Extreme Football Tourism: NETHERLANDS: vv Wolfersveen

Thursday 11 April 2024

NETHERLANDS: vv Wolfersveen

Sportpark De Stikke Bocht, Wolfersveen (vv Wolfersveen)

Netherlands, province: Guelders = Gelderland

11 IV 2024 / vv Wolfersveen - ZVV De Hoven 4-2 / District East, Sunday League 5C (= NL level 10)

Timeline

1947 / Foundation of Voetbalvereniging (vv) Wolfersveen. The club was founded by football enthusiasts from the hamlets of Wolfersveen and Veldhoek - with the initial name filed at the Netherlands' Football Association being Voetbalvereniging (vv) Door Eendracht Sterk (DES). As it turned out, this name and abbreviation were already taken by another club (DES in Nijverdal) - impelling the initiators to switch to the more predictable vv Wolfersveen. Initially, football was played on a plot of farmland owned by farmer L. Visschers at Veldhoekseweg; and subsequently at another pasture at Klaverdijk. Neither of those were more than makeshift grounds, with a ropes tied onto two poles serving as crossbars - and no fixed pitch measurements being respected.
1948 / vv Wolfersveen settles down at its current ground, Terrein Susebeek - later renamed Sportpark De Stikke Bocht. It must be pointed out that the main pitch was laid out anew several times, given a quarter's turn on one of those occasions.
1990 / Winning the title in Division 3 of the so-called Gelderse Voetbalbond (GVB) – the association organising league football in the province of Guelders below KNVB League 4 – vv Wolfersveen accedes to GVB Division 2. The decisive points were clinched in the derby encounter away at vv Veldhoek (1-2).
1996 / Until the introduction of Sunday Leagues 5 and 6 in 1996, vv Wolfersveen's first team had always played its football in the GVB divisions; in 1996, the club was placed in District East's Sunday League 6E – the ninth and lowest tier of District East’s new football pyramid.
2013 / With Sunday League 6 being abolished due to the dwindling number of football clubs in the region, vv Wolfersveen accedes to Sunday League 5 without winning promotion on the pitch.
2016 / Winning a historic title in District East’s Sunday League 5G, vv Wolfersveen manages a promotion to Sunday League 4 for the first time in club history. The decisive blow against closest rivals ZVV Be Quick was delivered in a direct confrontation in the second-last match of the season at Be Quick’s Sportpark Zuidveen, where vv Wolfersveen won 1-3 – as a result turning a one-point disadvantage in the table into a two-point lead. On the last day, vv Wolfersveen had an easy assignment in a home match against bottom club vv Klein Dochteren (5-0).
2017 / In spite of a spirited start to the 2016-17 season, vv Wolfersveen proved unable to cope with the level of League 4, finishing last in District East’s Sunday League 4C, as a result dropping back into League 5 along with vv Zelhem.

Note - Below, a compilation of photos of two different visits: pictures 1-3 = non-matchday visit, October 2022 / pictures 4-17 = match visit, April 2024.