Extreme Football Tourism: NETHERLANDS: vv Valkenswaard (1963-1999) / SV Valkenswaard (1999-2002) / SV Valkenswaard (B) (2002-±2014)

Gemeentelijk Sportpark Den Dries I, Valkenswaard (formerly vv Valkenswaard / SV Valkenswaard)

Netherlands, province: North Brabant = Noord-Brabant

June 2024 / no match visited

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, against RKVV Brabantia, is organised at a pitch laid out in the hamlet of Deelshurk, to the southwest of Valkenswaard proper. Contrary to the oldest club in the village, vv De Valk (founded in 1909), which joined the official Netherlands’ Football Association (KNVB), VSV ’34 successfully applies for membership of the Roman Catholic football association IVCB (Interdiocesane Voetbalcompetitiebond).
1937 / VSV ’34 wins the title in IVCB Division 3, thus acceding to D2 of that same league system.
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.
1940 / Having spent the first six years of its existence in the IVCB, VSV ’34 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. As most other Roman Catholic clubs, VSV ’34 chooses to make the leap to the NVB league pyramid, being placed in Sunday League 3 for the 1940-41 season.
1945 / After the war years, in which the club’s membership administration had wilfully been destroyed by the presidency to avoid players being called up for the dreaded German Arbeitseinsatz, VSV ’34 makes a new start in Sunday League 3, with promotion eluding the club in the first post-war years, in part due to players being called up for army service for the Netherlands’ ill-fated counter-action against the revolution in the Dutch East-Indies.
1954 / Champions in District South I’s Sunday League 3A, 1 point ahead of closest followers RKVV Tongelre, VSV ’34 finally realises its long-cherished ambition to accede to Sunday League 2.
1955 / Finishing in third place in District South II’s Sunday League 2B, 2 points behind champions vv Kimbria and 1 point behind runners-up RFC Roermond, VSV ’34 accedes to Sunday League 1 – the top non-league division at the time – for the first time in club history due to extra promotion places being available following the introduction of professional league football in the Netherlands – with village rivals vv De Valk being one of the clubs trying their luck in the professional divisions.
1956 / To avoid confusion with the older VSV from Velsen (Velseroorder Sportvereniging), VSV ’34 changes its name to become Voetbalvereniging (vv) Valkenswaard.
1958 / Bottom of the table in Sunday League 1C, vv Valkenswaard drops back into Sunday League 2 after three seasons. Also in 1958, the club reaches R1 of the nationwide cup competition (KNVB-Beker), in which a defeat is suffered against professional league side RKVV Wilhelmina (1-0 A.E.T.).
1962 / Winning the title in District South I’s Sunday League 2A, 8 points ahead of closest followers vv Gemert, vv Valkenswaard accedes to Sunday League 1, where the club meets vv De Valk, who had suffered relegation from the (professional) Second Division to Sunday League 1 one year previously.
1963 / In the best season in club history, vv Valkenswaard finishes runners-up in Sunday League 1C – with the downside being that the club has to leave the title to derby rivals vv De Valk. Also in 1963, the club 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.
1965 / Finishing second-last in Sunday League 1C, vv Valkenswaard drops back into Sunday League 2 along with bottom club HVV ’24.
1966 / vv Valkenswaard forward Arnaud ‘Noud’ Wijnen, 20 years old at the time, signs a professional league contract with Willem II, going on to play 11 games for the Tilburg club (1 goal) before returning to Sportpark Den Dries after just one season.
1978 / Finishing second-last in District South I’s Sunday League 2A, vv Valkenswaard drops back into Sunday League 3 along with bottom club RKSV Liessel.
1979 / vv Valkenswaard midfielder Remy Reijnierse, 18 years old at the time, signs a professional league contract with EVV Eindhoven – playing for the blue-and-white club for five seasons before moving to (FC) VVV, where he would go on to finish his career in 1990.
1986 / Champions in District South I’s Sunday League 3A, 1 point ahead of closest followers vv DBS, vv Valkenswaard manages a return to Sunday League 2 after an absence of eight seasons. The stay at that level, where the club meets vv De Valk at a competitive level for the first time in years, is short-lived, though, with relegation following immediately in 1987.
1988 / Finishing in tenth place in District South I’s Sunday League 3A, vv Valkenswaard suffers its second relegation in a row, dropping back into Sunday League 4 for the first time in club history, along with RKVV Brabantia and vv EFC.
1989 / Former vv Valkenswaard youth player Geert Brusselers, who moved to the PSV youth academy but never managed to break into that club’s first team, makes his professional league debut with Fortuna Sittard at the age of nineteen. The midfielder would go on to wear the outfits of FC Den Bosch, NAC, Al-Nassr CSC, Germinal Beerschot Antwerpen, Al-Shaab CSC, Ajax Cape Town, and Calgary Mustangs before hanging up his boots in 2004.
1993 / Champions in District South I’s Sunday League 4D, 1 point ahead of closest rivals RKVV Brabantia, vv Valkenswaard finds its way back to Sunday League 3. The decisive points are clinched in a match against RKVV De Raven.
1997 / Second from bottom in the final ranking in District South I’s Sunday League 3D, vv Valkenswaard drops back into Sunday League 4 along with bottom club ZSV.
1999 / vv Valkenswaard changes its name to become Sportvereniging (SV) Valkenswaard.
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. 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.
± 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.