Sunday 25 September 2022

NETHERLANDS: EVV Eindhoven AV (1981-1988) / EVV Eindhoven (1988-2013) / SC Eindhoven (B) (±1993-1997) / SBV Eindhoven (B) (1997-2002) / FC Eindhoven (B) (2002-2007) / FC Eindhoven AV (2013-2015, 2016-) / FC Eindhoven AV (B) (2015-2016)

Sportpark Genneper Parken "De Weide Blick" - veld 1, Eindhoven (FC Eindhoven AV, formerly EVV Eindhoven AV / EVV Eindhoven / B ground of SC Eindhoven - SBV Eindhoven - FC Eindhoven - FC Eindhoven AV)

Netherlands, province: North Brabant

25 IX 2022 / FC Eindhoven AV - RKSV Nemelaer 1-0 / Sunday League 1B (= NL level 6)

Timeline
  • 1909 / Foundation of Eindhovense Voetbalvereeniging (EVV) as a merger of two older local clubs, Sparta and Eindhovia. 
  • 1921 / EVV merges with Gestel (not to be confused with vv Gestel) to become EVV Eindhoven.
  • 1922 / EVV Eindhoven wins the title in Tweede Klasse, acceding to Eerste Klasse Zuid - Eerste Klasse being the highest level of the Netherlands' football pyramid at the time, subdivided into regional branches.
  • 1934 / At Aalsterweg in Stratum, Eindhoven, a new stadium is built for EVV Eindhoven. On September 9th, 1934, the ground is inaugurated with EVV taking on Ajax (suffering a 8-2 defeat).
  • 1937 / EVV Eindhoven wins its first silverware, as the club obtains the so-called Holdertbeker - as the Netherlands' Cup is called at the time. In the final, played at DWS's Sportterrein aan de Spaarndammerdijk in Amsterdam, EVV defeats AVV De Spartaan (Amsterdam), with Frits Kruger scoring the only goal of the match.
  • 1939 / Finishing first in the southern branch of Eerste Klasse, EVV takes part in the national title play-offs for the first time, finishing fourth among five competing clubs.
  • 1942 / EVV finishes second in the national title play-offs behind ADO (The Hague).
  • 1953 / For a second time, EVV finishes second in the national title play-offs, with RCH (Heemstede) obtaining the title.
  • 1954 / EVV Eindhoven wins its first and only national title by winning the title play-offs against DOS (Utrecht), DWS (Amsterdam), and eternal city rivals PSV. That same year, professional league football is introduced in the Netherlands, with EVV Eindhoven making the leap to the professional competition. For EVV Eindhoven's history as a professional league side, click to the article about Aalsterweg / Jan Louwersstadion.
  • 1981 / EVV Eindhoven's lower teams are moved away from the side pitches of the stadium at Aalsterweg - more specifically the main side pitch situated on the spot occupied nowadays by Indoor Sportcentrum Eindhoven - to Sportpark Genneper Parken, where they settle down at that ground's southern half at Velddoornweg (sometimes referred to by the name of its clubhouse, 'De Weide Blick'). That summer, the premises there were abandoned by vv Tuindorp (which was absorbed by VVS, Voetbalvereniging Stratum). Before EVV moved in, the main pitch was given a 90 degrees turn to give it its present position. At the time, the northern part of Genneper Parken is occupied by vv Gestelse Boys (entrance at Wim van Tuijllaan). Sportpark Genneper Parken, situated at a walking distance from Sportpark Aalsterweg, must have been inaugurated around 1974 - with vv Tuindorp and vv Gestelse Boys being the park's first users. From 1981 onwards, EVV Eindhoven's amateur branch fields a first team in the Sunday pyramid of the Netherlands' non-league system.
  • 1988 / The professional league club EVV Eindhoven is renamed Sportclub (SC) Eindhoven (later renamed SBV Eindhoven and FC Eindhoven) - entailing, in effect, a formal separation between EVV's league and non-league branches.
  • ± 1993 / SC Eindhoven moves part of its youth academy to Sportpark Genneper Parken, in effect groundsharing with its non-league sister club. 
  • 2005 / vv Gestelse Boys, users of the northern half of Sportpark Genneper Parken, concludes a merger with RKVV Veloc, resulting in the foundation of vv Gestel. All activities move to Veloc's Sportpark Dommeldal Zuid (Locatelliweg). The covered stand of Gestelse Boys' main pitch is knocked down. All of Gestelse Boys' pitches have since been in use as side-pitches by FC Eindhoven AV.
  • 2007 / Meanwhile in grave financial difficulties, pro side FC Eindhoven gives up most of its youth academy, sounding the death-knell for its groundshare with EVV Eindhoven at Sportpark Genneper Parken.
  • 2013 / EVV Eindhoven is renamed FC Eindhoven Amateurvereniging (AV) to stress its common history with the professional league branch, which took on the name FC Eindhoven in 2002.
  • 2015 / Ambitious investor AndrĂ© Nijssen takes over FC Eindhoven AV's technical directorship, inaugurating a period of striking success of the club's first team. For a time, first team football moves to Jan Louwersstadion - the current name of Sportpark Aalsterweg, the stadium of FC Eindhoven. Also in the following seasons, FC Eindhoven's AV first team football regularly switches from Sportpark Genneper Parken to the stadium, especially when the state of the main pitch at Velddoornweg is deemed unfit for football.
  • 2016 / FC Eindhoven AV wins the title in Sunday League 4G of District South II, thus gaining promotion to Sunday League 3 for the first time in its history.
  • 2017 / Winning the promotion play-offs after having come third in its first season in Sunday League 3, FC Eindhoven AV accedes to Sunday League 2.
  • 2019 / Finishing first in Sunday League 2F, FC Eindhoven AV manages to climb further up the league ladder, being placed in Sunday League 1 - the sixth level of the Netherlands' football pyramid.
  • 2023 / FC Eindhoven AV finishes last in Sunday League 1B, thus descending back into L2 after 4 years. AndrĂ© Nijssen withdraws from his position of technical director. 
  • 2023 (projected) / Equally, there are plans for FC Eindhoven's youth academy to move back into Sportpark Genneper Parken; it remains to be seen if these plans come to fruition. By the summer of 2023, nothing of the sort seems to have happened yet.
Note 1: Thanks to Bert Wildenberg for providing important parts of the information above. 

