Extreme Football Tourism: NETHERLANDS: VVG (1979-1992) / vv Groningen (1992-)

Sportpark Het Noorden - veld 2, Groningen (vv Groningen, formerly VVG)

Netherlands, province: Groningen

27 I 2024 / vv Groningen - FC Wolvega 1-6 / Saturday League 2J (= NL level 7)

Timeline

1912 / Foundation of a football club in Groningen, which takes on the name SDS; it is unclear what the meaning of this acronym was – as it is also unknown where this club’s ground was situated.
1918 / SDS changes its name to become Voetbalvereeniging (vv) Groningen).
1925 / vv Groningen folds, ceasing all activities. It is unclear if this club is a precursor of the present-day vv Groningen.
1929 / Foundation of a new football club in Groningen, which takes on the name Celeritas (Latin for ‘Speed’). It is unclear where this club’s first ground was situated.
1931 / Celeritas changes its name to become VVG (acronym of ‘Voetbalvereeniging Groningen’).
1948 / Winning promotion from the league system of the so-called Groningse Voetbalbond (GVB), VVG accedes to District North’s Sunday League 4 for the first time. Most probably, VVG never played at a higher level in the Sunday league pyramid than League 4.
± 1958 / Abandoning their ground at Moddermanlaan, colloquially known as Terrein Achter het Helperbad (groundsharing with vv Helpman) in the Helpman neighbourhood, VVG settles at Sportpark Corpus den Hoorn as groundsharers of GV Groen Geel. It is unclear how long the club’s spell at Terrein Moddermanlaan lasted, but it must have played there from the early 1950s at latest.
± 1968 / Terminating the club’s groundshare with GV Groen Geel, VVG settles at one of the pitches of Groningen’s Stadspark, not far from the city’s horse track.
1975 / Abandoning their pitch at Stadspark, VVG returns to Sportpark Corpus den Hoorn, this time as groundsharers of vv GRC.
1978 / Awaiting their move to the new-to-be-built Sportpark Het Noorden, VVG plays one solitary season at Terrein Europaweg, a pitch situated in the vicinity of Groningen’s Philips factory.
1979 / Sportpark Het Noorden is inaugurated, with two clubs settling there: vv Potetos and VVG. Of the three pitches on the park, VVG occupies the middle one (today referred to as Pitch 2), while Potetos’ first team plays at the pitch farthest away from the entrance (modern-day Pitch 3). The pitch closest to the street is a mere training pitch, not used for official matches.
1992 / VVG officially changes its name to become vv Groningen. At the time of the name change, the club’s first team plays in District North’s Sunday League 4.
2000 / vv Groningen enters a first team in District North’s Saturday league pyramid for the first time.
2001 / In its first season in the Saturday divisions, vv Groningen finishes in fourth place in District North’s Saturday League 7B, subsequently winning promotion either as winners of a play-off competition or because of League 7 being wound up and all remaining clubs in that division winning a ticket to League 6.
2002 / Winning the title in District North’s Saturday League 6B, vv Groningen accedes to League 5.
2005 / Winning the title in District North’s Saturday League 5D, vv Groningen accedes to League 4.
2006 / Winning the title in District North’s Saturday League 4C, vv Groningen accedes to League 3.
2007 / With a team including the likes of Jhonny Meter, Sije Meter, Gerard Meter, Carlos Vijfschaft, Tim Rosema, and Gert Haak – some of whom had been part of the team from the beginning in 2000 – VVG’s Saturday team finishes in third place in District North’s Saturday League 3C, subsequently winning a round of play-offs, thus managing an unprecedented promotion to League 2.
2008 / Due to many players in the team having been lured away by other clubs in the region, vv Groningen is unable to hold its own in Saturday League 2J, finishing in twelfth place and thus suffering relegation to League 3; however, being unable to bring together a team to compete at that level, the club chooses to make a new start in the bottom division, Saturday League 6.
2009 / vv Potetos and vv Groningen are joined at Sportpark Het Noorden by a third club, VVK, who had previously been home at Sportpark De Hoogte, which has to be given up for housing. With all three pitches successively being equipped with a synthetic surface in the following years, VVK plays its football on Pitch 1 (the pitch situated closest to the entrance) from now on, while vv Groningen and vv Potetos continue to make use of Pitch 2 and Pitch 3 respectively.
2010 / Winning the title in District North’s Saturday League 6D, vv Groningen accedes to League 5.
2012 / Runners-up in Saturday League 5F, finishing 12 points behind vv Appingedam, vv Groningen wins the subsequent play-off rounds to win promotion to League 4.
2014 / Title winners in Saturday League 4C, 4 points ahead of vv Godlinze, vv Groningen accedes to District North’s Saturday League 3.
2016 / Having led the table for most of the season, vv Groningen eventually has to settle for second place in Saturday League 3C, 5 points behind vv Pelikaan-S. In the subsequent round of play-offs, the club successively defeats SV DESZ (3-1) and ONT (1-5) to win promotion to League 2 through the backdoor. In November 2016, the clubhouses of vv Potetos and vv Groningen are consumed in a fire.
2017 / Coached by former player Gert Haak, vv Groningen clinches the title in Saturday League 2J, 6 points ahead of vv Pelikaan-S – obtaining the decisive points in a 4-1 home win over vv DZOH ’85. As such, the club wins an unprecedented promotion to Saturday League 1.
2018 / In the best season in club history, vv Groningen finishes in ninth place in Saturday League 1E. Qualifying for the promotion play-offs for Zaterdag Hoofdklasse thanks to an excellent last quarter of the season, the club defeats vv WNC in R1 (3-1), only to be eliminated in R2 by vv DETO Twenterand (2-0 A.E.T.).
2019 / A new clubhouse for vv Groningen and vv Potetos inaugurated at Sportpark het Noorden; the new construction has been incorporated into VVK’s clubhouse, dating back to 2008-09. Also in 2019, vv Groningen’s Sunday league branch is disbanded; from now on, all the club’s activities take place on Saturdays.
2023 / After a disastrous first half of the season, with the club’s first team finding itself rock bottom in Saturday League 1F, and some unacceptable behaviour by club members on and off the pitch, vv Groningen’s chairman Robbert Bollegraaf takes the far-reaching decision of withdrawing all teams and liquidating the club in February 2023. This decision, however, was taken without consulting the membership – and a restart is made the following month with new chairman Oscar Groeneboom. The new presidency of the club applied for their first team to be allowed to make a restart in Saturday League 5, but no permission is given by the Netherlands’ FA (KNVB) – and so vv Groningen finds itself in Saturday League 2 for the 2023-24 season.