Extreme Football Tourism: NETHERLANDS: RVV Rhelico (1970-2023) / SSA SJO BRC '24 (2023)

Saturday, 15 April 2023

NETHERLANDS: RVV Rhelico (1970-2023) / SSA SJO BRC '24 (2023)

Sportpark Boutenstein, Rumpt (RVV Rhelico)

Netherlands, province: Guelders = Gelderland

15 IV 2023 / RVV Rhelico - GVV 4-1 / District South I, Saturday League 4E (= NL level 9)

Timeline

1947 / Foundation of a football club in Rhenoy, given the name VIOS (Vooruitgang Is Ons Streven). The Sunday league club joins the so-called Brabantse Voetbalbond (BVB), the association of clubs from North Brabant and Batavia playing below League 4, the lowest division organised by the Netherlands' FA (KNVB).
1951 / Probably in 1951 (in 1952 according to RVV Rhelico's website), a merger takes place between three village clubs; NEP (from Deil), SNC or SNE (Enspijk), and RSV (Rumpt), resulting in the foundation of vv Lingeboys - the ground being situated at modern-day Panweg in Enspijk. It is unclear when the three original clubs were founded - no information about any of them can be found in online sources. Like VIOS Rhenoy, vv Lingeboys played its football in the Sunday divisions organised by BVB.
1960 / vv Lingeboys manages to win promotion to KNVB Sunday League 4 - a level never reached by VIOS Rhenoy either before or after.
1969 / A merger is concluded between vv Lingeboys and VIOS Rhenoy, resulting in the foundation of Regionale Voetbalvereniging (RVV) Rhenoy-Lingeboys Combinatie (Rhelico). With a new sports park being built at Rumpt, the club settles at Lingeboys' ground in Enspijk for the time being. Starting its life in District South I's Sunday League 4B, the new merger club finishes in 11th place, resulting in relegation to BVB Division 1 in 1970.
1970 / Abandoning the ground at Enspijk, RVV Rhelico moves into the newly built Sportpark Boutenstein, situated halfway between Rumpt and Enspijk.
1972 / Winning promotion from BVB Division 1, RVV Rhelico manages a return to Sunday League 4.
1991 / Having had 19 consecutive seasons in District South I's Sunday League 4, the club finishes 11th in L4B, resulting in relegation to the ranks of BVB. It takes the club three years to return to League 4 level. In the ensuing years, the club alternates spells in Sunday League 4 (1994-99, 2000-01, 2011-12, 2013-17) with periods in League 5, the tier created in 1996 to replace BVB Division 1 (1999-2000, 2001-11, 2012-13).
2004 / RVV Rhelico youth placer Erik Pieters (born 1988) moves to FC Utrecht's youth academy. Managing his breakthrough in that club's first team in 2006, he goes on to have spells at PSV, Stoke City FC, Amiens SC, Burnley FC, and West Bromwich Albion FC. Between 2010 and 2014, Pieters also wins 18 caps for his country.
2016 / Merger talks are held with vv Beesd, but due to the plans entailing a move away from Sportpark Boutenstein, RVV Rhelico's membership turns down the overtures, preferring to continue independently.
2017 / In its last season as a Sunday league club, RVV Rhelico finishes in 8th place in District South I's Sunday League 4F. In the 2017-18 season, the club starts at the bottom of South I's Saturday league pyramid, in League 4. It is not the club's debut in the ranks of Saturday football, given that a first team competed in Saturday League 4 between 2009 and 2012, albeit with a notable lack of success. Also in 2017, a synthetic surface is installed on Sportpark Boutenstein's B pitch.
2018 / RVV Rhelico moves its first team football to the synthetic pitch. Ever since, the grass pitch has hardly seen any football.
2023 / As a prelude to a projected merger in the summer of 2024, RVV Rhelico concludes a partnership deal with vv Beesd, resulting in the foundation of SSA/SJO BRC '24 (to be renamed RVV BRC '24 in 2024). With RVV Rhelico's ground remaining in use for some more time, all activities will move to a renovated park in Beesd as soon as possible.