Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: KFC Torhout (1951-1973) / KVK Torhout (1973-1992) / Torhout 1992 KM (1992-2020) / SK Torhout (2016-2021) / KM Torhout (2020-)

Stadion 'De Velodroom', Torhout = Thourout (KM Torhout, formerly KFC Torhout / KVK Torhout / Torhout 1992 KM)

Belgium, province: West Flanders

26 IV 2009 / Torhout 1992 KM - RES Couvin-Mariembourg 2-3 / National Division 4A (= BE level 4)

Timeline

1919 / Foundation of Football Club (FC) Torhoutois. From the outset, the football club has a distinctly Roman-Catholic identity.
1920 / FC Torhoutois joins the official Belgian Football Association, however changing its name in the process to become Voetbalclub (VC) Thourout. That year, the club finds a permanent ground situated at (and known as) Paardemarkt.
1926 / When Belgium's FA introduces the matricule system, VC Thourout obtains matricule 110. That same year, a group of disaffected members, led by Alfons Vanneste and Egide Stubbe, breaks away from VC Thourout to form a non-Catholic football club, Sportkring (SK) Torhout (matricule 822). This new club finds a home at a ground situated at Roeselaerse Kalsijde.
1929 / VC Thourout files an official name change, becoming Football Club (FC) Thourout. In the pre-war years, VC Thourout never manages the leap to the national league level, instead playing its football in West Flanders' regional divisions.
1951 / FC Thourout acquires the royal epithet - and, simultaneously flemicising its name, the club becomes Koninklijke Football Club (KFC) Torhout. That same year, the club moves from Paardemarkt to Stadion De Velodroom. This sports facility, inaugurated in 1909, was originally an inline cycling track, which had its heyday in the 1920s and 1930s, while it was also used as the arrival location of road races such as De Drie Zustersteden and Brussel-Thorout. In 1941-42, however, the stadium was demolished by German tanks as occupying authorities put the site to use as ammunition storage. After the war, with inline cycling never regaining its former popularity, the site is rebuilt as a football stadium for FC Thourout, inaugurated in 1951.
1969 / After years of insignificance in the provincial leagues, KFC Torhout manages to win promotion to National Division 4 for a first time.
1972 / Experiencing the most successful season during its first spell of national league football, KFC Torhout finishes sixth in National Division 4D.
1973 / Further flemicising its club name, KFC Torhout becomes Koninklijke Voetbalklub (KVK) Torhout.
1974 / After five seasons in National Division 4, KVK Torhout drops back into West Flanders' Provincial League 1.
1975 / Winning the title in Provincial League 1, KVK Torhout bounces back immediately to reclaim its position as a national league club.
1978 / After three more years in National Division 4, KVK Torhout suffers relegation to P1 once more.
1980 / Claiming the title in P1, the club begins its third spell as a national league club - unsuccessfully, though, with relegation following immediately in 1981.
1985 / Finishing first in West Flanders' Provincial League 1 for the third time in ten years, KVK Torhout is back in National Division 4 after an absence of four years.
1987 / As KVK Torhout's neighbour club KSK Torhout wins promotion to National Division 4 for the first time in that club's history, the town of Torhout experiences five seasons of fierce rivalry, finding its culmination in derby encounters at Stadion De Velodroom and KSK's Stedelijk Sportstadion.
1988 / KVK Torhout finishes third in National Division 4A. In the following seasons, the club's achievements start dwindling, though, with the traditionally more modest KSK Torhout eclipsing its Roman-Catholic neighbour.
1992 / After five years spent side-by-side in National Division 4A, KVK Torhout and KSK Torhout finish in 15th and 14th place respectively, both dropping back into West Flanders' Provincial League 1. In the months leading up to the calamity, merger talks between both clubs had gotten underway, the result being the foundation of Torhout 1992 Koninklijke Maatschappij (KM). Strikingly, the merger club retains KSK Torhout's (higher) matricule, 822; KVK's matricule 110 lives on only in the name of the clubhouse at De Velodroom, which is given the name 'Club 110'. Henceforth, first team football is played at Stadion De Velodroom, while the pitches of KSK's Stedelijk Sportstadion remain in use for lower team football and training sessions. First club president of Torhout 1992 KM is Charles Hollevoet, former board member of KVK, while KSK's strongman Rudi Vanneste takes over the new club's secretariat.
