Extreme Football Tourism: NETHERLANDS: vv Den Ham

Sportpark De Rohorst, Den Ham (vv Den Ham)

Netherlands, province: Overijssel

22 XI 2025 / vv Den Ham - SV LONGA '30 0-2 / Combined Sunday & Saturday League 1G (= NL level 6)

Timeline

± 1940 / As the Netherlands is occupied by the German armed forces, with travel restrictions being put in place, youths from the village of Den Ham in Overijssel get together to play local football matches during the summer months. Improvised teams are formed, notably Velocitas (from the Magele neighbourhood), who play their matches at Terrein Geerdijk, a plot of arable land owned by Jan Voors; and Hammer Boys, who play their matches at Terrein Vrettekamp (near Daarleseweg).
1945 / A sports club is formed in Den Ham, which is given the name Sportvereniging (SV) ’45 Den Ham, with branches for gymnastics and netball. Football is not part of the myriad of activities yet.
1946 / A football club is formed in Den Ham, vv Den Ham, officially being the football branch of SV ’45 Den Ham in the early years – it is unclear when vv Den Ham officially broke away from the omnisport club. Upon foundation, the club joins the so-called Twentsche Voetbalbond (TVB), the Eastern Overijssel sub-branch of the official Netherlands’ Football Association (KNVB), although there is no talk of taking part in any league football yet, mainly due to the problem of not having at its disposal a proper pitch. With no suitable plot of land being found in Den Ham proper, the club initially settles in the gardens of Eerde Castle, in the eponymous hamlet to the northwest of Den Ham. Due to TVB authorities deigning this pitch unfit for football, the club moves to the Quaker School, also in Eerde, some time in late 1946 or early 1947.
1947 / With the Quaker School pitch having been given the green light by TVB authorities, vv Den Ham makes its debut as a competitive club in TVB Saturday Division 3. From its foundation onwards, vv Den Ham has never taken part in Sunday football due to religious objections – the village being part of the so-called Bible Belt, a strip of land in the Netherlands with a high concentration of conservative orthodox Protestants.
1948 / In its first season as a competitive club, vv Den Ham manages a second place in TVB Saturday Division 3, behind derby rivals vv Vroomshoopse Boys Reserves.
1949 / Champions in TVB Saturday Division 3 following a 4-1 win over vv DES 4, vv Den Ham qualifies for the championship play-offs, in which a 3-1 victory against vv DES 3 seals the club’s promotion to TVB Saturday Division 2. Also in 1949, on September 17th of that year, as vv Den Ham moves away from the pitch at the Quaker School in Eerde, the so-called Veld van Harwig in Den Ham proper is inaugurated – i.e. pitch 5 of modern-day Sportpark De Rohorst.
1952 / vv Den Ham descends from TVB Saturday Division 2 back into D3 following a 4-3 defeat at the hands of vv Voorwaarts Reserves.
1953 / Clinching the title in TVB Saturday Division 3 following an empathic 10-1 win over vv Daarlerveen, vv Den Ham qualifies for the championship play-offs. With a 4-1 win over vv DETO Reserves, the club manages an immediate return to TVB D2.
1956 / Title winners in TVB Saturday Division 2 following an 8-1 win over vv Rijssen Vooruit, vv Den Ham qualifies for the championship play-offs. With a 3-2 win over CVV Sparta Enschede Reserves, the club accedes to TVB Saturday Division 1 for the first time.
1957 / As the club suffers a 12-3 drubbing at the hands of Sportclub Denekamp in the decisive match of the season, vv Den Ham drops back from TVB Saturday Division 1 into D2 of the said league system.
1966 / Clinching the title in TVB Saturday Division 2, vv Den Ham wins promotion to D1 of the said league system. The decisive points are obtained in a 9-2 win over BCSV Reserves.
1967 / As the club wins the title in TVB Saturday Division 1, vv Den Ham wins back-to-back promotions, acceding to KNVB District East’s Saturday League 4 for the first time.
