Extreme Football Tourism: NETHERLANDS: SV Zwolsche Boys

Sportpark Jo van Marle - veld 4, Zwolle (SV Zwolsche Boys)

Netherlands, province: Overijssel

25 V 2024 / SV Zwolsche Boys - ZAC 3-2 / District East, Saturday League 3C (= NL level 8)

Timeline

1916 / A band of working-class boys from Zwolle comes together to play a first football match, using a pitch on the crossroads of modern-day Berkumstraat and Gennestraat.
1917 / The band of friends forms a football club, for which the name Prinses Juliana is chosen. A first exhibition match is played at Terrein Veerallee, the ground of the club’s elitist rival club ZAC.
1918 / Applying for membership of the Noord-Centrale Voetbalbond (NCVB), the sub-branch of the Netherlands’ Football Association under the aegis of which football is organised in the wider Zwolle region below the level of NVB (Sunday) League 3, Prinses Juliana is accepted under a new name, SV Zwolsche Boys – as the club’s original name had already been taken by another NCVB member from Heino, founded in 1915.
1920 / Winning the title in NCVB Division 1, SV Zwolsche Boys accedes to NVB League 3 for the first time following a series of three tie-break matches against MSC.
1921 / SV Zwolsche Boys clinches the title in District East’s (Sunday) League 3A, 1 point ahead of vv KHC, subsequently missing out on promotion, finishing in third place in a play-off competition won by vv Rigtersbleek.
1922 / Runners-up in District East’s League 3A, 1 point behind vv KHC, SV Zwolsche Boys goes on to win the promotion play-offs to accede to League 2 for the first time.
1935 / Abandoning its ground, Terrein Wipstrikkerallee, which has to make way for a velodrome, SV Zwolsche Boys moves into Sportpark De Vrolijkheid at Meppelerweg. This ground, laid out in 1923, had been home to city rivals PEC in the past twelve years. Moving into the newly built municipal ground, the Gemeentelijk Sportpark at Ceintuurbaan, PEC takes with it the covered stand of Sportpark De Vrolijkheid, rebuilding it along one of the side-pitches at their new ground – leaving SV Zwolsche Boys with only uncovered terraces.
1939 / At Sportpark De Vrolijkheid, a set of dressing rooms are constructed on top of the foundations of the former covered stand, which had been removed four years previously.
1942 / SV Zwolsche Boys finishes in second place in District East’s Sunday League 2B, 4 points behind DVV Go-Ahead.
1943 / SV Zwolsche Boys finishes in second place in District East’s Sunday League 2B for the second year running, 8 points behind ZVV Be Quick.
1944 / SV Zwolsche Boys finishes in second place in District East’s Sunday League 2B for the third year running, 8 points behind ZVV Be Quick.
1947 / Finishing 3 points ahead of middle-class city rivals PEC, SV Zwolsche Boys clinches the title in District East’s Sunday League 2B, with the decisive points being obtained in a 0-4 away win at ZVV AZC (3 goals by Jan Wigbers, 1 by Jan Hendriksen). In the ensuing round of promotion play-offs, SV Zwolsche Boys finishes in first place ahead of vv Rigtersbleek, HVV Tubantia, and vv Rheden – with the decisive points being obtained in a 0-1 away win at runners-up vv Rigtersbleek (goal by Stegeman). As such, having been a League 2 club for 25 years, SV Zwolsche Boys wins promotion to Sunday League 1, the top level of the Netherlands’ football pyramid, for the first time in club history.
1948 / With the dressing rooms, constructed in 1939, being knocked down, SV Zwolsche Boys has a new clubhouse built on the location of PEC’s former covered stand at Sportpark De Vrolijkheid.
1951 / After nineteen years of loyal service to the club’s first team, SV Zwolsche Boys’ all-time top scorer Arend Gerrits (145 goals), 35 years old at the time, hangs up his boots.
1954 / After seven inconspicuous years in Sunday League 1, SV Zwolsche Boys – coached by Jan Lodensteyn at the time – decides to take the leap to the newly created professional league pyramid.
1956 / After two transitionary seasons, in which the professional divisions take shape, SV Zwolsche Boys finds itself in the so-called Second Division, the third and lowest step of the league pyramid.
1958 / Due to the Gemeentelijk Sportpark not bringing enough revenues with only PEC making use of the stadium, Zwolle’s city-council – looking for ways to make more profit from the ground – allows SV Zwolsche Boys to move into the municipal stadium as groundsharers at a low rental. The club continues to make use of Sportpark De Vrolijkheid for lower team football and training sessions.
1959 / Abandoning Sportpark De Vrolijkheid completely, SV Zwolsche Boys also moves its lower team football to the Gemeentelijk Sportpark at Ceintuurbaan.
1960 / Unhappy with the groundsharing arrangement at the Gemeentelijk Sportpark, PEC takes the radical decision to leave the ground itself, settling at the abandoned Sportpark De Vrolijkheid instead – purchasing the premises at Meppelerweg and building a covered stand on top of the clubhouse one year later.
1967 / SV Zwolsche Boys finishes in last place in Second Division A for the third time in a row. Given that the professional divisions are a ‘closed shop’, the club does not suffer relegation to the non-league system.
1968 / SV Zwolsche Boys are joined by Saturday non-league club CSV ’28 as groundsharers at Sportpark De Vrolijkheid after the latter’s abandonment of the Gemeentelijk Sportpark (Terrein Nieuwe Vecht).
