TSV NOAD (Holland)

  

TSV NOAD; Nooit Ophouden Altijd Doorspelen to give the club their full title, was a football club from the city of Tilburg from the North Brabant region of Holland who merged with other local clubs LONGA and RKTVV to form FC Tilburg in July 2017.

NOAD were formed on the 5^th June 1915, as a secular club, rather than under the banner the Catholic Church like many others of the time. A healthy rivalry soon built up with neighbours Willem II and TSV LONGA.

NOAD quickly built themselves into a top club and from 1918 to 1954 they played in the Erste Divisie, which was the highest level in the Netherlands, with the 1949-50 campaign spent in Eerste Klasse South-I.

The top level was streamlined into five regional sections for the following season with NOAD being placed in Eerste Klasse D before a further change saw the competition losing one of the sections where the team sat comfortably.

A move to Eerste C came in 1954-55 as club turned semi-professional helping the team compete in the same division as PSV and Feijenoord. Further changes were applied to the league structure in 1955-56 as Hoofdklasse became the top level with two sections.

NOAD survived in Hoofdklasse A to qualify for the first single league Eredivisie before being relegated to Erste Divisie at the end of the 1958-59 season. A third place in Eerste Divisie A was backed up by success in the play-offs as the club returned to Eredivisie at the first time of asking.

Their spell lasted just one season before another further drop to the third tier Tweede Divisie after the second tier was made into one group, where NOAD lingered in the bottom half of the table for the rest of the 1960’s before the third tier also became one division.

The club returned to amateur status in 1971 dropping down to the second tier of that level before winning promotion to Eerste klasse E in 1974-75. The team remained there until being relegated in 1977-78 to Tweede klasse A and then B a year later.

Promotion was won in 1990-91 with the spell at the upper level lasting a couple of seasons. NOAD dropped a further level to Derde klasse 3C in 1999-00 before going back up in 2002-03. Second level amateur football lasted just one season.

Worse was still to come when Vierde klasse 4E football arrived at the club after another demotion in 2011-12. A title win in 2011-12 took NOAD back up a level to Derde klasse where the club ended their solitary existence with fourteenth place in 3B at the conclusion of the 2016-17 campaign.

My visit

Friday 29^th January 2016

My four day visit to the Netherlands was coming to a close. I arrived in Tilburg around 3pm, with a few hours to kill before the match between Willem II and Heracles Almelo. That gave me enough time before nightfall to visit a couple of amateur clubs.

First up was TSV NOAD. I’d got rid of my rucksack in the lockers and bought my single ticket to Eindhoven for after the match. My plans were bang on as the number 6 bus arrived bang on time. It was five stops to Hoefstraat, from which it was just five minutes to Sportpark TSV NOAD.

As well as the main pitch there was another artificial full sized pitch, which had an impromptu game taking place on it, and a junior pitch which was separated from the first team arena by a fine old raised seated grandstand and club buildings. The main pitch had hard standing around it and was enclosed by trees and the usual raised advertising boards. Despite been only a few yards from a main road and a canal, it had a feeling of tranquillity.

Pleased with my work, it was time to walk a mile or so along the side of the aforementioned canal to visit local rivals TSV LONGA.