Love for football led to the foundation of (then) HFC Rapiditas in 1905. Now, 117 years later, that same love leads to a documentary about the still-living club. Love and a little coincidence. Because if club archivist Hans Swierstra hadn’t printed a commemorative book by filmmaker Maurice Raemakers, then ‘SC ‘t Gooi, an eventful history’ may never have come.
It is the daughter of Raemakers, who ensures that he gets involved with SC ‘t Gooi. She plays soccer there and he takes on some volunteer duties. As a result, he also gets in touch with 83-year-old Swierstra. He has pledged his heart to the club all his life and through his stories awakens Raemakers’ interest: that history must be recorded. Now, from the mouth of the enthusiastic club archivist.
The history of the club runs parallel to the origin of competition football in the Netherlands. HFC Rapiditas starts as a local club, founded by teenagers and playing on farmers’ grasslands. If they register with the football association, the name has to change, because a Rapiditas is already registered there. From that moment on, the club is called HVV ‘t Gooi, which later changes to SC ‘t Gooi.
“Look, there you have Cruijff… I still hung that lighting over him”
Not only does the documentary touch on the origins of professional football, other developments are also intertwined with the local club. For example, there is a chairman with a very well-known name: John de Mol, the father of the current media man. And the Hilversum architect Dudok designed the stand. A present are the images of a still very young Johan Cruijff, who comes to open the just completed site. It provides a beautiful image of time.
The war years are a bleak period in the club’s history. The Hilversum NSB mayor Ernst von Bönninghausen forbade Jews to be present at the sports park. Many members resigned out of solidarity. The four Cohen brothers play at the club. Three of them play in the first team. They go into hiding. Except for Nathan Cohen; he complied with the duty to report and boarded the train to Poland with his suitcase. He won’t return.
Watch the part of the documentary about the war years here:
The war years of SC ‘t Gooi – fragment from the documentary – NH Nieuws
The sporting peak of the club is reached in 1959. Then SC ‘t Gooi wins the championship. Original footage shows how this is celebrated by cheering supporters on the field and afterwards in Hilversum.
Women football
It goes a bit less for a while, but the introduction of women’s football leads to SC ‘t Gooi revives. According to Swierstra, it is the rescue of the club; currently there are more women and girls than men and boys.
Watch the entire documentary below:
220406_DOCU_SC_t_Gooi – NH News
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