History
When the first Dutch settlers landed in the NYC area in 1636, a primitive form of modern voetbal was already a popular past time. Once the area of Yellow Hook was settled in 1657 it had become a rooted part of the new culture being created here in the NYC area.
The people of that Yellow Hook section of Brooklyn would host fellow farmers from across the region who would gather here every Sunday to play their regular game of this new sport. These matches, the only outlet for these hard working people, would be played on the plentiful grass spaces in the pastoral town.
They would be at times as large as 25 a-side to accommodate all who wanted to play, from all corners of the region, and would last until sundown. Once dark, legend has it, a particularly aggressive owl would appear out of the large group of beech trees adjacent to the field, and "hunt" the ball, claiming it for himself.
The tired participants would then scatter and reassemble at the local tavern to wash down their fatigue with some of the area's finest ale and discuss some of the day's game's talking points. Most Monday mornings the ball, a sewn up cowhide exterior stuffed with hay and grass, would be found torn up and inside one of the rudimentary goals, and the locals would take turns collecting it and repairing it, making sure it was ready for the next week's get together.
This weekly gathering occurred until the British came to NY and outlawed the game altogether, for fear it could unite the primarily Dutch farmers against British rule.
We as a club embody the power and spirit of "football for all" that our original club members lived by and pay homage to the owl and town whose name and visage still live on in local folklore amongst old timers, who still frequent the local taverns that stand very near to where the beautiful game was shared and loved all those years ago.
We are Yellow Hook. We are the Night Owls. We seek to continue that local tradition by participating in some of the region's best amateur leagues wearing the colors of the old town and that famous Owl watching our backs wherever the game may take us.
Benny the Night Owl
Our team nickname, the Night Owls, pays tribute to that original owl who so desperately wanted to participate in those original games played by the settlers in Yellow Hook in the 17th Century. Benny, as we affectionately call him, is here to stand watch over us much as that owl did until he hear the players yell out "NEXT GOAL WINS!" At that point it became too much, and he just had to show the boys what he was worth on the pitch.
Benny takes his name from the first two families to settle this corner of Brooklyn in 1657. Willem Adriaenszen Bennett and Jacques Bentyn purchased much of what is today Sunset Park (between 28th Street and 60th Street) and eventually followed that by helping more settlers take root even further South East of New Amsterdam in the Town of New Utrecht. Present-day Bay Ridge was the westernmost portion of New Utrecht, founded in 1657 by the Dutch. The area consisted of two sister villages: Yellow Hook to the north, named for the color of the soil, with "Hook" from the Dutch hoek, meaning "corner.”
Our name, SV Yellow Hook, is also a nod to Yellow Hook's Dutch heritage and the prefix SV is short for Sport Vereniging and translates to "Sport Association" in English. Pronounced "sport‧ver‧eni‧ging", we know it will be a unique addition to the NYC Soccer scene.