Extreme Football Tourism: NETHERLANDS: vv De Bocht '80

Sportpark D'n Staak, Oirschot Evenheuvel (vv De Bocht '80)

Netherlands, province: North Brabant = Noord-Brabant

14 III 2024 / vv De Bocht '80 - SV Audacia 0-3 / District South I, Sunday League 5D (= NL level 10)

Timeline

1980 / Foundation of a football club of the hamlets Hedel, Evenheuvel, and Tregelaar – all situated to the north of Oirschot – which takes on the name vv De Bocht ’80. The club is founded by a group of members of the neighbourhood association De Bocht, which takes its name from the bend in the road at Oude Grintweg close to the situation of the pitch, hemmed in between the farm of the Hems family and the Goor forest. The park, Sportpark ‘t Goor, owned by the Hems family, consists of one full pitch and one training pitch. The founding committee of the club consists of Bert Hems, Frans van der Staak, Walter Vingerhoets, Martien Lommers, and Pieter Vlemminx. Van der Staak is chosen as the club’s first chairman. vv De Bocht ’80 starts the 1980-81 season with two senior teams, the main one taking its place in the lowest division of the so-called Noord-Brabantse Voetbalbond (NBVB), organising the football in the province of North Brabant below the level of KNVB Sunday League 4.
1981 / The facilities at the ground, initially consisting of just a henhouse converted into a changing room for the visiting team – with cold streaming water being the only luxury – are extended with an extra set of barracks with showers for the benefit of the referee and the visiting players.
± 1984 / Sportpark ‘t Goor is adorned with a stadium timer, a monumental clock which is saved from demolition after a renovation of RKVV ODC’s Park Molenwijk in Boxtel. The clock dates back to the late 1940s or early 1950s.
1991 / For the first time, vv De Bocht’s first team manages to finish a season with more goals scored than conceded (+2).
1993 / The facilities at Sportpark ‘t Goor, all dating back to the early 1980s, are replaced by a first, makeshift clubhouse.
1995 / Winning the title in NBVB Division 3, vv De Bocht ’80 manages its first promotion ever, being placed in NBVB Division 2 for the new season.
1996 / With the NBVB being abolished, vv De Bocht ’80 is placed in District South I’s Sunday League 6.
1997 / Finishing in third place in District South I’s Sunday League 6E, 9 points behind champions RKTSV WSJ, vv De Bocht ’80 qualifies for the play-offs, in which it fails to win promotion to League 5.
2001 / In spite of finishing in eleventh position in District South I’s Sunday League 6E, vv De Bocht ’80 is placed in Sunday League 5 for the new season following the abolition of League 6 due to a decreasing number of clubs in the district.
2004 / Finishing in fifth place in District South I’s Sunday League 5I, vv De Bocht ’80 qualifies for the play-offs, in which it fails to win promotion to League 4.
2005 / Champions in District South I’s Sunday League 5I, 9 points ahead of closest rivals GSBW, vv De Bocht ’80 wins promotion to Sunday League 4 for the first time in club history; the decision falls three weeks from the end of the season, in spite of the club suffering a 1-0 away defeat at VCB due to the last remaining rival SV Audacia also being defeated, in their case at the hands of RKSV Ons Vios (2-1). Also in 2005, on the club’s 25th anniversary, the first stone is laid for a new, two-storey clubhouse, by groundsman Bert Hems; the inauguration of the construction – replacing its much smaller predecessor from 1993 – takes place later that same year.
2006 / Finishing second-last in Sunday League 4H, with an equal number of points as vv Hulsel and RKDSV, but with an inferior goal difference, vv De Bocht ’80 drops back into League 5 after just one season, along with bottom club vv Hilvaria.
2009 / Upon relinquishing the chairmanship of the club to Edwin Baeten after 29 years at the helm of the club, Frans van der Staak is honoured by the new presidency in the most special of ways - the club's ground, Sportpark 't Goor, is renamed after him, Sportpark D'n Staak.
± 2011 / Paid for by a select group of club members, a small covered stand is erected at the southern side of Sportpark D’n Staak’s (main) pitch.
2012 / Finishing in third place in District South I’s Sunday League 5H behind champions vv LSV and runners-up EVV Eindhoven (AV), vv De Bocht ’80 qualifies for the play-offs, in which it fails to win promotion to League 4.
2022 / With a delay of two years, caused by two successive COVID lockdowns, vv De Bocht ’80 celebrates its fortieth anniversary with a open-air concert at Sportpark D’n Staak featuring several schlager artists.
2023 / Finishing in third place in District South I’s Sunday League 5C behind champions vv Terlo and runners-up vv Netersel, vv De Bocht ’80 qualifies for the play-offs, in which it stumbles over the first hurdle, losing the away match against HRC ’14 (2-1).
2024 / Finishing in fourth place in District South I's Sunday League 5D, vv De Bocht '80 qualifies for the promotion play-offs, being eliminated in R1 by vv BZS.

Note – Most of the information above was derived from a magazine published by vv De Bocht ’80 on the club’s 25th anniversary in 2005; thanks to the club’s board for putting a copy of this magazine at my disposal.