Extreme Football Tourism: NETHERLANDS: vv SIOL (1977-2026) / vv POC (± 1982-1993)

Sportpark De Groenendijkse Kampen Zuid "Het Maasveld", Cuijk (vv SIOL, formerly vv POC)

Netherlands, province: North Brabant = Noord-Brabant

21 XII 2025 / ST vv SIOL/JVC Cuijk - vv De Zwaluw Reserves (3) 4-2 / District South II, Sunday Reserves' League 6, Group 25

Timeline

1932 / Foundation of a football club in the hamlets of Klein-Linden and Katwijk aan de Maas, both situated in the immediate vicinity of Cuijk in North Brabant. The new club is given the name Roomsch-Katholieke Voetbalvereeniging (RKVV) SIOL – this being an acronym for Sport Is Ons Leven, i.e. Sport Is Our Life. As virtually all other clubs in this northeastern outpost in North Brabant, RKVV SIOL does not join the official Netherlands’ Football Association (KNVB), preferring to seek allegiance with the Roman Catholic Federation (RKF) instead – or more specifically, its sub-branch Roomsch-Katholieke Voetbalbond (RKVB) Den Bosch. For the 1932-33 season, RKVV SIOL is placed in District Maasbuurt Division 2. It is unclear where the pitch of this club was situated – most probably, various pastures in and around Klein-Linden and Katwijk aan de Maas were used over the years.
1940 / Pressed down by a modest debt, RKVV SIOL folds, ceasing all activities.
1945 / On August 18th, 1945, months after the end of World War II in Europe, a new football club is founded in Klein-Linden and Katwijk aan de Maas, with the old name SIOL being reinstated (after the rejection of a suggestion to take on the name HBS, an abbreviation of HerBoren SIOL, i.e. Reborn SIOL). It is unclear if the official club name in the early years was RKVV SIOL or simply vv SIOL; no mention of the prefix RKVV can be found in any of the available sources. The club adopted orange as its colour due to the fact that the shirts were sewn from the orange cloth of an English parachute which had fallen onto one of the surrounding pastures during Operation Market Garden. vv SIOL settles on a plot of farmland put at the club’s disposal by a local smallholder, Jac. Martens; this location coincides with what was later commonly referred to as the Molenterrein (situated in the vicinity of the local windmill at Lange Linden in Klein-Linden). As the RKF and all its sub-branches had been absorbed into the official Netherlands’ FA in 1940, vv SIOL joined the latter, being placed in the bottom Sunday division of its North Brabant sub-branch, Afdeling Noord-Brabant.
1952 / A first coach (or rather, player-coach) is appointed by vv SIOL, Piet de Wildt, a former player of Sunday League 1 club SC Emma in Hoensbroek.
± 1959 / Having to abandon its ground since 1945, the Molenterrein at Lange Linden, vv SIOL moves several times in the late 1950s and early 1960s, with the sources mentioning the following pitches: Terrein aan de de Spoordijk (Klein-Linden), Terrein aan/achter Café van Heesch (Katwijk a/d Maas), and Terrein aan de Valuwsedijk (Cuijk). However, it is unclear if all of these pitches were used for matches, or only for training purposes.
1962 / After various relocations in the preceding years, vv SIOL now settles at Terrein op de Galberg, on the northern outskirts of Cuijk.
1963 / As local rivals JVC '31 (from Cuijk) moves its activities from Terrein achter Café De Bond (owned by Dina Weyers) to the newly laid-out municipal sports park, Sportpark De Groenendijkse Kampen (Noord), vv SIOL are offered the opportunity to use the new facilities as well. As such, the club becomes a groundsharer at Sportpark De Groenendijkse Kampen, sharing the main pitch with JVC '31. Nearby, there is a training pitch, the so-called Arodaveld, at Katwijkseweg, which was used by both clubs for some time. Most probably, Terrein op de Galberg was abandoned by vv SIOL in 1963, but this pitch may have remained in use for training purposes for some more time.
1977 / After twelve years of groundsharing with JVC '31 at Sportpark De Groenendijkse Kampen (Noord), vv SIOL moves into its newly laid-out ground, hemmed in between Katwijkseweg and the dike protecting Cuijk from the River Meuse. The new ground, with two pitches laid out in a north-south direction - and one additional training pitch -, is commonly referred to as Terrein Het Maasveld, although the official name is Sportpark De Groenendijkse Kampen (Zuid) – in fact the same name as the park of neighbour club JVC ’31, which had moved to this location earlier onwards. The official inauguration of the new ground of vv SIOL has to be postponed due to the clubhouse not being ready yet. A temporary canteen is erected to make up for the lack of other facilities.