1969 / Bolstered by the arrival of Yugoslavian international player Ivica Osim of Sarajevo club FK Željezničar, SV Zwolsche Boys finishes in fifth place in the Second Division, the best result in thirteen seasons. Yet, due to a financial gap of 60,000 guilders, the club is constrained to withdraw from the professional leagues; as Zwolsche Boys makes a restart as a non-league club in District East’s Sunday League 4, all debts as well as all players under contract are taken over by a foundation associated with city rivals PEC, who are left as Zwolle’s only professional league club.
1970 / At the instigation of Zwolle’s city-council, PEC returns to the Gemeentelijk Sportpark (renamed Oosterenkstadion in 1973) after an absence of ten years, with SV Zwolsche Boys making the opposite move, returning to Sportpark De Vrolijkheid after an absence of more than ten years.
1972 / Champions in District East’s Sunday League 4H, 6 points ahead of DVV Go Ahead, SV Zwolsche Boys wins promotion to Sunday League 3.
1974 / Champions in District East’s Sunday League 3B, 5 points ahead of DVV Labor, SV Zwolsche Boys wins promotion to Sunday League 2.
1977 / Champions in District East’s Sunday League 2B, 1 point ahead of vv Hattem, SV Zwolsche Boys wins promotion to Sunday League 1. Also in 1977, groundsharers CSV ’28 leave Sportpark De Vrolijkheid after a stay of nine seasons, settling at Sportpark AA-Landen.
1979 / Champions in Sunday League 1D, 2 points ahead of vv Hattem, SV Zwolsche Boys wins promotion to Hoofdklasse, the top tier of the non-league football pyramid – marking the club’s fourth promotion in seven years.
1984 / Coached by former pro player Ben Hendriks, SV Zwolsche Boys wins the title in Zondag Hoofdklasse B following a tie-break match against vv Emmen, with Puck van der Horst and Jan Neuteboom scoring the goals in a 2-1 win. In the nationwide amateur title competition, the club finishes in last place with 0 points, behind champions USV Elinkwijk and vv Geldrop, vv IJsselmeervogels, vv Rijnsburgse Boys, and vv NSVV.
1986 / Finishing in joint twelfth place in Zondag Hoofdklasse B with vv WKE, SV Zwolsche Boys has to play a tie-break match against the club from Emmen to assure itself of a prolonged stay in the top flight of non-league; however, losing the match 1-0, the club drops back into League 1 after seven seasons, along with bottom club vv (Hubert) Sneek.
1989 / Finishing second-last in Sunday League 1D, SV Zwolsche Boys drops back into League 2 along with bottom club vv Arnhemse Boys.
1995 / Bottom of the table in District East’s Sunday League 2B at the end of the season, SV Zwolsche Boys descends into League 3 along with WVC (Winterswijk).
1996 / Finishing in tenth place in District East’s Sunday League 3B, SV Zwolsche Boys drops back into League 4 along with Sportclub Neede and ZVV Zutphania. Also in 1966, abandoning the historic Sportpark De Vrolijkheid, SV Zwolsche Boys moves to the newly laid-out Sportpark Jo van Marle on the southern outskirts of Zwolle, with elitist city rivals ZAC settling there as well; since, the two clubs have been neighbours on the same park, with each disposing of its own main pitch.
1998 / Finishing second-last in District East’s Sunday League 4H, SV Zwolsche Boys descends into League 5 along with bottom club SV Raalte.
2002 / Finishing second-last in District East’s Sunday League 5H in its last season as a Sunday club – which would have resulted in relegation to Sunday League 6, the lowest non-league level – SV Zwolsche Boys makes the leap to the Saturday pyramid, starting life in District East’s Saturday League 4.
2009 / Runners-up in District East’s Saturday League 4C, 4 points behind SV Nieuwleusen, SV Zwolsche Boys – coached by Johan Beijen – qualifies for the play-offs, in which the club edges past Uni VV (4-4 aggr. and penalty shoot-out) to win promotion to Saturday League 3.
2010 / Runners-up in District East’s Saturday League 3C, 8 points behind champions vv Vroomshoopse Boys, SV Zwolsche Boys qualifies for the play-offs, in which the club sees off SV Nieuwleusen (1-0, goal by Wesley Bruins) in the final played at a neutral venue, Sportpark Gerner in Dalfsen, to accede to League 2. Also in 2010, having chosen for first team football in the Saturday league pyramid eight seasons previously, SV Zwolsche Boys now withdraws its last recreational team playing in the Sunday divisions as well – thereby becoming a pure Saturday football club.
2011 / Finishing in fifth place in Saturday League 2H, SV Zwolsche Boys qualifies for the promotion play-offs, being eliminated in R1 by vv Hierden (7-2 aggr.).
2012 / Finishing in last place in Saturday League 2G, SV Zwolsche Boys drops back into League 3 along with vv Zeewolde.
2013 / Champions in District East’s Saturday League 3C, 4 points ahead of closest followers vv Kloosterhaar, SV Zwolsche Boys manages an immediate return to League 2.
2014 / Finishing second-last in Saturday League 2H, SV Zwolsche Boys drops back into League 3 along with bottom club vv Olympia ’28.
2015 / Finishing second-last in District East’s Saturday League 3C, SV Zwolsche Boys drops back into League 4 along with bottom club vv EDON, the club’s second relegation in a row.
2017 / Runners-up in District East’s Saturday League 4C, 14 points behind champions ASV Swift ’64, SV Zwolsche Boys – coached by Jan Verheijen – qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which it is defeated in R1 by vv Olympia ’28 (4-4 aggr. and penalty shoot-out). However, in a lucky loser round, the club goes on to have the better of EFC Prinses Wilhelmina 1885 (4-3 aggr., winning goal by Lodewijk de Vries) to reach Saturday League 3 via the back door.
2024 / SV Zwolsche Boys saves its skin in District East’s Saturday League 3C in the most dramatic of fashions, by defeating ultimate derby rivals and neighbour club ZAC on the last day of the season (3-2).