Note that this list includes all clubs mentioned in this document,
but is not necessarily exhaustive.
The short versions of the names on the left hand side are used in this
document; an additional indication of the home town is only included if
a homonymous club from another town appears in the document as well.
The full names on the right hand side appeared at least once in contemporary
publications (usually the "Nederlandsche Sport") but for most clubs other
versions appeared as well: in particular, the words "voetbal" and "football"
as well as "vereeniging" and "club" were often interchanged, sometimes
apparently at random, and while nearly all early Dutch football clubs
originated from an older cricket club, the "cricket" part was not always
included in the name.
Additional information is most welcome.
Amsterdam
R.A.P. = Amsterdamsche Footballclub "R.U.N. Amstels Progress"
V.V.A. = Voetbal Vereeniging "Amsterdam"
Enschede (usually spelled Enschedé at the time)
E.F.C. = Enschedesche Footballclub
Prinses Wilhelmina = Enschedesche Voetbal Vereeniging "Prinses Wilhelmina"
Den Haag (official name: 's-Gravenhage)
Haagsche F.C. = 's-Gravenhaagsche Football-Club [1]
Haarlem
Excelsior = Haarlemsche Football Club "Excelsior"
H.F.C. = Haarlemsche Football-Club
Nijmegen
Gelria = Nijmeegsche Cricket- en Football-Club "Gelria"
Hirunda = Cricket- en Football-Club "Hirunda"
Rotterdam
Concordia = Rotterdamsche Cricket- en Voetbal-Club "Concordia"
Olympia = Rotterdamsche Cricket- en Football-Club "Olympia"
Wageningen
Go Ahead = Wageningsche Cricket- en Football-Club "Go-Ahead"
Zwolle
Wilhelmina = Zwolsche Footballclub "Wilhelmina"
[1] In the issue of the "Nederlandsche Sport" of Oct 6, 1888, the foundation of
the "'s-Gravenhaagsche Football-Club" as merger of the football sides of
the cricket clubs H.C.C. (Haagsche Cricket Club) and Olympia was officially
announced, apparently only as a temporary measure for the winter (football)
season; the club was later also referred to as "Haagsche Voetbalclub"; only
after it was formed again for the 1889/90 season this combined side gradually
became known as H.V.V. (Haagsche Voetbal Vereeniging).
In the issue of the "Nederlandsche Sport" of Jul 7, 1888, D.C. Noppen, captain of V.V.A., and M. Weinthal, captain of Concordia (Rotterdam), jointly published an "Ontwerp-Reglement van den Nederlandsche Voetbal-Bond" in order to establish such a federation; these draft regulations included an official competition, the "Bonds-Matches", set up as a knock-out tournament with clubs from the same city first establishing the best among them, and then those playing the city champions of the same province, before the provincial winners enter the "Hoofdwedstrijden" to determine the best club of the country. Matches were to last 2x45 minutes, with half an hour of extra time in case of a draw after 90 minutes.
However, as only one other club (E.F.C. of Enschede) expressed interest in joining such a national federation, the initiative was not pursued further during the 1888/89 season.
NB: includes matches by reserve sides, but not those involving "adspiranten";
additional information is welcome.
[Aug 26, 1888; Enschede]
Prinses Wilhelmina 8-0 Wilhelmina
[Oct 28, 1888; Feijenoord, Rotterdam]
Concordia 4-0 Excelsior
[Nov 11, 1888; Malieveld, Den Haag]
Haagsche F.C. 1-0 Concordia
[Nov 18, 1888; achter het Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam]
V.V.A. II 1-2 Excelsior
[Nov 18, 1888; Malieveld, Den Haag]
Haagsche F.C. 0-1 H.F.C.
[Nov 25, 1888; Feijenoord, Rotterdam]
Concordia 1-1 V.V.A.
[Dec 2, 1888; Den Haag]
Haagsche F.C. 0-0 V.V.A.
[Dec 2, 1888; Haarlem]
H.F.C. 4-1 Excelsior
[last match Excelsior played in the 1889/90 season]
[Dec 9, 1888; Rotterdam]
Concordia 1-0 H.F.C.
