It is the 'Mother of all Derbies', orange-black against blue-white, neighbour against neighbour and a battle between two (former) amateur champions. The match between Katwijkse Voetbalvereniging (K.V.V.) Quick Boys and Voetbalvereniging (VV) Katwijk is always one with a charged atmosphere, which is intensely experienced both on and off the pitch.
Kwie-boois
Before the first meeting between the two, which surprisingly did not take place until 1989, one club ruled Katwijk's football landscape. Quick Boys, the representative of Katwijk aan Zee, was founded in 1920 in the herring shed of shipping company Kleen in the heart of the village by seven friends. The group was eventually reduced to six when one founder failed to pay dues and was expelled just a week after the founding.
Quick Boys, or Kwie-boois in Katwijk vernacular, did not wait long before it made its mark on Dutch football. In the 1940s, the club celebrated championship after championship and became the overall Saturday champions four times. The club established itself as one of the biggest amateur clubs in the Netherlands and still firmly holds that reputation almost a century later.
With more sponsors than any other amateur club, a renowned youth academy and a sports complex that can accommodate as many as 8,400 spectators, K.V.V. Quick Boys is arguably the biggest amateur club in the country. But with an ailing recent past, which included missing out on the highest amateur title, the title of biggest club in Katwijk looked like it slipped out of its hands.
The blue-white team, which plays hidden in Katwijk's sandy dunes, turned their fate around last season, however. After becoming phenoms in the KNVB Beker, in which they eliminated Eredivisie teams Almere City, Fortuna Sittard, and Heerenveen, Quick Boys won the Tweede Divisie and became national champions once again.
Kattuk
Founded in the late 1930s as civil servants' club ASV and renamed in 1945 as the still-famous VV Katwijk; the club from self-founded Katwijk-Noord had a slower start than its blue-and-white neighbour. Unlike Quick Boys, VV Katwijk, or Kattuk, was a club where you went to play football for fun. And that can be seen in the club's standing until the 1980s.
For forty years, the puny VV Katwijk dangled in the lower regions of Dutch amateur football. The fourth division seemed to be the ceiling for the Krombewoners, but the tide turned in the 1980s. The ambition to become a big league club was loudly declared by Katwijk in 1985, after the move to Sportpark De Krom, and within just four years, the club succeeded. From the fourth division to the big league: VV Katwijk was alive and kicking.
The first heyday in the early 1990s, when two league titles in a row were captured, was later followed by multiple titles in the Topklasse and eventually the Tweede Divisie. VV Katwijk came from little, but in forty years have emerged as the absolute top dogs of amateur football.
The blue and white cane
"The special thing about the derby: we have seen that rivalry grow from the ground up," says Henk Kasius, VV Katwijk fan and sports reporter for the regional newspaper Leidsch Dagblad.
"The first derby between Katwijk and Quick Boys was only played in 1989 for the simple reason that the two never got in each other's way. The first derbies were really still the big brother against the little sister."
The league titles for Katwijk in 1993 and 1994, which immediately followed Quick Boys' successive league titles, were, according to Henk, the starting signal for Katwijk to move away from the big brother from the south.
Also read: Fairytale by the Sea: Quick Boys are living everyone's dream after historic cup win
It manifested itself, among other things, in the creation of 'Katwijk-Noord', the part of Katwijk aan Zee above the Rhine. The hardcore of VV Katwijk coined the term 'Katwijk-Noord' to separate themselves from Quick Boys' Katwijk aan Zee. The influence reached far: Katwijk-Noord is now a recognised core of the municipality of Katwijk.
The relations have changed in the meantime, as can be seen in the different perceptions between generations. Henk still knows VV Katwijk as Quick Boys' little sister, but his children know no better than that Katwijk played above Quick Boys in the football pyramid.
"For my generation, it's rebellion, but a lot has changed with the Topklasse," he says.
Prior to the 2010/11 season, the KNVB introduced a new layer in the football pyramid: the Topklasse. The first four clubs from the various premier classes would promote to the Topklasse. VV Katwijk succeeded, but Quick Boys did not. For the first time, Quick Boys played second fiddle in its own town.
However, the fact that the children of the town know no better than that Katwijk is the bigger team does not bother them. When Henk's then three-year-old daughter was given drink at a restaurant, the usually friendly girl shouted, "I don't want that!" - the reason being the bottle contained a blue and white straw, the colours of Quick Boys.
"Most people would rather have Katwijk, which has always remained that people's club where you are always welcome, received normally, and everyone has continued to act normally, than big Quick Boys, which, in that area, in terms of reception, appearance, and how they act, is really the big club," Henk continued.
"They radiate: 'How nice that you get to play football here!' With us it's: 'Come and play some football and then we'll have a beer afterwards.' I find Quick Boys an incredibly fascinating p*ssy club."
Catching up
"It's the match of the year. Nothing beats the derby. No Klassieker, no Champions League final; nothing."
These are the words of Omroep West reporter and Quick Boys supporter Gert Barnhoorn.
"Especially the editions at Nieuw-Zuid, because you have that beautiful complex there. That gives just that little bit more. In terms of history and location, Quick Boys-Katwijk is the game. I think Katwijk supporters are willing to admit that too."
Gert, unlike Henk, is not of the generation that has always seen Quick Boys dominate. At 23, the young Katwijk native is used to the orange-black club being the bigger one.
"I think Quick Boys know that they should be above Katwijk in terms of history. It has been very frustrating that Katwijk were so above that. Quick Boys have lived below their standards for a number of years, I think everyone agrees.
Especially on the south side, where everyone has known for several years anyway that Katwijk are doing better. There is some catching up to do, I think that's the feeling. Surely they want to continue the trend of 2023 and 2024 and try to finish above Katwijk."
