Blauw-Wit was a

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

club from

Neerbeek Neerbeek is a village in the Dutch province of Limburg. It is located in the municipality of Beek. The village has a population of around 2,400 people. The village used to split between the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Netherlands. History The ...

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

. Blauw-Wit played together with its rival HV Caesar in sports hall De Haamen. The men's team of Blauw-Wit won three national titles, two times the

national cup The English National Cup is an annual basketball knock-out competition held between professional, semi-professional and amateur teams from the various divisions of the National Basketball League (England), National Basketball League. For most of th ...

and one time the

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competi ...

. In 1998, Blauw-Wit merged with Caesar and became Beeker Fusie Club.

History

Blauw-Wit was founded in April 1957 in

. In the fifties and sixties, the club led a fairly quiet existence, although the number of members of both the men's and women's teams grew steadily. In 1978, the men's team promoted to the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

. The team managed to win the national title in 1980 and 1981, at the expense of renowned teams such as

Sittardia HV Sittardia is a Dutch professional Team handball, handball club in Sittard. The club was founded in 1949. Sittardia is one of the most successful handball teams in Dutch handball history. They won the NHV Eredivisie, Dutch National Championsh ...

and

Hermes Hermes (; ) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology considered the herald of the gods. He is also widely considered the protector of human heralds, travelers, thieves, merchants, and orators. He is able to move quic ...

. From that moment on, the club played at the highest national handball level. In 1981, Leon Frissen became the club's president, succeeding Pim Vrancken, and he led the club into the next level of professionalisation. In 1984, Guus Cantelberg joined the men's team as coach. Together with Jacques Josten as the most striking player, along with other key players like Raymond Steijvers, Ronald Habraken, Arthur Huntjens and Paul Coenen, the group was able to win the

in 1986 and to the

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

in 1988. In 1991, Guus Cantelberg and experienced players left Blauw-Wit, so it was decided to build a young team, led by goalkeeper Jacques Josten and player Raymond Steijvers. This new team contained players like Marcel Eurelings, Remco Jongen, Harold Nusser and Claus Veerman. At the end of the 1992/1993 season under the guidance of coach Peter Verjans, the team was able to reach and win the cup final. Again the team was rejuvenated and under the leadership of coach Paul Coenen, a relatively inexperienced team managed to capture the

at the start of the 1993/1994 season against the much stronger and later national champion Sittardia. From the 1995/1996 season, the men of Blauw Wit were once again under the control of coach Guus Cantelberg. This season the team was not able to play in the play-offs. The season 1996/1997 became a turbulent season in which things changed in an organizational sense. The appointment of a technical coordinator (Guus Cantelberg) and attracting two foreign players (Johan Lindahl and Frode Carlsson). In 1997, HV Blauw-Wit and HV Caesar were planning to merge and form one handball club in

Beek Beek (; ) is a town and municipality in the southeastern Netherlands, in the province of Limburg. As of 2012, Beek has a population of about 16,400, of which about 8,800 live in the town of Beek. The municipality of Beek makes part of the re ...

. On 16 April 1998, at a special meeting of members, it was decided by a majority vote to merge the two clubs. The merger was completed on 1 July 1998, and the two handball clubs continued as Beeker Fusie Club.Merger Blauw wit and Caesar
NHV, April 1998

Accomplishments

Men

NHV Eredivisie The Nederlandse Handbal Eredivisie is the top Netherlands, Dutch professional Team handball, handball league. The winners of the Eredivisie are recognised as the Dutch handball champions. Competition format In the first phase of the season, th ...

: **Winners (3) : 1980, 1981, 1988 **Runner-Up (3) : 1978, 1979, 1982 *Dutch Handball Cup: **Winners (2) : 1986, 1993 **Runner-Up (2) : 1979, 1982 *Dutch Supercup: **Winners (1) : 1993

Trivia

* The club name ''Blauw-Wit'' stands for the colours

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

and

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

(translated as ''Blue-White'').

References

{{Reflist Handball clubs in the Netherlands 1957 establishments in the Netherlands Handball clubs established in 1957 1998 disestablishments in the Netherlands Handball clubs disestablished in 1998 Beek Defunct handball clubs