Extreme Football Tourism: NETHERLANDS: vv Puth (1993-2016)

Sportterrein In 't Veldje, Puth (formerly vv Puth)

Netherlands, province: Limburg

June 2025 / no match visited

Timeline

1963 / In Puth, a hamlet in the south of the Netherlands’ part of Limburg, a football pitch is laid out at the back of the local playground at Beatrixstraat. Stopping short of founding a veritable football club, the local playground association has in mind to create a pitch to allow local youths to have a kickabout. The pasture, in use as a fruit orchard until that point, is put at the association’s disposal by the two owners, Mr Alofs and Mr Lemans. After the remaining thirty trees have been removed and the meadow levelled, a pitch is laid out, with the facilities being blessed upon their completion by the village priest, Fr Lebens. Two recreational teams are put together; Spaarkas, the team of Café Janssen, and Nooit Gedacht, put together of inhabitants of the village’s post-war neighbourhood. An inaugural match is held between the two teams.
1964 / Players of the two recreational teams in Puth take the decision to join forces to apply for membership of the Limburg sub-branch of the Netherlands’ Football Association (KNVB), Afdeling Limburg. However, due to the measurements of the pitch at Beatrixstraat not being in accordance with KNVB regulations, the request is turned down. In the following years, a team of players from Puth takes part in recreational tournaments across the southeast of Limburg, mainly held in the summer months (referred to in the Netherlands as ‘zomeravondvoetbal’, literally translated, summer evening football).
1966 / After having taken part as a unified force in the preceding years, the players of Nooit Gedacht and Spaarkas take the decision to officially merge into one as Puther Boys, with the club starting its life with one senior squad as well as two youth teams. In the following years, the club is a regular feature at recreational football tournaments in Limburg.
1968 / With the pitch at Beatrixstraat having to be given up for housing, Puther Boys has to move all of its training sessions and home matches to the facilities of nearby KNVB club SV Sweikhuizer Boys, Terrein Bergstraat.
1970 / After two years of groundsharing with SV Sweikhuizer Boys at Terrein Bergstraat, Puther Boys ceases its activities. Notwithstanding the adverse circumstances, in the following years, a delegation of footballers from Puth continues to take part in the odd summer tournament using the name Puther Boys.
1976 / Puther Boys is officially re-established on June 5th, 1976 – however, only as an indoor football club. Around that same time, a second indoor football club sees the daylight in Puth; Tilly Boys, named after Tilly Smeets, the wife of the canteen manager at the local parish hall, where matches are played. In the following years, the two teams in Puth develop a staunch rivalry, with both of them celebrating several titles in indoor football competitions.
1990 / Following a positive advice by the Netherlands’ Football Association about the creation of a football pitch in Puth, the local community offers a petition with more than 1,600 signatures – over double the number of inhabitants of the village of Puth – to Schinnen’s municipal authorities, requesting support from the townhall in the creation of a club in Puth. The authorities indicate they are only willing to intervene on the condition that the two indoor football clubs merge into one football club.
1991 / A merger is concluded between Puther Boys and Tilly Boys, resulting in the foundation of a field football club in Puth, which takes on the name Voetbalvereniging (vv) Puth. A first proposal by Puther Boys to take on the name Puther Boys, on the grounds that this name would include the first word of Puther Boys and the second of Tilly Boys, is naturally rejected by the membership of the latter – only underlining the still existing rivalry between the two. On the first board meeting on July 19th, 1991, Jo van de Broek is elected as vv Puth’s first chairman.
1992 / After one year of preparation, vv Puth is the first-ever club from Puth to join the Netherlands’ Football Association, being placed in (Sunday) Division 4N of Afdeling Limburg, the Limburg sub-branch of the Netherlands’ FA, organising all football in the Province of Limburg below the level of District South II’s (Sunday) League 4. Meanwhile, works have gotten underway on the laying out of a football pitch at Sittarderweg. Due to the building works on the clubhouse and the pitch taking longer than expected, vv Puth has to play the 1992-93 season as groundsharers at Terrein Bergstraat, the ground of neighbouring club SV Sweikhuizer Boys.
