Extreme Football Tourism: NETHERLANDS: SV Leones (1956-2021) / SV Leones (C) (2021-2024)

Sportpark Het Zijvond Zandstraat/Zijveld, Beneden-Leeuwen (formerly SV Leones)

Netherlands, province: Guelders = Gelderland

June 2018 / no match visited

Timeline

1929 / At the instigation of a number of youths in the village of Beneden-Leeuwen – the brothers Huib & Harry van Heertum, Es de Kok, Frans Maas, Willie Hol, and Jan Walraven – a football club is founded, Sportvereniging (SV) Leones. The Latin name (in translation meaning ‘Lions’) was an idea by the local chaplain, Mr Van Hout. Firmly imbedded in the Roman-Catholic pillar of the Netherlands’ pre-war society, SV Leones does not join the official Netherlands’ Football Association (KNVB), instead preferring to apply for membership of its Catholic counterpart and rival, the Interdiocesane Voetbalcompetitiebond (IVCB). For the 1929-30 season, SV Leones is placed in IVCB’s Kring Maas & Waal Division 2, which gives direct promotion to IVCB’s nationwide divisions. The club’s first ground is situated at modern-day Van Heemstraweg, opposite gas station De Fakkel.
1932 / SV Leones is placed in the newly created IVCB Kring Maas & Waal Division 1 as a new level created between the national IVCB Divisions and the local league systems.
1934 / Winning the title in IVCB Kring Maas & Waal Division 1B, SV Leones plays a tie-break match against the winners of Division 1A, DSWI from Tiel, going on to win the encounter played at DSZ’s ground in Boven-Leeuwen, resulting in promotion to IVCB Nationwide Division 2. Also in 1934, the club abandons its first ground, settling at Terrein De Zijveld, situated opposite Café Hent de Kok.
1940 / Having spent the first eleven years of its existence in the IVCB league system, SV Leones 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. The club is placed in District East I’s Sunday League 4G.
1944 / SV Leones clinches its first league title since becoming an NVB club – although admittedly, the first place in District East’s Sunday League 4J does not amount to much, given that it was disputed by just two other teams, SCD ’33 and Leones’ local rivals RKSV DIO ’30 from Druten – and no promotion resulting. As opportunities to travel were getting ever rarer as the occupation years wore on, many clubs withdrew and league football was seriously curtailed in many parts of the country.
1953 / SV Leones wins its first post-war league title, finishing in first place in District East’s Sunday League 4G, 4 points ahead of closest followers RKSV Driel. In the ensuing round of play-offs, the club fails to win promotion to League 3.
1955 / Winning the title in Sunday League 4H, 5 points ahead of closest followers RKSV DIO ’30, SV Leones wins the ensuing round of play-offs, resulting in a first-ever promotion to Sunday League 3.
1956 / In its first season at League 3 level, SV Leones manages wonderfully well, even going on to win the title in District East’s Sunday League 3D, 4 points ahead of closest rivals SV AWC. In the ensuing round of play-offs, the club fails to win promotion to League 2. Also in 1956, abandoning Terrein De Zijveld, SV Leones settles on the newly laid-out Sportpark Het Zijvond, with a wooden grandstand being added to the set-up some two years later.
1957 / Clinching its second consecutive title in District East’s Sunday League 3D, 5 points ahead of runners-up CHRC, SV Leones wins promotion to League 2 for the first time in club history.
1962 / Having played in the upper reaches of Sunday League 2 since its promotion in 1957, SV Leones now clinches the title in Sunday League 2A, 2 points ahead of closest followers WAVV, thus winning a historic promotion to Sunday League 1, the highest level of the Netherlands’ non-league pyramid at the time – finishing runners-up in its first season in Sunday League 1E, just 2 points behind champions NC&VC Quick.
1967 / Finishing in last place in Sunday League 1E, SV Leones drops back into League 2 after five seasons – incidentally also the first time since the end of the war that the club had to take a step down the league ladder.
1978 / After a relatively anonymous decade in League 2, SV Leones now wins the title in Sunday League 2A, 5 points ahead of closest followers vv Eldenia, resulting in the club returning to Sunday League 1 – by this time non the highest, but the second-highest level in non-league – after an absence of eleven years.
1982 / Leones’ midfielder Anton Janssen, who had broken into the first team as a seventeen-year-old two years previously, is signed by NEC, going on to have a successful nineteen-year long career as a professional league player at Fortuna Sittard, PSV, and KV Kortrijk, eventually hanging up his boots after a second spell at NEC in 2001 – the highlight of this career coming in 1988, when Janssen won the final of the European Cup with PSV against SL Benfica in Stuttgart’s Neckarstadion; in the match, Janssen came on as a substitute and hammered home one of the five penalties in the all-decisive shoot-out. After his playing career, Janssen went on to coach Jong PSV, vv Gemert, FC Oss, NEC, and SV De Treffers.
1983 / Finishing 3 points ahead of closest rivals NC&VC Quick, SV Leones wins the title in Sunday League 1E, resulting in promotion to Zondag Hoofdklasse for the first time since this top non-league level was added to the football pyramid nine years previously.
1984 / In the best season in club history, SV Leones finishes in eighth place in Zondag Hoofdklasse B – incidentally only 8 points behind champions SV Zwolsche Boys.
1985 / Finishing second-last in Zondag Hoofdklasse B, SV Leones drops back into League 1 along with bottom club vv Emmen.
1986 / SV Leones finishes runners-up in Sunday League 1E, just 1 point behind champions RKHVV. The club comes close to the title in this same division on three more occasions in the following four seasons, finishing in second place behind SV Babberich (1988), RKVV Stevo (1989), and KVV Quick ’20 (1990).
