SCH (Netherlands)

Sport Club Voorhees (SCH)

Ground: Sportpark De Biezen

Capacity: 3,000

Club Founded: 1921

Club Dissolved: 2017

Sport Club Voorhees or SCH was an amateur football club from the city of Nijmegen in the Gelderland region of the Netherlands, founded on January 23rd, 1921, before being dissolved on January 23rd, 2017.

Club History

Initially called Nijmegen Voorhees Combination (NHC), the club changed its title in December 1926 to SCH, beginning the season at their new ground Sportpark De Biezen on Rivierstraat in the northwest of the city. The club became a member of the KNVB at the Vierde Klasse level, from where they were promoted.

Tweede Klasse football arrived in 1934-35 following play-off victories over Hengelo and Vitesse, with their spell lasting just twelve months. Further titles came as Tweede Klasse 2B was won in 1938-39, followed by the emergency Noodcompetitie title in 1939-40. The team was relegated in 1951-52 before winning the Derde Klasse D title.

Gradually, new housing was built in the nearby Waterkwartier district, allowing the club membership to grow. However, ‘De Blauwe Jungskes’ gradually went down the divisions over the years. SCH lasted nine seasons in Tweede Klasse competition before dropping back down in 1963-64. Four seasons later, the team dropped down to the Vierde Klasse. 

A return to the Derde Klasse followed in two spells during the 1970s. They went down further, playing in local competitions before returning to their previous level. 1996-97 saw the Derde Klasse 3D title won, with SCH going one better by claiming the Tweede Klasse 2I title a season later.

The club returned to the first class for the first time in sixty-three years. However, the joy was not to last for SCH as they suffered a couple of relegations. Worse was to follow as the club missed a season and were forced to restart at Vierde Klasse level before dropping to the sixth-tier Vijfde Klasse in 2004-05.

After winning promotion and then being relegated, several mergers were mooted, before Wim Wouters' team won promotion back to the fourth Vierde Klasse in 2010-11. Another successful campaign took the side to the Derde Klasse D.

However, halfway through the 2016-17 campaign, previous indiscretions caught up with the club. SCH were reported to the KNVB over disciplinary incidents. The club couldn’t put together an acceptable action plan, so they were expelled from football in January 2017. Sportpark De Biezen was demolished in December 2017.

My visit

Stadium Visit - Sunday 19th January 2014

While I think my pre-planning is pretty good before I head off somewhere new, it is natural that a visit to a club can occasionally be a disappointment. On the other hand, sometimes a club is found that wasn't known about, as with how I came across SCH.

I was in Nijmegen primarily to go to the NEC game that lunchtime against ADO Den Haag, but after dropping off my bag at the De Prince B&B, I decided to do some exploring on the way to help bring me around from the hangover I’d incurred the previous evening while socialising in Zwolle. 

The Joris Ivensplein bus stop at the bottom of the street displayed that the no.85 would take me near to my intended target, the home of SV Blauw Wit. I was trying to concentrate on where we were when a decent-looking venue caught my attention. 

I rang the bell, hoping the bus would stop soon, but it continued along Industrieweg before stopping around half a mile further up at Sluis Weurt. Not to be deterred, I headed back, using cycle tracks and then crossing a new road that didn’t even exist on my map app, just to confuse matters.

Eventually, I found myself on Rivierstraat and at the entrance, where I discovered SCH. A Sunday morning match was taking place on the second pitch at the other side of the car park. I went to have a look at the main arena. De Biezen had a substantial cover down the far side, with the rest of the neat venue having hard standing around the pitch with grass beyond.

I was leaving when a club official spotted me. I explained that I was from England, visiting stadiums, and then heading to the NEC match. He seemed delighted with this. I ventured on, taking a look at the match in progress as I was walking. It reminded me of Sunday mornings on Oliver's Mount, Scarborough!