Extreme Football Tourism: NETHERLANDS: HSV Waard '75 (1975-1986) / vv Molenboys '80 (1980-1986) / SV WMC (1986-2023)

Saturday, 20 May 2023

NETHERLANDS: HSV Waard '75 (1975-1986) / vv Molenboys '80 (1980-1986) / SV WMC (1986-2023)

Sportpark De Vork, Heerhugowaard (formerly HSV Waard '75 / vv Molenboys '80 / SV WMC)

Netherlands, province: North Holland = Noord-Holland

May 2023 / no match visited

Timeline

1975 / Foundation of Heerhugowaardse Sportvereniging (HSV) Waard '75. The club settles at Sportpark De Vork, already laid out by Heerhugowaard's municipal authorities some time before in view of the growth of the town's population in those years. Prior to HSV Waard 75's foundation, the pitches were used for training sessions by local clubs SVW '27 and vv Reiger Boys.
1976 / HSV Waard '75, a Sunday club, first enters teams in the regular competitions organised by the Netherlands FA (KNVB).
1978 / At Sportpark De Vork, HSV Waard '75's new clubhouse is inaugurated. Up until that time, the club had made use of the clubhouse and dressing rooms of BC Herons, the local baseball club which has its home on the other side of the same road.
1980 / HSV Waard '75 is joined at Sportpark De Vork by a newly founded Saturday club, vv Molenboys '80.
1986 / A merger is concluded between HSV Waard '75 and vv Molenboys '80, resulting in the foundation of SV WMC (Sportvereniging Waard-Molenboys Combinatie), with teams in Sunday and Saturday league football.
1996 / KNVB Afdeling Noord-Holland (better known under its previous name, Noord-Hollandse Voetbalbond, NHVB), an association which organised non-league football in the Province of North Holland below KNVB League 4 level, is disbanded. In fact, HSV Waard, Molenboys, and WMC never managed to climb up to League 4 level prior to 1996. In the new situation, SV WMC's Sunday team is placed in the newly formed Sunday League 7B, while the club's Saturday team starts in Saturday League 4A.
2001 / While the club's Saturday team was disbanded some years previously, SV WMC's Sunday team manages to win promotion to League 5 on the basis of a 3rd place finish in District West I's Sunday League 6B and a successful set of matches in the promotion play-offs.
2006 / Having spent the previous 5 seasons in League 5, SV WMC finishes 12th and last in Sunday League 5A, thus descending into League 6.
2007 / Finishing 6th in District West I's Sunday League 6A, SV WMC qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which it manages to win promotion to League 5. Also in 2007, a new Saturday team is formed, which starts its life in Saturday League 5.
2008 / SV WMC wins the so-called Waard Cup, an annual summer tournament between all 5 football clubs from Heerhugowaard.
2009 / Managing a 5th place in Sunday League 5A and a 2nd place in Saturday League 5A, both of SV WMC's teams win promotion to League 4 after winning the promotion play-offs.
2011 / SV WMC's Saturday team finishes 11th and second-last in Saturday League 4A, thus dropping back into League 5. Two years later, WMC disbands its Saturday team for a second time.
2015 / Not having been held for the past 6 years, the Waard Cup is organised in the summer of 2015 by SV WMC.
2018 / SV WMC manages its best result ever, finishing 7th in Sunday League 4B.
2019 / With a 13th and last place in the Sunday League 4C table, SV WMC descends into League 5 after 10 years. That summer, the club nearly folds, but a restart is managed at the last juncture.
2023 / In February 2023, SV WMC withdraws all its teams from, ceasing its activities altogether and folding. The reasons given by the club's last chairman, Loek van Hinsberg, are (1) a decrease in membership and (2) the rising energy prices.