Derby of the North

This article is about the rivalry in the Netherlands between FC Groningen and SC Heerenveen. For the Scottish rivalry, see North derby. For the German rivalry, see Nordderby. For English rivalries, see North East derby and North West derby.

Derby of the North

Groningen v Heerenveen, February 2007.
Native name	Derby van het Noorden
Location	Northern Netherlands: Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe
Teams	FC Groningen SC Heerenveen
First meeting	17 November 1974 (1974-11-17)
Statistics
Most wins	SC Heerenveen (26)
Largest victory	FC Groningen - SC Heerenveen 5-0 (11 November 1979)

The Derby of the North (Dutch: Derby van het Noorden) is a common reference to the match between the Dutch football clubs FC Groningen and SC Heerenveen. Since the dissolvement of BV Veendam in 2013, there remain four professional football clubs in the three northern provinces of the Netherlands; Groningen, Friesland, and Drenthe. Besides Groningen and Heerenveen, these are FC Emmen and Cambuur Leeuwarden. Although Heerenveen has an older and fiercer rivalry with Cambuur, only the match between Heerenveen and Groningen is commonly referred to as the Derby of the North. This is due to Heerenveen and Groningen being seen as representing the provinces of Friesland and Groningen, whereas Cambuur is only regarded as the team of the city of Leeuwarden and its immediate environment.

Heerenveen and Groningen have the biggest following of the four northern teams and are regulars in the Eredivisie. Cambuur Leeuwarden has been in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, for most of its existence. Emmen, the only professional football club from Drenthe, has never been in the Eredivisie and is significantly smaller than the other three northern teams. Emmen has little appeal outside its locality, particularly Groningen draws a lot of support from the province of Drenthe.

History

The rivalry between Groningen and Heerenveen is a relatively young one. Although the first match between the two clubs was played in 1974, the rivalry didn't really commence until the mid-1990s. In the 1980s, Groningen was the uncontested biggest and most successful football club in the northern provinces. During this decade, Groningen was a regular in the Eredivisie, got the highest attendances in the country outside the traditional top teams Ajax, Feyenoord, and PSV., and regularly competed in Europe. Meanwhile, SC Heerenveen would not play in the Eredivisie until 1990, and also Cambuur Leeuwarden did not compete on the first tier of Dutch football in the 1980s. Only Veendam joined FC Groningen in the Eredivisie in two discontinuous seasons the 1980s, yet went straight back down on both occasions. Being seen as the representative of top national football in the north of the Netherlands, the media referred to FC Groningen as the Pride of the North. FC Groningen's club anthem, written in the 1980s, sings about the people from the three northern provinces Groningen, Friesland, and Drenthe being united in their support for FC Groningen.

Things started to change in the early 1990s. FC Groningen began to fall from the sub-top of national football and finally relegated from the Eredivisie in 1998. SC Heerenveen promoted to the Eredivisie in 1993 and started to move up the Eredivisie table in subsequent years. The pinnacle of Heerenveen's rise came in 2000, when the club finished second in the Eredivisie and qualified for the Champions League. In that same season, FC Groningen played in the Eerste Divisie. Although FC Groningen won promotion back to the top tier that year, the 1999-2000 season was a testimony of a complete reversal of positions in northern Dutch football since the 1950s. Heerenveen's attendance surpassed that of FC Groningen as well. From an average of under 5000 in the late 1980s, Heerenveen's average attendance rose to over 25.000 in the early 21st century.

Heerenveen rose to national prominence under the guidance of chairman Riemer van der Velde. Van der Velde constructed an image of SC Heerenveen as a 'family club' that distinguished itself in Dutch football by a welcoming atmosphere and absence of crowd trouble. Heerenveen's image as family club was emphasized by the public notoriety of Van der Velde's wife Annie, who together with her husband became the friendly face of the club. Heerenveen also gained wide sympathy by embracing its Frisian identity. The province of Friesland has a strong separate identity, which mainly stems from having its own provincial language. SC Heerenveen expresses its Frisian identity by modeling its jersey after the Frisian flag, and the performance of the Frisian provincial anthem prior to each home game. Such expressions of Frisian identity are not considered as a rejection of Dutch identity. Rather, Frisian culture and identity are conceived as a specific yet inseparable part of Dutch national history and culture. Therefore, manifestations of Frisian culture, such as the Elfstedentocht, are equally considered to be expressions of Dutch culture, and also are popular beyond the province of Friesland. Hence, SC Heerenveen could manifest itself as a football club with a Frisian identity while simultaneously gaining nationwide sympathy. In the early 21st century, the mainstream Dutch media referred to SC Heerenveen as "everybody's second favorite team": a reference to the club's new nationwide appeal as a result of its Frisian and 'family-friendly' image, combined with great sportive results at the beginning of the century.

