SV Blauw Wit is an amateur football club from the Dutch
city of Nijmegen who were founded on the 14th November 1914 by Mr J
Melssen. The team had a strong religious background and were initially led by Father
Welter, starting out life playing on land belonging to a farmer; Hent Albers.
Before long the team moved to a meadow in Rush to the
south of the city. From there Blauw Wit were on the move once more, this time
north to a ground at Dennenstraat. By 1927 the club known at the time as rksv
Blauw Wit reached the highest class of Catholic football.
Following a
merger of the football authorities following World War Two, the club were
placed in the highest grade of Nijmegen football.
Within a
year they were promoted to the fourth tier of KNVB Sunday football. The team
finished as runners-up of Vierde Klasse 4H in 1946-47, remaining in that
division until the completion of the 1955-56 campaign.
This was two
years after Blauw Wit had to give up their ground to the housing association,
moving to a pitch in De Goffert, where NEC Amateurs would later play. The move
didn’t work out too well as the team were relegated back to local football.
To make the
club more accessible to non-Catholics rksv was replaced by SV; Sportvereniging
Blauw Wit, to give them their full title. Another move followed for the 1963-64
campaign as the club moved to Sportpark De Schoonhorst, where the members built
the first clubhouse to cater for the several pitches on site.
This allowed
the club to rejoin Vierde Klasse 4E where a runners-up place followed in
1969-70 before the title was captured in 1973-74. Membership grew in the club leading a larger
clubhouse being built in at the same time.
Two seasons
later the team was promoted once again to Tweede Klasse 2A, before being
relegated in 1978-79. Blauw Wit played four seasons in Derde Klasse prior to
another demotion in 1982-83.
The club
recovered back at Vierde Klasse level, finishing as 4E runners-up in 1985-86 before
lifting the title in 1987-88. A runners-up place was followed a couple of
seasons later in 1990-91 with promotion from Derde Klasse via the play-offs.
Their spell
lasted two seasons in Tweede Klasse before being relegated from 2A in 1992-93.
The slide continued when Blauw Wit were relegated back to Vierde Klasse in
1995-96. There was no improvement prior to another drop in level in 2005-06.
The club
continued serving the communities of local neighbourhoods of Voorhees and
Neerbosch with over forty teams playing out of the club with the first eleven
winning the Vijfde Klasse 5E title at the first time of asking.
The 4E title
was collected in 2009-10 before the team returned twelve months later. Undeterred
they climbed straight back out of Vierde Klasse to play in Derde Klasse 3D
until dropping back down in 2014-15.
Again Blauw
Wit recovered immediately to lift the 4E title in 2015-16 to take up their
position in Derde Klasse 3D football where they finished fifth in 2018-19 and
then the same again when the 2019-20 campaign was prematurely ended owing to
the outbreak of Coronavirus.
SV Blauw Wit
will play in the Zondag Derde Klasse 3D Oost in the 2020-21 season.
My visit
Sunday 19th January 2014
My visit to The Netherlands was going well, and I’d got
ahead of my schedule in Nijmegen. I’d even found SCH, a club I hadn’t even
heard of before the bus past when seeking out Blauw Wit.
From SCH I took a twenty minute walk finding myself on Energieweg,
a little behind schedule as I was heading to the 12.30 kick off at De Goffert
between NEC and ADO Den Haag. The sun was shining brightly as I arrived, which
didn’t really help my photography.
De Schoonhorst had four pitches with main one having an
artificial pitch, with a match going on. Two sides of it had hedges as fences.
The pitch had hard standing all the way around, without any cover or stands.
The near side was by the expansive car park and clubhouse and was protected by
high fencing.
Having taken my photos I headed off down Dennenstraat,
past where Blauw Wit once played to my next location, Quick 1888.
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