1995 / Having spent its first three seasons in West Flanders' Provincial League 1, Torhout 1992 KM wins promotion to National Division 4.
1998 / Climbing further up the league ladder than any club from Torhout previously, Torhout 1992 KM wins the title in National Division 4A, thus acceding to National Division 3.
1999 / A third, smaller club in Torhout, DK Torhout, folds, ceasing all activities. Its ground, Terrein De Verloren Kost in the hamlet of Driekoningen, on the northern edges of Torhout, is taken in use by Torhout 1992 KM for lower team football and training sessions.
2000 / Torhout 1992 KM's first experience of National Division 3 football is an unhappy one, as the club finishes second-last in D3A, thus dropping back into D4. That same year, a group of disaffected members with a past in KSK Torhout, led by Rudi Vanneste, breaks away from the club, preparing a refoundation of KSK Torhout.
2001 / The year 2001 is a two-edged sword for Torhout 1992 KM; on the pitch, the club first team lays its hands on the title in National Division 4A, thus finding its way back to National Division 3 after a one-year absence. Another positive development, all stands at Stadion De Velodroom are demolished to make way for modern replacements. Simultaneously, though, a new rival club is founded, New Sportkring (NSK) Torhout 2001, which joins the Belgian FA under matricule 9388. This club - renamed SK Torhout in 2002, which starts its life at the bottom of the ladder in West Flanders' Provincial League 4, settles at Stedelijk Voetbalveld De Verloren Kost in Driekoningen.
2005 / Torhout 1992 KM manages the best result of a Torhout club ever, finishing third in National Division 3A.
2008 / After seven consecutive years in National Division 3, Torhout 1992 KM suffers relegation to the fourth level of Belgium's football pyramid. Later that year, tragically, club president Oswald Bossuyt passes away.
2009 / In spite of having a rather bleak season in National Division 4A, ending in ninth place, Torhout 1992 KM wins promotion in the play-offs, thus finding its way back to D3 after just one year.
2012 / Enjoying a fine season in D3A, Torhout 1992 KM finishes in fifth place, while also qualifying for the promotion play-offs; however, the club withdraws, as it had refrained from requesting a licence for National Division 2 football.
2016 / Suffering relegation from National Division 3A, Torhout 1992 KM is placed in the newly created VFV Amateur Division 2, henceforth the fourth step of Belgium's football pyramid. That same year, Stadion De Velodroom's pitch is equipped with a 3G surface by Torhout's town authorities. As a result, Stephaan De Pessemier, SK Torhout's chairman at the time, files a request at Torhout's town hall, demanding the right to move his club's first team to the new 3G as well - an appeal which, in spite of protests on the part of Torhout 1992 KM, is eventually granted.
2018 / Finishing second-last in VFV Amateur Division 2A, Torhout 1992 KM suffers relegation to Amateur Division 3, the fifth and lowest tier of Belgium's post-2016 national league system. That same year, KM's groundsharers SK Torhout wins the title in Provincial League 4B, thus acceding to Provincial League 3.
2020 / Torhout 1992 KM simplifies its name, becoming Koninklijke Maatschappij (KM) Torhout.
2021 / SK Torhout withdraws its first team from the regular provincial leagues. This decision leads to the end of the groundsharing agreement at Stadion De Velodroom, which is henceforth used exclusively by KM Torhout. From 2021 onwards, SK Torhout subdivides its activities between Stedelijk Voetbalveld De Verloren Kost and Sportcentrum Benny Vansteelant (formerly known as Stedelijk Sportstadion).
2022 / Finishing fourth in Amateur Division 3A, KM Torhout subsequently manages to win the play-offs, resulting in promotion to Amateur Division 2.