The 2022-23 season became the first since 2003-04 that Quick Boys managed to win both games at Katwijk. Moreover, Quick Boys also once again finished above Katwijk, who had captured the previous two league titles in the Tweede Divisie.
"That was such a liberation for many supporters. It was insane how much was released, how quickly the supporters came onto the pitch; you noticed how much it meant. That was very important for Quick Boys."
"Last time before the derby, you already had the game between the Quick Boys reserves and VV Katwijk reserves on Wednesday, they played that at Nieuw-Zuid, and the wind was favourable, so I heard everything from home. It's a good five-minute cycle anyway, so when you have that already with the second team, it says it all," says Gert, who has been blue and white loyal since childhood.
"I don't know any better. I was ten in 2010, that was the last time Quick Boys beat Katwijk before 2022. But that's how you are brought up. You just know that orange-black is the wrong side, the wrong colour. You don't buy orange clothes. If you have black socks or black shoes under it, you have problems when you walk in Katwijk-Zuid."
Compulsory bus ride
Saturday's derby at Nieuw-Zuid also offers away fans another opportunity to show up. Since the 2021-22 season, away supporters were no longer welcome at matches between clubs from Katwijk and Rijnsburg. This is due to the persistent nuisance caused by the supporter groups, which often leads to disagreements.
From last season onwards, it is even up to the clubs to decide how to deal with away fans. Quick Boys have decided to welcome away fans at the sports complex again, but have drawn up the necessary rules to do so: no face coverings are allowed, alcohol is prohibited, and fireworks are out of the question.
To top it all off, there is a compulsory, organised bus ride for the 350 travelling Katwijk supporters. For a ride of less than ten minutes, covering a distance of 2.89 kilometres as the crow flies.
"Now with away supporters there, I hope it will be a party, that it will just go well," says Gert, who will be present himself as a fan at the Katwijk derby in the dune pan of the south dunes on Saturday.
"We in Katwijk have been happy for a long time that it can happen again. It is what it is. That's called adaptability. This way you keep the malcontents out; you shouldn't want them there either," continued Henk.
The village upside down
Where Katwijk can be seen as the capital of Dutch amateur football, there is no competition as big as this one. The whole week is about only one thing: that match between Kwie-boois and Kattuk. From the flower auction in Rijnsburg to the fishermen of Katwijk: the derby crawls where it cannot go and transcends football, because even if you have nothing to do with the sport, this derby does something to you.
No family has no colour, no ball is kicked without the derby being mentioned, and when the time comes, all eyes are on the football pitch. Not surprisingly, over 5,500 spectators are expected, a number that is still low due to the restrictions on away spectators.
The fanaticism of the town was, again, made very clear when Quick Boys were set to win their first league title since 2004. The whole village was coloured blue and white before Saturday's party.
A title wasn't to be just yet, but would be won on Friday, May 9th, in an away game at Jong Sparta Rotterdam. 30 buses and 2,000 Quick Boys fans made the trip and saw their amateur team win the championship.
"The entire Saturday is under the spell of that match. Senior teams often reschedule or cancel matches just to watch that particular match, which will be the same at Katwijk. I think you have a historically low number of Quick Boys and Katwijk teams in action on the fields this weekend," Gert states.
In Katwijk, people are born with the derby feeling, says Henk as well.
"You get that from an early age. No matter how crazy or not crazy your parents are, you are also dragged into it by your whole environment. Even if you don't have a preference, you secretly have a preference somewhere. You always prefer one of the two. Even if you are for FC Rijnvogels or one of the other municipal clubs, you always prefer one over the other."
Derby highlights
Asked for their highlights from all those years of derby football, the fans chose two very different matches. Henk quickly decided in favour of the 2005 derby at Quick Boys, which the team managed to win 3-4.
"There is a whole story in it. Sander Molenaar, who has since passed away, scored two goals, and that derby itself was cracking," Henk said.
"That one sticks with me the most. We kept ourselves safe in the league. They lost the title out of sight, and we stayed up. That's the derby for me."
Gert chose the famous 2019 cup match. Quick Boys and Katwijk were in the final qualifying round for the main tournament of the KNVB Beker and, as if it was meant to be, the Katwijk clubs drew each other. The third cup derby between the neighbours was a fact, and it was Katwijk that advanced to the main tournament after a thrilling 2-3 win after extension.
"You did lose it, but that was such a crazy match. I was still there as a 16-year-old behind the goal watching that match.
That Saturday before, I was watching it from the Katwijk away box, and that was perhaps the most boring Katwijk derby ever. It ended 0-0, and it was such a soporific match. That they were able to make a summary of that is insane."
"I think it was (Mohammed) Mahmoed who made a tackle early in the match that he should have gotten a red card for. The referee didn't do that to set the tone, and from then on, it actually took off," Gert said.
"Quick Boys rightly fell behind, but came back through Koen van Liempt, who made it 2-2. That explosion of emotions... Quick Boys scored twice in two minutes; that was insane. You lose it after extra time, but in terms of atmosphere, with that evening and away supporters, that was insane. You haven't had that atmosphere after that without away supporters."
The eternal balance between the two teams is slightly dominated by Quick Boys, who managed to win 20 of the 52 derbies. Katwijk are slightly behind with 19 derby wins.
Whatever the outcome on Saturday afternoon, the Katwijk derby is one with a soul, a heartbeat and an experience that transcends the phenomenon of 'sport'. The Katwijk derby is the experience of the village, from enthusiast to toddler, from the blue and white cradle to the orange and black bunker in the southern dunes of Katwijk aan Zee.
The mother of all derbies.