Heerenveen's family-friendly image stood in sharp contrast with that of FC Groningen, which in the late 1990s had made national headlines with multiple violent incidents involving its supporters. Heerenveen benefited by widening the catchment area of its sponsorship, also attracting sponsors from the province and city of Groningen. Simultaneously, SC Heerenveen began to brand itself as the Pride of the North, which until then solely had been a reference to FC Groningen. In these circumstances, the rivalry intensified, initially in particular from the side of FC Groningen. FC Groningen fans employed an alternative discours, in which FC Groningen's 'thuggish' image was celebrated as an expression of a 'people's club' with a passionate following, while Heerenveen's family-friendly status was dismissed as that of a club with 'fake' supporters. This alternative estimation of the image of SC Heerenveen was popular among the small core of fanatic supporters of several Dutch clubs, but evidently had very little back-up in the mainstream media.

The contrasting images of SC Heerenveen and FC Groningen began to wane as the first decade of the 21st century progressed. In early 2006, FC Groningen left its outdated Oosterpark Stadion for the modern Euroborg, where due to superior safety conditions mass crowd troubles at FC Groningen matches became a thing of the past. In their new stadium, FC Groningen regained some of its former status as an occasional challenger of the national top teams, and began to close the gap with SC Heerenveen. Around the same time, at SC Heerenveen there formed supporters groups that started to behave in similar ways as supporters at other clubs, also engaging in occasional abusive chants. Thereby, also the distinctive friendly image of Heerenveen fans attenuated.

All Results

sc Heerenveen has won the Derby of the North a total of 27 times, whereas FC Groningen has won it on only 16 occasions. Yet, from a FC Groningen perspective it can be argued that the record balances in Heerenveen's favour because the two sides did not meet during FC Groningen's heyday in the 1980s, due to Heerenveen being in the Eerste Divisie at the time. However, since FC Groningen regained some of its former strength after moving to the Euroborg Stadium in 2006, Heerenveen has still won most of the derby matches.

Both sc Heerenveen and FC Groningen celebrated the opening of their current stadium with a 2-0 derby victory. Heerenveen did so, against FC Groningen, in the Abe Lenstra Stadion on 26 Augustus 1994. FC Groningen played their first official match in the Euroborg, against Heerenveen, on Friday 13 January 2006. FC Groningen and sc Heerenveen have never met in the national cup or play-offs.

