Extreme Football Tourism: NETHERLANDS: vv Winsum (2020-)

Geert Reinders-Sportpark, Winsum (vv Winsum)

Netherlands, province: Groningen

28 II 2026 / vv Winsum - vv Heerenveense Boys 1-1 / Combined Sunday & Saturday League 1H (= NL level 6)

Timeline

1917 / A first football team is formed in Winsum, a town in the northern part of the Province of Groningen. The team is given the name AFC (Altijd Fijne Combinatie). AFC settles on a pitch on a pitch of farmland near Enne Jans Hoeve in the hamlet of Maarhuizen.
± 1919 / Moving away from Terrein Enne Jans Hoeve, AFC moves to a newly laid-out pitch, Terrein Lugtenborg in Winsumermeeden.
1921 / Creation of a new football team in Winsum, made up of a group of youngsters of the protestant (evangelical), who take on the rather whimsical name Kap en Klomp, i.e. ‘Boot and Clog’ in a literal English translation. The first matches of this team take place on a plot of farmland in the hamlet of Maarhuizen, put at the boys’ disposal by a local smallholder, Mr Dussel. Whereas AFC (and later WVV, WFC, and vv Hunsingo) plays its football on Sundays, Kap en Klomp – as well as its successor CVV Viboa – strictly adheres to match activities on Saturdays. Also in or around 1921, moving away from Terrein Lugtenborg, AFC must have moved to a newly laid-out pitch in Obergum.
± 1922 / AFC takes on the new name WVV, Winsumer Voetbalvereeniging.
1924 / WVV takes on the new name WFC, Winsumer Football Club. Around this same time, moving away from the pitch in Obergum laid out some three years previously, WFC now moves to a pitch laid out on a plot of land owned by a local smallholder, Mr Wierda, at Schouwerzijlsterweg, also in Obergum. This pitch coincides with the location of the pitch later used by CVV Viboa in the years 1952-2016 and by vv Winsum in the years 2016-20.
1925 / As WFC applies for membership of the Groninger Voetbalbond (GVB), the Groningen sub-branch of the official Netherlands’ Football Association (NVB, later renamed KNVB), the club is allowed to join under a new name, vv Hunsingo.
1926 / Runner-up in GVB Division 2, vv Hunsingo wins promotion to Division 1 of the said league system.
1929 / After a twilight existence of eight years, Kap en Klomp ceases its activities for the time being.
1933 / After a four-year break, Kap en Klomp is re-established, with 1933 probably being the moment that a new name was chosen, Christelijke Voetbalvereeniging (CVV) Viboa – with the last part of the name being an acronym for Voetballen Is Bij Ons Aangenaam (literally translated: Playing Football Is A Pleasant Activity With Us). Activities are resumed on a plot of farmland put at the club’s disposal by a local smallholder, Simon Wieringa, near Stationsweg in the hamlet of Bellingeweer.
± 1938 / CVV Viboa moves to a newly laid out pitch at Schouwerzijlsterweg – not the same pitch as vv Hunsingo, but a location nearby, on a plot of farmland put at the club’s disposal by farmer Jakob Sieger.
± 1945 / CVV Viboa moves to a newly laid-out pitch at Borgweg in Bellingeweer – not far from the modern-day Wink Heem retirement home.
± 1950 / Abandoning its pitch of the past 25 odd years at Schouwerzijlsterweg, vv Hunsingo moves to a pitch adjacent to this location – directly to its east.
1952 / Moving away from Terrein Borgweg, CVV Viboa settles at the pitch at Schouwerzijlsterweg abandoned by vv Hunsingo some two years previously. As such, Hunsingo and Viboa become each other’s neighbours for the following 25 years, with Viboa playing on the westernmost pitch, with the Hunsingo pitch to its east.
1977 / Abandoning its ground at Schouwerzijlsterweg, vv Hunsingo moves to the newly laid-out Sportpark Schilligeham in Winsum proper.
2013 / The youth academies of vv Hunsingo and CVV Viboa are merged into one under the name SJO (Samenwerkende Jeugdopleidingen) Winsum – a prelude to a projected fully-fledged merger between the two clubs.
2016 / Following the 2015-16 season, a merger is concluded between vv Hunsingo and CVV Viboa, resulting in the foundation of vv Winsum. The new club starts its existence with two first teams, one at Sportpark Schouwerzijlsterweg in Saturday League 1, replacing CVV Viboa, and one at Sportpark Schilligeham in Sunday League 4, taking the place of vv Hunsingo.
2017 / vv Winsum withdraws from regular Sunday League football, continuing with just one first team playing in Saturday League 1 at Sportpark Schouwerzijlsterweg. Sportpark Schilligeham is retained for lower team football and training sessions. Meanwhile, at the request of the municipality Het Hogeland, to which the village of Winsum belongs, a design is made for a clubhouse, to be constructed on a projected new park for vv Winsum, no more than a stone’s throw to the south of Sportpark Schilligeham. The layout by architect Jan Giezen foresees a clubhouse built in the shape of a barn on top of an artificial dike, to fit into the surrounding landscape of farmland, mounds, and dikes.
2019 / Works get underway on the new park for vv Winsum shortly to the south of Sportpark Schiligeham, the ground of the former vv Hunsingo. The bricks used for the construction are black, a reference to the dark clay of the farmland and dikes of the region. Meanwhile, that same year, the clubhouse of the former vv Hunsingo nearby is knocked down.
2020 / The new ground of vv Winsum, the Geert Reinders-Sportpark, is inaugurated, with the club having six pitches at its disposal from now on – including the three pitches of vv Hunsingo at its northern end (the former main pitch of Sportpark Schilligeham is Pitch/Veld 4 in the new set-up), and the main pitch (laid out in grass) being surrounded by two new synthetic pitches. The choice of naming the facilities after Geert Reinders is original. Reinders (1737-1815) was a farmer in the hamlet of Bellingeweer, who undertook pioneering livestock disease research, moreover also being the founder of assurance company Sociëteit van Onderlinge Bijstand (modern-day Univé-Verzekeringen), intended to protect farmers against the harmful effects of barn-fires. Following the inauguration of the new park, Sportpark Schouwerzijlsterweg is abandoned.
2023 / Finishing in sixth place in Saturday League 1F, vv Winsum qualifies for the promotion-relegation play-offs, in which the club is knocked out in R1 by CVV Broekster Boys (2-1).

Note – More extensive histories of vv Hunsingo and CVV Viboa, the predecessor clubs of vv Winsum, can be found in articles dedicated to Sportpark Schilligeham and Sportpark Schouwerzijlsterweg respectively.