Extreme Football Tourism: NETHERLANDS: AVV ZSGO (B) (1961-1985) / AVV ZSGO (1985-1996) / AVV ZSGOWMS (1996-)

Sportpark Ookmeer - veld 14, Amsterdam Osdorp (AVV ZSGOWMS, formerly AVV ZSGO)

Netherlands, province: North Holland = Noord-Holland

2 XI 2024 / AVV ZSGOWMS (zo) - CSV BOL 1-3 / District West I, League 1A (= NL level 6)

Timeline

1919 / On March 1st, 1919, a football club is founded in the Frederik Hendrikbuurt, a neighbourhood situated to the west of Amsterdam’s city-centre, which takes on the name HMS (‘Houdt Moedig Stand’), which joins the AVB (Amsterdamsche Voetbalbond), Amsterdam’s sub-branch of the official Netherlands’ Football Association (NVB, later KNVB), later that same year under a new name, ASC WMS (Amsterdamsche Sportclub ‘Wilskracht Maakt Sterk’), due to the name HMS already having been taken by another NVB member club from Utrecht. Later that same year, on July 1st, 1919, also in the Frederik Hendrikbuurt, ASC (‘Amsterdamsche Sportclub’) sees the daylight, founded by a group of boys which had already started playing unorganised matches on a plot of wasteland at Van Rappardstraat in the summer of 1918. Incidentally, after their foundation, (ASC) WMS as well as ASC start their life as groundsharers at Terrein Van Rappardstraat, where a sand pitch has been laid out.
1920 / Joining the AVB one year after its foundation, ASC is constrained to adapt its name due to this abbreviation already having been adopted by another NVB member club from Oegstgeest – and the club becomes AVV ZSGO (Amsterdamsche Voetbalvereeniging ‘Zonder Strijd Geen Overwinning’). Abandoning Terrein Van Rappardstraat, ZSGO settles on a newly laid-out grass pitch at Zuidelijke Wandelweg, situated closely to the pitch used by AFC at the time. By that time, WMS had also abandoned the sand pitch at Van Rappardstraat, settling at Terrein Vredenhof – leading a gypsy life in the following fifteen odd years, moving on to Terrein Meerlaan (Sloterdijk), Terrein Hemweg, and Terrein Ringweg.
± 1923 / Moving away from Terrein Zuidelijke Wandelweg, AVV ZSGO settles on a newly laid-out pitch at Amstelveenscheweg.
1924 / Finishing in third place in AVB Division 2D, ZSGO is granted promotion to AVB Division 1 by co-optation – spending the next ten years of its existence at that level.
1927 / Abandoning Terrein Amstelveenscheweg, AVV ZSGO settles on a newly laid-out pitch at Nieuwe Kalfjeslaan.
1929 / Without losing a single game in the 1928-29 season in AVB Division 1, and thus easing to the title in that division, WMS wins promotion to KNVB (Sunday) League 4 for the first time. Also in 1929, ZSGO abandons Terrein Nieuwe Kalfjeslaan, settling on a newly laid-out pitch at Weesperzijde.
1930 / Champions in its first season in District West I’s League 4D, 4 points ahead of closest rivals JOS, WMS fails to win promotion in the subsequent round of promotion-relegation play-offs.
± 1931 / Abandoning Terrein Weesperzijde, ZSGO settles on a newly laid-out pitch at Amstelveenscheweg – not the same pitch where the club spent several seasons in the 1920s, but a location close to Koenenkade.
1932 / Champions in District West I’s Sunday League 4B, 6 points ahead of closest followers JOS and without suffering a single defeat all season, WMS wins promotion to Sunday League 3 in the play-offs.
± 1933 / Abandoning Terrein Ringweg, ASC WMS settles at Gemeentelijk Sportcomplex Velserweg, a communal sports park with multiple pitches used by several clubs (including AFC DWS).