[Dec 16, 1888; Amsterdam]
R.A.P. 0-0 Haagsche F.C.
[Dec 16, 1888; Haarlemmerhout, Haarlem]
H.F.C. 0-0 V.V.A.
[Dec 23, 1888; Koekamp, Haarlem]
H.F.C. 1-1 R.A.P.
[Dec 23, 1888; Rotterdam]
Concordia 4-0 Olympia
[only match Olympia played in the 1889/90 season]
[Dec 26, 1888; achter het Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam]
V.V.A. 0-1 Concordia
NB: at this point, a correspondent of the "Nederlandsche Sport" (presumably
H.E.P. Coops, who signed responsible for standings published during the
1889/90 season) summarised the results among (the first teams of) the
seven active western clubs so far in the following "standings", which
appeared in the Dec 29 issue as the
Uitslag van Voetbalwedstrijden tot nu toe gehouden:
1.Concordia (Rotterdam) 6 4 1 1 11- 2 9
2.H.F.C. (Haarlem) 5 2 2 1 6- 3 6
3.Haagsche F.C. (Den Haag) 4 1 2 1 1- 1 4
4.V.V.A. (Amsterdam) 4 0 3 1 1- 2 3
5.R.A.P. (Amsterdam) 2 0 2 0 1- 1 2
6.Excelsior (Haarlem) 2 0 0 2 1- 8 0
7.Olympia (Rotterdam) 1 0 0 1 0- 4 0
While this is the first (known) published "standings" in Dutch football, it
should be stressed there was no league, no competition and no federation, and
these standings were the product of someone with time on his hands over the
Christmas holidays. They were in no way official. They only drew one, angry
response, by Excelsior captain H.J. Burkens, who complained that their win
against the V.V.A. reserves had not been included.
[Jan 20, 1889; achter sociëteit "De Vereeniging", Nijmegen]
Gelria 1-1 Go Ahead
County Match [Jan 27, 1889; Malieveld, Den Haag]
Zuid-Holland 2-2 Noord-Holland
[Burkens 0-1, L. Weinthal 1-1, H. Bijstra 2-1, Bok 2-2; half-time 2-1]
[Zuid-Holland: Piepers (Hg); Jay (Hg), C. James (Hg); L. van der Schuijt (C),
M. Weinthal (C), H. van der Linden (C); L. Weinthal (c) (C),
W. Paramor (Hg), H. Bijstra (C), H. Schuld (C), Gisolf (Hg);
C = Concordia (Rotterdam); Hg = Haagsche F.C.;
Noord-Holland: Willekens (Hl); Arriëns (Hl), Leestemaker (V);
Van der Waarden (R), Jibben (V), Van Hasselt (R); Bok (Hl),
Van Walchren (Hl), G. Rust (V), Mulier (c) (Hl), Burkens (E);
E = Excelsior; Hl = H.F.C. (Haarlem); R = R.A.P.; V = V.V.A.;
ref: Joh. J. Meijer;
first ever "county" football match in the Netherlands]
[Jan 27, 1889; Wageningen]
Go Ahead II 0-0 Hirunda [both fielded 8 players]
[Feb 17, 1889; achter het Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam]
V.V.A. 1-1 R.A.P.
[Feb ?, 1889; Amsterdam]
R.A.P. 0-0 H.F.C.
[this match was neither announced in the "Nederlandsche Sport" nor reported
upon; that is was played can only be inferred from the standings published
on Dec 29 and Apr 20 and a chance remark at the end of the report on the
match between V.V.A. and H.F.C. played on Mar 10, where it is stated that
prior to that match, "Haarlem" had drawn its previous three matches ("na
drie onbesliste matches"); the most likely match date is Feb 24]
[Feb 24, 1889; Planten- en Vogelentuin, Arnhem]
Arnhem/Velp XI 0-5 Go Ahead
[Feb 24, 1889; Feijenoord, Rotterdam]
Concordia 1-0 Haagsche F.C.
[Mar 3, 1889; Den Haag]
Haagsche F.C. 1-0 R.A.P.
[Mar 10, 1889; achter het Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam]
V.V.A. 1-0 H.F.C.
