Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: K Bocholter VV

Damburgstadion, Bocholt (K Bocholter VV)

Belgium, province: Limburg

29 X 2011 / K Bocholter VV - KSK Hasselt 2-0 / National Division 3B (= BE level 3)

8 II 2023 / K Bocholter VV - K Diegem Sport 2-2 / VFV Amateur Division 2B (= BE level 4)

Timeline

1923 / Foundation of Bocholter Voetbalvereeniging (Bocholter VV, often abbreviatedly referred to as Bocholt VV or even BVV). The club started its life at Terrein De Osseweide, near the local beer brewery. At some point, but it is unknown in which year, the club moved to Terrein Damburg.
1925 / Bocholter VV joins the official Belgian Football Association.
1926 / In its first competitive season, Bocholter VV wins the title in Limburg's Provincial League 4A, thus earning a place in Provincial League 3. In December 1926, upon introduction of the matricule register, Bocholter VV obtains matricule 595. That same year, in Bocholt, a second club is founded by the name of FC De Strijdlust Bocholt (matricule 853); it is unclear where this club's ground was situated.
1927 / Clinching a second title in a row, Bocholt VV finds itself in Provincial League 2.
1928 / FC De Strijdlust Bocholt folds, ceasing all activities after just two seasons of existence.
1931 / Finishing second in Provincial League 2A, Bocholt VV qualifies for a promotion play-off. In a test match played at Waterschei SV Thor's ground, attended by over 3,000 spectators, Bocholt defeats Hoeselt VV (matr. 848) to accede to Promotion, the third and lowest tier of the national league pyramid, for the first time. The national league adventure lasts no longer than one season, though, with relegation duly following in 1932. For the following 15 years, the club finds itself in Provincial League 2, the top division of Limburg's provincial league system at that time.
1947 / Suffering relegation from P2, Bocholt VV finds itself in Limburg's Regional League 2, the level below P2, for the first time. In the following seasons, the club alternates spells in Regional League 2 and Provincial League 2.
1951 / The club acquires the royal epithet, thus becoming Koninklijke Bocholter Voetbalvereniging, or, K Bocholter VV (KBVV).
1957 / Under the aegis of player-coach Ben Korver, K Bocholt VV wins the title in P2A with an advantage of 9 points over its nearest contender. Thus, the club accedes to Limburg's Provincial League 1.
1962 / After five years in P1, K Bocholt VV wins the league title, thus managing to accede to the national divisions for the first time since the war.
1964 / Following a spell of two years in National Division 4C, Bocholt is retrograded to P1.
1970 / Having played in Provincial League 1 for six years, the club has to come to terms with a relegation to P2. For the following 23 consecutive (!) seasons, K Bocholter VV is a stable Provincial League 2 side.
1993 / With the support of Brouwerij Martens, the local beer brewery, K Bocholter VV brings together a team which clinches the title in Provincial League 2B, thus managing a return to Provincial League 1 following an absence of more than two decades. That same year, the new Damburgstadion is inaugurated, located on a pasture right next to the old Terrein Damburg (which has since been taken over and redeveloped for the benefit of the local tennis club).
1998 / Led by head coach Rony Vangompel, the club finishes in first place in Limburg's Provincial League 1, thus acceding to National Division 4 for the first time since the 1960s.
2001 / Having finished fourth and third in its first two seasons in D4, the club wins the title in D4C, thus acceding to the third tier of Belgian football after an absence of 69 years. In the following years, the club proves itself as a stable contender in D3, just missing out on promotion to Division 2 in 2012 (losing the decisive tie against KFC Dessel Sport) and 2013 (against R Excelsior Virton).
2004 / In the Belgian Cup, K Bocholter VV hosts RSC Anderlecht at Damburgstadion in a match which is attended by a crowd of 3,000. In spite of giving the record champions a good run for their money, the home side loses the match 2-3.
2016 / In a reorganisation of the national league pyramid, which sees the introduction of two professional divisions with three amateur divisions below it, K Bocholter VV is placed in VFV Amateur Division 2, the fourth tier of the new league ladder.

Note: Below, a compilation of pictures of two different match visits: pictures 1-6, 8-9, 11-13, 15, 17, 19-22 & 25 = February 2023 / pictures 7, 10, 14, 16, 18 & 23-24 = October 2011.