Groundtastic GT23 | Page 70

Dutch Tour Estadio no doubt by the nicer colour scheme of dark blue seats complimented with lettering in yellow and a bit of red and white. The main stand has a small second tier with the remainder of the stadium being a single tier. Between Breda and Rotterdam is Dordrecht, once home to four clubs that held places in the Dutch League. One of the biggest sides was Emma who were founded in 1911. In 1996 Emma merged with two other Dordrecht teams, ODS and ASW, to become FC Breeland. The new club continues to play at the home of Emma but recent redevelopment work means that the sole surviving structure at the ground is the magnificent main stand. Built in 1948, the stand features a combination of wooden benches and plastic seats. The pagoda-style roof is covered in roofing tiles and even features a chimney at one end! (See photo) A satellite town of Rotterdam is Schiedam. Here is to found the Harga Sportpark. This is an amazing sporting estate with numerous football grounds and a plethora of other sporting clubs. The whole thing is incredibly well-kept with not a blade of grass in the entire complex left uncut. One of the grounds at Harga Sportpark belongs to SVV, founded in 1904 the club were originally called Excelsior, then Voorwaarts and then SVV. SVV became Dutch champions in 1949 when a Dutch record crowd of 69,500 saw them play Heerenveen at Feyenoord’s De Kuip. SVV left the professional ranks in 1992 and in 1998 merged with SMC to become SVVSMC. They were promoted to the Hoofdklasse Amateurs last season. The ground of SVVSMC has a large main stand along one side and eight steps of framework concrete terracing along two others. (See photo) Groundtastic page 70 Issue 23