County Match [Mar 31, 1889; achter het Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam]
Noord-Holland 4-0 Zuid-Holland
[Bok 1-0, G. Rust 2-0; second half scorers unknown; half-time: 2-0;
return game for the first match on Jan 27]
After the football season was concluded, the same correspondent who had
produced the standings over Christmas published, in the Apr 20 issue of
the "Nederlandsche Sport", an "Overzicht van Voetbal matches 1888-1889":
1.Concordia (Rotterdam) 7 5 1 1 12- 2 11
2.H.F.C. (Haarlem) 7 2 3 2 6- 4 7
3.Haagsche F.C. (Den Haag) 6 2 2 2 2- 2 6
V.V.A. (Amsterdam) 6 1 4 1 3- 3 6
5.R.A.P. (Amsterdam) 5 0 4 1 2- 3 4
6.Excelsior (Haarlem) 2 0 0 2 1- 8 0
7.Olympia (Rotterdam) 1 0 0 1 0- 4 0
This is sometimes taken as the standings of an (unfinished) league, but
there was no league and no competition, and no serious standings of any
such should have included the results of Excelsior and Olympia, neither
of which had played after their devastating December derby defeats; if
we ignore their results, the five most active clubs would be ranked as:
1.Concordia (Rotterdam) 5 3 1 1 4- 2 7
2.Haagsche F.C. (Den Haag) 6 2 2 2 2- 2 6
V.V.A. (Amsterdam) 6 1 4 1 3- 3 6
4.H.F.C. (Haarlem) 6 1 3 2 2- 3 5
5.R.A.P. (Amsterdam) 5 0 4 1 2- 3 4
Cross-Table: home records: away records:
Con Haa VVA HFC RAP HP HW HD HL HF HA HPts AP AW AD AL AF AA APts
Concordia xxx 1-0 1-1 1-0 3 2 1 0 3- 1 5 2 1 0 1 1- 1 2
Haagsche 1-0 xxx 0-0 0-1 1-0 4 2 1 1 2- 1 5 2 0 1 1 0- 1 1
V.V.A. 0-1 xxx 1-0 1-1 3 1 1 1 2- 2 1 3 0 3 0 1- 1 3
H.F.C. 0-0 xxx 1-1 2 0 2 0 1- 1 2 4 1 1 2 1- 2 3
R.A.P. 0-0 0-0 xxx 2 0 2 0 0- 0 2 3 0 2 1 2- 3 2
Note that only 13 goals were scored in 14 matches between these clubs,
while no club succeeded in scoring two goals in any of them – a truly
binary set of results.
NB: only for clubs to have met home and away.
Concordia/Haagsche F.C.
1.Concordia (Rotterdam) 2 1 0 1 1- 1 2
Haagsche F.C. (Den Haag) 2 1 0 1 1- 1 2
Concordia/V.V.A.
1.Concordia (Rotterdam) 2 1 1 0 2- 1 3
2.V.V.A. (Amsterdam) 2 0 1 1 1- 2 1
H.F.C./R.A.P.
1.H.F.C. (Haarlem) 2 0 2 0 1- 1 2
R.A.P. (Amsterdam) 2 0 2 0 1- 1 2
H.F.C./V.V.A.
1.V.V.A. (Amsterdam) 2 1 1 0 1- 0 3
2.H.F.C. (Haarlem) 2 0 1 1 0- 1 1
Haagsche F.C./R.A.P.
1.Haagsche F.C. (Den Haag) 2 1 1 0 1- 0 3
2.R.A.P. (Amsterdam) 2 0 1 1 0- 1 1
Noord-Holland/Zuid-Holland ("county matches")
1.Noord-Holland 2 1 1 0 6- 2 3
2.Zuid-Holland 2 0 1 1 2- 6 1
list of first class champions.
Main source: "Nederlandsche Sport" (available through Delpher)
Prepared and maintained by Karel Stokkermans for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Author: Karel Stokkermans
(karel.rsssf@gmail.com)
Last updated: 9 Oct 2023
(C) Copyright Karel Stokkermans and RSSSF 2023
You are free to copy this document in whole or part provided that proper
acknowledgement is given to the author. All rights reserved.