A Successful Start with a Deserved Victory over Doetinchem
The official opening of Aalten’s new sports ground, situated on the connecting road between Bocholtschestraat and Bodendijk, was scheduled for two o’clock on Sunday afternoon. It began about half an hour late because a thunderstorm with torrential rain made it impossible to start on time. Fortunately, the weather cleared and remained fine and dry for the rest of the afternoon.
J.W. Huinink, chairman of football club “Aalten”, warmly welcomed everyone to the new ground, which had been realised partly thanks to the much-appreciated support of the public. He thanked everyone who had contributed in any way.
He also thanked football club Doetinchem, gymnastics club Achilles of Aalten and Prinses Juliana of Terborg for their spontaneous cooperation. This was the third time in the club’s eighteen-and-a-half-year existence that Aalten had moved grounds. It had first played at Molenkampsdijk, then at Sladijk, and now moved to this attractively situated new field.
Every New Ground Had Brought Aalten a Championship
How would things go here? Huinink hoped the club would enjoy good cooperation with the owner of the ground, H. Magis, who had already shown himself very helpful. He ended by expressing the hope that the opening match would be exciting and fair, and that it would mark the beginning of a period of great prosperity for the club.
The chairman of Doetinchem and J. ten Bosch, chairman of Achilles, congratulated Aalten on its new ground and underlined their good wishes with flowers. The civil servants’ football club A.S.C.A. also congratulated Aalten.
E. ter Brugge gladly accepted Aalten’s request to kick off the match. With his best wishes to the club, he did so, and the opening game was under way.
Doetinchem 1 versus Aalten 1
Doetinchem were slightly stronger at first and soon turned that into a goal. The lead did not last long, however: the home side equalised with a very gentle shot. Aalten then began to play better. Their football became more fluid and their passing improved. From a fine cross by Vultink, Vogel needed only a light touch to put Aalten 2–1 ahead. Shortly afterwards Van Eerden produced a fine shot, but the Doetinchem goalkeeper saved well.
Tea was then served at half-time, apparently to the confusion of the visitors, because one minute after play resumed they put the ball into their own net, giving Aalten a 3–1 lead.
That was too much for Doetinchem. Ten Barge, the Aalten goalkeeper, brilliantly stopped a hard shot. He saved another effort twice, but on the rebound the ball came back before he had recovered and Doetinchem made it 3–2.
Immediately from the restart Aalten attacked again, successfully. A long-range shot produced a fourth goal for the home side.
For a while Aalten were clearly the stronger team. Their passing was much better than Doetinchem’s and the score gradually rose to 6–2, which was also the final result. The referee handled the match excellently.
During the opening game, the firm Ten Have provided gramophone music which could be heard all over the ground through an amplifier and loudspeaker.
After the football match, Achilles Aalten and Prinses Juliana Terborg played a handball match. The sport was still little known locally but proved very popular. Achilles were much stronger and won 9–3.
The new ground, completely enclosed by tall pine trees on its northern and eastern sides, looked extremely well maintained. Against that dark background the play was much easier to follow than on the club’s former open field.
Football club Aalten merged with DVO in 1969 to form AD’69. Since 2018, the site has been used as a multifunctional sports complex known as Sportpark Zuid.