Netherlands, province: Utrecht
8 III 2025 / SV VSC 9 - vv Sterrenwijk 3 1-0 / District West I, Saturday Reserves' League 6-24
Timeline
- 1946 / Foundation of vv Celeritudo, a football club in Utrecht – more specifically in the library (!) of the Aloysius Parish at Adriaan van Ostadelaan in the Oudwijk neighbourhood, to the east of the city-centre. The group of boys are sponsored by the local church, with chaplain Fr Van Gorcum putting a sum of 400 guilders at their disposal. It has to be pointed out that the original club name was vv Celeritas (Latin for ‘swiftness’), with this name being turned down by the Netherlands’ Football Association (KNVB) due to another club already using this name; HSV Celeritas in The Hague. Thereupon, a new proposal by the club, vv Fortitudo (Latin for ‘strength’) is also turned down, due to a club from Culemborg, RKV Fortitudo (later to merge into SV Focus ’07) already having monopolised this designation. Undeterred, the club made a third and final proposal, vv Celeritudo, which is accepted by association authorities. ‘Celeritudo’ is a word also meaning ‘swiftness’ in Latin, but very rarely seen in ancient sources – unlike its synoyms ‘celeritas’, ‘rapiditas’, and ‘velocitas’ – all of those being names adopted by various football clubs founded prior to World War II in the Netherlands. Being placed in the lowest Sunday division of the Utrecht KNVB sub-branch (‘Afdeling Utrecht’ or UVB), vv Celeritudo settles on a pitch in the so-called Johannapolder, in the area presently occupied by the Utrecht Science Park.
- ± 1950 / Moving away from their first pitch in the Johannapolder, vv Celeritudo settles at Terrein Mereveldseweg, an improvised sports park owned by a local smallholder, Mr Van der Vecht. The facilities comprised three pitches and were situated to the east of Utrecht – most probably simultaneously with SV Rivierwijkers, who occupied one of the other pitches at this same park.
- 1955 / Winning the title in UVB Sunday Division 1, vv Celeritudo accedes to KNVB District West I’s Sunday League 4 for the first time. In October 1955, vv Celeritudo and SV Rivierwijkers abandon Terrein Mereveldseweg, settling at Sportterrein aan de Koningsweg, where each are assigned one pitch at the back of the ground of future professional league side UA&VV Velox – in effect the ‘main pitch’ of this park.
- 1956 / vv Celeritudo finishes as runners-up in District West I’s Sunday League 4G, 1 point behind champions AFC Quick.
- 1957 / Champions in District West I’s Sunday League 4H, 3 points ahead of closest rivals vv Nijenrodes, vv Celeritudo goes on to win the championship play-offs, thus acceding to Sunday League 3 for the first time.
- 1958 / vv Celeritudo finishes as runners-up in District West I’s Sunday League 3D, 5 points behind champions JSV. That same year, former Celeritudo player Jan de Kleijn makes his professional league debut at vv DOS at the age of twenty. The midfielder goes on to have spells at SHS, AVV de Volewijckers, USV Elinkwijk and AGOVV before withdrawing from professional league football in 1968.
- 1960 / Champions in District West I’s Sunday League 3D, 8 points ahead of WFC Rapiditas, vv Celeritudo manages to win the championship play-offs as well, thus gaining promotion to Sunday League 2 for the first time. That same year, two talented Celeritudo strikers commence a professional league career; Chris Oomen, 21 years old, signs for USV Elinkwijk, where he would stay for four years before withdrawing into non-league, while Theo Kraan, 23 years old, earns himself a contract with TSV NOAD, going on to have a short spell at USV Elinkwijk before cutting short his professional footballing career in 1962.
- 1961 / vv Celeritudo finishes in third place in District West I’s Sunday League 2B, the best result in club history – equalled in 1963 and 1964. Also in 1961, Celeritudo youth academy player Leo van Veen moves to the academy of professional league side vv DOS at the age of fifteen.
- 1964 / Former Celeritudo player Herman Tijssen makes his debut as a professional league player at Willem II. The defender would stay with the Tilburg side for two years before ending his professional league career in 1966.
- 1965 / Having moved from vv Celeritudo to vv DOS four years previously, Leo van Veen, 19 years old by now, makes his professional league debut in the first team of vv DOS. In his long career in professional league football, Van Veen would go on to wear the colours of FC Utrecht, LA Aztecs, AFC Ajax, and RKC, eventually hanging up his boots at the age of forty in 1986. Van Veen, a utility player if ever there was one, bears the officious title Mr FC Utrecht, having played 391 matches for the merger club. After his playing career, Van Veen was a coach at RKC, VVV, FC Utrecht, and various other clubs.
- 1970 / Finishing bottom of the table in District West I’s Sunday League 2B, vv Celeritudo drops back into Sunday League 3 after ten seasons, along with the club finishing in second-last place, VVOG (zo).
- 1975 / Champions in District West I’s Sunday League 3D, 3 points ahead of UA&VV Velox – Celeritudo’s neighbours, who had withdrawn into non-league after twelve years in 1970 – vv Celeritudo wins promotion to Sunday League 2.
- 1977 / Finishing bottom of the table in District West I’s Sunday League 2B, vv Celeritudo is retrograded to Sunday League 3 along with the club in second-last place, BFC.
- 1979 / Finishing in second-last place in District West I’s Sunday League 3D, vv Celeritudo descends into Sunday League 4 along with bottom club vv Midlandia.
- 1980 / Finishing in second-last place in District West I’s Sunday League 4H, vv Celeritudo suffers its second relegation in a row – and its third in four seasons – dropping back into UVB Hoofdklasse along with bottom club JSV.
