History
Some time ago we received the following email from Mr Kees Jongelie:
It was with pleasure that I visited your beautiful website, and also read that Almonte is doing well. It may interest you that I founded the club at the time (1958 or 1959), after I had placed an appeal in the Philips Courier, Jan de Goede and Piet Staal came to that. We initially played in a room in building SDM7, on the Philips site in Strijp. Because there were 2 large pillars in that room, that was not ideal and we soon moved to a gym of a school (the address escapes me). If anyone takes the trouble to visit the Philips Archive, my call from then in the Courier can certainly still be found. I also have some photos from the early days. The uniform was already orange/blue then, and that is still the case, I saw! But then everything was still amateurish. Good luck.
Call Basketball Ph. Courier June 28 58
With this mail, he already let you know that he would send some pictures and of course we want to show them to you.
Almonte champion 1962
Once we had contact with other associations – especially EBBC in Den Bosch – we played competition matches in the District of East Brabant. In 1962 we even became champions with the men's team! There is also a photo of it. In my memory, that match was played in the Philips Jubilee Hall (now demolished), in which we also organized the School Tournaments for many years for schools in Brabant.
Almonte Lustrum July 1963
In this photo you can see that we celebrate the 1st Lustrum in July 1963. That means that my call must have been placed in the Philips Courier in the first half of 1958.
Almonte ladies and RAF
A trip by bus to the Royal Airforce Base in Brüggen, Germany. We lost that game. The English did give us lunch with white beans in tomato sauce! Unfortunately I have no names for the women's team. I do remember Mia van Hout (later married to Theo Leenders, from EBBC from Den Bosch). She is sitting on the bench, 2nd from the right, bent over.
All photos: thanks to Kees Jongelie
History in brief
The history of basketball in Eindhoven.
After the “Flamingo's” Basketball Association in Eindhoven went extinct in the fifties, Piet Staals and Jan de Goede set up the first Eindhoven Basketball Association Almonte. On January 6, 1961, EBC Pirates, led by Huub Rooimans, Henk Louwers and Willem van der Sommen, came to life from a completely different angle. This last association in particular showed a stormy growth in the first years of its existence. The first teams played at the highest level in the south of the Netherlands in no time. In order to gain more opportunities for the further expansion of the association, EBC Pirates sought affiliation with the omni sports association PSV. This name change, and the ensuing support from Philips, quickly paid off. After all, the highest men's team managed to get through to the national divisions. Yet it turned out that Basketball at the highest level, within the then rules of the umbrella federation PSV, was not feasible. Basketball developments in the Netherlands had meanwhile gained momentum due to the arrival of sponsorship. Other clubs almost always seemed to have more options. Although PSV had the strongest home-grown teams in the country, the promotion efforts of the top men's team fail time and again in view of the Eredivisie. In 1980 the men's seniors won the national cup.
In 1981 the unequal struggle was ended. The first men's team was split off under the name BCEindhoven and continued independently in order to try to reach the Eredivisie. “Mother association” PSV focused with renewed energy on its own organization and further expansion of the club. EEBV Almonte had also not been able to keep up with national developments. Both associations saw with members eyes that talented players and players, who liked to act at a higher level, left for payment elsewhere. It became increasingly difficult for the two clubs to maintain the level they had reached. The directors at the time noted these developments. They believed that an association should have three teams for each age group, both men and women; a beginners group, an advanced group and a selection. That meant at least thirty teams. Almonte, which had a reasonably strong and well-staffed women's division, and PSV, which was well represented in the men's sector, could each raise at most half the target number. It was therefore decided in 1983 in a joint meeting of members to merge.
Since that time, PSV-Almonte has been the second largest association in the south of the Netherlands, making it one of the top ten largest associations in the country. Since then, there has been a steady growth in membership. Every year there are championships and promotion of teams to celebrate. The highlight was in 1994 when the boys juniors became champions in the Eredivisie. The record number of championships was achieved in 1999: seven teams became champions in their class.
In the 1996/1997 season, PSV-Almonte started a youth plan, based on continuity and gradualism. The youth plan is derived directly from the NJP of the NBB. The core elements of the youth plan are still expanding the number of training hours, fundamental training, specialist training and strong performance international home tournaments in every age group up to and including the juniors for both the girls and the boys. The youth plan was the immediate reason for taking the initiative in 1988 to establish a Basketball Stronghold within the meaning of the NJP of the NBB.
In 1999 the BBRE (Basketball Bolwerk Eindhoven Region) was officially recognized by the NBB. The partnership of Achilles 71′, BC-Best, BC-Bladel, EBCG, BC-Heeze, PSV-Almonte and Vido focuses on youth education and talent development. Tiboria, Wizards-Helmond and BC-Aalst-Waalre have now also joined. In 2001, a full-time association manager joined the BBRE as part of the PRINS-Project of NOC*NSF. The youth plan is financially supported by the PSV Federation and PRINS-Project by the municipality of Eindhoven.
In the course of 2001, the federation PSV asked the affiliated associations to change the name, in view of the wishes of other sponsors besides Philips. For that reason, the club will be called PSV-Basketball from the 2001/2002 season. Shortly afterwards, Philips decided to completely phase out the annual contribution within 2 years. During the 2003-2004 season, it appeared that with the loss of sponsorship contributions from the PSV federation and the increasing costs, the financial basis for the association had disappeared. This has led to the end of PSV-Basketball.
Most of the (former) members of PSV-Basketball have set up a new association together. almonte. The name Almonte refers to a town in Canada where Dr. James Naismith, the founder of basketball, spent his childhood. It is and was difficult to leave the bankruptcy of one association behind with another association. However, this has been successfully tackled by a limited number of people, as a result of which the new association Almonte is growing and thriving.
Many seasons have now passed and Almonte has already been able to celebrate many championships. Almonte also wants to be and remain a healthy association in the future. The foundation has been laid and we are now building on it. We believe that we are on the right track with the policy pursued.