Extreme Football Tourism: NETHERLANDS: SV Marken

Sportpark Nooitgedacht, Marken (SV Marken)

Netherlands, province: North Holland = Noord-Holland

14 IX 2024 / SV Marken - SV Real Sranang 3-7 / District West I, Regional Cup - group stage, group 3-45

Timeline

1946 / Foundation of a football club on the (former) island of Marken. The club is given the name Sportvereniging (SV) Marken. The club settles on a pitch situated at Zeerijderpad.
1947 / SV Marken starts its life as a regular Saturday league club in the ranks of the NHVB (Noord-Hollandse Voetbalbond), the league association organising football below the level of KNVB Sunday and Saturday leagues 4.
1950 / Winning the title in NHVB Division 1, SV Marken wins promotion to Saturday League 4, the second-highest Saturday level in the Netherlands at the time.
1953 / Finishing rock bottom in District West I’s Saturday League 4A, with just 2 points obtained in the entire season, SV Marken drops back into the ranks of NHVB.
1956 / Winning the title in NHVB Division 1, SV Marken manages a return to Saturday League 4.
1957 / Finishing bottom of the table in District West I’s Saturday League 4B, SV Marken drops back in to the NHVB divisions.
1958 / Champions in NHVB Division 1, SV Marken manages an immediate return to Saturday League 4.
1966 / Coached by Jan Schilder, SV Marken finishes in third place in District West I’s Saturday League 4B, leading to the club being placed in Saturday League 3 for the following season due to the number of Saturday League 3 divisions in District West I being extended from one to two. Also in or around 1966, the club settles on a newly laid-out ground, Terrein Kerkbuurt; however, the former main pitch at Zeerijderpad is retained for lower team football and training sessions.
1973 / Coached by Gerrit Blotevogel, SV Marken finishes as runners-up in District West I’s Saturday League 3A, 1 point behind champions vv SIZO.
1974 / Coached by Gerrit Blotevogel, SV Marken wins the title in District West I’s Saturday League 3A, 1 point ahead of closest rivals RKSV Volendam, leading to the club winning promotion to Saturday League 2 for the first time. 1974 also was the year when a Saturday League 1 was added as the top level of the Saturday league pyramid.
1975 / Still coached by Gerrit Blotevogel, SV Marken wins its second title in a row, finishing in first place in District West I’s Saturday League 2B following a tie-break match for the title against vv Nunspeet, played at DOVO’s ground in Veenendaal (1-0). As such, SV Marken wins promotion to Saturday League 1, the top division of the Saturday league pyramid, for the first time.
1977 / Coached by Jacob van der Vaart, SV Marken finishes bottom of the table in Saturday League 1B, dropping back into Saturday League 2 along with the club finishing second from bottom, vv Heerjansdam.
1978 / SV Marken moves into the newly laid-out Sportcomplex Nooitgedacht, abandoning its two old pitches, Terrein Kerkbuurt and Terrein Zeerijderpad.
1982 / Coached by Hennie Heerland, SV Marken finishes as runners-up in District West I’s Saturday League 2C, 6 points behind champions SV Huizen. Also in 1982, the covered stand at the western side of the main pitch at Sportcomplex Nooitgedacht is inaugurated.
1984 / Coached by Dick Alberts, SV Marken clinches the title in District West I’s Saturday League 2C, 3 points ahead of runners-up SDVB. As such, the club wins promotion to Saturday League 1 after an absence of seven seasons.
1985 / SV Marken and its coach Dick Alberts finish in second place in Saturday League 1B – the top level of the Saturday league pyramid – 8 points behind champions GVVV. This marks the best league result in the club’s history.
1986 / Sensationally, in the 1985-86 season, SV Marken reaches the quarter finals of the Netherlands’ Cup (KNVB-Beker), knocking out two non-league opponents (vv Rheden and RKSV Rohda Raalte) as well as SC Heracles ’74, which played in the top flight of the Netherlands’ football pyramid, the Eredivisie, that season; in the 3-1 win at Sportcomplex Nooitgedacht, SV Marken’s goalscorers were Martin Boes, Piet Springer, and Thijs Schipper, while the only Heracles goal was scored by future Netherlands’ international player – and unused sub at the 1988 European Championships, won by the Netherlands – Hendrie Krüzen. Eventually, in the quarter finals, in which SV Marken drew a home match against FC Den Haag – due to the notorious fan following of the away side, the match was switched to FC Volendam’s Stadion De Dijk – in which the professional league side won thanks to a single goal by Remco Boere (att. 5,500).
1989 / SV Marken takes part in the Netherlands’ Cup, being eliminated in R1 by BV De Graafschap (0-3).
