BELGIUM: K Puurs Excelsior FC (1965-2006) / K Excelsior Puurs RSK (2006-2018) / Puursica Puurs (2018-2019) / Kalfort Puursica (2019-2023)

Gemeentelijke Sportterreinen Kerkhofstraat, Puurs = Puers (Kalfort Puursica, formerly K Puurs Excelsior FC / K Excelsior Puurs RSK / Puursica Puurs)

Belgium, province: Antwerp

25 VIII 2012 / K Excelsior Puurs RSK - Red Boys Elzestraat 2-4 / Antwerp, Provincial Cup

Timeline

• 1932 / Foundation of a football club bearing the name Puursica. The club, playing its home matches on a pitch at Molenstraat, joins the Flemish Football Association (Vlaamse Voetbalbond).
• 1935 / Foundation of another club in Puurs, FC Excelsior Puers, which joins the official Belgian Football Association under matricule 2231. This club's home ground is unknown (to me).
• 1938 / FC Excelsior Puers folds, ceasing all activities. Meanwhile, a conflict breaks out in Puursica's board, leading to the foundation of a breakaway club, Puurs Excelsior Football Club. Probably right from the start, this club plays its football at a ground situated at Palingstraat.
• 1943 / Puurs Excelsior FC switches from the Flemish Football Association to the Belgian Football Association, obtaining matricule 3855.
• 1965 / For the first time in its history, Puurs Excelsior manages to win promotion to the national divisions. Due to the premises at Palingstraat being deemed unsuited for national league football, in a very short time, a new ground is created just down the road, at Kerkhofstraat. The pitch at Palingstraat remains in use for training sessions and lower team football for one more season until being abandoned in 1966.
• 1967 / In its second season in National Division 4, Puurs Excelsior wins the title, resulting in a historic promotion to the third tier of the Belgian football pyramid. In the following season, the club comes close to clinching a second promotion in a row, finishing third.
• 1975 / After eight years in National Division 3, the club is relegated to D4.
• 1980 / Relegation to Antwerp's Provincial League 1. The following year, a second relegation in a row ensues. In subsequent years, the club never finds its way back up to P1 again - let alone the national divisions.
• 1988 / At the club's 50th anniversary, a successful application is made to obtain the royal epithet, with the full name now becoming Koninklijke Puurs Excelsior Football Club.
• 1998 / For the first time in its history, the club suffers a relegation to Provincial League 4, the lowest tier of the football pyramid.
• 2006 / The club merges with SK Ruisbroek (founded in 1963, matricule 6618), becoming Koninklijke Puurs Excelsior Ruisbroek Sportkring, or, more commonly: K Puurs Excelsior RSK. Puurs' matricule 3855 is retained. In Ruisbroek, a team named SK Ruisbroek joins the KAVVV, a recreational league in the Province of Antwerp.
• 2018 / Following years of anonymity in the lower reaches of Antwerp's provincial league system, K Puurs Excelsior RSK folds, ceasing all activities. Straightaway, a successor club sees the daylight, Puursica Puurs, joining the Belgian FA under matricule 9706. The new club takes over the pitches at Kerkhofstraat.
• 2019 / Signing a cooperation agreement with K Kalfort Daghet, a local recreational club with a large youth academy, Puursica Puurs changes its name to become Kalfort Puursica, thus enabling part of Kalfort Daghet's youths to play their football in the Belgian FA's competitions.
• 2023 / Kalfort Puursica abandons the historic ground at Kerkhofstraat in favour of a newly built park, Sportpark De Schans, situated in Kalfort, in February 2023, sharing the park with K Kalfort Daghet which also moves out of its old ground at Leopold Van Kerckhovenstraat.

Note: Below, a compilation of photos of three different visits: pictures 1 & 9-24 = match visit, August 2012 / pictures 2-7 = non-matchday visit, August 2022 / picture 8 = non-matchday visit, December 2010.

All photos: (c) W.B. Tukker / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author