Extreme Football Tourism: NETHERLANDS: vv Leeuwarden (B) (1936-1964) / LAC Frisia 1883 (B) (1936-1959) / LAC Frisia 1883 (1959-1968) / SC Cambuur (B) (1964-1989, 2009-2024) / SC Leeuwarden (B) (1964-1989) / Cambuur-Leeuwarden (B) (1989-2009) / Cambuur-Leeuwarden AV (B) (1989-1994) / Cambuur-Leeuwarden AV (1994-1997) / vv Leeuwarden (1997-2013)

Gemeentelijk Sportpark Cambuur Oost, Leeuwarden (formerly LAC Frisia 1883 / Cambuur-Leeuwarden AV / vv Leeuwarden & B ground of vv Leeuwarden / LAC Frisia 1883 / SC Cambuur / SC Leeuwarden / Cambuur-Leeuwarden / Cambuur-Leeuwarden AV)

Netherlands, province: Frisia = Friesland

March 2019 / no match visited

Timeline

1883 / Foundation of a cricket club in Leeuwarden, the capital of the Province of Frisia. The new club, which is given the name Cricketclub (CC) Frisia, settles on a pitch laid out in the Achter de Hoven neighbourhood, to the southeast of the town-centre.
1894 / As football is added to the myriad of activities of CC Frisia, the club changes its name to become Cricket & Football Club (C&FC) Frisia.
1896 / With cricket no longer being part of the club’s activities, C&FC Frisia’s board takes the decision to adapt the club name to Leeuwarder Athletische Club (LAC) Frisia.
1905 / Moving away from Terrein Achter de Hoven, LAC Frisia settles on a newly laid-out pitch, Terrein Wilhelminabaan.
1917 / A a new club sees the daylight in Leeuwarden, the distinctly working-class vv Leeuwarden. The new club settles on a pasture used as an ice-skating rink in the winter months, Terrein Bleekerstraat. In the following decade, vv Leeuwarden manages to rise up all the way to Sunday League 1, thus becoming the main town rival of LAC Frisia.
1920 / Moving away from Terrein Bleekerstraat, vv Leeuwarden concludes a groundsharing agreement with LVV Friesland, settling on that club’s ground, Terrein Nieuwlandsweg.
1921 / LAC Frisia adapts its name to become LAC Frisia 1883.
1923 / After three years of groundsharing with LVV Friesland, vv Leeuwarden moves into a newly ground of its own, Terrein Schenkenschans, situated at Sneekertrekweg.
1929 / vv Leeuwarden’s membership has risen so steadily, that the club has to rent extra pitches for lower team football and training sessions at Sonnenborgh, to the north of the town-centre.
1932 / At the behest of Leeuwarden’s municipal authorities, construction works get underway at a municipal sports stadium to the east of the town-centre, the Gemeentelijk Sportpark, with the project being carried out by the so-called Koninklijke Nederlandse Heidemaatschappij (Royal Netherlands’ Association for Wasteland Redevelopment). Most of the handwork is done by unemployed locals in a job creation scheme. The works take several years, mainly due to the fact that the terrain has to be raised considerably.
1936 / On September 12th, just ahead of the start of the 1936-37 season, the inauguration takes place of the Gemeentelijk Sportpark Cambuur – Cambuur being a bastardisation of a castle (‘burcht’) of the noble Van Cammingha family, which stood in the area of the stadium in Medieval times. Apart from the main pitch at the western end of the ground, three more football pitches as well as a hockey pitch have been laid out. The main pitch is taken in use by LAC Frisia 1883 as well as vv Leeuwarden, with these clubs abandoning their respective original grounds, Terrein Wilhelminabaan and Terrein Schenkenschans.
1949 / Following a renovation of the main pitch of the ground, which sees considerable extensions of the facilities for spectators, the Gemeentelijk Sportpark Cambuur is renamed, with the ground simply being known henceforth as the Cambuurstadion.
1954 / As professional league football is introduced in the Netherlands, vv Leeuwarden decides to take the leap. On the other hand, LAC Frisia 1883 refuses to relinquish its amateur status, thus remaining behind in what is ‘non-league’ from this point onwards.
1959 / Following a decision by Leeuwarden’s municipal authorities to only allow vv Leeuwarden to play in the Cambuurstadion, LAC Frisia 1883 is exiled to the Gemeentelijk Sportpark’s side-pitches, situated to the east of the stadium proper.
1964 / With vv Leeuwarden having run into grave financial problems, the club sees no other option but to withdraw into non-league. To avoid professional league football from disappearing from Frisia’s capital altogether, a new professional league club is founded, Sportclub (SC) Cambuur, named after the stadium. SC Cambuur takes over vv Leeuwarden’s league license. Meanwhile, vv Leeuwarden takes on a new name, Sportclub (SC) Leeuwarden, continuing life in District North’s Sunday divisions. SC Leeuwarden is allowed to groundshare with SC Cambuur in the Cambuurstadion.