1993 / Finishing in twelfth place in Saturday League 1B, SV Marken has to play a promotion-relegation play-off against vv Sparta Nijkerk, going on to win the match (1-0), thus saving its skin and avoiding relegation.
1996 / Finishing in third-last place in Saturday League 1A, SV Marken, coached by Rowdy Bakker, has to play a play-off against League 2 club SV De Valleivogels, winning the tie, played at SVDB’s Sportpark Norschoten (1-0), thus staying up and qualifying for the newly formed Zaterdag Hoofdklasse – the new top tier of the Saturday league pyramid.
1997 / Coached by Rowdy Bakker, SV Marken finishes in a respectable fourth place in Zaterdag Hoofdklasse B.
1999 / Still coached by Rowdy Bakker, SV Marken finishes in joint second-last place in Zaterdag Hoofdklasse A with vv SHO, with the two clubs having to play a relegation play-off, for which Rijnsburgse Boys’s Sportpark Middelmors is chosen as venue; as vv SHO walks away with a 3-2 win, SV Marken drops back into Saturday League 1 along with bottom club vv Rozenburg.
2000 / In Rowdy Bakker’s last year as coach of SV Marken, the club finishes in third place in Saturday League 1A, going on to lose a promotion-relegation play-off final against FC Lisse (3-3 & penalty shoot-out) at vv Noordwijk’s Sportpark Duinwetering. Upon Rowdy Bakker’s departure, SV Marken signs Bert van der Poppe as his successor; Van der Poppe is a former professional midfield player, who wore the colours of MVV, AZ ’67, FC Volendam, and Telstar (1979-90).
2001 / Coached by Bert van der Poppe, SV Marken clinches the title in Saturday League 1A, 6 points ahead of runners-up vv Montfoort. The decisive points are obtained in an emphatic 1-7 away win against SV Lelystad ’67. As such, the club manages a return to Zaterdag Hoofdklasse.
2002 / SV Marken absorbs indoor football clubs FC Wanhoop and ZVV De Visscher.
2005 / After four years in Zaterdag Hoofdklasse, SV Marken and its coach Bert van der Poppe drop back into Saturday League 1 following a second-last place in Zaterdag Hoofdklasse A, with bottom club and derby rivals RKAV Volendam being the other drop-out.
2006 / In Bert van der Poppe’s sixth and last year at the helm of the club, SV Marken suffers its second relegation in a row, finishing in second-last place in Saturday League 1A and dropping back into Saturday League 2 along with bottom club RKSV DCG.
2008 / Finishing in fourth place in Saturday League 2A with coach Tijs Schipper, SV Marken qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is eliminated by vv De Merino’s.
2009 / Runners-up in Saturday League 2A with coach Tijs Schipper, 15 points behind runaway champions AVV Swift, SV Marken qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is eliminated by vv De Merino’s for the second year in a row.
2010 / Coached by Edwin Keizer, SV Marken finishes as runners-up in Saturday League 2A, 6 points behind champions CSW – with the club winning direct promotion to Saturday League 1 due to extra promotion places being available following the introduction of a new top level of the Saturday league pyramid, the so-called Zaterdag Topklasse.
2012 / Successively coached by Saaïd Ouaali and Bram Berkhout, SV Marken finishes in eleventh place in Saturday League 1A, leading to the club having to save its skin in the promotion-relegation play-offs. Led by caretaker manager – and former Marken player – Martin Boes, the club manages successive victories over SV Zandvoort (1-0 aggr.) and AMVJ (9-0 aggr.), thus staying up in League 1. Also in 2012, the main pitch of Sportcomplex Nooitgedacht is equipped with a synthetic surface.
2013 / Coached by Charles Loots, SV Marken finishes in eleventh place in Saturday League 1A, leading to the club having to save its skin in the promotion-relegation play-offs. Surviving R1 against AFC (za) (4-3 aggr.), SV Marken is knocked out in R2 by FC Aalsmeer (5-3 aggr.). As a result, the club drops back into League 2.
2017 / Coached by Martin Boes, SV Marken finishes in seventh place in Saturday League 2A, qualifying for the play-offs, in which the club has the better of SV Geinoord (5-4 aggr.) and CSV BOL (7-2 aggr.) – resulting in a return to Saturday League 1.
2018 / Coached by Ronald Dooijeweerd, SV Marken finishes in last place in Saturday League 1A, dropping back into Saturday League 2 along with CSV Vitesse Delft and HVV Te Werve.
2023 / Coached by Ron van der Velde, SV Marken finishes in last place in Saturday League 2A, dropping back into Saturday League 3 along with the club finishing one place above them, FC Weesp.
2024 / Coached by Tom Brouwers, SV Marken suffers its second relegation in a row, finishing in tenth place and failing to save its skin in the promotion-relegation play-offs, in which the club is defeated in R1 by FC VVC (1-3). As such, SV Marken finds itself in Saturday League 4 for the first time in 58 (!) years.