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Founded in Waalwijk in 1940 as a result of the merger of three clubs HEC,
WVB and Hercules. From those early days right up to today they have played their
home matches at the Olympia Park Stadium (Mandemakers Stadium). In the
course of time they became a top amateur football club, reaching the
second round of the Dutch FA Cup in 1976/7 only to be knocked out by PEC
Zwolle in a penalty shoot out. In 1981 and 1982 they were top club in C
Division (Hoofdklasse C) and National Amateur Champions.
They went professional in 1984. Under the leadership of Chairman
Harder, Technical Director Kipping and Trainer Leen Looyen a mix of
both amateurs (such as Leon Hutten and Janus van Gelder) and transfer free
profs (such as Anton Joore, Leo van Veen, Adri Bogers, John Lammers, Peter
Bosz and Ad van de Wiel) were brought to the club. The only player to be
bought was Marcel Brands who came from Den Bosch. In their first season
they reached 3rd place and took part in the end of season playoffs. The
next season they again did well (top scorer Peter van Velsen 28 goals) but
lost out again in the playoffs.
In the 1986/7 season Leo van Veen took
over as trainer, Brandts and Bogers left for NAC only to return during the
Winter break, joining new top scorer Willy Carbo in another fine
attempt to gain promotion. The next season the team was even stronger
- built around Gerards, Hutten, Bosz, Brands, Schapendonk, Van de
Wiel, Van der Kaay and Van Wanrooy - they won the first 22 matches
in a row! They were not only clear Champions of the Second Division but
even knocked Ajax out of the FA Cup.
Their first season in the Premier League saw Leo van Veen leave to be replaced by
Ger Blok as new trainer and Brands and Bosz were replaced
by Teeuwen and Hoekstra. Things didn't go well and halfway through the
season Ger Blok was sacked and Leo Van Veen returned to the club. Despite
their troubles they managed 11th place that season.
Their second
season saw them occupy the top position for several matches but they
couldn't maintain this and ended 8th, narrowly missing out on European
football. In 1990/91 they achieved 7th place, their highest end of
season ranking to date, welcomed Brands back to the fold and brought Marco
Boogers to the club. He left next season to be replaced by Harry Decheiver
from Heerenveen who scored 18 goals before the Winter break. In the
meantime storm clouds were gathering in the form of an official
investigation into the club's financial past. It had little effect
on the players who were suffering more as a result of Decheiver's absence
through injury - they ended up in 10th place.
Rob Maas, Nico Jalink and Marco van Hoogdalem had to be sold at the end
of the season in order to provide enough finances to renew the club's
license. Hans Verel replaced Leo van Veen but by Christmas they had only 6
points to their name - Decheiver and Booger couldn't work together on
pitch and the team was too weak after the exodus of other players.
Mr.Verel left and was replaced by Bert Jacobs who got the team back on
track but even with the addition of Feyenoord mercenary Giovanni van
Bronckhorst they still had to take part in the end of season playoffs to
secure their place in the Premier League. The club survived and a new
board of directors was installed who came up with a rescue plan.
1994/5 brought some new stars to the club - Petrovic, Ten Hag and
Petrov - and 8th place. 1995/6 saw the return of Leo van Veen and the
breakthrough of Regillio Vrede - and 11th place. More importantly
the local council agreed to provide financial support for a new stadium.
The new stadium was built on the site of the old and on September 15th
1996 it was officiallyd with a game against Roda JC. By this time
Cees van Kooten had taken over as trainer and Lammers and Adri Bogers had
returned. Petrovic, Vrede, Vonk and Van Haaren had left which
was to prove too severe a handicap for the team and, even after replacing
Jacobs for Van Kooten, they only just managed to avoid relegation.
In 1997/8 Peter Boeve became the new trainer but several players
decided it was time to stop footballing (Brands, Schreuder, Wijnhard and
Hutten) and again, in the playoffs, the club clung on to their place in
the Premier League.1998/9 saw another change of trainer with Marcel
Brands stepping in and showing that lessons had been learned - new, long
term contracts were offered to Texeira, De Graef, Schops and Tommie van
der Leegte. Halfway through the season the team was strengthened further still -
Boeve was replaced by Martin Jol, veterans Govedarica and Nascimento and
striker Rick Hoogendorp were added and RKC survived yet another playoff.
Youri Cornelisse joined last season and the club made a strong start -
they occupied 3rd place for several weeks, Feyenoord and Ajax were beaten,
the team acquired a reputation for their style of play - but after
Hoogendorp was hired out to Celta del Vigo things went less well and they
ended the season in 11th place. However, it was enough to qualify them to
play in the Intertoto Cup and so they get to play European football for
the first time!
RKC Waalwijk play in yellow and blue and their stadium Sportpark Olympia can seat 6,700 spectators.
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