Note 2: Below, a compilation of photos of two different visits: pictures 1 & 3 = non-matchday visit, June 2022 / pictures 2 & 4-16 = match visit, September 2022.















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

NETHERLANDS: vv Gestelse Boys (±1974-2005) / EVV Eindhoven (B) (2005-2013) / FC Eindhoven AV (B) (2013-)

Sportpark Genneper Parken - veld 5, Eindhoven (B pitch of FC Eindhoven AV, formerly vv Gestelse Boys / B pitch of EVV Eindhoven)

Netherlands, province: North Brabant

September 2022 / no match visited

Timeline
  • ± 1974 / It is unclear when Sportpark Genneper Parken was inaugurated exactly, but it must have been around 1974, with vv Gestelse Boys (previously playing at the eastern end of Sportpark Locatellistraat - known as Sportpark Dommeldal-Zuid nowadays) moving into the northern end at Wim van Tuijllaan, and vv Tuindorp settling at the southern half, with the entrance situated at Velddoornweg.
  • 1981 / vv Tuindorp abandons Sportpark Genneper Parken, concluding a merger with VVS. Their part of the park is taken over by EVV Eindhoven's non-league branch.
  • 2001 / Having led a rather anonymous existence in the lower reaches of District South II's Sunday Leagues since the club's foundation in 1933, vv Gestelse Boys celebrates its second promotion in a row, finding itself in Sunday League 2 for the first time in club history. The stay at that level lasts no longer than one season, though - with an 11th place in Sunday League 2F being insufficient to avoid relegation.
  • 2005 / vv Gestelse Boys concludes a merger with RKVV Veloc, resulting in the foundation of vv Gestel. All activities move to Veloc's Sportpark Dommeldal-Zuid (Locatelliweg). The covered stand of Gestelse Boys' main pitch is knocked down. All of Gestelse Boys' pitches have since been in use as side-pitches by EVV Eindhoven (renamed FC Eindhoven AV in 2013).
Note: Thanks to Bert Wildenberg for providing important parts of the information given above.




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

Saturday 24 September 2022

BELGIUM: VK Branst (B) (1994-2001) / KVS Branst (B) (2001-2020) / FCS Mariekerke-Branst (C) (2020-)

Riddermoerstraat, Branst (C ground of FCS Mariekerke-Branst, formerly B ground of VK Branst & KVS Branst)

