VV Alverna (Holland)

Voetbalvereniging Alverna, or VV Alverna, as they are more commonly known are an amateur football club from Alverna, which adjoins the town of Wijchen, five miles west of Nijmegen in the west of The Netherlands.

The club was established in 1950 following previous clubs AVE, Helios and Alvernia representing the town. A merger after World War Two led to the creation of Alverna Wijchen Combination (AWC), but this new club did not last long.

Through the initiative of Theo Rutten, the new club was created on May 14th 1950. The club climbed to Vierde (fourth) Klasse by 1967. Fred Rutten left the club as a junior in 1977 going on to play for PSV before ending up as head coach.

By the late 1990’s the club were playing football in the Zesde, sixth, klasse from where they won promotion up to Vijfde Klasse under coach Tonnie Wels in 1999-00. The success would spark an upward curve for the following twenty years.

Rick Peters was at the helm as Alverna were Sunday 5E Klasse E runners-up to win promotion the following season. Three seasons later the 4E Klasse E title followed in 2003-04. However, the latest success was perhaps a little too soon as the team dropped back down twelve months later.

Alverna recovered and finished third, second and then champions in successive campaigns before winning the 4E title once again in 2007-08 with Leo Otten as coach. This time the club was ready for Derde klasse football as the team was promoted again from 3E Klasse D in 2009-10 under the tutelage of Ton Kosterman.

The momentum continued with the capture of the 2E Klasse I title twelve months later as Alverna climbed to first class amateur football, which was the fifth tier at the time. The club added to its infrastructure and its artificial pitch by upgrading their facilities.

Rob Bouman was appointed as coach as his side won the 1E Klasse E title in 2012-13. However, Hoofdklasse Zondag C football proved a step too far as the side went back down after just one season.

Undaunted, Alverna counced straight back after capturing the 1E title at the first attempt. The team was moved to the now fifth tier Zondag Hoofdklasse A for 2016-17 after the reorganisation of the Dutch league system. The team was relegated after an unsuccessful play-off with Jan Pruijn at the helm.

Back in the sixth tier Erste klasse, Alverna found themselves in familiar surroundings in 1E Klasse C where they avoided the relegation play-offs before finishing the 2018-19 campaign in fifth place.

The team was leading the division in 2019-20 when the season was ended early without any promotion owing to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pancemic.

VV Alverna will play in the Hoofdklasse Zondag C in the 2020-21 season.

My visit

Alverna 1 LONGA '30 0 (Sunday 19^th January 2014) Zondag Hoofdklasse C (Att: c200)

It was my fourth day of my long weekend of football and socialising around Holland, and I was rather tired after a heavy day and night in Zwolle, followed by visiting three amateur clubs in Nijmegen before watching the excellent NEC v ADO Den Haag Eredivisie clash.

My research on the excellent Soccerway website (http://uk.soccerway.com/) before the trip had me looking for the potential of a later game. Despite there being many local clubs in the region, Alverna looked my best bet as it was located to the west of the city, as was De Goffert where NEC played.

Common sense should have had me heading to my room for a sleep, but I wasn't going to give up on an opportunity to broaden my knowledge, regardless of missing the first half. The brilliant 9292 transport app on my phone had been most helpful but I had read it wrong this time as I walked a long way for a bus, when there was a closer stop in the park.

Not to worry. I was dropped at the edge of Alverna at the Havenweg stop. I heard the music coming from the ground confirming that it was half time, so I decided to have a look at the home of nearby sv AWC. 

A path through the copse led me from there to the entrance of Sportpark Bospad. The gates were open for the second half, so I didn’t have to pay, and I picked up a free programme in the welcoming clubhouse.

The facilities were all at the entrance end to the ground on Bospad, with a seated stand in front of the club and the dressing rooms down a tunnel at lower level. The rest of the ground had hard standing all the way round the artificial surface, with a secondary grass pitch alongside.

The game was of the same standard as the one I'd seen at Wezep the day before; hard but skillfull. I was slightly surprised at the amount of long balls being played. I'd missed the goal earlier, which was scored by Rick Hutting. The great thing about nearly every amateur ground I visited was that there was a scoreboard to put me right.

Alverna's skilfull young winger had a good run and shot that struck the far post and the LONGA keeper Kaj Boschker made a decent save, but there were to be no more goals. The win put the home side into seventh place in the league, with the defeat for the side from Lichtenvoorde leaving them bottom of the table.

At least the visitors had the consolation of travelling home in style as they were using the team coach of De Graafschap, which was parked behind the ground. I had about about ten minutes before my bus was due at the Industriepark stop. The no.15 service took me round the houses in Nijmegen and close to De Goffert. It was the bus I should have caught to the game.

After checking into the Prince B&B and enjoying a shower and siesta, I relaxed for the evening and stayed off the beer. The city centre was lovely, even when mainly closed as I wandered about taking in the sights. 

I got an added bonus on planning an early night that the TV in my room had BBC One and Two, so I got to see Ronnie O’Sullivan win the Masters snooker and later Match of the Day Two!

I slept extremely well, not for the only time on my weekend away.