FC Groningen win

sc Heerenveen win

Draw

Date	League	Venue	Result	Goal scorers FC Groningen	Goal scorers sc Heerenveen	Attendance	Remarks
17 Nov 1974	Eerste Divisie	Sportpark Noord	4 – 1	Bloemberg	Zimic 2', Golijanin 23', Toornstra 66' [P], Wierts 76'	10.000
20 Apr 1975	Eerste Divisie	Oosterpark Stadion	2 – 0	Gritter, Hovenkamp		13.000
2 Nov 1975	Eerste Divisie	Oosterpark Stadion	3 – 0	Hoekstra, Molendijk, Van der Heide		6.000
16 May 1976	Eerste Divisie	Sportpark Noord	1 – 1	Oosterwold		2.500
3 Sep 1976	Eerste Divisie	Oosterpark Stadion	1 – 0	Bakker		5.000
3 Apr 1977	Eerste Divisie	Sportpark Noord	1 – 1	J. van Dijk		3.000
21 Aug 1977	Eerste Divisie	Sportpark Noord	2 – 0			6.500
29 Jan 1978	Eerste Divisie	Oosterpark Stadion	1 – 2	Oosterwold		8.500
12 Nov 1978	Eerste Divisie	Sportpark Noord	0 – 1	Bakker		2.500
20 May 1979	Eerste Divisie	Oosterpark Stadion	1 – 1	Swanenburg		7.000
11 Nov 1979	Eerste Divisie	Oosterpark Stadion	5 – 0	Houtman 13', 46', 67', 90', Mulder		7.000
27 Apr 1980	Eerste Divisie	Sportpark Noord	0 – 2	Houtman (2)		11.000
27 Jan 1991	Eredivisie	Oosterpark Stadion	3 – 0	Veenhof 1', Huizingh 20', Djurovski 85'		15.000
16 Jun 1991	Eredivisie	Sportpark Noord	4 – 2	Huizingh 26', Djurovski 31'	Cămătaru 52', Van der Gijp 62', 88', Dijk 86'	12.312	The last match of a season in which FC Groningen had competed for the title, while SC Heerenveen was fighting against relegation. It is widely believed that in these pre-rivalry days, FC Groningen allowed Heerenveen to grap the victory in order to have a chance of survival in the Eredivisie. It was to no avail as in the end Heerenveen fell one goal short to stay up.
31 Oct 1993	Eredivisie	Oosterpark Stadion	2 – 2	Ter Avest 40', Hamming 48'	Tammer 82', Alberda 86'	14.100
5 Apr 1994	Eredivisie	Sportpark Noord	2 – 0		Hellinga 9', Tammer 52'	13.500
26 Aug 1994	Eredivisie	Abe Lenstra Stadion	2 – 0		Sier 41', Regtop 71'	13.200	The first match in the Abe Lenstra Stadion.
15 Jan 1995	Eredivisie	Oosterpark Stadion	0 – 0			15.010
29 Aug 1995	Eredivisie	Abe Lenstra Stadion	1 – 0		Straal 88'	13.300
12 Mar 1996	Eredivisie	Oosterpark Stadion	1 – 1	Bombarda 57'	Tomasson 64'	13.500
6 Sep 1996	Eredivisie	Oosterpark Stadion	1 – 5	Gorré 83'	Hansma 33', Wouden 48', 60', Tomasson 54', Talan 69'	12.320
1 Jun 1997	Eredivisie	Abe Lenstra Stadion	1 – 3	Magno 16', 28', Gorré 64'	Nygaard 49'	13.500
2 Dec 1997	Eredivisie	Oosterpark Stadion	0 – 1		Elkhattabi 73'	15.000
8 Apr 1998	Eredivisie	Abe Lenstra Stadion	1 – 1	Magno 41'	Van Nistelrooy 73'	13.700
21 Dec 2000	Eredivisie	Oosterpark Stadion	2 – 1	Hugo 34', G. van Dijk 80' [P]	D. de Nooijer 15'	13.000	The first Derby of the North after FC Groningen's two-year absence from the Eredivisie.
2 Mar 2001	Eredivisie	Oosterpark Stadion	0 – 0			14.350
21 Oct 2001	Eredivisie	Oosterpark Stadion	1 – 1	Boussaboun 38'	Nurmela 32'	13.000
24 Apr 2002	Eredivisie	Abe Lenstra Stadion	2 – 0		Hakansson 48', 69'	14.400
1 Dec 2002	Eredivisie	Oosterpark Stadion	1 – 1	Salmon 60'	Samaras 79'	12.500
