Extreme Football Tourism: NETHERLANDS: SV Beverwijk

Sportpark Adrichem Zuid, Beverwijk (SV Beverwijk)

Netherlands, province: North Holland = Noord-Holland

3 II 2024 / SV Beverwijk - vv Reiger Boys 0-5 / District West I, Saturday League 3A (= NL level 8)

Timeline

1919 / In 1919, mere months after the foundation of the oldest football club in Beverwijk, BVV De Kennemers, a new club sees the daylight: RKVV SDO (Roomsch-Katholieke Voetbalvereeniging ‘Samenspel Doet Overwinnen’), founded at the instigation of a local Roman-Catholic chaplain, Mr Knots. The club starts its life on a plot of land owned by a local smallholder, Mr D. Burger at Oosterwijk, but moving on to Terrein Hoge Hoflanderweg (modern-day Heemskerkerweg) possibly already before the end of 1919.
1923 / At the request of footballing authorities, which wanted to avoid confusion with RKVV SDO from Bussum, Beverwijk’s RKVV SDO takes on a new name, vv Meerenstein. As such, the club formally renounces its catholic origins. By that time, Chaplain Knots had founded a new, exclusively Roman-Catholic club in Beverwijk, RKVV DEM. While DEM was the football club of Beverwijk’s catholic community, BVV De Kennemers became associated with the local middle class, and vv Meerenstein (later vv Beverwijk & SV Beverwijk) with the workers’ class. Later on, in 1953, a third club was founded, CVV Hercules (later renamed CVV Jong Hercules) to serve the protestant community.
1925 / While no information is available about the club’s ground or grounds in the previous five years, vv Meerenstein now settles at Terrein J.B. de Wildt at Sint-Aagtendijk, groundsharing with RKVV DEM.
1926 / vv Meerenstein changes its name to become vv Beverwijk. Also in 1926, RKVV DEM, afraid to be absorbed by the larger vv Beverwijk, abandons Terrein J.B. de Wildt to settle at Landgoed Schulpen in Velsen-Noord – thereby leaving vv Beverwijk as the sole users of the ground at Sint-Aagtendijk. It is unclear when exactly vv/SV Beverwijk moved into Sportpark Adrichem, possibly some time in the 1950s.
1929 / Winning promotion from the ranks of the so-called Noord-Hollandsche Voetbalbond (NHVB), the league association comprising the clubs in North Holland playing their football below the level of Sunday League 3 (later League 4), vv Beverwijk accedes to District West I’s Sunday League 3 for the first time.
1931 / vv Beverwijk clinches the title in Sunday League 3C, but fails to win promotion in the subsequent round of play-offs. The club goes on to win the League 3 title no fewer than four times in the following decade (1933, 1934, 1935, 1942), but missing out on promotion each time.
± 1944 / Some time between 1943 and 1946, vv Beverwijk must have changed its name to become Sportvereniging (SV) Beverwijk, due to the addition to the club of branches for ballet, acting, handball, and baseball. Although all of these activities were dropped again sooner or later, the club always stuck to being called SV Beverwijk.
1954 / Having spent 35 years in Sunday League 3, SV Beverwijk finally manages to win promotion to League 2 following a tie-break match for the title in District West I’s Sunday League 3A against derby rivals RKVV DEM, attended by no fewer than 7,000 spectators. Also in 1954, SV Beverwijk wins the Wijkertoren Tournament, going on to repeat this same feat the following year.
1956 / In the best season in club history, SV Beverwijk finishes in fifth place in Sunday League 2A, repeating that exact same result in the 1972-73 and 1997-98 seasons.
1957 / Bottom of the table in Sunday League 2A, SV Beverwijk drops back into League 3.
1972 / Winning the title in District West I’s Sunday League 3A, SV Beverwijk finds its way back to League 2. In the following two decades, the club alternates spells in Sunday League 2 (1972-74, 1986-88) and Sunday League 3 (1974-86, 1988-92), with a title win in League 3B in 1986. Also in 1972, SV Beverwijk abandons Sportpark Adrichem, of which it occupied the western part (later taken over by CVV Jong Hercules) to settle at the newly laid-out Sportpark Aagtenbos at Ringvaartweg – originally consisting of three pitches, later extended to five.
1973 / Official inauguration of Sportpark Aagtenbos by Beverwijk’s mayor, Jan Bruinsma.
