RKC Waalwijk

THE MODEST MIRACLE OF WAALWIJK

There are many old, traditional clubs in Dutch professional football, but RKC Waalwijk is not one of them. Founded in 1940, the club was an amateur merger of local Waalwijk sides HEC, WVB and Hercules. The newly founded 'Roman Catholic Combination' (RKC) remained an amateur club until 1984, the year in which the jump to the First Division was made. Before that, two over-all Dutch amateur championships were celebrated: in 1981 and 1982, as the club website still proudly mentions. In 1984 the KNVB issued the required license for RKC to 'go professional'.

In the First Division RKC remained the epitome of a small-timer: hailing from the small southern town of Waalwijk (only some 40,000 inhabitants) the club played their home games at tiny, ramshackle Olympia 'sports park', an unlikely home ground for a professional football club, with a capacity of some 6,000. Quite frankly, RKC seemed to have very little to add to the football landscape of Noord-Brabant, a province already densely populated with professional football clubs. RKC were only a few miles west of FC Den Bosch and only twenty minutes north of PSV and Willem II. Were the newcomers, Brabant's ugly ducklings, going to survive...?

Modest club, modest celebrations: senior RKC fans celebrate the winning
of the over-all Dutch amateur championship of 1981. (Source: RKC Waalwijk.nl).

The answer turned out to be 'yes'. RKC survived. In fact, they didn't just survive but also managed to write their own, modest success story. It took the yellow and blue Waalwijk side only four seasons to get promoted to the Eredivisie in spectacular fashion (1988): with local hero Ad van der Wiel as their impressive goalgetter (34 goals) the team won their first 22 league games straight. Along the way, Ajax were eliminated in the Dutch Cup. Despite their astoundingly low budget and small home ground they managed to stay in the Eredivisie ever since and steadily climbed to the top half of the table, leaving many other Dutch clubs from larger towns, with larger budgets and attendances, thinking: how do they do it?

When RKC first entered the Eredivisie in 1988, the club's home
(old Olympia sports park) looked very much like an amateur ground.

RKC Waalwijk still are a small-timer, but have the remarkable talent to spend every euro in the best possible way. Immediately after having entered the Eredivisie RKC actually came surprisingly close to UEFA Cup qualification, finishing 8th in 1990 and 7th in 1991. RKC have become a rock-solid Eredivisie side, usually finishing far away from the relegation zone and sometimes not too far from the 'European' berths.

'Mister RKC', Marcel Brands, tackled by Ajax striker Hennie Meijer. Ajax suffered a
couple of spectacular defeats at old Olympia sports park in the late 1980s.

The only period of crisis were the years between 1996 and 1999, in which the yellow and blue squad came close to relegation three times in a row. They survived the relegation play-offs each time. The club left old Olympia sports park for a brand-new facility named Mandemakers Stadium, yet something had to change to keep RKC Waalwijk from dropping back to the First Division. The difference was made by head-coach (and former FC Den Haag defender) Martin Jol. With him at the helm RKC were soon back on track. The club had their very first European experiences in the Intertoto Cup of 2001, UEFA's official summer tournament in which three UEFA Cup slots are at stake. German Bundesliga side 1860 München proved too strong. In the seasons thereafter, RKC Waalwijk came close to qualifying for the UEFA Cup directly. After Jol's departure (to Tottenham Hotspur) head-coach Erwin Koeman also did remarkably well with a very limited budget.

Peter Bosz was selected for the Dutch national team as an RKC
player in the First Division (!) in 1988. [Source: RKC Waalwijk.nl]

Until 1988 an Eredivisie with RKC Waalwijk was almost unthinkable, but today an Eredivisie without RKC Waalwijk has become almost unthinkable. Which is a respectable achievement in itself, established by a remarkable little club from Waalwijk. (MP)

RKC WAALWIJK FACTS

Founded: 26 August 1940 as RKC, merger of HEC, WVB and Hercules. City name added in 1996.
City: Waalwijk
Stadium: Mandemakers Stadium
Capacity: 7,800
Official website: www.rkcwaalwijk.nl

Honors:

• Over-all Dutch amateur champions: 1981, 1982

Recent History: Ajax vs RKC Waalwijk