Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: FC Telstar (1968-1977) / SK Leest (1977-1992) / SK Rapid Leest (1992-2022) / VC Leest (B) (2022-)

Complex Grote Bleukens "Site Zenne", Leest (B ground of VC Leest, formerly FC Telstar / SK Leest / SK Rapid Leest)

Belgium, province: Antwerp

5 V 2016 / SK Rapid Leest - K Retie SK 1-1 / Antwerp, Provincial League 2 - promotion play-off final, first leg (= BE level 6)

Timeline

1967 / Foundation of recreational football team FC Telstar in Leest. Founding fathers are Fons Hellemans and Jean Van Dam. A pasture along the river Zenne, at Pastoor De Heuckstraat, is levelled to serve as the new club's pitch.
1968 / Joining recreational league KKSFB (Koninklijke Katholieke Sportfederatie België), FC Telstar takes part in the federation's league for the first time, starting at the bottom in Division 4.
1969 / After additional works, including the construction of changing rooms, Complex Grote Bleukens - as the ground at Pastoor De Heuckstraat is officially named - is inaugurated officially.
1977 / At the request of KKSFB, FC Telstar changes its name to become Sportkring (SK) Leest.
1983 / SK Leest takes the leap from KKSFB to the official Belgian Football Association, obtaining matricule 8890 after successfully applying for membership.
1986 / After three seasons in Antwerp's Provincial League 4, SK Leest wins the title in Provincial League 4B, thus acceding to P3.
1987 / SK Leest wins the title in Provincial League 3B, thus acceding to P2.
1988 / Following the third consecutive title win, an incredible feat, SK Leest is placed in Provincial League 1 merely five years after having joined the Belgian FA.
1992 / SK Leest concludes a merger with FC Rapid Mechelen, resulting in the foundation of SK Rapid Leest, retaining Rapid's matricule 3737. In its existence as an independent club, FC Rapid Mechelen, founded in 1936, alternated spells in Antwerp's Provincial Leagues 3 and 4, never attaining the higher reaches of the provincial league system. All club activities move to Leest's Complex Grote Bleukens, while Rapid's sole pitch at Stuivenbergbaan (behind modern-day house number 156) was abandoned. With the merger having fallen through at the last moment in 1991, Rapid failed to field any teams in the 1991-92 season, meaning the eventual merger in 1992 was tantamount to an absorption by SK Leest of FC Rapid.
1996 / SK Rapid Leest is relegated from Provincial League 1 after eight seasons of playing at that level. In the following decades, the club alternates short spells in Provincial Leagues 1 and 2.
2022 / SK Rapid Leest - at that point relegated from Provincial League 1 to Provincial League 2 - sells its matricule 3737 to ambitious Provincial League 4 side Nielse SV, who thus leap two divisions at once without having to gain promotion on the pitch. For SK Rapid Leest, this was a technical - and profitable! - solution to what in effect was a merger with Leest United. While retaining its matricule (9456), Leest United changes its name to become VC Leest. The new club started its life at Leest United's level, Provincial League 4, also playing its first team football at United's ground, Gentsesteenweg in Heffen. SK Rapid's ground at Pastoor De Heuckstraat remains in use for lower team football and training purposes. All of this is a temporary arrangement, however, as VV Leest's former ground at Dorpstraat, which had been left in disrepair for several years, will be renovated to become the new club's only home in the near future.