1968 / As an extra playing field is added to the set-up, the so-called Veld van Herwig is renamed Sportpark De Rohorst. In the following year, the underground of this new main pitch proves extremely humid, leading to many matches being called off due to a waterlogged pitch in the following years.
1969 / As extra promotion places are at stake, vv Den Ham, finishing in a joint third place in District East’s Saturday League 4C with BCSV, 2 points behind champions CVV Sparta Enschede and 1 point behind runners-up vv DETO, both of which accede to Saturday League 3 automatically, goes on to suffer defeat against the club from Borne in a tie-break match for the third promotion spot (4-3).
1970 / Finishing in joint first position in District East’s Saturday League 4C with vv SVVN, vv Den Ham meets the club from Nijverdal in a tie-break match, played at vv DETO’s Sportpark Het Midden in Vriezenveen. In spite of losing this encounter (3-1) – and the title – vv Den Ham wins promotion to Saturday League 3 for the first time due to extra promotion places being available.
1973 / Finishing bottom of the table in District East’s Saturday League 3B, vv Den Ham drops back into Saturday League 3 along with the team in second-last position, SV AWC (za). Also in 1973, a new clubhouse as well as a third pitch are inaugurated at Sportpark De Rohorst by Den Ham’s mayor, Arnoldus van Walsum.
1974 / Finishing bottom of the table in District East’s Saturday League 4B, vv Den Ham suffers back-to-back relegations, dropping back into TVB Saturday Division 1.
1976 / Champions in TVB Saturday Division 1A, 6 points ahead of closest followers Sportclub Rijssen, vv Den Ham wins promotion to Saturday League 4.
1978 / A fourth pitch is added to the set-up at Sportpark De Rohorst. This pitch, which has been the main pitch until the present day, was inaugurated with a gala match between SC Heracles ’74 and Go Ahead Eagles.
1981 / A new clubhouse with dressing rooms are inaugurated at Sportpark De Rohorst.
1983 / Runners-up in District East’s Saturday League 4D, 4 points behind champions vv Daarlerveen, vv Den Ham goes on to win a tie-break match for one extra promotion place against SV Excelsior Zetten, the runners-up in Saturday League 4A (2-1). As a result, the club manages a return to Saturday League 3 after an absence of ten years at that level.
1984 / Finishing bottom of the table in District East’s Saturday League 3B, vv Den Ham drops back into Saturday League 4 after just one season, along with the club in second-last place, SVV ’56. Also in 1984, a covered stand is added to the set-up of the main pitch at Sportpark De Rohorst.
1986 / As vv Den Ham celebrates its fortieth anniversary, the club receives AFC Ajax for a gala match at Sportpark De Rohorst. Coached by Johan Cruijff, Ajax counts several Netherlands’ international players in its squad taking on vv Den Ham, including the likes of Ron Spelbos, Sonny Silooy, Frank Rijkaard, Danny Blind, Marco van Basten, and Jan Wouters. The man taking centre-stage that day, though, is John Bosman, who scores six goals in a match in which vv Den Ham suffers a 13-0 rout in front of a crowd of some 3,000.
1990 / 35-year-old former professional league midfielder, Scotsman Jimmy Calderwood, joins vv Den Ham’s squad – it is unclear for how long he featured in the club’s first team. As a player, Calderwood had had spells at Birmingham City FC, Cambridge United FC, Sparta Rotterdam, Willem II, Roda JC, and SC Heracles ’74. Later on, from 1996 onwards, he had a new career as a coach at Willem II, NEC, Dunfermline Athletic FC, Aberdeen FC, Kilmarnock FC, Ross County FC, Go Ahead Eagles, and BV De Graafschap. Calderwood passed away in 2025 at the age of 69.
1992 / Runners-up in District East’s Saturday League 4D, 2 points behind champions SDC Putten, vv Den Ham goes on to win the promotion play-offs, seeing off WZC in the final (1-0, goal by Harry Kunst).
1994 / A new clubhouse is inaugurated at Sportpark De Rohorst.
