The Hollandia International Soccer Club
One of Saskatchewan’s most successful Clubs originated with Dutch immigrants
A beginning in the 50’s
George Vanderploeg in Saskatoon, Canada founded the original Hollandia Soccer Club in 1955. At this time, all players were Dutch immigrants who had come to Saskatoon from the Netherlands, commonly known as Holland.
In 1957 the Hollandia team entered the Saskatoon Senior Soccer League along with United, Corinthians and RCAF. Hollandia finished fourth in the league that year. Members of that team included Robert Terstall, Henk Dykstra, Peter Vogel, Martin and John Nyssen Ben Piggelen and Henk Ruys, for whom the indoor soccer centre in Saskatoon is now named.
Club records show a formal board and officers dating back to 1955. Records of annual meetings and elections were recorded in a diary in Dutch until 1955, after which time records were kept in English. As is today, members of the Hollandia Board also took an active role in the development of soccer in the community. The original coach was George Vanderploeg, and in 1957 the coaching responsibility was passed on to Henk Ruys.
Most games were played at Mayfair Park, which is now known as Newsham. On August 22nd 1957, Hollandia was involved in an historical brawl with United, fans and officials. This brawl was reported in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, the local daily newspaper.
During the fifties, the large-scale immigration of Dutch people allowed for the team to consist only of players from the Netherlands, and during the indoor season two teams were formed. Soccer at the time was a very low profile sport, and only about fiver per cent of the players in the league were Canadian, the balance being made up of immigrant from various parts of Europe.
1958 saw the formation of an additional outdoor league known as the Saskatchewan Intercity League, which included teams from three cities. Hollandia along with United were the two Saskatoon teams in the six-team league. These teams participated in both a local league and the inter city league, which played weekend
games.
During this season, a Saskatchewan All-Star team played against a touring Austrian team. The much-publicized event attracted two thousand people to Griffith’s Stadium at the University of Saskatchewan, only to see the home side soundly beaten by a score of 13-0.
Around 1959, many players started switching teams in order to put together winning combinations. The Hollandia players did not follow this trend, and consequently saw a decline in their league standings.
The 60’s: No longer only for the Dutch!
In 1961, the Saskatoon Soccer League became the Northern Saskatchewan Soccer League, and Hollandia was a part of this league. In 1962 Hollandia experienced one of its most successful years by going undefeated. This was the Club’s first title since its inception in 1955. Hollandia also won the President’s Cup in this season, and went to the Provincial Championship final where they lost to Regina Concordia. This newfound success was partially due to the decision to allow players other than those of Dutch decent on the team.
In keeping with the new identity of the club, Hollandia changed it’s name to Internationals, and the team entered the Western Canadian League, which included Regina Concordia; Edelweiss, Hungaria and Rangers from Edmonton; Atco and Croatia from Calgary and Hungaria from Lethbridge. Martin Nyssen and Henk Ruys were original Hollandia players with Internationals.
Internationals continued to experience success through the mid 1960’s, winning the President’s cup in 1964. In 1965 the Western Canadian League was discontinued as a result of poor fan attendance, and International reverted to the Northern Saskatchewan Soccer League.
A year later, the Western Canadian league was resurrected with only one Saskatoon team involved. This team was made up of the best players in Saskatoon, and was known as Saskatoon City. Henk Ruys represented Internationals on this squad. Internationals won the President’s Cup again in 1965, and in the same year Henk Ruys was elected President of the Northern Saskatchewan Soccer League. The next year Henk was elected Secretary/Treasurer of the NSSL and President of the Saskatchewan Minor Soccer Association.
In 1968 the University of Saskatchewan joined the NSSL. The board of directors were successful in obtaining dressing rooms for the two newly built fields at Mayfair that are now known as David Newsham fields. These fields were used for all levels of soccer, including high school games.
The decade of success- and disbanding
In 1970 Internationals won it’s first Provincial Shield, and in 1971 it won two of the four trophies. In 1972 the Provincial shield was won again by Internationals, and this proved to be the last time in that era that the Shield was won by Internationals. The senior team was disbanded in 1976.
The 90’s – A new era
In the early 90's, three youth players approached Terry Rule about forming a new team. Terry Rule subsequently approached Huw Morris to coach the team. The initial meeting was held at Evan Hardy Collegiate, and Hollandia was chosen as the team name on the suggestion of Robbie Pastoor who was of Dutch origin. Players were recruited from various parts of the city, and formed the basis of what was to become a very successful team through the early 1990's.
Marion Hind was instrumental in affiliating the Hollandia team with the Silverwood Community Association. A group consisting of Janet Lindsay, Huw Morris, Owen Jubinville, Ray Carrie and others who were involved in the Silverwood Community Association, approached Henk Ruys and the Netherlands society for financing to form the Hollandia Youth Club.
Denard Lynch was the President, and his children were later all to become well known Saskatoon players. The original number of teams was three, but this number increased significantly every year. In 1992 Owen Jubinville became President, and his daughter Jen was later to play for the University of Saskatchewan and is now a coach with Hollandia.
