While in The Netherlands we thought we had found a wonderful lost ground. Sometimes we are a little bit foolish, so it was a bummer to see that lost ground of VV Axel was obviously already long gone. Luckily for us the recycling habits of the Dutch brought us immediately to VV Vogelwaarde.
VV Axel started off as Wilhelmina in 1911, but that name was quickly changed into VV Axel as there already were quite some teams with the name Wilhelmina. Across all those decades VV Axel never made it to the big leagues. They did make it to the 'Tweede Klasse' (which nowadays is the fifth amateur league if we're not mistaking) several times.
While since 1949 VV Axel had to share football interest in Axel with AZVV, it became more and more clear it was time for a merger between the two clubs. In 2013 that finally happened and FC Axel was born. FC Axel started playing right next to the old stadium of VV Axel (the home ground of AZVV) and that older stadium remained unused for a number of years. Shame, as it contained one of the more beautiful Elascon stands in Holland.
But the Dutch wouldn't be really Dutch if they didn't find a solution for this. As it is common practice in The Netherlands stands get sold and moved to other clubs on a quite regular basis. The old Elascon of the former VV Axel moved to the VV Vogelwaarde stadium in 2015, two years after the demise of VV Axel.
VV Vogelwaarde was created in 1945, almost immediately after WWII had finished. The highest the team ever played was 'Derde Klasse' (the current sixth amateur division), with one very remarkable former player. Edy de Schepper made it to the first team of NAC Breda and is one of the very few from VV Vogelwaarde that made it to the top national leagues in The Netherlands.
It's remarkable to see such a beautiful grandstand in the lower divisions in The Netherlands. But we definitely applaud this and we encourage the re-use of older stands that have become part of any lost ground or redeveloped ground. A continuation of history, tradition and beautiful architecture has become very rare.
Question for all passionate fans, as we can't find the answer. Which team was first with their logo - DHC Delft or VV Vogelwaarde? Both of them look very much alike but we can't seem to find as of when both teams started to use their logos. Whomever can send in confirmation on that will receive a beer on one of our groundhop trips.
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