1987 / Agile centre-forward Rick Hilgers, who had joined the club in 1986 after failing to break into NEC’s first team, leaves SV Leones after just one season to play for his childhood club SV Hatert; Hilgers goes on to have a successful spell as a professional league player at SBV Vitesse (1988-92) and a less successful one at KV Kortrijk (1993) before withdrawing into non-league football at SV Hatert and SV AWC.
1990 / Marking the success of SV Leones as a club with a strong youth academy, no fewer than three players or former players earn themselves a professional league contract in 1990. Firstly, midfielder Ivo den Bieman, one of the key players in the club’s first team, signs a contract with Scotland’s lower league club Montrose FC, going on to stay in Scotland for ten years and playing for Dundee FC, Dunfermline Athletic FC, Ross County FC, and Falkirk FC before returning to the Netherlands in 2000 and playing for three more years at vv Bennekom. Secondly, former youth goalkeeper Arno van Zwam, who had been lured away by the academy of Fortuna Sittard, earns himself a professional contract with this club at the age of twenty. Being the back-up for the reliable Ruud Hesp, Van Zwam has to wait a full four years before making his first appearance in Fortuna’s first team, going on to have spells at Júbilo Iwata (Japan), and NAC Breda until retiring in 2007; subsequently, he was a goalkeeper coach at, among others, NAC Breda and the Netherlands’ national team. Lastly, 18-year-old centre-forward Huub Loeffen, another former Leones youth player who had moved to SBV Vitesse’s academy some years before, breaks into that club’s first team, making his mark immediately by scoring the Arnhem side’s first-ever goal in a European Cup match, a 4-0 win away at Derry City FC. Loeffen went on to play for FC Zwolle, Willem II, and TOP Oss before hanging up his boots in 2001. Also in 1990, former FC Wageningen centre-forward Evert Radstaat joined SV Leones after a spell of four seasons at NEC, but he fails to make his mark in Beneden-Leeuwen, ceasing his football career altogether not long after.
1991 / Having come close to a return to Zondag Hoofdklasse in the previous seasons, SV Leones now finishes in last place in Sunday League 1E, thus dropping back into League 2 along with Quick 1888.
2000 / Finishing joint-runners up in Sunday League 2I along with SV DCS, 6 points behind champions SV OBW, SV Leones wins promotion to Sunday League 1 after winning a set of promotion play-offs.
2002 / Finishing in last place in Sunday League 1E, SV Leones drops back into League 2 along with SV DCS.
2003 / Finishing second-last in Sunday League 2I, SV Leones suffers relegation along with bottom club vv Arnhemse Boys. As such, the club finds itself in Sunday League 3 for the first time in 46 years.
2004 / Runners-up in District East’s Sunday League 3D, 10 points behind runaway champions FC Lienden, SV Leones qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which it defeats derby rival DIO ’30 in the final to return to Sunday League 2 after an absence of just one season.
2009 / Runners-up in Sunday League 2I the previous season, SV Leones now finishes in tenth place in that same division, having to play a set of play-offs to avoid relegation. In those play-offs, the club edges past RKVV Alverna in R1 (3-2 aggr.), but succumbs to Sportclub Silvolde in the final (5-2 A.E.T.), organised at RKSV Achilles ’29’s Sportpark De Heikant in Groesbeek with an attendance of some 1,500 supporters. As such, the club descends into League 3.
2011 / Having narrowly staved off relegation in League 3 the previous season, SV Leones now goes on to win the title in District East’s Sunday League 3D, 2 points ahead of rivals RKVV Rood Wit. As such, the club clinches promotion to League 2.
2012 / Having been SV Leones’ chairman for the past three years, Edo Ophof – former professional league player at NEC, AFC Ajax, AZ, and FC Utrecht between 1976 and 1990, apart from winning fifteen caps for the Netherlands’ national team in the first half of the 1980s – leaves the club to become Technical Manager at NEC.
2013 / Runners-up in Sunday League 2I, 5 points behind champions vv DVV, SV Leones is eliminated in the promotion play-offs by SV Grol (6-2 aggr.).
2017 / Runners-up in Sunday League 2I, 2 points behind champions RKZVC, SV Leones is eliminated in R1 of the promotion play-offs by KSV BWO (2-0).
2018 / Champions in Sunday League 2I, 1 point ahead of closest rivals SV Spero, SV Leones wins promotion to Sunday League 1, managing a return to that level after sixteen seasons.
2019 / Finishing in fourth place in Sunday League 1C, SV Leones qualifies for the promotion play-offs, defeating RKSV Nemelaer in R1 (1-2) before being eliminated in R2 by SV TOP.
2021 / After a thorough renovation of Sportpark Het Zijvond, a new clubhouse and main stand are inaugurated on what had hitherto been one of the side-pitches of the park in September 2021. The main entrance of the ground is moved from Zijveld at the eastern side of the park to De Peel at its southern end.
2022 / While maintaining its Sunday team as the flagship of the club, SV Leones enters a first team in Saturday football for the first time. The club’s debut in Saturday football is not very successful, as SV Leones (za) finishes in last place in District East’s Saturday League 4A in the 2022-23 season, resulting in the team being retrograded to the newly-formed Saturday League 5.
2023 / Finishing in tenth place in Sunday League 1D, SV Leones has to play a set of play-offs to stave off relegation – but it is unsuccessful in this mission, being eliminated in R2 (having had a bye in R1) by vv ATC ’65 (3-1). As such, the club drops back into League 2 after five years.
2024 / Having served as a side-pitch for 2,5 more years after the inauguration of the new main pitch, the old main pitch at Sportpark Het Zijvond is given up to make way for housing in January 2024. The grandstand, dating back to (probably) 1958, is knocked down. Also in 2024, SV Leones finishes in fourth place in Sunday League 2G, qualifying for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is eliminated in R1 by vv Unicum (1-0).