Extreme Football Tourism: NETHERLANDS: vv Helpman

Stadion Esserberg - veld 4, Haren (Gr.) (vv Helpman)

Netherlands, province: Groningen

27 I 2024 / vv Helpman - SC Stadspark 9-2 / Sunday League 2I (= NL level 7)

Timeline

1924 / Foundation of a football club in Helpman, a village just to the south of the city of Groningen. It is unclear where the first pitch of the newly founded vv Helpman was situated. In the subsequent decades, the village of Helpman was incorporated into Groningen, thus becoming ‘just’ a neighbourhood of the city.
1931 / Winning promotion from the ranks of the so-called Groningsche Voetbalbond (GVB), vv Helpman accedes to KNVB District North’s Sunday League 3 for the first time.
1933 / Conquering the title in District North’s Sunday League 3C, vv Helpman wins promotion to Sunday League 2 for the first time.
1947 / Finishing in eleventh place in Sunday League 2B, vv Helpman drops back into League 3.
1953 / Title winners in Sunday League 3B, vv Helpman manages a return to League 2. The stay at that level lasts for three seasons, with relegation following in 1956.
1964 / Abandoning their ground in Helpman proper, Terrein Achter ‘t Helperbad at Moddermanlaan, vv Helpman moves into Sportpark Coendersborg.
1968 / Title winners in Sunday League 3B, vv Helpman manages a new return to League 2. Yet again, the stay at that level lasts for three seasons, with relegation following in 1971.
1973 / Title winners in Sunday League 3B, vv Helpman manages a return to League 2.
1974 / Finishing in third place in Sunday League 2A – and helped by the fact that a new level, Hoofdklasse, is created to top the Sunday league pyramid – vv Helpman breaks down the door to Sunday League 1 for the first time in club history.
1975 / vv Helpman finishes in fifth place in Sunday League 1C – a feat repeated in the 1980-81 season – which is the best result in club history.
1984 / After ten seasons in Sunday League 1, vv Helpman finishes in last place in League 1C, thus dropping back into Sunday League 2.
1989 / vv Helpman’s first team in the Saturday league wins promotion from the ranks of GVB to KNVB Saturday League 4 for the first time. From that time on, the team has alternated spells in Saturday Leagues 4 and 3 with returns to GVB Division 1 – later renamed Saturday League 5.
1990 / Finishing in tenth place in Sunday League 2A, vv Helpman finds itself in Sunday League 3 for the first time in seventeen years. Also in 1990, abandoning their part of Sportpark Coendersborg, which is knocked down to make way for housing, vv Helpman moves into Stadion Esserberg, where it is allocated the eastern half of the park – the western half being occupied by GSV Be Quick 1887 since 1921. vv Helpman were given the luxury of a proper clubhouse and its own main pitch – officially known as Pitch 4 – adorned with a covered stand.
1991 / Conquering the title in Sunday League 3B, vv Helpman finds its way back up to League 2 at the first opportunity.
1992 / Runners-up in Sunday League 2A, vv Helpman manages a return to Sunday League 1 – possibly after a round of promotion play-offs. This second promotion in a row proved a little too much of a good thing, though, with relegation duly following in 1993.
1997 / In spite of just finishing in eighth place in Sunday League 2L, vv Helpman qualifies for the promotion play-offs, realising the impossible and winning promotion to League 1. Yet again, the stay at that level does not last longer than just one season, with relegation following in 1998. In the following decade-and-a-half, the club alternates spells in League 2 (1997-2001, 2003-04, 2005-08) and League 3 (2001-03, 2004-05, 2008-14).
2014 / Runners-up in District North’s Sunday League 3C, 6 points behind champions GSAVV Forward, vv Helpman qualifies for the promotion play-offs, successively defeating SV Twedo (8-4 aggr.) and vv Titan (11-0 aggr.) to return to League 2 after six seasons.
2017 / Bottom of the table in Sunday League 2L, vv Helpman drops back into League 3 along with fellow strugglers vv ZNC.
2018 / Champions in Sunday League 3A, 15 points ahead of FC Lewenborg, vv Helpman manages a return to League 2 – finishing in a more than respectable fourth place in Sunday League 2K the following season.
2022 / vv Helpman’s main pitch is equipped with a synthetic surface.
2023 / Finishing in third place in Sunday League 2K, 15 points behind title winners WKE ’16, vv Helpman qualifies for the promotion play-offs. Defeating vv Rolder Boys in R1 (1-2), the club is eventually eliminated in R2 by vv Valthermond (0-2).
2024 / Finishing in fifth place in Sunday League 2I, vv Helpman withdraws from the Sunday league pyramid. As it happens, that same season, the club's Saturday team, a regular feature in the lower reaches of the Saturday pyramid, manages to win the title in District North's Saturday League 3C, 2 points ahead of vv Zuidhorn, thus winning promotion to Saturday League 2 for the first time.

Note - The match I visited at vv Helpman was marred by floodlight failure; after some ten minutes, part of the lights fell out - and after 26 minutes, with SC Stadspark just having earned a spot kick, the pitch was suddenly put in the dark completely. Although part of the lights were up and running again some five minutes later, the decision was taken to complete the match at Stadion Esserberg veld 1, the main pitch of vv Helpman's neighbours GSV Be Quick 1887 (cp. last photo below).