OSS '20

Early years (1928–1939)

According to sources, Toon Steinhauser and the brothers Piet and Cor van Schijndel always played football in Oss on Jurgensplein, a central square, after school. On 9 April 1928, they decided to found a club named Klein Maar Dapper (K.M.D.; English: "Small But Brave"), but when it turned out that more clubs had that name, the choice fell on T.O.P. ("To Our Pleasure"). On 7 May 1930, T.O.P. played its first competition match, on a field on the Molenstraat, behind Hotel van Welten and next to the local cinema. The pitch was a bare, uneven surface, covered with sand with an occasional tuft of grass. During home games, the goal posts were picked up from bakery Toontje van Bergen, then located in the Nieuwe Brouwerstraat. T.O.P. had two teams in the 1930–31 season both competing in the local division 1e Klas Maasbuurt. The first team reached promotion to the Derde Klasse of the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB), where it remained for the coming years.

T.O.P. won its first title in 1939, in the Derde Klasse E. Thereby, the club qualified for playoffs to promotion to the Tweede Klasse, where they had to face SV Nevelo from Oisterwijk and Hero from Breda. Both teams had already qualified and promotion became a fact.

The dark 1940s

With World War II looming, the Dutch army seized the then home ground of T.O.P., Gemeentelijk Sportpark Oss, in September 1939. At the end of August 1939, the threat of war in Europe became ever greater and on 28 August, the Dutch government announced the general mobilisation of army and fleet. Because many footballers between the ages of 20 and 35 were also mobilised and train connections were disrupted, the KNVB decided to postpone the competition matches scheduled for 3 and 10 September. The KNVB took the decision on 9 September 1939 to establish a Noodcompetitie ("Emergency Competition") to replace the regular competition. In the Noodcompetitie, teams were classified by geography rather than strength, there was no promotion and relegation, and no protests over referees' decisions could be filed. The season started on 24 September, a week later than the regular season had been planned to start. T.O.P. was in the Tweede Klasse B, where they, among others, played SC Helmondia, VVV and RKVV Wilhelmina. The competition ended after only few games when the German army invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940. The competition came to a standstill for several weeks, but was resumed at the end of May. Daily life was, however, disrupted, but under pressure from the German occupying forces, life had to appear as 'normal' as possible.

After state of emergency was declared in the Netherlands by the German occupiers on Dolle Dinsdag on 5 September 1944, the KNVB decided to stop all competitions. The years 1940–45 also marked a tragic period for T.O.P., as two of their players, Pince van der Aa and Hugo Brinkman, were permanently disabled during acts of war.

An ambiguous situation emerged in the Netherlands in September 1944, as the southern provinces were liberated, including Oss on 27 September 1944. While the rest of the country was still at war, allied soldiers played a benefit match on 14 October 1944 against a combined association football team from Oss. The site of the memorable match is the Gemeentelijk Sportpark Oss on the Berghemseweg, which had been seized by German soldiers as part of the occupation in 1939. The Royal Air Force team consisted of: Spencer (goalkeeper), Dauber, Spiking, Percival, Waddell, Shepherd, Martin, Levy, Phillips, Conve and Taylor. The proceeds of the competition were approximately ƒ 3,300 and which went to war victims from Oss.

Another war became the centre of attention after the liberation in 1945. On 28 September 1947, T.O.P. play a benefit against the team "De rest van Oss" with the final result 2–2. The proceeds went to Dutch soldiers in the Dutch East Indies. The match was organized by the organisation Nederland-Indië en Katholiek Thuisfront M.O.O. Oss.

Winning the Tweede Klasse (1949–1953)

For many years, T.O.P. played at the top of the Tweede Klasse, competing for the championship. Spirits were therefore high in 1949, when the title was finally won in the Tweede Klasse A. The decisive match was played on 30 January 1949, where T.O.P. played a home match on the Heescheweg against its biggest rivals at the time, VV DESK from Kaatsheuvel. In front of a sold-out stadium, with an average of 2,500 spectators during that season, the T.O.P. team lived up to its high expectations and beat DESK 2–0 to secure the title. Head coach Janus Spijkers was, however, unable to repeat the feat in the play-offs for promotion that followed. The Tweede Klasse A championship did not result in promotion to the Eerste Klasse.

First years of professionalism (1954–1957)

In the 1950s, TOP finished most seasons in the top half of the table. The board had a positive outlook on the future, and when the KNVB started to choose clubs for a professional football competition, club management applied for a professional license as they did not want to lag begind other football clubs in the Brabant province. Therefore, as of the 1955–56 season, TOP took part in the professional competitions of the KNVB. In its first year as a semi-professional club, TOP competed in the Eerste Klasse C (first division). The stadium on the Heescheweg had uncovered stands with mostly terracing. Professional football in the Netherlands was randomly divided into four first divisions with about 80 clubs. In the debut 1955–56 season, TOP managed to win five out of thirty games, while they drew five and lost twenty, hauling in only fifteen points. VV Zwartemeer, however, did even worse and TOP ended in the penultimate spot. TOP suffered relegation in its first season in the new league, alongside UVS from Leiden and DHC from Delft. Despite local interest in the first season, with more than 5,000 spectators in average, the transition to professionalism was not an initial success.