VfR competed on a number of occasions unsuccessfully for promotion to the Gauliga Westfalen, the highest tier of football in Westphalia after 1933.

A firedamp explosion at the Zeche Sachsen mine in 1944 however which claimed 169 lives, including 113 foreign workers, brought play to a halt.

The club took part in the 1984 German amateur football championship where it reached the final but lost to Offenburger FV 4–1.

Bundesliga promotion round Hamm played against Hummelsbütteler SV, Rot-Weiss Essen, Tennis Borussia Berlin and VfL Osnabrück.

This time the team came fourth, three points behind second placed Tennis Borussia while VfL Osnabrück won the tournament.