1934 / Winning a tie-break match against ABIM (2-1) on the pitch of fellow Amsterdam side DEC, ZSGO wins promotion to KNVB (Sunday) League 4 for the first time – but only after AVB authorities had laid aside an ABIM protest about a penalty having been withheld from that club during the match.
1935 / ZSGO has an excellent debut season in the ranks of the KNVB, finishing as runners-up in District West I’s League 4G, 10 points behind runaway champions LFC (Laren).
1936 / Abandoning Terrein Amstelveenschweg (II), where the club had spent five odd seasons, ZSGO moves away to Gemeentelijk Sportcomplex Velserweg, also used by WMS; ZSGO concludes a renting agreement for two pitches with Amsterdam’s municipal authorities.
1938 / Finishing in joint first place in District West I’s League 4E with vv Aalsmeer, AVV ZSGO meets that club in a tie-break match on the pitch of vv Schoten in Haarlem, going on to suffer defeat in that encounter, 3-1. As such, the club misses out on promotion to League 3.
1942 / Champions in District West I’s Sunday League 4F, 2 points ahead of runners-up APGS, ZSGO fails to win promotion in a three-way play-off against ADW and League 3 side DEC, which finishes in first place and thus avoids the drop. Qualifying for the Netherlands’ Cup (NVB-Beker) for the first (and probably only) time in its history, ZSGO eliminates League 3 team WFC Rapiditas in R1, suffering elimination at the hands of future professional league side ZFC in R2 (2-1). Also in 1942, 11-year-old Henk Vonhoff joins ZSGO as a youth member, making his mark more as a referee than as a footballer in the following decades. He later had a career as an MP for the conservative liberals, going on to serve as a secretary of state, mayor of Utrecht, and governor of Groningen. Henk Vonhoff passed away in 2010 at the age of 79.
1943 / Champions in District West I’s Sunday League 4G, 9 points ahead of closest rivals APGS and without suffering a single defeat all season, ZSGO does not get the opportunity to win promotion to League 3 due to no promotion play-offs being held at the behest of the Netherlands’ Football Association. With the hardships of the German occupation of the Netherlands being felt ever more acutely, ZSGO has to abandon its two pitches at Velserweg, which are requisitioned by the German armed forces. For the 1943-44 season, the club groundshares at CSV De Geuzen.
1944 / Although winning no title in the 1943-44 season, ZSGO is given the opportunity to play promotion matches against 1944 League 4 champions APGS on the back of its title in 1943. After three tie-break matches, which are regularly interrupted due to air-raid alarms, APGS walks away with the ticket for League 3. Also in 1944, ZSGO allows a Saturday branch to be formed under its auspices – although the focus remains firmly on Sunday league football. In the fall of 1944 and the spring of 1945, the last stages of the German occupation of the northern half of the Netherlands, no football activities take place.
1945 / After the liberation of the Netherlands, ZSGO cannot return to its two pitches at Gemeentelijk Sportcomplex Velserweg for the time being, due to the area having been devastated by Allied bombers in the previous two years. In the 1945-46 season, the club groundshares at APGS, SNA, and AVV De Spartaan.
1946 / Runaway champions in District West I’s Sunday League 4K, 14 points ahead of closest rivals RODI, ZSGO fails to win promotion in a round of play-offs against vv Amersfoortse Boys and BVV Baarn – with the last-mentioned club walking away with the League 3 ticket. Also in 1946, ZSGO returns to Gemeentelijk Sportcomplex Velserweg after an absence of three years, although the club is being allocated two different pitches than the ones used in the 1936-43 period.
1947 / Moving away from pitches 30 & 34 on Gemeentelijk Sportcomplex Velserweg after one season, ZSGO settles on pitches 7 & 11 of the same facility – renting one additional pitch, pitch 6, some years later.
1948 / Champions in District West I’s Sunday League 4I, 5 points ahead of closest followers VVU (vv Uithoorn), ZSGO finally manages to win promotion to Sunday League 3 after winning a three-way play-off against LFC (Laren) and vv Amersfoortse Boys. The decisive point is clinched in a 1-1 away draw at vv Amersfoortse Boys, with wingback Wim Brouwers scoring ZSGO’s goal.
