Extreme Football Tourism: NETHERLANDS: VAVV Alcmaria Victrix (1964-)

Sportpark Egmonderhout, Alkmaar (VAVV Alcmaria Victrix)

Netherlands, province: North Holland = Noord-Holland

1 XI 2025 / VAVV Alcmaria Victrix (za) - AFC IJburg 2-1 / District West I, Saturday League 5A (= NL level 10)

Timeline

1896 / As football becomes an ever-more popular pastime for upper-class schoolboys in the Netherlands, several boys’ clubs spring up in Alkmaar, a town in the Province of North Holland, as well, notably Excelsior and Always Forward. These teams play improvised matches on makeshift pitches laid out on a piece of land alternately referred to locally as De Krocht and De Kroft – a plot of wasteland situated between the Schutterswei prison and the Jewish graveyard.
1898 / Following an agreement between the team members of Excelsior and Always Forward in late 1897, brought about at the instigation of a man called Jan Bosser, the two teams merge to form Alkmaar’s first proper football club: Alcmaria Victrix – Latin for ‘Alkmaar Victorious’, a reference to the famous victory on the battlefield at Alkmaar by William of Orange against the Spaniards in the Eighty Years’ War (1573). For the moment, the club does not join any football association, sticking to playing friendly matches instead.
1902 / Along with ZVV Zaandam and Sport (the latter club being from Hoorn, modern-day HSV Sport 1889), Alcmaria Victrix becomes one of the founding members of the Noord-Hollandsche Voetbalbond (NHVB), the North Holland sub-branch of the Netherlands’ Football Association (NVB, later renamed KNVB). As such, the club joins a competitive football league for the first time. Also in 1902, Alcmaria Victrix moves away from Terrein De Krocht, settling on a newly laid-out pitch at Westerweg.
1904 / Moving away from Terrein Westerweg, Alcmaria Victrix settles on a newly laid-out pitch at Wilhelminalaan, on a plot of land owned by a local called Mr Pijper.
1905 / After spells at Westerweg and Wilhelminalaan, Alcmaria Victrix returns to Terrein De Krocht in early 1905, but the move is no more than temporary. After the club manages to win promotion from NHVB (Sunday) Division 1 to District West’s League 3 for the first time (the start of a decade-long alternance of spells in Leagues and 3), a move is made to a newly laid-out pitch referred to as Terrein Zandersloot, situated on a plot of land rented by the club from a local solicitor, in October of the same year. In fact, the plot is so large, that it is big enough for two football pitches – with the northern pitch being taken by Alcmaria Victrix and the southern by a newly founded club, AVV (Alkmaarsche Voetbalvereeniging), which would go on to join the NHVB in 1906.
1908 / Alcmaria Victrix concludes a merger with the other club playing at Terrein Zandersloot, AVV, resulting in the foundation of Vereenigde Alkmaarsche Voetbalvereenigingen (VAVV) Alcmaria Victrix. With all activities moving to the northern pitch of the ground, AVV’s former pitch is taken over by a short-lived local club called Holland, which had been founded one year previously at Terrein De Krocht.
1920 / After the municipality of Alkmaar had purchased the grounds of Terrein Zandersloot two years previously, a fully-fledged sports park was created, with the two pitches being given a quarter’s turn (to give them their current position), surrounded by a grass horse-track. Some ten years later, the set-up would be adorned further with a monumental covered stand, still gracing the location – Gemeentelijk Sportpark Alkmaar (at Sportlaan) – today.
1954 / As professional league football is introduced to the Netherlands, the Gemeentelijk Sportpark in Alkmaar, still home to VAVV Alcmaria Victrix, hosts the first-ever official match between two professional clubs, with BVC Alkmaar defeating SC Venlo ’54 (3-0) in front of an estimated crowd of some 12,000. Due to the introduction of professional league football, VAVV Alcmaria Victrix – as well as most other clubs not making the leap to the professional divisions – see their gates seriously depleted; in the case of Alcmaria Victrix going down from 27,000 paying spectators in the course of the 1951-52 season to only 3,000 in 1954-55.
1964 / VAVV Alcmaria Victrix, by now part of the omnisport club SV (Sportvereniging) Alcmaria Victrix, with branches for baseball and cycling, moves away from the Gemeentelijk Sportpark after 59 years, settling on a newly laid-out sports park comprising six grass pitches as well as one gravel pitch at the Hoefplan neighbourhood. Although work on the ground – later officially renamed Sportpark Egmonderhout – has not been finished yet, the club already moves to the new premises in September 1964, with its place at the Gemeentelijk Sportpark being taken by Saturday club CSV Jong Holland.
1965 / On January 16th, 1965, the clubhouse at Sportpark Egmonderhout is officially inaugurated by Alkmaar’s mayor, Hendrik Wytema, who symbolically hands the keys of the newly finished construction to Alcmaria Victrix’s chairman, Tije Bonsema.
1968 / Marking the club’s first tangible success at the new location, VAVV Alcmaria Victrix clinches the title in District West I’s Sunday League 3A, 8 points ahead of closest followers SV Always Forward. As such, the club wins promotion to Sunday League 2 after an absence of six years at that level. The successful coach is Kees Driehuis.
1969 / Coached by Kees Driehuis, VAVV Alcmaria Victrix proves unable to cope with the level at Sunday League 2, finishing in second-last place in District West I’s Sunday League 2A and dropping back into Sunday League 3 along with bottom club WSV ’30.