1996 / In spite of only finishing in seventh place in District East’s Saturday League 3B, vv Den Ham is placed in Saturday League 2 for the new season in a reorganisation of the non-league pyramid, which sees the introduction of a Zaterdag Hoofdklasse as the new top level of the Saturday pyramid.
1997 / Champions in Saturday League 2J, 5 points ahead of closest followers vv DOS ’37, vv Den Ham wins promotion to Saturday League 1. Also in 1997, vv Den Ham receives SC Heracles ’74 in a pre-season friendly, holding the professional league siders to a 2-2 stalemate at Sportpark De Rohorst.
1998 / In the best season in club history, vv Den Ham finishes as runners-up Saturday League 1D, 3 points behind champions vv AVW ’66. Also in 1998, the club's talented 23-year-old winger Dennis van Dijk, who had previously had a spell in FC Zwolle's youth academy, earns himself a transfer to SV Werder Bremen. Never reaching further than the German powerhouse's second team, Van Dijk returns to the Netherlands, signing for Heracles Almelo one year later, eventually bowing out into non-league in 2002 with vv HSC '21 and later SVZW.
2000 / Finishing in second-last place in Saturday League 1D with coach Peter Schulte, vv Den Ham descends into Saturday League 2 along with bottom side vv AVW ’66.
2004 / Finishig in third-last place in Saturday League 2J with coach Johan Warmelink, vv Den Ham goes on to suffer a 4-0 defeat in a relegation play-off against derby rivals vv Vroomshoopse Boys. As such, the club drops back into Saturday League 3 along with CVV Oranje Nassau Almelo and bottom side CVV Achilles.
2005 / Finishing in joint first place in District East’s Saturday League 3C with vv KHC and vv SVI, vv Den Ham goes on to meet the clubs from Kampen and Zwolle in a tie-break competition, in which it suffers defeats against both clubs (3-2 away at KHC, 0-2 at home against SVI), thus missing out on promotion.
2007 / vv Den Ham finishes as runners-up in District East’s Saturday League 3C, 1 point behind champions SV Hatto Heim.
2008 / vv Den Ham finishes as runners-up in District East’s Saturday League 3C for the second year in a row, 9 points behind champions IJVV.
2009 / The clubhouse at Sportpark De Rohorst is renovated, seeing a further extension being carried out.
2011 / Runners-up in District East’s Saturday League 3D, 3 points behind champions vv Drienerlo, vv Den Ham qualifies for the promotion play-offs. Edging past vv Hellendoorn in R1 (4-3 aggr.) and FC Eibergen in R2 (3-2 aggr.), the club wins promotion to Saturday League 2. The successful coach is Henk Mennegat.
2015 / The main pitch at Sportpark De Rohorst is laid out anew with a synthetic surface.
2018 / Runners-up in Saturday League 2H, 3 points behind champions vv Enter Vooruit, vv Den Ham qualifies for the promotion play-offs. Knocking out vv AVW ’66 in R1 (4-0) and derby rivals vv Vroomshoopse Boys in R2 (1-3 A.E.T.), the club ultimately misses out on promotion due to suffering defeat in the final, away against Go-Ahead Kampen (3-2 A.E.T.). For the start of the 2018-19 season, vv Den Ham signs former FC Groningen, FC Zwolle, and BVO Emmen professional league defender (1986-2004) Claus Boekweg as its head coach. However, Boekweg’s stay at Sportpark De Rohorst for several months only, leaving the club in mid-November of the same year, being replaced by his own predecessor, Jurgen Kok.
2023 / Finishing in eleventh place in Saturday League 2J, vv Den Ham has to stave off relegation in a set of promotion-relegation play-offs. Drawing a bye for R1, the club goes on to have the better of CSV Be Quick ’28 in R2 (2-3) and ESA Rijkerswoerd in R3 (1-2). In the final, played at SV Excelsior ‘31’s Sportpark De Koerbelt, the club meets vv Enter Vooruit, eventually winning the encounter after a penalty shoot-out (1-1 A.E.T.) and thus ultimately staying up in Saturday League 2.
2025 / Champions in Saturday League 2H, 5 points ahead of runners-up vv Vroomshoopse Boys, vv Den Ham manages a return to Saturday League 1 after an absence of 25 years at that level. The successful coach is Tim Nijzink.