1950 / Finishing in second-last place in District West I’s Sunday League 3C, WMS drops back into Sunday League 4 after eighteen years, along with bottom club BVC Bloemendaal.
1951 / With money donated by a local benefactor, ZSGO builds itself a new clubhouse at Gemeentelijk Sportcomplex Velserweg. The premises are inaugurated by the wife of club chairman C. Snijders Snr.
1957 / Champions in District West I’s Sunday League 4D, 1 point ahead of runners-up SC Muiderberg, WMS fails to win promotion in the subsequent round of play-offs.
1959 / Champions in District West I’s Sunday League 4E, 4 points ahead of closest rivals DVAV, WMS fails to win promotion in the subsequent play-off rounds.
1961 / Finishing bottom of the table in District West I’s Sunday League 3C, ZSGO drops back into League 4 after thirteen years. That same year, ASC WMS as well as AVV ZSGO move away from Gemeentelijk Sportcomplex Velserweg, settling at the newly laid-out Sportpark Ookmeer in Amsterdam-Osdorp. WMS settles on the far northwestern corner of the park, adjacent to the pitches of SLTO, a club which had already moved to the new park one year previously. ZSGO finds its place directly to the south of WMS’s new ground, where the club is given the luxury of three pitches – with the southernmost of those, which it shares with RKSV DCG, becoming its main pitch for the following 24 years ("pitch 18"). Also in 1961, promising 22-year-old ZSGO midfielder Hassie van Wijk signs a professional league contract with AVV De Volewijckers, later also defending the colours of HSV ADO, Telstar, and AZ ’67 – and, after hanging up his boots, serving as Aad de Mos’ assistant coach at AFC Ajax for some time.
1964 / ZSGO’s clubhouse at Sportpark Ookmeer – the building still dominating the ground today, cp. photos below – is inaugurated after construction works which commenced one year previously. Unusually, the clubhouse has not been built close to the (shared) main pitch at the southern end of the park, but at the far other, northern, side. The premises are inaugurated by Amsterdam’s alderman for sports affairs, P.J. Koets.
1965 / A former ZSGO youth player between 1954 and 1958, winger Rob Rensenbrink, makes his professional league debut at AFC DWS. Rensenbrink goes on to wear the colours of Club Brugge KV, RSC Anderlechtois, Portland Timbers, and Toulouse FC, before hanging up his boots in 1982. Rensenbrink also won 46 caps for the Netherlands’ national team, being part of the squads which reached the 1974 and 1978 World Cup finals – with Rensenbrink (in)famously hitting the post in the last minute of regular play in the 1978 final against Argentina – and winning the bronze medal at the 1976 European Championships.
1966 / Finishing bottom of the table in District West I’s Sunday League 4F, WMS drops back into the ranks of the AVB after 37 years. That same year, after two years of construction works, WMS’s striking two-tiered clubhouse at Sportpark Ookmeer is inaugurated by Amsterdam’s alderman for sports affairs, A.A. Verhey. Also in 1966, two years after having won promotion to AVB Saturday Division 1, ZSGO’s Saturday team accedes to District West I’s Saturday League 4 for the first time, holding out at that level for four seasons before dropping back into the ranks of the AVB in 1968.
1967 / Clinching the title in AVB Division 1, WMS manages an immediate return to Sunday League 4 after just one season in the AVB divisions.
1968 / Having finished as runners-up in Sunday League 4 on four previous occasions in the same decade, ZSGO now finally clinches the title in District West I’s Sunday League 4C, 4 points ahead of runners-up vv Schoten. The decisive points are clinched in a home win against GVO. As such, after an absence of seven seasons, ZSGO manages a return to Sunday League 3. Also in 1968, RKSV DCG abandons pitch 18 of Sportpark Ookmeer, which it had shared as its main pitch with AVV ZSGO since 1961; with DCG withdrawing to a new main pitch at the southern end of Sportpark Ookmeer, pitch 18 is used by just one club, AVV ZSGO, in the following 17 years, although the club has to cede it occasionally to District West I when tie-break matches are held there at the end of the season.