9 May 2003	Eredivisie	Abe Lenstra Stadion	2 – 1	Salmon 72'	Sibon 45', De Jong 89'	14.400
13 Sep 2003	Eredivisie	Abe Lenstra Stadion	1 – 0		Hansson 38'	14.600
19 Mar 2004	Eredivisie	Oosterpark Stadion	0 – 0			12.500
10 Dec 2004	Eredivisie	Abe Lenstra Stadion	1 – 0		Väyrynen 66'	17.863
15 May 2005	Eredivisie	Oosterpark Stadion	1 – 2	D. Buijs 75'	Berg Hestad 27', Nilsson 60'	12.500
6 Nov 2005	Eredivisie	Abe Lenstra Stadion	4 – 0		Huntelaar 5', 47', Bosvelt 43', Samaras 74'	21.200
13 Jan 2006	Eredivisie	Euroborg	2 – 0	Nevland 24', D. Buijs 53'		19.710	The first official match in the Euroborg Stadium.
22 Oct 2006	Eredivisie	Abe Lenstra Stadion	4 – 2	Levchenko 81', 82'	Alves 14', 74', 79', Friend 67'	26.000
2 Feb 2007	Eredivisie	Euroborg	1 – 1	Van der Linden 62'	Alves 70'	19.846
9 Dec 2007	Eredivisie	Heerenveen	4 – 2	Nevland 9', 14'	Lovre 2' [OG], Bradley 7', 22', 41'	25.600
14 Mar 2008	Eredivisie	Euroborg	0 – 1		Sulejmani 86'	19.719
28 Dec 2008	Eredivisie	Euroborg	2 – 3	García García 54', Granqvist 90'	Pranjić 13' [P], Smárason 77', Paulo Henrique 90+5'	22.311
7 Mar 2009	Eredivisie	Abe Lenstra Stadion	2 – 1	Holla 68'	Grindheim 59', Elm 90+3'	26.100	This match set the record attendance for the Derby of the North.
12 Sep 2009	Eredivisie	Abe Lenstra Stadion	0 – 1	Nordstrand 61'		26.100	FC Groningen's first win in Heerenveen in over twelve years.
20 Jan 2010	Eredivisie	Euroborg	2 – 0	Matavz 13', Granqvist 59'		22.440
17 Oct 2010	Eredivisie	Euroborg	1 – 0	Granqvist 46'		22.427
30 Jan 2011	Eredivisie	Abe Lenstra Stadion	1 – 4	Ivens 13', Matavz 25', Tadić 56', 90+4'	Đuričić 68'	26.100
11 Sep 2011	Eredivisie	Abe Lenstra Stadion	3 – 0		Dost 45+1', Assaidi 61', Đuričić 84'	26.100
31 Mar 2012	Eredivisie	Euroborg	1 – 3	Tadić 36'	Dost 24', 41', Elm 86'	22.423
21 Oct 2012	Eredivisie	Abe Lenstra Stadion	3 – 0		Van la Parra 61', 83', Finnbogason 65'	26.100
7 Apr 2013	Eredivisie	Euroborg	3 – 1	Raitala 3' [OG], Bacuna 42' [P], De Leeuw 87'	Mareček 70'	22.505	This match set the record attendance for a Derby of the North match played in Groningen.
15 Sep 2013	Eredivisie	Abe Lenstra Stadion	4 – 2	Van der Velden 31' [P], Kappelhof 56'	Wildschut 52', Otigba 55', Finnbogason 72' [P], 90'	24.150
9 Feb 2013	Eredivisie	Euroborg	1 – 3	De Leeuw 86' [P]	Van La Parra 33', Ziyech 36', Finnbogason 40' [P]	20.193
7 Dec 2014	Eredivisie	Euroborg	1 – 1	De Leeuw 7'	Uth 25'	20.705
22 Feb 2015	Eredivisie	Abe Lenstra Stadion	3 – 1	De Leeuw 50'	Thern 35', Van Aken 59', Veerman 90+2'	24.894	The derby made negative headlines by violent clashes between rivaling fans in the Heerenveen town centre after the game. Three Heerenveen fans had to receive treatment in the hospital.
13 Sep 2015	Eredivisie	Euroborg	3 – 1	Hoesen 1', Linssen 16', Mahi 82'	Thern 69'	21.001
1 May 2016	Eredivisie	Abe Lenstra Stadion	1 – 2	Idrissi 26', Rusnák 52'	Larsson 21'	25.385
15 October 2016	Eredivisie	Euroborg	0 – 3		Larsson 73'	21.155
29 January 2017	Eredivisie	Abe Lenstra Stadion	0 – 0			21.750
13 August 2017	Eredivisie	Euroborg	3 – 3			19.422
8 April 2018	Eredivisie	Abe Lenstra Stadion	1 – 1			23.150