The football players of RBC have succeeded in promoting for the third time in a row. The former professional club from Roosendaal – who descended to the bottom regions of amateur football in 2011 after a bankruptcy – will therefore be released in the third division next football season. That is the fourth level in the Netherlands. RBC lost the second final match against the Rotterdam XerxesDZB 2-0 on Saturday, but RBC had already won the first game 5-0 at home at home.
The promotion for RBC was never in danger on Saturday. Xerxes only took the lead five minutes after the break via Semmo van Loon. The 2-0 for Xerxes, via Harold Vrolijk, fell ten minutes before the end of the game. The game was stopped for a moment in the second half because of unfriendliness between the two supporters groups.
This season, RBC finished third in the fourth division C. That was not enough for direct promotion to the third division. But thanks to a replacement period title, the club was allowed to compete for promotion via the play-offs.
“With such a supporters they have to be able to participate at the highest amateur level.”
Former Succestrainer Robert Maaskant from RBC thinks it is fantastic to see how ‘his’ club lives in the city after years. “I really hope that in the coming years RBC will reach the Second Division – the highest amateur level in the Netherlands -” he told XerxesDZB for the first game. “With such a supporters they have to be able to participate at the highest amateur level.”
Within the club there is the dream to ever return to professional football. “RBC against NAC, would that be very nice?”, Vice -president Eric Konings of RBC already mused on Wednesday. “But our first goal is to get the top of amateur football. There is a lot involved. There are plenty of challenges for us as an organization with volunteers. But whoever I also spoke in the Kelder. Played now.
After the bankruptcy in 2011, RBC made a restart in the fifth class of amateur football, that is the ninth level of the Netherlands. Two years later, the club crowned itself as champions. In 2017, RBC became champion in the fourth class. In 2020 the step to the second class followed and in April 2023 promotion to the first class became a fact. Last year the club also became champion there and so the club ended up in the fourth division.