1969 / Finishing bottom of the table in District West I’s Sunday League 3B, ZSGO descends back into Sunday League 4 after just one season. Also in 1969, WMS’s Herman Nobel plays his 500th match for the club’s first team, a feat later equalled by Wouter de Vries (1977) and Bep Vink (1978).
1971 / Champions in District West I’s Sunday League 4D, 2 points ahead of closest rivals IVV, WMS wins promotion to Sunday League 3.
1972 / Finishing bottom of the table in District West I’s Sunday League 3B, WMS drops back into League 4 after just one season.
1981 / Finishing bottom of the table in District West I’s Sunday League 4E, ZSGO drops back into the ranks of the AVB after 47 years.
1982 / Finishing bottom of the table in District West I’s Sunday League 4D, WMS drops back into the ranks of the AVB after fifteen years.
1985 / After an absence of four seasons, ZSGO finds its way back up to Sunday League 4, winning promotion from the ranks of the AVB. That same year, the club abandons its main pitch, which is taken over by DEVO ’58 (modern-day pitch/veld 18), with first team football moving to pitch/veld 14, the pitch adjacent to ZSGO’s clubhouse.
1991 / After an absence of nine seasons, WMS finds its way back up to Sunday League 4, winning promotion from the ranks of the AVB.
1992 / Finishing bottom of the table in District West I’s Sunday League 4E, ZSGO drops back into AVB Hoofdklasse along with the club finishing in second-last place, DJK.
1994 / Finishing bottom of the table in District West I’s Sunday League 4E, WMS drops back into AVB Hoofdklasse along with the club finishing in second-last place, AVV OVVO.
1995 / After an absence of three seasons, ZSGO finds its way back up to Sunday League 4, winning promotion from the ranks of the AVB.
1996 / In its last season as an independent club, ZSGO finishes in second-last place in District West I’s Sunday League 4E, thus suffering relegation along with bottom club SV De Meteoor to AVB Hoofdklasse, the level where WMS spent its last two seasons. Following the 1995-96 season, after an independent existence of 77 years each, AVV ZSGO and ASC WMS conclude a merger, resulting in the foundation of AVV ZSGO-WMS (Amsterdamse Voetbalvereniging ‘Zonder Strijd Geen Overwinning-Wilskracht Maakt Sterk’) – possibly the lengthiest abbreviation in world football. Following the merger, all activities move to ZSGO’s park, with first team football being played on Sportpark Ookmeer – veld (pitch) 14. ASC WMS’s park is abandoned and later taken over by a baseball club. Following the merger, the club enters two first teams – the first in Sunday League 4, possibly due to WMS having won promotion in its last season as an independent club, as well as a Saturday team in Saturday League 7 – with the focus firmly being on Sunday league football. In the following years, the spelling of the name of the new merger club, officially AVV ZSGO-WMS or AVV ZSGO/WMS, is progressively given simply as ZSGOWMS.
1998 / Finishing bottom of the table in District West II’s Sunday League 4E, ZSGOWMS descends into Sunday League 5.
1999 / ZSGOWMS wins promotion from Sunday League 5 back to Sunday League 4 after just one season.
2002 / Coached by Johan van den Horn, ZSGOWMS clinches the title in District West I’s Sunday League 4E, 4 points ahead of closest followers RKAV, thus winning promotion to Sunday League 3.
2003 / Former ZSGOWMS youth player, 19-year-old striker Maceo Rigters, makes his professional league debut at SC Heerenveen, going on to wear the colours of FC Dordrecht, NAC Breda, Blackburn Rovers FC, Norwich City FC, Barnsley FC, Willem II, and Gold Coast United FC, ultimately withdrawing into non-league in 2012 – including a spell in ZSGOWMS’s first Sunday team. In the early stages of his career, Rigters also won 5 caps for the Netherlands’ U23 side.
