Lost Grounds: Oosterparkstadion, Groningen
What do Johan Cruijff, Ronald and Erwin Koeman and Arjen Robben in common? They all made their debut in professional football at the Oosterpark.
Today we are visiting the old ground of FC Groningen, the mythical Oosterparkstadion. It was in use from 1933 to 2005 and ultimately demolished in 2007. This hits close to home as it is the stadium I grew up in. And in this article I will take you through the history of this stadium from the beginning to the end.
The beginning
It all started in 1933 when a few playing fields were assigned at the Zaagmuldersweg in the Oosterparkwijk or at that time better known as “plan Oost” and the local football club BRC (Blauw Rood Combinatie) started playing on these fields. A year later GVAV (the predecessor of FC Groningen) joined BRC on Sportpark Oosterpark.
At first it wasn’t much more than that. A few playing fields. The first stand was built in 1937 and 524 people could be seated. Up to until after the war not much of significance happens so we are making a jump in the timeline to right after the war ended.
Oosterparkers & GVAV
On the 18th of may 1945 just 13 days after the liberation of The Netherlands the three clubs of ‘Plan Oost’ BRC, Groen Wit and Oostelijke Boys merged to form the club Oosterparkers.
Because of the attention the club was getting it was decided to place a wooden stand and just three years later in 1948 the first two concrete standing terraces were built in the Oosterparkstadion. Now we are starting to see a proper stadium with a capacity of almost 15000 people. And this was needed badly since De Oosterparkers attracted loads of people. In the early years of the 1950’s were the glory years of the club as they promoted to the ‘eerste klasse’ (now known as Eredivisie).
Apart from De Oosterparkers, GVAV was also playing at the Oosterparkstadion. GVAV was promoted to the ‘eerste klasse’ in 1956 and had the wish to increase the capacity to around 20000 people. As football was growing bigger and bigger in Groningen. The municipality was positive to increasing the capacity and prived 300 000 guldens at the time. However, in 1957 due to budget cuts it all took longer and eventually in 1959 the stadium capacity was finally increased. The Oosterparkstadion was now housing 20000 people.
In 1960 the capacity was further increased by erecting a stand behind one of the goals. This stand will grow out to be the home of the fanatic supporters called the Z-Side. Just one year later in 1961 a stand was erected at the other goal at the Parkzijde. The capacity was still 20000 people where around 10000 were seated, although this number was rarely reached in games.
We are making a little jump to 1964 as not much happened in the years prior. This year all fields were made into one sportpark and was only accessible through the main gate which said ‘STADION OOSTERPARK’.
FC Groningen
Due to financial troubles at GVAV and them suggesting all the best players from non league clubs go to GVAV as they were the only league club left in Groningen most of the non league clubs didn’t agree with this. After a lot of bickering and negotiations the municipality and clubs agreed on the condition that this should be a new club which is for everyone in Groningen. This is how FC Groningen was founded on the 16th of june 1971.
Although the club as we know it today formed due to financial troubles it did not mean these were over just yet. End of May 1972 Groningen had a shortage of at least one million guldens. And to make matters worse the first relegation of the club was a fact in the season 73/74. Now the club was almost doomed to stop existing however the municipality jumped in a second time as they saw the value of a professional football club in the city.
Finally, after six long years in the Eerste divisie Groningen was promoted back to the Eredivisie again and a time of glory started. In 1983 was the first time Groningen made their entrance to the European ground. Where they played heroic matches against clubs like Atletico Madrid (3-0) and Internazionale (2-0). People who were at those matches are still speaking about how crazy this was. This time went on for a few years with standings in the top 5 of the Eredivisie. However, in 1989 the chairman of Groningen told the press that ‘The sword of Damascus’ is hanging above the club (and yes he really said it like that). Turns out the FIOD (Dutch Tax information and investigation) decided to have a look at the finances of FC Groningen and to their surprise the club was paying players without the mandatory taxes. Eventually the chairman Renze de Vries went to jail for 8 months but only served 5 days due to his health. Always claiming he did not make any personal gain because of what he did and did it out of love for the club.
Hans Nijland and ‘de Euroborg’
In 1996 when FC Groningen was more dead than alive Hans Nijland was appointed chairman of the club. And basically, the one man who made it possible to have a new stadium in Groningen. Just for the simple reason the Oosterparkstadium was outdated and in the Oosterpark was no room for growth as a club where there was at the new stadium called the Euroborg at the edge of the city. This stadium was opened in on the 18th of January 2006 with a match against our rivals SC Heerenveen. FC Groningen won 3-0.
Nowadays there are modern houses with some remembrance of the old stadium. Like a mural in a flat and all the streetnames are named after former star players like Piet Franssen, or named after the stands. like Langezijde and Parkzijde
But, even still to this day although we all knew it was for the best. The famous Oosterparkstadion is still missed.
