RKSV Leonidas (Holland)

RKSV Leonidas is an amateur football club from the Hillegersberg-Schiebroek district of the Dutch city of Rotterdam. The club were formed on the 30th October 1909.

The club played Zondag Derde (Sunday third) klasse football until the early 1960’s. From then to 1987 the team played between that level and the higher Tweede klasse. However, the team was relegated to play fourth Vierde klasse until 1991, when they went back up.

The upward curve was to continue as another promotion came in 1994. Leonadis spent four seasons at this level before going up to the Eerste klasse in 1999. The team spent the next twelve seasons in division 1B.

In 2010 the club reached the Hoofdklasse, the fourth tier of Dutch football, and the second tier of the amateur level. In 2012 Leonadis won the KNVB Amateur Beker with a 2-0 victory over FC Chabab.

The team were promoted to the Topklasse in 2012-13, where they remained until 2014-15, when they returned to the Hoofdklasse. Manager Koos Waslander was given the task of trying to regain the top level status.

A poor 2015-16 campaign saw Leonadis drop further to Eerste klasse where the team bounced back to win the 1B title at the first attempt. Back in Zondag Sunday Hoofdklasse A the side finished fourth in 2017-18 before changing to the B section.

Thirteen postion in Hoofdklasse B in 2018-19 sent Leonadis into the relegation play-offs before the club was again switched to the A division where they were placed in seventh when the season was abandoned owing to the outbreak of COVID-19.

RKSV Leonidas will play in Zondag Hoofdklasse B in the 2020-21 season.

My visit

Friday 29^th January 2016

Originally I had intended to visit Leonidas the previous day, but I figured that it would be a nice idea to start the last day of my four day trip to the Netherlands. I was still struggling with my sleeping pattern after night shifts, so I decided to head to the ground and then go back for another nap before vacating my room at midday.

Fortunately enough for me, I could catch a tram outside the hotel at the Schiekade stop all the way to Melanthonweg, right by the ground. A path through Melanchtonpark led me to Erasmuspad, which took me to the ground entrance, which turned out to be locked.

As with other venues I was coming across the grounds were protected by small dikes and rivers to prevent flooding. This was not idea for getting close to the venue for photos, but I improvised as well as I could.

A nice walk took me round to the other side. The Leonadis ground had two pitches alongside the main ground, which had an artificial surface. It had a small seated stand with many stanchions holding up the roof and the clubhouse next to it towards the entrance. 

The rest of the pitch was surrounded by hard standing and raised advertising boards at the rear to give it an enclosed feel. Trees also added to giving the place an ambience.

To take my best photos I had to be really alert as I was stood on the tram lines! Once done I pondered with the idea of heading to another venue, but sleep seemed a better option. I took the E line Metro went to Centraal station, but I got out a stop earlier at Blijdorp. 

The walk back to my room confirmed my thoughts that Rotterdam was a pretty soulless place with convenience stores being extremely scarce.