1968 / After nine years of playing first team football on the first side pitch of the Cambuurstadion, LAC Frisia 1883 moves into a new, purpose built park of its own, Sportpark De Magere Weide.
1989 / In an amendment of both clubs’ articles of association, professional league side SC Cambuur and non-league club SC Leeuwarden conclude a merger, resulting in the foundation of Cambuur-Leeuwarden. The deal was brought about by a new KNVB rule, stipulating that each professional league side would be obliged to run a youth academy – and with SC Cambuur having none, the absorption of its non-league mother club proved the simplest solution. As before, Cambuur-Leeuwarden and the first team of Cambuur-Leeuwarden AV (Amateurvereniging) remain groundsharers at the Cambuurstadion.
1994 / After 58 years of playing at the Cambuurstadion, of which the last thirty as groundsharers of the Cambuur professional league side, Cambuur-Leeuwarden AV – playing in District North’s Sunday League 3 – has to leave the stadium to play first team football on the first side-pitch of Gemeentelijk Sportpark Cambuur.
1995 / Clinching the title in District North’s Sunday League 3A, 8 points ahead of vv RES, Cambuur-Leeuwarden AV wins promotion to Sunday League 2. The successful coach is Marius Modder.
1997 / Cambuur-Leeuwarden AV reverts to its original name, vv Leeuwarden.
1998 / Coached by Johan Groote, vv Leeuwarden finishes bottom of the table in Sunday League 2L, thus dropping back into Sunday League 3 along with the club finishing in second-last place, vv GOMOS.
2001 / Champions in District North’s Sunday League 3D, 3 points ahead of vv Heerenveen (AV), vv Leeuwarden manages a return to Sunday League 2 after an absence of three years. The successful coach is Guido Pen, former professional league player at AFC Ajax, FC Den Haag, SC Cambuur, and FC Zwolle.
2007 / vv Leeuwarden finishes in third place in Sunday League 2L, going on to clinch promotion to Sunday League 1 in the play-offs. The successful coach is Patrick Zwart.
2008 / Coached by Patrick Zwart, vv Leeuwarden finishes in second-last place in Sunday League 1F, thus dropping back into Sunday League 2 after just one season, along with bottom club FC Ter Apel ’96.
2010 / Coached by Ger Lamberts, vv Leeuwarden finishes in second-last place in Sunday League 2K, failing to save its skin in the subsequent promotion-relegation play-offs, in which it suffers a 3-2 (aggr.) defeat against SV Olyphia. As such, the club drops back into Sunday League 3 along with direct drop-out SC Franeker.
2011 / Runners-up in District North’s Sunday League 3A, 1 point behind champions GAVC, vv Leeuwarden qualifies for the play-offs, in which the club knocks out vv GRC Groningen in R1 (5-3 aggr.), going on to edge past vv Bakkeveen in the final (3-3 aggr. & penalty shoot-out). As such, the club manages an immediate return to Sunday League 2. The successful coach is former PSV, Cambuur-Leeuwarden, and RBC Roosendaal goalkeeper Wim de Ron.
2012 / Coached by Wim de Ron, vv Leeuwarden finishes in second-last place in Sunday League 2K, failing to save its skin in the subsequent promotion-relegation play-offs, in which it suffers a 4-2 (aggr.) defeat at the hands of vv DTD. As such, the club drops back into Sunday League 3 along with direct drop-outs vv GOMOS and vv Harkema-Opeinde.
2013 / In its last season as an independent club, vv Leeuwarden finishes as runners-up in District North’s Sunday League 3A, 9 points behind LVV Friesland. Qualifying for the promotion play-offs, the club is knocked out in R1 by vv Wacker (5-3 aggr.). Following the 2012-13 season, after an existence of 96 years, vv Leeuwarden, concludes a merger with vv Rood Geel, resulting in the foundation of SC Leovardia. Subsequently, all activities move away from the side-pitches of Gemeentelijk Sportpark Cambuur, as SC Leovardia settles on vv Rood Geel’s Sportpark Het Kalverdijkje. The side-pitches of the stadium remain in use for training purposes by SC Cambuur’s teams.
2024 / SC Cambuur leaves its spiritual home, the Cambuurstadion, settling at the newly built Stadion 058, officially called Stadion De Kooi following a sponsorship deal. This marks the end of the lifespan of the Cambuurstadion after having been in use continually for 88 years. For the time being, the stadium as well as its side-pitches remain in use for training purposes.