Belgium, province: Antwerp

24 IX 2022 / SK Watertoren - The D-C Boys 4-1 / KAVVV Afdeling Antwerpen, Eerste Afdeling (= KAVVV Antwerp level 1)

Timeline
  • 1951 / Foundation of FC Scheldezonen Weert (matricule 5517). The modest Antwerp provincial league club, which is not from Weert but from nearby Branst, undergoes several name changes in the following decades, becoming FC Scheldezonen Branst (FCS Branst, 1969), VK Scheldezonen Branst (VKS Branst, 1975), and VK Branst (1994).
  • 1983 / Inauguration of Gemeentelijk Sportpark Zuid, VK Scheldezonen Branst's new ground at Buizerdlaan (formerly Asseveldweg). 
  • 1994 / Count Marnix de Sainte Aldegonde terminates the lease agreement of VKS Branst's B ground, the so-called Konijnenkoerke, some 100 metres away from their main park - and used since 1981. Instead, he puts another plot of land at the club's disposal, closer to Sportpark Zuid, at Riddermoerstraat. Bornem's town council helps out by building a parking for this new ground.
  • 1995 / Built by club volunteers, a small clubhouse and a set of changing rooms along the pitch at Riddermoerstraat are inaugurated.
  • 2001 / Acquiring the royal epithet, VK Branst changes its name to become Koninklijke Voetbalclub Scheldezonen Branst - mostly abbreviated to simply KVS Branst.
  • 2020 / KVS Branst concludes a merger with FC Mariekerke, becoming Football Club Scheldezonen (FCS) Mariekerke-Branst and retaining Mariekerke's matricule 5719. Henceforth, first team football is played at Mariekerke's Stadion De Witte Molen, with lower team football partly moving to Gemeentelijk Sportpark Zuid in Branst. The B ground at Riddermoerstraat in Branst remains in use for training sessions, but, with fewer teams using the pitch, FCS Mariekerke-Branst allows recreational team SK Watertoren to make use of it as well on Saturday afternoons; SK Watertoren, founded in 2011, is a member of Antwerp's branch of recreational league KAVVV (Koninklijke Antwerpse Vereniging van Vriendenclubs). Before moving to Branst in the summer of 2020, SK Watertoren played its football on one of the side pitches of Recreatie- en Sportdomein Breeven, Bornem.












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

Sunday 18 September 2022

BELGIUM: R Union Jemappienne (1921-1990) / R Union Jemappes-Flénu (1990-1998) / RAEC Mons (D) (1998-2000)

Parc Communal de Jemappes 'La Roseraie', Jemappes (formerly R Union Jemappienne / R Union Jemappes-Flénu / D ground of RAEC Mons

Belgium, province: Hainaut = Henegouwen

September 2022 / no match visited

Timeline
  • 1921 / Foundation of Union Jemappienne. It is quite probable that the club played its football at Parc Communal 'La Roseraie', which was constructed in the years following World War I, from the outset.
  • 1926 / As Belgium's Football Association introduces the matricule register, Union Jemappienne receives matricule 136.
  • 1927 / Union Jemappienne accedes to Promotion, the third and lowest national level, for the first time, but the adventure ends after just one season - with relegation to Hainaut's regional leagues following in 1928.
  • 1929 / After one year, Union Jemappienne manages a return to Promotion. In the following seasons, the club manages some credible results - finishing fifth in 1932, 1933, and 1935.
  • 1936 / Union Jemappienne drops to Hainaut's provincial leagues after seven consecutive seasons in Promotion.
  • 1942 / The club returns to Promotion, having another spell of national league football which lasts five years, with relegation following in 1947.
  • 1951 / Acquiring the royal epithet, the club adapts its name to become Royale Union Jemappienne - often abbreviated to simply RU Jemappienne or RU Jemappes.
  • 1952 / After five seasons in Hainaut's Provincial League 1, RU Jemappienne wins promotion, beginning a fourth spell of national league football in National Division 4. The club has its best result at this level in 1954 with a fourth place in the final ranking.
  • 1957 / Having spent five years in National Division 4, RU Jemappienne falls back to Hainaut's provincial leagues. The following three decades are spent alternately in Provincial Leagues 1 and 2.
  • 1958 / A new club is founded in Jemappes, Cercle Sportif (CS) Jemappes. Union's new town rivals, who never manage to climb to a higher level than Provincial League 2, play their football at Stade des PrĂ©elles.
  • 1990 / After having had eleven consecutive seasons of Provincial League 2 football, RU Jemappienne concludes a merger with another club with a past in the national divisions, FC FlĂ©nu-Sport (matricule 4094); the newly former merger club is given the name Royale Union (RU) Jemappes-FlĂ©nu (RUJF), retaining Jemappes' matricule 136. Henceforth, first team football is played at Jemappes' ground, while the club's youth academy moves to FlĂ©nu's Stade de la Rue des Produits
  • 1992 / Obtaining the title in Provincial League 2B, RU Jemappes-FlĂ©nu wins promotion to Hainaut's Provincial League 1.
  • 1995 / After finishing second in Provincial League 1, RU Jemappes-FlĂ©nu accedes to National Division 4 by winning the promotion play-offs. Unfortunately, the stay lasts just one season, with relegation following in 1996.
  • 1998 / After two more years in Provincial League 1, R Union Jemappes-FlĂ©nu is absorbed by RAEC Mons (matricule 44). Mons takes over the grounds in Jemappes as well as in FlĂ©nu, moving part of its youth academy there. 
  • 2000 / RAEC Mons abandons the pitch in Jemappes' Parc Communal. Since, the ground has not been used for regular football activities, although the pitch is still being (sort of) maintained, allowing locals to use it for recreational activities.















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