1978 / In the first season at its new ground, vv SIOL suffers relegation from Afdeling Noord-Brabant Sunday Division 2 into Division 3. In August 1978, the official inauguration of Sportpark De Groenendijkse Kampen (Zuid) takes place following the construction of a new clubhouse, designed by architect C. Jacobs. The ceremony is performed by the mayor of Cuijk, Hub Hennekens.
1979 / One year after relegation to this level, vv SIOL manages to get away from Afdeling Noord-Brabant Sunday Division 3 directly, gaining promotion to Division 2 with coach Henk Fransman.
1980 / Gaining back-to-back promotions, coach Henk Fransman leads vv SIOL to Afdeling Noord-Brabant Sunday Division 1.
± 1982 / vv SIOL are joined at Sportpark De Groenendijkse Kampen Zuid by a small Saturday club, vv POC (Personeelsopvangcentrum 'Homburg', a corporate football club), which - due to the fact that no Saturday league football is being played in the eastern half of North Brabant - plays its football in the lower reaches of Afdeling Nijmegen (in the Province of Guelders). vv POC plays its home matches on one of the side-pitches of vv SIOL. It is unclear where vv POC, founded in 1975, played its football prior to moving to Sportpark De Groenendijkse Kampen (Zuid).
1983 / vv SIOL wins promotion from Afdeling Noord-Brabant Sunday Division 1 (klasse 105) to KNVB District South I’s Sunday League 4 for the first time in club history. The decisive points are clinched in a 2-0 win over vv Gassel. The successful coach is Jan Peters.
1984 / Finishing bottom of the table in District South I’s Sunday League 4A, vv SIOL drops back into the ranks of Afdeling Noord-Brabant Sunday Division 1 after just one season, along with the club in second-last place, RKVV SSS ’18.
1989 / vv POC wins promotion from Afdeling Nijmegen Saturday Division 1 to District East's Saturday League 4 for the first (and only) time in its history.
1990 / In the best performance of its history, vv POC finishes in ninth place in District East's Saturday League 4A.
1991 / Having suffered relegation from Afdeling Noord-Brabant Sunday Division 1 to Division 2 in one of the previous years, vv SIOL now wins promotion to Division 1; having finished as joint runner-up in Division 2 with RKVV HBV, behind champions SV DSV, vv SIOL goes on to defeat the club from Beers in a tie-break match for one extra promotion place, played at Sportpark De Laan in Ledeacker/Sint-Anthonis, home ground of SV DSV (1-0, goal by Mark Rooijendijk). As such, the club wins promotion to Division 1. The successful coach is Jan Schaap.
1992 / After an eight-year absence, vv SIOL manages a return to the ranks of Sunday League 4. Meanwhile, groundsharers vv POC finish bottom of the table in District East's Saturday League 4A, thus dropping back into Afdeling Nijmegen Saturday Division 1 along with the club in second-last place, SV Excelsior Zetten.
1993 / After groundsharing with vv SIOL for some ten years, Saturday club vv POC folds, ceasing all activities.
1994 / Finishing in a more than respectable third place in District South I's Sunday League 4A, 5 points behind champions vv Ravenstein, vv SIOL qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club fails to book a ticket for Sunday League 3.
1995 / As the club celebrates its fiftieth anniversary, vv SIOL entertains professional league side PSV at Sportpark De Groenendijkse Kampen. With PSV boasting the likes of Jan Wouters, Luc Nilis, and Philip Cocu among its ranks, the match ends in a predictable 9-0 drubbing for the non-leaguers.
1996 / In the best season in club history, vv SIOL finishes as runners-up in District South I’s Sunday League 4A, 8 points behind champions RKSV Festilent.
1997 / Finishing in second-last place in District South I’s Sunday League 4G, vv SIOL descends into Sunday League 5 – which had replaced Afdeling Noord-Brabant Sunday Division 1 in 1996 – along with bottom club BSV Olympia ’18.
2000 / Runners-up in District South I’s Sunday League 5G, 1 point behind champions RKSV Prinses Irene, vv SIOL manages a return to Sunday League 4 via the promotion play-offs.
2002 / Coached by former VVV-Venlo and NEC professional league player Luciën Roeffen, vv SIOL finishes bottom of the table in District South II’s Sunday League 4H, thus dropping back into Sunday League 5 along with the club in second-last place, vv Nooit Gedacht.
