NETHERLANDS: RV&AV Sparta (2000-2014, 2024-) / Sparta Rotterdam (B) (2000-2014, 2024-)

Sportpark Nieuw Terbregge, Rotterdam (RV&AV Sparta & B ground of Sparta Rotterdam)

Netherlands, province: South Holland = Zuid-Holland

31 VIII 2024 / Jong Sparta Rotterdam - vv HHC Hardenberg 1-2 / Tweede Divisie (= NL level 3)

Timeline

• 1959 / With the club having had to make do with just the pitch of Stadion Spangen and its one side-pitch, Rotterdam professional league side RV&AV Sparta is now given the luxury of a youth academy ground, Sportpark Laag Zestienhoven.
• 1961 / After two years at Sportpark Laag Zestienhoven, RV&AV Sparta moves its youth academy to a newly laid-out ground only a stone’s throw away from the stadium, Sportpark Nieuw Vreelust.
• 1976 / An administrative separation is implemented, with RV&AV Sparta being subdivided into two independent entities; a professional league club, which henceforth carries the name Sparta Rotterdam; and a non-league club, which retains the old name RV&AV Sparta, as well as taking over the club’s branches for other sports (rugby, cricket, and baseball). Henceforth, RV&AV Sparta shares Sportpark Nieuw Vreelust with Sparta Rotterdam’s youth academy.
• 2000 / After 37 years at Sportpark Nieuw Vreelust, Sparta moves its youth academy as well as its non-league satellite RV&AV Sparta to the newly laid-out Sportpark Nieuw Terbregge in Rotterdam-Hillegersberg. The main pitch of the new ground sports a strikingly shaped covered stand.
• 2001 / Champions in Sunday League 2D, 8 points ahead of RVV HOV, RV&AV Sparta wins promotion to Sunday League 1, ten years after last having played at that level.
• 2002 / In the best season in club history (so far), RV&AV Sparta finishes in third place in Sunday League 1B, 6 points behind champions vv Nieuwenhoorn – but the club fails to win promotion to Zondag Hoofdklasse via the play-offs.
• 2005 / Coached by former Sparta Rotterdam player Ben Spork, RV&AV Sparta finishes in tenth place in Sunday League 1B, dropping back into Sunday League 2 along with GC&FC Olympia and bottom club GVV SVW.
• 2011 / Coached by former Sparta Rotterdam player Eddy Ridderhof, who had succeeded his former team colleague John Schuurhuizen in 2010, RV&AV Sparta finishes bottom of the table in Sunday League 2D, dropping back into League 3 along with RKSV WCR.
• 2012 / Finishing in eleventh place in District West II’s Sunday League 3D, RV&AV Sparta has to play a set of promotion-relegation play-offs against League 4 teams vv HWD and SV RDM, with the latter walking away with the League 3 ticket and RV&AV Sparta suffering relegation to Sunday League 4. Following the season, however, the club withdraws its first team, continuing its existence with reserves and youth teams in the following two seasons.
• 2014 / After two years, RV&AV Sparta returns in first team football – however, following the trend in District West II, the club prefers to enter the Saturday League pyramid rather than the Sunday divisions, being placed in Saturday League 4E. However, due to problems with the surface of the main pitch at Sportpark Nieuw Terbregge, first team football moves to pitch 4 – with occasional excursions to pitch 3 – of the park. The main pitch sees very little activity in the following ten years. 
• 2015 / Coached by former Sparta Rotterdam player Ron Luijten, RV&AV Sparta wins the title in District West II’s Saturday League 4E, 7 points ahead of closest rivals SSV HBSS. As such, the club accedes to Saturday League 3.
• 2017 / Coached by former Sparta Rotterdam player Robert Verbeek, RV&AV Sparta finishes in fourth place in District West II’s Saturday League 3C, qualifying for the play-offs, in which the club successively edges past FC Binnenmaas (4-3 aggr.) and vv SSS (4-2 aggr.). As such, RV&AV Sparta wins promotion to Saturday League 2.
• 2020 / In the 2019-20 season, RV&AV Sparta finds itself in first place in Saturday League 2D, 4 points ahead of closest followers FC Binnenmaas, when the season is cut short in March 2020 due to the first COVID lockdown. As such, the club is deprived the opportunity to add a title to its record, missing out on a potential promotion to League 1 as well.
• 2022 / Still coached by Robert Verbeek, RV&AV Sparta finishes as runners-up in Saturday League 2D, 1 point behind champions vv DCV. In the ensuing promotion play-offs, the club is eliminated in R1 by HVC ’10 (2-2 & penalty shoot-out).
• 2023 / Champions in Sunday League 2F, 8 points ahead of closest rivals vv Spirit, RV&AV Sparta wins promotion to Saturday League 1.
• 2024 / Inauguration of a new clubhouse at Sportpark Nieuw Terbregge. Also in 2024, the main pitch of the ground, practically unused in the previous ten years, is equipped with a synthetic surface. Coinciding with this, Sparta Rotterdam moves the home matches of its U23 team, Jong Sparta, which has been a part of the regular non-league pyramid since 2016, to Nieuw Terbregge after two years of groundsharing with Excelsior Maassluis at Sportpark Dijkpolder (and having made use of the 3G at Het Kasteel in the six preceding seasons). First team football of RV&AV Sparta also moves to this pitch – unless the team’s home fixtures coincide with Jong Sparta, which is given precedence in such cases.

Note - Below the photo series, a video can be found with highlights of the encounter between Jong Sparta Rotterdam and vv HHC Hardenberg attended by me at Sportpark Nieuw Terbregge in August 2024.

All photos: (c) W.B. Tukker / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author