By 1994, the number of teams had increased to 22. In the mean time, Huw Morris’s original Under 16 squad had been transformed into a senior team that played in the Saskatoon and District Soccer League, and which was very successful in 1993, winning all four major trophies.
The club was now too large to continue operating as it had, and it was restructured in 1994 when Jim Bonny became president. For the first time the board of directors included technical positions with Janet Lindsay as Head Coach and Percy Hoff, whom had originally been one of the founding members of the Valley Soccer Association joining as Technical Director. A decision was made that the official colours of the club were to be blue white and orange.
In 1994, Percy Hoff was appointed Head Coach at the University of Saskatchewan. The University Huskies players, along with a few non-students were kept together during the summer, and participated in the Saskatoon and District Soccer Association League as the Hollandia Huskies. In it’s first year this senior team finished second in the Provincial Championships, then won two Provincial Championships and represented the Province at Club Nationals in Edmonton and Winnipeg.
In 1996, Saskatoon Youth Soccer introduced a zoning by- law, meaning that players could only play for teams from the area in which they resided. Five zones were established: on the east side Aurora, Lakewood and Eastside, on the west, Saskatoon United Soccer Club, and Hollandia in the north part of the city. The zones each had technical directors, and people like Klaas Post, Peter Reichert, Colin Melnyk, Huw Morris and Percy Hoff and John Farnan the Technical Director for the Saskatchewan Soccer Association often met to discuss means of improving the standard of soccer in the Province.
This was to have a huge impact on the Hollandia Club, and was a major turning point in its history. For the first time, Hollandia would oversee development at all levels. The club formed teams in all three divisions and age groups offered by Saskatoon Youth Soccer. Growth in the area was massive as the club continued to attract players at an outstanding rate. With a strong technical and developmental focus Hollandia teams at all levels performed very well with representation at all the city and provincial championship tournaments.
A number of Hollandia’s division two and three teams have won the championships in their age groups for many years. The division one boy’s teams adopted the name of Hollandia Gremio and were to win many provincial titles during this period, including a run of consecutive indoor and outdoor Provincial Final appearances that dated from 1195 to 2000. The girl’s division 1 teams typically adopted the Hollandia Tigers name and have won 6 Provincial titles.
In 1997 Brett Mario succeeded Jim Bonny as President, and continues in this role. Jim Bonny continued to serve as treasurer until 2001, and Percy Hoff continues as Technical Director. Janet Lindsay has since moved to Ontario. The board of directors now consists of 24 positions and has incorporated mini, youth and senior soccer, in the effort to continue the development of the sport.
The new millennium- Re-emergence of a senior team?
In the 2001 outdoor season, Hollandia youth teams won three of the six youth provincial championships and represented Saskatchewan at Club Nationals in Edmonton and Montreal. Although technically competent, Hollandia players also earned respect in sportsmanship, with two of those three teams winning the National Fair Play Awards for their age groups.
Hollandia players continue to show their ability with the appearance of many players on Provincial teams, and also at Regional and National training camps. Amy Vermuelen , Kerr McLeod and Keegan Thomas all earned places on Canadian national teams and represented their country in international games.
Senior Hollandia teams are on the verge of reappearing, with the Under 18 Gremio boy’s team, and the Under 18 Tigers girl’s team now participating in the Saskatoon Premier League. The club now boasts 45 teams and continues to grow each season. The question becomes,” Where do we go from here?” Hollandia’s commitment to development remains as strong today as it ever was as we continue the effort to attract top quality coaching staff at all levels to the club continues. The need to complete the circle and add the senior element that has been missing since 1976 is now a major priority.
The club’s commitment to developing a senior program is stronger than ever and the goal is simple: Once players have been developed and completed a successful youth career, they need senior teams of various levels to graduate to. Hollandia will be a club where people can be involved for as long as they want. Present youth players will become coaches, managers and senior players of the future. Certainly many will move on and away, but they will always know that if the opportunity ever presents itself, there will be a place for them and their children to play and learn the game we all love.
The modern Dutch connection
Although the Club is now totally Canadianized, strong ties still exist with the Netherlands. Club Technical Director has attend coaching courses in Zeist, and holds a KNVB International Trainers Certificate, and Nico Labohm of the KNVB travelled to Saskatoon in the summer of 199 to educate the Hollandia coaches and work with some of the players. In the summer of 2000, Percy Hoff accompanied three players, David Conway, Adam Dziadyk and Bredan Garritty to attend a KNVB sponsored training camp at Maasdam, near Rotterdam. Percy and the players developed long lasting friendships with families in the Maasdam area, and continue to follow Feyenoord’s successes in the Dutch Eredivisie. In May of 2002, the Under 18 Hollandia boy’s team will attend a tournament hosted by SV Bon Boys in Haaksbergen, in the North of the Netherlands, near Enschede.
Acknowledgement
This history of Hollandia International Soccer Club was compiled by Percy Hoff, based on information supplied by Henk Ruys, Jon Nichols, Huw Morris, Terry Rule, and Owen Jubinville.