Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: Rillaar Sport (1971-1994) / FC Rillaar Sport (1994-2018) / RWL Sport (2018-2021)

Sunday, 31 July 2016

BELGIUM: Rillaar Sport (1971-1994) / FC Rillaar Sport (1994-2018) / RWL Sport (2018-2021)

Terrein Schoonderbukenweg, Rillaar (formerly Rillaar Sport / FC Rillaar Sport / RWL Sport)

Belgium, province: Flemish Brabant

21 VII 2016 / FC Rillaar Sport - VC Wolfsdonk Sport 0-1 / Fusiebeker Groot-Aarschot (Aarschot Community Cup)

Timeline

1943 / Foundation of a first club in Rillaar, FC Rillaar, which joins Belgium's FA obtaining matricule 3891. The club is short-lived, though, playing in Brabant's Provincial League 3 for three seasons before withdrawing its first team in 1946 and the club's matricule being erased from the official FA list in 1948.
1955 / Foundation of Rillaar Sport, seeking affilition with Belgium's Football Association under matricule 5825. The club starts its life at a ground situated at Diestsesteenweg; this might have been the pitch later occupied by recreational club Nelly Boys, but no certainty on this matter is to be had.
1967 / Finishing first in Provincial League 3A, Rillaar Sport clinches the first-ever title in club history, thus acceding to Provincial League 2 for the first time.
1968 / Rillaar Sport just misses out on back-to-back promotions, finishing second in P2B.
1969 / A second club is founded in Rillaar, a refounded FC Rillaar, which joins Belgium's FA under matricule 7309; this club plays its football at a ground at Langestraat, on the northern outskirts of the village. Part of the reason for the foundation of this second provincial league club is to give less ambitious players from the village the opportunity to play league football at a more modest level than would be possible at Rillaar Sport.
1971 / Abandoning its ground at Diestsesteenweg, Rillaar Sport settles at a newly laid-out ground situated at Schoonderbukenweg (occasionally spelled Schoonderbeukenweg).
1976 / Winning the title in P2B, Rillaar Sport manages a historic promotion to Brabant's Provincial League 1.
1978 / Following a 13th place in P1 in 1976-77, the best result in club history, Rillaar Sport finishes 15th the following season, as a result of which the club is retrograded to P2 after a two-year spell at the top provincial level.
1981 / After a new title win in P2B, Rillaar Sport manages a return to Provincial League 1.
1983 / Having finished 14th in the previous season - thereby just staying up -, Rillaar Sport does not manage to avoid the drop in 1982-83, thus again returning to P2 after a two-year spell in Provincial League 1.
1986 / Finishing 16th and last in P2B, Rillaar Sport drops back into Provincial League 3, 19 years after last having played at this lowly level.
1993 / The lowpoint in club history, as Rillaar Sport is relegated to Provincial League 4, a level at which the club never acted previously. Making the event even more humiliating, village rivals FC Rillaar manages a promotion to Provincial League 3 that same year.
1994 / Having finished in a humbling 11th place in P4G in its last season as an independent club, Rillaar Sport concludes a merger with FC Rillaar (matricule 7309), forming FC Rillaar Sport. The merger club retains Rillaar Sport's matricule 5825. Henceforth, first team football is played at Rillaar Sport's ground at Schoonderbukenweg, while FC Rillaar's Terrein Langestraat is retained for lower team football and training purposes. Thanks to FC Rillaar staying up easily in P3 in the 1993-94 season, the new club starts its life at that level.
2001 / After having spent its first seven years after the merger in P3, FC Rillaar Sport clinches the title in P3D, thus acceding to Provincial League 2.
2008 / Following a seven-year spell in P2, FC Rillaar Sport is relegated back into P3 due to a 15th place finish in P2B.
2010 / Winning the title in P3D, FC Rillaar Sport finds its way back to the Provincial League 2 level.
2011 / Clinching its second title in a row, FC Rillaar Sport, coached by Fille Janssens, wins promotion from Provincial League 2B to accede to P1 for the first time since the merger - and 28 years after Rillaar Sport last acted at that level.
2013 / In its second season in P1, FC Rillaar Sport finishes in a respectable sixth place, just missing out on the promotion play-offs.
2014 / Following a three-year spell in Provincial League 1, FC Rillaar Sport finishes 14th and drops back into P2.
2016 / Finishing 16th and last in P2B with a humiliatingly low number of 7 points - 24 points short of a safety -, FC Rillaar Sport is relegated to Provincial League 3.
2018 / In its last season as an independent club, FC Rillaar Sport finishes second in P3A, four points behind eventual champions Tielt Winge 3000. Following the 2017-18 season, FC Rillaar Sport concludes a merger with VC Wolfsdonk Sport, the result being Rillaar-Wolfsdonk-Langdorp (RWL) Sport, retaining Wolfsdonk's matricule 7162. For the time being, first team football is played at Terrein Schoonderbukenweg in Rillaar. Terrein Langestraat and Wolfsdonk's Stadion De Hel at Volkensvoortstraat are retained for lower team football and training sessions. Although KVC Langdorp (matricule 5767) does not take part in the merger, it cedes its youth academy to RWL Sport, while also allowing its Terrein Op 't Sant to be used for part of the new merger club's youth academy activities. RWL Sport starts its life in Provincial League 2, the level at which VC Wolfsdonk Sport managed to maintain itself in the previous season.
2019 / In its first season after the merger, RWL Sport finishes in 15th place in P2A, thereby dropping back into P3.
2021 / RWL Sport moves its first team football to Terrein Langestraat, home of the former FC Rillaar. The pitch at Schoonderbukenweg, having been in use for 50 uninterrupted seasons, is abandoned.

Note - Below, a compilation of photos of two different visits: pictures 1-18 = match visit, July 2016 / pictures 19-28 = non-matchday (ruin) visit, February 2023.