1986 / Former SV Beverwijk youth academy player Michel Doesburg, 18 years old at the time, makes his debut in HFC Haarlem’s first team under the aegis of that club’s manager, Hans van Doorneveld. Doesburg goes on to play for FC Wageningen, SC Heerenveen, AZ, Motherwell FC, Dunfermline Athletic FC, and FC Zwolle before hanging up his boots in 2003.
1988 / Former SV Beverwijk youth academy player Arthur Numan, 18 years old at the time, makes his debut in HFC Haarlem’s first team under the aegis of that club’s manager Dick Advocaat. Arthur Numan goes on to have a respectable professional league career (1988-2003) with FC Twente, PSV, and Rangers FC, being reunited with Dick Advocaat at these two last clubs. Numan also wins 45 caps for the Netherlands, representing his country at the 1994 and 1998 World Championships; as well as the 1996 and 2000 European Championships.
1992 / Finishing in eleventh place in Sunday League 3B, SV Beverwijk drops back into Sunday League 4 for the first time in club history.
1994 / Conquering the title in District West I’s Sunday League 4D, SV Beverwijk finds its way back to League 3.
1997 / Title winners in Sunday League 3B, SV Beverwijk manages a return to League 2 after nine years.
1999 / Having finished in a respectable fifth place the previous season, SV Beverwijk now finds itself bottom of the table in Sunday League 2A, thus dropping back into League 3 after two years. In the following years, the club alternates spells in League 3 (1999-2001, 2003-05) and League 2 (2001-2003) with a title in Sunday League 3B in 2001. Also in 1999, goalkeeper Dorus de Vries, who spent his youth years in the academies of BVV De Kennemers and SV Beverwijk, earns a professional league contract with Telstar, going on to have a twenty-year long professional career with Telstar, Stormvogels Telstar, ADO Den Haag, Dunfermline Athletic FC, Swansea City FC, Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, Nottingham Forest FC, and Celtic FC.
2001 / At the behest of Beverwijk’s municipal authorities, SV Beverwijk involuntarily abandons Sportpark Aagtenbos, losing a court case to be allowed to stay at their park. Instead, the club returns to Sportpark Adrichem after 28 years, settling at the southern part of the park, hemmed in between the grounds of CVV Jong Hercules and BVV De Kennemers. Thanks to the effort of club volunteers, a new clubhouse is erected at this location.
2005 / Finishing in twelfth place in Sunday League 3A, SV Beverwijk drops back into League 4 for the second time in club history.
2007 / Having played in Sunday League 4 or higher up the league ladder for 78 consecutive years, SV Beverwijk now drops back into League 5 following an eleventh place in Sunday League 4C.
2010 / Winning the title in Sunday League 5E, SV Beverwijk finds its way back to League 4.
2015 / After narrowly missing out on first place in the two previous seasons, SV Beverwijk now clinches the title in Sunday League 4C, picking up the decisive points in a home match against SV De Rijp (5-1) – eventually finishing 12 points ahead of closest followers vv Zeevogels. As such, the club returns to League 3 after ten seasons.
2016 / SV Beverwijk finishes second-last in Sunday League 3B, with just SVA picking up fewer points. Following the 2015-16 season, SV Beverwijk declines taking part in Sunday League 4, instead preferring to not a field a first team for the new season.
2018 / Not having had a first team in the previous two seasons, instead just playing in the reserves’ leagues, SV Beverwijk fields a first team, but not in the Sunday League pyramid; a restart is made in District West I’s Saturday League 4B. It is not the first time SV Beverwijk takes part in the Saturday divisions, as the club already had a regular Saturday team alongside the flagship team on Sunday in the years 1996-97, 2001-06, and 2013-16.
2019 / Coached by Marco van Petersen, SV Beverwijk finishes runners-up in Saturday League 4B, 17 points behind vv ADO ’20 (za). In the ensuing play-offs, the club defeats CV Wieringermeer in R1 (5-0) and Sporting Krommenie in R2 (6-3 A.E.T.) to qualify for the final; at SC Hercules Zaandam’s Sportpark De Kuil, SV Beverwijk takes on SV Kadoelen in a match which goes to the wire (2-2 A.E.T.) but which is eventually won by the Beverwijk side after a penalty shoot-out. As such, the club wins promotion to Saturday League 3.