Extreme Football Tourism: NETHERLANDS: SV Valkenswaard (2002-)

Gemeentelijk Sportpark Den Dries II, Valkenswaard (SV Valkenswaard)

Netherlands, province: North Brabant = Noord-Brabant

5 VI 2024 / SV Valkenswaard - SDC Putten 3-0 / Combined Sunday & Saturday Leagues 1, promotion play-off (= NL level 6)

Timeline

1934 / Foundation of a football club in Valkenswaard, VSV ’34 (Valkenswaarde Sportvereniging 1934), in fact a merger of three smaller clubs: Hollandia, SDO, and Don Bosco. A first friendly match is organised at a pitch laid out in the hamlet of Deelshurk, to the southwest of Valkenswaard proper.
1939 / VSV ’34 moves into the newly laid-out municipal sports facilities at Fazantlaan, commonly referred to simply as the Gemeentelijk Sportpark Valkenswaard. Today this area is still part of the park – with the original main pitch now being occupied by the two easternmost side pitches of what is now called Sportpark Den Dries – the pitches hemmed in between Fazantlaan and Oude Spoorbaan.
1963 / vv Valkenswaard moves its first team football from Gemeentelijk Sportpark Fazantlaan to the newly laid-out Gemeentelijk Sportpark Den Dries – the westernmost pitch of the park, occupied nowadays by athletics club AVV. At the western side of the pitch, which is surrounded by an athletics track, a covered stand of the Elascon type is erected.
2002 / A thorough renovation is carried out at Sportpark Den Dries, involving, most prominently, moving first team football to the southernmost pitch of the park, which had hitherto been one of the youth academy pitches. A new clubhouse, ‘D’n Bosuil’, is constructed at the western end of this pitch. For the time being, the old main pitch at Pastoor Heerkensdreef is retained for lower team football and training sessions – although this part of the park is more or less taken over by athletics club AVV as its main user.
2005 / Champions in District South I’s Sunday League 4H, 6 points ahead of closest followers vv Oirschot Vooruit, SV Valkenswaard accedes to Sunday League 3 after an absence of eight years.
2006 / Finishing second-last in District South I’s Sunday League 3D, SV Valkenswaard drops back into League 4 along with bottom club RKVV Bergeijk.
2007 / Finishing in third place in District South I’s Sunday League 4H, SV Valkenswaard qualifies for the promotion play-offs, reaching the final in which RKSV Boxtel is defeated – with the result thus being that the club manages a return to Sunday League 3 after just one season.
2009 / Futsal club OS/Alwako is absorbed into SV Valkenswaard.
2010 / SV Valkenswaard’s main pitch at Sportpark Den Dries is equipped with a synthetic surface.
2012 / Runners-up in District South I’s Sunday League 3D, 1 point behind champions vv Nieuw Woensel, SV Valkenswaard manages to accede to Sunday League 2 for the first time in the new century following a successful round of promotion play-offs, defeating vv Zeelandia Middelburg in the final played at Sportpark De Schietberg in Made.
2013 / Finishing in twelfth place in Sunday League 2F, SV Valkenswaard has to play a round of relegation play-offs to assure itself of a prolonged stay at that level – and being unsuccessful in those play-offs, losing out against SV VOAB and thus descending into League 3 after just one season along with direct drop-outs vv Zwaluw VFC and vv Bladella.
2014 / Finishing in eleventh place in District South I’s Sunday League 3D, SV Valkenswaard suffers its second relegation in a row via the play-offs, thus suddenly finding itself at League 4 level. Also in or around 2014, SV Valkenswaard gives up using the former main pitch at Pastoor Heerkensdreef for lower team football and training sessions; from that time, this part of the park has been made use of exclusively by athletics club AVV.
2015 / Champions in District South I’s Sunday League 4H, an impressive 14 points ahead of closest followers RKVV Hapert, SV Valkenswaard finds its way back to Sunday League 3.
2019 / Runners-up in District South I’s Sunday League 3D, 8 points behind champions RKSV Sparta ’25, SV Valkenswaard qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which it defeats FC Engelen (4-3) and vv RPC (5-4) in the first two rounds, thus qualifying for the final against PSV (AV) at vv UNA’s Sportpark Zeelst, going on to win the encounter 3-1 – thereby earning a ticket for Sunday League 2.
2023 / Champions in Sunday League 2E, 3 points ahead of RKSV Mierlo-Hout, SV Valkenswaard wins promotion to Sunday League 1, returning to that level after an absence of 58 years. The decisive points are clinched in an away match at derby rivals vv De Valk (1-2) three matches from the end of the season.
2024 / Runners-up in Sunday League 1F, 2 points behind champions RKSV Mierlo-Hout, SV Valkenswaard qualifies for the promotion play-offs, drawing a bye in R1 and defeating SDC Putten in R2 (3-0) to qualify for the final, played at Sportpark De Watertoren in Zaltbommel; there, SV Valkenswaard managed to defeat SV Wippolder (1-0), thus earning the club a historic promotion to National Division 4. The winning goal was scored by Jordi van Meurs in the last minute of the match.