SVV ’04 is ultimately the best, perhaps happiest, in the ‘oil derby’ of Schoonebeek with a 2-1 score. The merged club from the village of the same name wins seven kilometers away in Nieuw Schoonebeek against the club that bears the name Schoonebeek. A bit complicated for the non-expert, but at De Gruinte sports park the football people don’t know any better.
The Border Region derby, the Oil derby, the Yes-Knikkers derby, give it a name. Schoonebeek and Nieuw Schoonebeek each have their own football pride. The place of action is the main field of the vv Schoonebeek, located in Nieuw Schoonebeek. The green and red host will receive the black and white striped of SVV ’04 this afternoon and those letters stand for Schoonebeekse Voetbal Vereniging. The club, resulting from the merger between Sportclub Oranje and Minjak. For example, René Hake and Erik Regtop once played for this. Hake, currently head coach of Go Ahead and Regtop, trainer in Swiss football, still visit their old club and hometown where possible.
De Gruinte Sports Park. This suddenly came into disrepute this week when RTV Drenthe reported on their site that VV Schoonebeek was angry with the KNVB because football had to be played and trained on terribly poor fields. Puddles of water, blubber, it would no longer be possible, as trainer Jorden Abel van Schoonebeek thought in that article. That calls for enquiries. Chairman Richard Eising seems uncomfortable. “I wasn’t there when this was said from the club. I can tell you now, this article would not have existed if I had been there. In short: I’m unhappy with it. Our fields were in bad shape, that’s true. But the same was the case with all football clubs in our area. Just too much rain in too short a time. Thanks to drainage from ditches in the area and better drainage, everything is now in order again. A storm in a teacup, we should not have communicated this as such.”
From rainwater to oil. Recently, State Secretary Hans Vijlbrief of Mining launched the plan to compensate the residents of Schoonebeek with one euro per barrel of oil pumped if the people agree to renewed oil extraction from the wells of Schoonebeek. A proposal that caused quite a stir in the South Drenthe village. Eising, from vv Schoonebeek, is also done with that quickly. “For us in Nieuw Schoonebeek it is not an issue at all, we as a community fall outside of it. So you should be with the people of SVV ’04. Those people also mainly shrug their shoulders. “Well, first of all, the question is whether the people of Schoonebeek are happy with all this. We notice that there is no clear answer to this. There are people for it, there are people against it. We at the football club do not feel called upon to take a position on this from the club, let alone make it public. It’s all premature, it’s been overblown and what should we as SVV ’04 do with it? Will we suddenly become a rich club with all that pumped oil and all those promised euros? Stop it, of course not. We want to earn points on the football field, especially this afternoon in the great derby against neighborhood club Schoonebeek.”
That wish comes true, albeit with some luck and not without effort. The match in the third division is mainly one of collecting points against relegation for both clubs. And the family ties. Surnames such as Striper and Slomp appear in the line-ups at both clubs. It is all closely interwoven in the region. It is a derby, but in the boardroom it is mainly jolly and friendly humor that predominates. Things are no different on the field for at least eighty minutes. Arbitrator Reints only has to intervene a few times in the final phase when players attack each other more vigorously. That’s why they are 22 hard-working, but friendly yes-men who never make it difficult for the referee.
Halftime comes at 1-1, after goals from Sander Kocks (SVV ’04) and Niek Huser on behalf of the home team. After the break it is SVV ’04 that decides the derby. Now it is another Kocks, named Arjan, who scores. “And the Kocks are from a Catholic background, so not Reformed,” a supporter of SVV ’04 thinks it would be nice to add to this success.
The match ends and hands are shaken. Not good, but exciting is the general summary. The team from Schoonebeek is moving up thanks to those three points, while vv Schoonebeek has to look downwards. “Oh yes, we have Bert te Velde, who came from Klazienaveen, our successor to Jorden Abel who is leaving for Ruinen,” says chairman Eising. Of which note, that beer tap can be opened. Beer, the oil for football fans….