SC Oranje Zwart Helmond, or Sportclub Oranje Zwart
Helmond was an amateur football club from the small city of Helmond in the south
east of The Netherlands. The club were formed on August 1st 1970,
joining regional Sunday football before closing down in October 2018.
The club
initially played on one of the pitches at De Warande, a large park in the north
west of the town before securing their own Sportpark Dierdonk before the land
was required for local development.
Relocated at
Sportpark de Braak in 2010-11 the club found themselves playing in Zesde 6E
klasse D in the West 2 region of Dutch football, finishing bottom of the table
in 2011-12. The club would undergo a huge transformation, which would
eventually cost them.
Transferred
to klasse C, the team waltzed to the league title before finishing as
runners-up in Vijfde 5E Klasse E in 2013-14 to win a successive promotion. The Vierde
4E Klasse F title was won at the first attempt in 2014-15
The momentum
continued with Oranje Zwart finishing as runners-up of Derde 3E klasse C in 2015-16
to make it four promotions in four seasons. Their reward was promotion to the
seventh tier Tweede 2E klasse H which ended in a lowly finish and relegation.
Debts had
been accrued to the Dutch FA, KNVB and local authorities as the side ended
2017-18 in eighth place 3E klasse C. Despite appeals and some repayments the
club folded in October 2018.
My visit
Tuesday 21st
January 2014
My visit to
see the stadium of Helmond Sport was paying dividends. I noted that the Stadion
De Braak had other pitches around it from my research on Google Maps, but I
presumed that they were just training pitches for the club. However, I was
pleasantly surprised to see that at least a couple were homes to other amateur
outfits.
I’d already
come across SC Helmondia and the main stadium and was heading back to the
railway station, when I found the final pitch at the Sportpark De Braak
complex.
The grass
pitch was railed and had hard standing down the
side, where the changing rooms and clubhouse were also located. A sign on the
outside of the building revealed it was the home of Oranje Zwart, which
translated is orange and black to reveal the clubs colours.
Most satisfied with my visit I decided to try and take a
short cut and maybe see the city centre. Instead I found lots of newish low cost
identical housing in what to be honest, was a pretty uninspiring place.
No comments:
Post a Comment