
2019 / Still coached by Ralf van den Heuvel, RKSV MULO finishes in second-last place in District South II’s Sunday League 3C, thus dropping back into League 4 along with bottom club RKSV Ulysses.
2020 / In its last season as an independent club, RKSV MULO finds itself in sixth place in District South II’s Sunday League 4F, when the season is cut short in March 2020 due to the first COVID lockdown. Following the 2019-20 season, the club concludes a merger with neighbours SC Helmondia, resulting in the foundation of Sportvereniging (SV) De Braak. With a complete renovation of Sportpark De Braak being undertaken, first team football moves to SC Helmondia’s Sportpark De Braak Oost. Meanwhile, RKSV MULO’s clubhouse at the northern end of the park is knocked down, with a school campus being constructed on part of the old MULO pitches.
2022 / RKSV MULO club icon Rob Landsbergen, having fallen victim to an incurable disease, passes away at the untimely age of 62. With the renovation of Sportpark De Braak still ongoing, a synthetic pitch is laid out at its northeastern end, partly covering the area of RKSV MULO’s former main pitch.
2023 / With SV De Braak having spent the 2022-23 season as groundsharers with Helmond Sport at Stadion De Braak after the removal of SC Helmondia’s old main pitch the previous year, the merger club now moves its first team football to the synthetic pitch at the northeastern side of the park – awaiting the construction of a new main pitch elsewhere on Sportpark De Braak in the coming years.