With a big smile on his face, HOVC chairman Harold Enting shows the new logo and the new shirt of his club. The new-fangled second division team from Odoorn is ready for the upcoming season. At least, almost done.
HOC merged with Valther Boys this summer. This means that another club has merged into the (former) Hunso – Oring – Combinatie (HOC), which has been a merger club of the football clubs Hunso (Odoorn) and Oring (Exloo) since 2013. “The V of Valther Boys has been added. From now on it is HOVC,” says Enting.
The new HOVC will play (for the first time) in the second division. HOC achieved a historic promotion after the play-offs last season, and according to the chairman, this is partly due to the earlier merger in 2013. “At the time, both clubs were fifth graders. Now we have ended up in the second division as one association,” he says. pride.
Nevertheless, a merger is always sensitive, Enting acknowledges: “A merger brings about a lot. That is partly because many people are against football disappearing from a village. We also experienced this in 2013 in Odoorn and Exloo. “
Valther Boys just couldn’t get out of it. “The number of members in terms of youth was already significantly lower than desired. In addition, Valther Boys also had difficulty manning the senior teams,” explains the chairman.
He therefore calls the merger a good step. “We are a growing association. Everyone from outside Odoorn, Exloo and Valthe will come this way. You can see that now.” With seven senior teams, a 35+ team and a thriving women’s section, you won’t hear Enting complaining. After the merger, HOVC has more than 450 members.
And by ‘this side’, the chairman means the outdated Harm Kuiper Sportpark in Odoorn. He assumes that the people in Valthe will also remain involved with the club. “Due to the upcoming renovation of the Harm Kuiper Sportpark (from HOC, ed.), we and the supporters are actually lucky that we have to move to Exloo and Valthe to play football there. We have all the volunteers and the public from all three clubs will also simply be needed in the future.”
The association has been working on the major renovation project of the sports park for some time: “Last year the municipality of Borger-Odoorn released money for this. Due to circumstances in the world market we are short of money. The new council has yet to make a decision about that extra pennies.” The entire sports park will then be overhauled, including the access roads. Enting expects that the shovel will go into the ground in March 2023 and that the ball will roll in 2024 at the renovated Harm Kuiper Sportpark. Until then, HOVC will complete its training sessions and competitions on the existing fields in Valthe and Exloo.
Finally, the signs from HOC still have to be replaced by those from HOVC before that time. “That order is now with our printer and I just received a message that the billboards will be delivered on September 16,” says Enting with a laugh.
And then we have to wait for the new shirts, tracksuits, walk-in shirts, bags, et cetera. “Everything still has to be provided with the right logos, numbers and sponsors. That is a lot of work, which the printer is busy with.” So busy in fact that the first official game of HOVC (on September 4 in the cup against VV Emmen) will still be played in the yellow black of HOC. After that, the men of HOVC will be put in the new, and according to the chairman already familiar, blue-black.