2007 / Coached by Danny Fleming, ZSGOWMS finishes in second-last place in District West I’s Sunday League 3C, descending into Sunday League 4 along with bottom club RKAVIC.
2009 / ZSGOWMS narrowly misses out on the title in District West I’s Sunday League 4F, finishing 1 point behind champions SV Geinburgia. The club also fails to win promotion in the subsequent play-off rounds.
2010 / Champions in District West I’s Sunday League 4F, 4 points ahead of vv Nederhorst, ZSGOWMS wins promotion to Sunday League 3. Also in 2010, the club signs Rob Rijnink as its new trainer; Rijnink had a short career as a professional league player between 1984 and 1990 at AFC Ajax, Roda JC, and VVV.
2011 / Coached by Rob Rijnink, ZSGOWMS clinches the title in District West I’s Sunday League 3C, 9 points ahead of SV Concordia. As such, the club wins promotion to Sunday League 2 for the first time in the history of the club and its predecessors, AVV ZSGO and ASC WMS.
2012 / With Rob Rijnink still in charge, ZSGOWMS finishes in twelfth place in Sunday League 2B, failing to save its skin in the subsequent promotion-relegation play-offs, in which it bows out in R1 against SV United-DAVO (6-3 aggr.). As such, the club suffers relegation to League 3 after just one season, along with DHSC, CDW, and VVZA.
2015 / Champions in District West I’s Sunday League 3C, 4 points ahead of runners-up VVA-Spartaan, ZSGOWMS and its coach Rob Rijnink manage a return to Sunday League 2 after an absence of three seasons.
2017 / Coached by Murat Böke, ZSGOWMS finishes in second-last place in Sunday League 2B, thus dropping back into League 3 along with SV United-DAVO and bottom club AFC Quick 1890.
2018 / Finishing in third place in District West I’s Sunday League 3C, ZSGOWMS qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is eliminated in R1 by APWC (2-0). In the fall of 2018, the club’s main pitch on Sportpark Ookmeer (pitch/veld 14), is equipped with a synthetic surface.
2019 / Finishing in fourth place in District West I’s Sunday League 3C, ZSGOWMS qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is eliminated in R1 by Zwaluwen Utrecht 1911 (2-1).
2022 / Coached by Rob Rijnink, who had returned to the club in 2020 after an absence of four years, ZSGOWMS finishes as runners-up in District West I’s Sunday League 3C, 1 point behind champions Sporting Martinus. In the play-offs, the club has the better of Zwaluwen Utrecht 1911 (3-1) and VVIJ (2-1) successively, thus managing a return to Sunday League 2 after an absence of five years.
2023 / Coached by Rob Rijnink, ZSGOWMS manages a third place in Sunday League 2B. Qualifying for the promotion play-offs, the club successively eliminates VFC (2-0) and LSVV (1-3 A.E.T.), ultimately stumbling over JVC (Julianadorp) in the semis (0-1). Following the 2022-23 season, Rob Rijnink leaves ZSGOWMS.
2024 / Coached by Jethro Abram, ZSGOWMS clinches the title in Sunday League 2B, 8 points ahead of closest followers Sporting Martinus, thus winning a historic promotion to League 1, the sixth tier of the Netherlands’ football pyramid.

Note 1 – Apart from open sources and answers to my questions given by several club officials of AVV ZSGOWMS and vv DEVO ’58, information for the article above has been derived from three anniversary booklets, published by ZSGO and WMS on different club jubilees:

“ZSGO 1919-1959”, no authors mentioned (1959);
“ZSGO 50”, no authors mentioned (1969);
“60 jaar Wilskracht Maakt Sterk”, by P.J. van Loon (1979).

Note 2 – Below, a compilation of photos of two different visits: non-matchday visit, June 2017 = pictures 3-4 / match visit, November 2024 = pictures 1-2 & 5-18.