1993 / Clinching the title in Afdeling Limburg’s Division 4N in its first competitive season, vv Puth wins promotion to Afdeling Limburg Division 3. Towards the end of the successful season, on April 29th, 1993, the newly laid-out Sportpark In ‘t Veldje at Sittarderweg in Puth, consisting of just one pitch, is inaugurated with a gala match between vv Puth and professional league club Roda JC, ending in an emphatic 20-0 win for the top flight side from Kerkrade (5 goals by Stefan Janssen, 4 by Michel Haan, 2 by Berthil ter Avest & Peter Hofstede, 1 by Michel Broeders, Eric van der Luèr, Erwin Vandenbroeck, Max Huiberts, Roel Doomen, Bernd Romero, and reserve goalkeeper Roy Derksen). On the following Sunday, May 2nd, the pitch is officially blessed by Fr Kleynen, Puth’s village priest, in a special mass held in a tent on the football pitch itself.
1994 / Winning its second title in a row, vv Puth finishes in first place in Afdeling Limburg’s Division 3J, thus gaining promotion to Division 2 of this league pyramid.
1996 / As Afdeling Limburg and all other KNVB sub-branches are abolished in a reorganisation of the football pyramid, vv Puth is placed in the newly created Sunday League 6 of District South II.
1999 / Runners-up in District South II’s Sunday League 6B, vv Puth goes on to win the promotion play-offs to accede to Sunday League 5.
2000 / Champions in District South II’s Sunday League 5B, 8 points ahead of closest followers RKVV Heksenberg, vv Puth wins promotion to Sunday League 4 – the club’s fourth promotion in existence of eight years. Also in 2000, SV Sweikhuizer Boys, the club where vv Puth had groundshared in its first competitive season (1992-93), folds after an existence of 54 years. Terrein Bergstraat in Sweikhuizen is abandoned.
2001 / In the best season in club history, vv Puth finishes in fourth place in District South II’s Sunday League 4D. The successful coach is Paul Barra.
2007 / Finishing bottom of the table in District South II’s Sunday League 4C with coach Guido Leunissen, vv Puth drops back into Sunday League 5, along with the club in second-last place, vv Passart.
2008 / Coached by Marcel Krijnen, vv Puth finishes bottom of the table in District South II’s Sunday League 5C, thus suffering its second relegation in a row, descending into Sunday League 6 along with the club in second-last place, RKVV Mariarade. In the following seasons, vv Puth would find itself near the bottom of the bottom division of District South’s league pyramid.
2013 / Dirk-Jan Derksen joins vv Puth as its head coach. Derksen, an inhabitant of Puth, is a former professional league striker, who had an eighteen-year long (1990-2008), very colourful career with spells at BVV Den Bosch, FC Den Bosch, Roda JC, MVV, Dordrecht ’90, FC Zwolle, FK Austria Wien, Cambuur-Leeuwarden, BV Emmen, Fortuna Sittard, VVV-Venlo, and Helmond Sport. Derksen combines his role as coach in Puth with a job as a trainer at Roda JC Kerkrade's youth academy.
2014 / Finishing in fourth place in District South II’s Sunday League 6A, vv Puth qualifies for the promotion play-offs, being drawn in a group with vv Sanderbout and SV Vilt, with two places in Sunday League 5 at stake. Winning its match against vv Sanderbout (3-2) and losing its away match in Vilt (3-2), vv Puth finishes in second place in the group, enough to reclaim its place in Sunday League 5 after an absence of six years. The successful coach is Dirk-Jan Derksen.
2016 / In its last season as an independent club, vv Puth finishes bottom of the table in District South II’s Sunday League 5B with just 4 points (originally 7, but the club suffered a three-point penalty in the course of the season). Following the 2015-16 season, vv Puth concludes a merger with RKSV Schinnen and RKVV ADVEO, resulting in the foundation of vv Alfa Sport. Given that RKVV Schinnen had moved to the newly laid-out Sportpark De Pollack Zuid, adjacent to RKVV ADVEO’s Sportpark De Pollack Noord, in 2007, the logical option is chosen to merge the two parks into one upon the merger. RKVV Schinnen’s main pitch is chosen as vv Alfa Sport’s main pitch, with two side pitches of ADVEO’s park being incorporated into the new set-up. RKVV ADVEO’s main pitch is abandoned, as is vv Puth’s Sportpark In ‘t Veldje; the clubhouse in Puth is retained as a community home.

Note – Most of the information concerning the period 1963-1992 has been derived from an article by Michel Drenth from 2012, which used to be part of the (now defunct) website of vv Puth. Further crucial information regarding the club’s performances in the 1990s was provided by Joost Voncken. Thanks to both gentlemen for their help!