1970 / Still coached by Kees Driehuis, VAVV Alcmaria Victrix suffers its second relegation in a row, finishing bottom of the table in District West I’s Sunday League 3A and thus descending into Sunday League 4 for the first time in club history, along with the club in second-last place, vv West Frisia. It marks the end of an uninterrupted spell of 65 years of Alcmaria Victrix featuring in Sunday League 2 or 3.
1975 / At Sportpark Egmonderhout, a completely new clubhouse is inaugurated, with the building being given the name ‘In de Krocht’, a reference to the location where Alcmaria Victrix played its first matches in the 1890s.
1979 / A further branch is added to the set-up at SV Alcmaria Victrix, with the omnisport club absorbing handball club AVA.
1980 / Champions in District West I’s Sunday League 4A, 6 points ahead of closest rivals WFC, VAVV Alcmaria Victrix wins promotion to Sunday League 3. The successful coach is Rob Donkersloot.
1982 / Champions in District West I’s Sunday League 3A, 4 points ahead of runners-up HVV Hollandia, VAVV Alcmaria Victrix wins promotion to Sunday League 2. The successful coach is Rob Donkersloot.
1984 / Finishing in second-last place in District West I’s Sunday League 2A, VAVV Alcmaria Victrix drops back into Sunday League 3 after two seasons, along with bottom club AVV De Volewijckers.
1991 / Finishing in third-last place in District West I’s Sunday League 3A, VAVV Alcmaria Victrix goes on to suffer defeat in the relegation play-offs, thus dropping back into Sunday League 4 along with SV Texel and bottom club vv West Frisia.
1992 / Along with its flagship team in Sunday League 4, VAVV Alcmaria Victrix enters a team into the regular Saturday leagues for the first time, taking its place in District West I’s Saturday League 4. This team has had three periods in Saturday League 3 (1998-99, 2012-15 & 2017-18) in between more regular spells down in Saturday Leagues 4 & 5. Also in 1992, VAVV Alcmaria Victrix signs Peter Arntz as its head coach. Arntz had enjoyed a successful sixteen-year long professional league career at DVV Go-Ahead, Go Ahead Eagles, and AZ ’67 (1970-86), moreover also winning five caps for the Netherlands (1975-81).
1993 / Champions in District West I’s Sunday League 4B, 1 point ahead of closest rivals USVU, VAVV Alcmaria Victrix wins promotion to Sunday League 3. The successful coach is Peter Arntz. Also in 1993, former Alcmaria Victrix youth academy defender José Fortes Rodriguez makes his professional league debut at AZ at the age of 21. Fortes Rodriguez would go on to play for RBC Roosendaal, hanging up his boots in 2006 to pursue a career as a football agent.
1996 / Finishing in third-last place in District West I’s Sunday League 3A, VAVV Alcmaria Victrix drops back into Sunday League 4 along with SV De Rijp and bottom club vv Zeevogels. Coach Peter Arntz leaves the club after four seasons.
1997 / Runners-up in District West I’s Sunday League 4B, 1 point behind champions vv VIOS-W, VAVV Alcmaria Victrix would go on to win the promotion play-offs, thus managing an immediate return to Sunday League 3. The successful coach is Jan Dijk.
1998 / The handball branch of SV Alcmaria Victrix is wound up after nineteen years.
2000 / Coached by René Bouma, VAVV Alcmaria Victrix finishes in second-last place in District West I’s Sunday League 3A, thus dropping back into Sunday League 4 along with bottom club vv Hollandia T.
2003 / Runaway champions in District West I’s Sunday League 4A, 10 points ahead of closest followers ASV De Flamingo’s ’64, VAVV Alcmaria Victrix wins promotion to Sunday League 3. The successful coach is Peter Strabbing.
2004 / VAVV Alcmaria Victrix finishes as joint runners-up in District West I’s Sunday League 3A along with SV Westfriezen, 3 points behind champions vv De Zouaven.
2005 / Champions in District West I’s Sunday League 3A, 8 points ahead of closest followers SRC and SV Westfriezen, VAVV Alcmaria Victrix wins promotion to Sunday League 2 after an absence of 21 years at that level. The successful coach is Jaap Schilder.
2007 / In a thorough renovation of Sportpark Egmonderhout, the main pitch of the park is slightly moved to the south – covering the former handball pitch – to create the space for a parking lot at the entrance of the park. Moreover, the main pitch is laid out anew with a synthetic surface.
2008 / Coached by Juan Fernández Coto, VAVV Alcmaria Victrix finishes in second-last place in Sunday League 2A, thus dropping back into Sunday League 3 along with bottom club RKVV Velsen.
2011 / Finishing bottom of the table in District West I’s Sunday League 3A with coach Jeroen Kroes, VAVV Alcmaria Victrix drops back into Sunday League 4 along with vv Schagen and SV De Rijp.
2014 / VAVV Alcmaria Victrix signs former Telstar and FC Den Bosch professional league midfielder Radjin de Haan as new head coach. De Haan would stay with the club for two seasons.
2021 / In a renovation of Sportpark Egmonderhout, twelve new dressing rooms are constructed as part of the clubhouse.
2022 / Coached by Jeroen Kroes, VAVV Alcmaria Victrix finishes in third place in District West I’s Sunday League 4C, going on to defeat WV-HEDW (zo) in the promotion play-offs (2-0). As a result, the club accedes to Sunday League 3.
2024 / Finishing bottom of the table in District West I’s Sunday League 3B with coach Edwin Veenstra, VAVV Alcmaria Victrix drops back into Sunday League 4 along with VSV, RKEDO, vv Zwanenburg, and RCZ.
2025 / Runners-up in District West I’s Sunday League 4A, 7 points ahead of derby rivals vv Alkmaarsche Boys, VAVV Alcmaria Victrix qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club knocks out SV Alliance ’22 (2-0). As a result, the club manages an immediate return to Sunday League 3. The successful coach is Edwin Veenstra.