Extreme Football Tourism: NETHERLANDS: RKVV Fiducia (1979-2024) / SV De Middenpeel (A&B) (2024-)

Sportpark De Blaarpeel, De Rips (SV De Middenpeel, formerly RKVV Fiducia)

Netherlands, province: North Brabant = Noord-Brabant

20 V 2024 / RKVV Fiducia - Astrantia SV 3-7 / District South II, Sunday League 5D (= NL level 10)

Timeline

1937 / Foundation of a football club in the village of De Rips; the new club is given the name RKVV (Rooms-Katholieke Voetbalvereniging) De Rips, with the club joining the Roman-Catholic football association IVCB (Interdiocesane Voetbal-Competitie Bond) rather than the official Netherlands’ Football Association (KNVB). The club settles on a pitch laid out at Ripsestraat, in the shadow of the old village church, built in the early 1920s (and knocked down to make way for the current St Margaretha Maria Alacoque Church in the first half of the 1960s. Thanks to a goal by Frans van de Ven, the new club wins its first match against RKSV Helenaveen II (1-0).
1939 / RKVV De Rips wins the title in the lowest local division in IVCB.
1940 / Having spent the first three years of its existence in the IVCB, RKVV De Rips is now constrained to make a choice between joining the official Netherlands’ FA (renamed NVB following the German oppression of the Netherlands in May 1940, abandoning the royal epithet ‘koninklijk’ for obvious reasons) or folding, as all other football associations are abolished by German occupation authorities. The club’s chairman Driek van Deursen, refusing to sign a declaration of loyalty to the Germans, makes the principled choice to allow his club to cease activities.
1945 / After the liberation of the German yoke, RKVV De Rips is re-founded. The club now joins the KNVB, as the Roman-Catholic football association never made a restart in post-war Netherlands. The club, which settles at its pre-war pitch at Ripsestraat, is placed in the NBVB or Noord-Brabantse Voetbalbond, the association organising all football divisions in the province of North Brabant below the level of KNVB Sunday League 4.
1947 / At the instigation of a local cleric, Fr Van Eijk, RKVV De Rips is renamed RKVV Fiducia (fiducia being the Latin word for ‘trust’ or ‘reliability’).
1950 / Abandoning Terrein Ripsestraat, RKVV Fiducia settles at a newly laid-out pitch at the back of Café Van de Ven, on the other side of Ripsestraat.
1962 / Abandoning Terrein Van de Ven, RKVV Fiducia settles at the newly laid-out Terrein Oploseweg.
1979 / Abandoning Terrein Oploseweg, RKVV Fiducia settles at the newly laid-out municipal ground, Sportpark De Blaarpeel at Blaarpeelweg, where it is joined by the local tennis and arching clubs, TVR and De Batavieren.
1996 / Never having reached the level of KNVB League 4 in the fifty previous years, RKVV Fiducia is now placed in KNVB District South I’s Sunday League 6K, the bottom division in this district, as the NBVB and all other local football associations are abolished.
2014 / Finishing in fourth place in District South II’s Sunday League 6C, RKVV Fiducia goes on to win a historic promotion to Sunday League 5 in the play-offs. Fiducia holds its own at this level for two years until the abolition of Sunday League 6 in 2016 assures the club of a permanent stay in League 5.
2024 / In its last season as an independent club, RKVV Fiducia finishes in thirteenth place in Sunday League 5D, with only vv RESIA ’42 picking up fewer points. A merger is concluded with neighbour club vv Elsendorp, resulting in the foundation of SV De Middenpeel; for the time being, home games will alternately be played in Elsendorp and De Rips. On May 20th, 2024, on the occasion of Fiducia’s last home game, an open-air festival was organised at Sportpark De Blaarpeel to celebrate the history of the club, past and present. Former professional league referee Roelof Luinge was invited to lead this last-ever match, with visitors Astrantia SV taking away the points (3-7, cp. photo series below).

Note - Below, a compilation of photos of two different visits: pictures 1-5 = non-matchday visit, April 2024 / pictures 6-23 = match visit, May 2024.