2003 / Coached by Leo Janssen, vv SIOL suffers back-to-back relegations, finishing bottom of the table in District South II’s Sunday League 5H and thus descending into Sunday League 6, the bottom of the (non-)league ladder, along with the club in second-last position, SDDL.
2005 / As vv SIOL celebrates its sixtieth anniversary, a gala match is organised at Sportpark De Groenendijkse Kampen (Zuid, i.e. Het Maasveld) between village rivals JVC Cuijk and professional league club NEC on May 26th, 2005 (final score: 1-4).
2007 / Champions in District South II’s Sunday League 6F, 7 points ahead of closest followers RKSV VIOS ’38, vv SIOL wins promotion to Sunday League 5. The successful coach is Perry Maselaman.
2008 / Coached by Perry Maselaman, vv SIOL proves unable to hold its own in District South II’s Sunday League 5G, finishing in second-last place and dropping back into Sunday League 6 along with bottom club SC Sint-Hubert.
2009 / Champions in District South II’s Sunday League 6F, 3 points ahead of runners-up SC Sint-Hubert, vv SIOL manages an immediate return to Sunday League 5. The successful coach is Danny Claassen.
2011 / Coached by Danny Claassen, vv SIOL finishes bottom of the table in District South II’s Sunday League 5G, thus descending into Sunday League 6 along with the club in second-last place, RKSV VIOS ’38.
2013 / Finishing in third place in District South II’s Sunday League 6E, vv SIOL wins automatic promotion to Sunday League 5 due to its having won one of the so-called period titles, i.e. managing the best performance in one of four quarters of the season. Usually, period title winners are drawn into the promotion play-offs, but due to extra promotion places being available in District South II, these are not held. The successful coach is Rob Kroesen.
2014 / Coached by Rob Kroesen, vv SIOL finishes bottom of the table in District South II’s Sunday League 5H, thus being retrograded into Sunday League 6 along with the club in second-last place, RKVV OKSV.
2015 / Champions in District South II’s Sunday League 6D, 5 points ahead of closest rivals RKVV OKSV, vv SIOL wins promotion – not to Sunday League 5, but to Sunday League 4, due to Sunday League 6 being abolished in District South II following the 2014-15 season. The successful coach is Peter ten Haaf.
2016 / Finishing in third-last place in District South II’s Sunday League 4G, vv SIOL manages to avoid relegation in a play-off against SV Stiphout Vooruit (3-2 aggr.).
2017 / As part of the surface of Sportpark De Groenendijkse Kampen Zuid has to be given up to make way for the local secondary school, the Merlet College, the main pitch of the park is given a quarter’s turn, with the direction being east-west rather than north-south from now on. To make up for the loss of the second pitch, municipal authorities lay out the surface of the new main pitch as a 3G.
2023 / Coached by Peter ten Haaf, vv SIOL finishes in third-last place in District South II’s Sunday League 4H, going on to suffer defeat in R1 of the promotion-relegation play-offs against vv MVC (0-3). As such, the club descends into Sunday League 5 along with vv Gassel and bottom club NLC ’03.
2025 / vv SIOL finishes in second-last place in District South II’s Sunday League 5F, with only vv Holthees-Smakt picking up fewer points. Following the 2024-25 season, vv SIOL withdraws from first team football due to a lack of players, instead preferring to field a recreative ‘first team’ reinforced by reserves players of neighbour club JVC Cuijk, thus creating ST (Samenwerkende Teams) SIOL-JVC. This is a prelude to a merger between the two clubs, concluded in the early months of 2025 and scheduled to take place in mid-2026.
2026 (projected) / vv SIOL concludes a merger with JVC Cuijk, resulting in the foundation of vv Cuijk. All activities move to JVC’s half of Sportpark De Groenendijkse Kampen, as the ground of vv SIOL and its clubhouse have to make way for an extension of the adjacent secondary school building.

Note – Part of the information above has been derived from a booklet published on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of vv SIOL under the long-winded title: “50 jaar voetbalvereniging SIOL. Van een kleine voetbalclub door prima samenspel tot een hechte sportieve gemeenschap”, by Theo Peters Sengers, ed. PrintGroup: Cuijk 1995. My thanks go out to Mrs Annie Vermeulen, longtime canteen manager at vv SIOL, for kindly putting a copy of this booklet at my disposal.