History of Feyenoord Rotterdam - 1908-1939

1908-1939

The football club Wilhelmina was founded in the pub De Vereeniging (pub owner was Jac. Keizer) on 19 July 1908 and played in blue-sleeved red shirts and white shorts. The club changed its name to Hillesluise Football Club in 1909 and joined the Rotterdamse Voetbalbond (Rotterdam Football Association). As the league already included a team known as HFC (present-day Koninklijke HFC, based in Haarlem) Hillesluise underwent another name change to become RVV Celeritas.

The renamed club took new colours, playing in yellow and black striped shirts and white shorts. Celeritas earned promotion to the National football association in 1912, leading to another name change as another, different Celeritas already played there. The team then took the name SC Feijenoord, after the city district in which the team was founded and again changed uniform; the club adopted the red and white shirts, black shorts and black socks they still wear today. In 1917 Feijenoord were promoted to the 1e klasse (1st division) and moved to the ground Kromme Zandweg.

Sixteen years after the formation of the club and a mere three years after they were promoted to the highest level of Dutch football Feijenoord earned their first honours by capturing the national league championship in 1924. The team enjoyed a string of successes in the latter half of the decade, taking divisional titles in 1926, 1927, 1928 and 1929, and winning their second national championship in 1928.

Feijenoord won their first Dutch Cup in 1930 by scoring the only goal in a derby final against Excelsior Rotterdam. They continued to dominate their division with three consecutive titles, but were winless in subsequent championship finals. Five years after their first cup win, Feijenoord took the prize for a second time in 1935 by beating Helmond Sport.

Feijenoord started to attract more fans to their stadium at Kromme Zandweg, so in 1933 a decision to build a new facility was taken. With the help of businessman Daniël George van Beuningen property was purchased next to the Kreekweg for the construction of a new ground. Rotterdam architect L.C. van der Vlugt designed a stadium that was unique in Europe at that time, an oval stadium comprising two platforms where the second platform overhung the first. Fans visiting the stadium were close to the pitch, but their views were obstructed by poles. Construction of the stadium started on 23 July 1935 and Feijenoord's first match in the new Feijenoord Stadion (nicknamed "De Kuip" or "the Tub") was played on 27 March 1937. Leen Vente became the first player to score a goal in the new stadium in a 5-2 victory over Belgian club Beerschot. A few months later the first international match was played between the national teams of the Netherlands and Belgium, won 1-0 by the Dutch.

During this period Feijenoord won three consecutive division titles from 1936 to 1938, with their third and fourth national championships coming in 1936 and 1938.