- 1992 / Celeritudo’s neighbour club UA&VV Velox concludes a merger with SVVU, resulting in the foundation of Velox-SVVU. All activities move to SVVU’s ground, Sportpark Maarschalkerweerd (Noord). Also in 1992, former Celeritudo youth academy player Raymond Graanoogst makes his professional league debut at FC Utrecht at the age of seventeen. The striker goes on to have spells with GS Apollon Smyrnis and HFC Haarlem before withdrawing into non-league at USV Elinkwijk in 1999.
- 1993 / The stand of Velox’s former stadium at Koningsweg, abandoned by that club one year previously, is consumed in a fire. After the remnants of the stadium have been removed, the pitch – situated directly to the north of vv Celeritudo’s main pitch – becomes one of the side-pitches of vv Celeritudo.
- 1994 / Having played in KNVB Afdeling Utrecht (UVB) for the past fourteen years, vv Celeritudo now manages a return to Sunday League 4.
- 2000 / Finishing bottom of the table in Sunday League 4H of the short-lived Central District, vv Celeritudo drops back into Sunday League 5 along with the club in second-last place, their neighbours SV Rivierwijkers. Following the 1999-2000 season, however, Celeritudo withdraws from first team football, continuing with just recreational and youth football teams.
- 2001 / vv Celeritudo concludes a merger with Velox-SVVU, the result being the foundation of Sportvereniging (SV) Velox-SVVU-Celeritudo (VSC). All activities move to vv Celeritudo’s Sportpark Koningsweg (Zuid), with Velox-SVVU’s ground, Sportpark Maarschalkerweerd (Noord) being abandoned altogether. Following the merger, first team football returns to Sportpark Koningsweg (Zuid), with SV VSC starting its life in Sunday League 5 due to Velox-SVVU having suffered relegation from Sunday League 4 in its last season.
- 2002 / SV VSC finishes as runners-up in District West I’s Sunday League 5G, 9 points behind neighbour club SV Rivierwijkers.
- 2003 / While retaining first team football on Sundays, SV VSC also enters a first team in the Saturday pyramid, with this team being placed in Saturday League 5.
- 2004 / Champions in District West I’s Sunday League 5H, 1 point ahead of closest followers SV Saestum, SV VSC (zo) accedes to Sunday League 4.
- 2005 / Finishing bottom of the table in District West I’s Sunday League 4G, SV VSC (zo) descends into Sunday League 5.
- 2006 / Finishing in third place in District West I’s Saturday League 5C, SV VSC (za) wins promotion to Saturday League 4 following a successful round of play-offs.
- 2010 / Finishing bottom of the table in District West I’s Sunday League 5G, SV VSC (zo) suffers the ignominy of being retrograded to Sunday League 6, the bottom division of the league pyramid. However, following the 2009-10 season, VSC withdraws from first team football on Sundays, retaining just its regular Saturday team in Saturday League 4.
- 2011 / Finishing in second-last place in District West I’s Saturday League 4E, SV VSC drops back into the bottom division of Saturday league football, Saturday League 5, along with bottom club vv Voorwaarts. At the start of the 2011-12 season, the club enters a regular first team in the Sunday pyramid after an absence of one season, with this team being placed in Sunday League 6.
- 2012 / Runners-up in District West I’s Sunday League 6C, 10 points behind champions vv De Dreef, SV VSC (zo) wins promotion to Sunday League 5 along with the aforementioned club as well as play-off winners vv Domstad Majella. Meanwhile, SV VSC (za) finishes as runners-up in District West I’s Saturday League 5D, 4 points behind champions vv OSM ’75. The club fails to win promotion in the play-offs following a draw against DVSA (2-2) and a defeat at the hands of HVV de Zebra’s (2-1).
- 2013 / Runners-up in District West I’s Sunday League 5E, 3 points behind champions PVC, SV VSC (zo) qualifies for the play-offs. Following defeats of BVV ’31 (5-4) and SV DRC (2-1) as well as a defeat at the hands of AVV Sloterdijk (3-2), the club manages a second place in the group behind the last-mentioned side, enough for promotion to Sunday League 4. That same season, SV VSC (za) finishes as runners-up in District West I’s Saturday League 5D, 13 points behind champions vv Brederodes – with the team acceding to Saturday League 4 automatically due to the abolition of Saturday League 5 in this district.
- 2015 / Finishing bottom of the table in District West I’s Sunday League 4H, SV VSC (zo) drops back into Sunday League 5.
- 2016 / Finishing in fourth place in District West I’s Sunday League 5E, SV VSC (zo) qualifies for the play-offs, in which a defeat of AFC Nautilus (6-3 aggr.) is sufficient to book a return ticket to Sunday League 4.
- 2017 / As SV VSC (za) finishes bottom of the table in District West I’s Saturday League 4G, the club decides to withdraw from regular first team football on Saturdays.
- 2018 / Finishing bottom of the table in District West I’s Sunday League 4H, SV VSC drops back into Sunday League 5 along with the club in second-last place, SV Odijk.
- 2019 / With SV VSC (zo) finishing in second-last place in District West I’s Sunday League 5D, the club decides to withdraw from regular first team football altogether. The club retains its youth academy as well as a huge number of recreational teams.
- 2022 / Returning to first team football in the Saturday pyramid, SV VSC is placed in Saturday League 5.
- 2023 / Finishing in second-last place in District West I’s Saturday League 5B, SV VSC withdraws from first team football yet again.
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