BELGIUM: Red Star (1936-1944) / KFC Red Star Haasdonk (1944-2002) / KV Red Star Waasland (B) (2002-2009) / SK Gerda Sint-Niklaas (2009-2018) / FC Gerda Waasland Sint-Niklaas (2018-2020) / FC Gerda Sint-Niklaas (2020)

Robert Waterschootstadion, Sint-Niklaas = Saint-Nicolas (formerly Red Star / FC Red Star Haasdonk / KV Red Star Waasland - B ground / SK Gerda Sint-Niklaas / FC Gerda Waasland Sint-Niklaas / FC Gerda Sint-Niklaas)

Belgium, province: East Flanders

6 I 2018 / SK Gerda Sint-Niklaas - SK Oudegem 1-3 / East-Flanders, Provincial League 3E (= BE level 8)

Timeline

• 1936 / Foundation of a football club in 't Ster, a hamlet halfway between Sint-Niklaas and Haasdonk - but part of the municipality of Haasdonk at the time. The club, which joined the so-called Vlaamsche Voetbalbond, probably played its football at Pastor Copstraat from the outset.
• 1944 / Upon the end of World War II, disgusted by the collaborationist stance of the Vlaamsche Voetbalbond, Red Star - like so many other Flemish clubs - takes the decision to make the leap to the official Belgian Football Association, adapting its name to become FC Red Star Haasdonk. Membership is obtained under matricule 4068.
• 1948 / RS Haasdonk reaches East Flanders highest provincial level - at that time Provincial League 2 - for the first time. 
• 1961 / Winning the title in Provincial League 2B, Red Star accedes to East Flanders's Provincial League 1 (in existence since 1952) for the first time. 
• 1966 / After five years in P1, Red Star suffers relegation to Provincial League 2. In the following decade, the club alternates spells in Provincial Leagues 2 and 3.
• 1977 / The forests of Recreatieoord 't Ster, including the four football pitches used by FC Red Star Haasdonk at Pastor Copstraat, become part of the municipality of Sint-Niklaas, as the village of Haasdonk proper loses its independence and is attached to the municipality of Beveren-Waas. 
• 1979 / The nadir of Red Star's club history as its first team is relegated to Provincial League 4 for the first time. The following season, the club wins the title in P4I, thus returning to Provincial League 3 - due to stay at that level for the next 11 seasons.
• 1986 / Upon its fiftieth anniversary, the club becomes a Société Royale, thus changing its name to become Koninklijke Football Club (KFC) Red Star Haasdonk.
• 1990 / Winning the promotion play-offs, KFC Red Star Haasdonk returns to Provincial League 2.
• 1993 / After a presidency of 50 (!) years, club chairman Robert Waterschoot - incidentally also co-founder of Red Star in 1936 - retires, being succeeded in his capacity by Melchior Roosens. Probably on or around this occasion, the ground at Pastoor Copstraat was renamed Robert Waterschootstadion.
• 1995 / Finishing in first place in Provincial League 2C, Red Star returns to Provincial League 1 after an absence of 29 seasons.
• 2000 / Winning the title in East Flanders' Provincial League 1, KFC Red Star Haasdonk joins the ranks of the national leagues for the first time in its history.
• 2001 / After having reached the last 16 of the Belgian Cup, bowing out in a home tie against KAA Gent played at Beveren's Freethielstadion (Nov. 5th, 2000), KFC Red Star Haasdonk wins the title in National Division 4B, thus winning promotion to National Division 3.
• 2002 / At the request of Sint-Niklaas' town council, KFC Red Star Haasdonk moves its first team football to Stedelijk Sportstadion Puyenbeke - which had hosted K Sint-Niklase SK Excelsior's home games until 2000, when that club was absorbed by KSC Lokeren. In order to increase its appeal to the wider region, RS Haasdonk changes its name to become KV (Koninklijke Voetbalclub) Red Star Waasland. The Robert Waterschootstadion remains in use for lower team football and training sessions.
• 2009 / Meanwhile playing in National Division 2, KV Red Star Waasland abandons the premises at Pastoor Copstraat, moving all its activities to Stedelijk Sportstadion Puyenbeke and its five side-pitches. That same summer, another local club, SK Gerda Sint-Niklaas (matricule 9419), which had played all its football at Puyenbeke's side-pitches since its foundation in 2002, moves in the opposite direction, settling down at Robert Waterschootstadion. SK Gerda Sint-Niklaas was the refoundation of KFC Gerda Sint-Niklaas, founded in 1938 (matricule 3077), which played at grounds at Heimolen (1938-45) and Klokkedreef (1945-2002) until folding in 2002 - due to being forced out of Klokkedreef by the owner of the ground. The ruins of Klokkedreef were eventually removed in 2008 to make way for senior apartments in an area now known as 'Gerdapark'. Still in 2009, a new football club is founded in Haasdonk - a refoundation of the old Red Star Haasdonk which is given the apt name Herleving Red Star (HRS) Haasdonk (matricule 9524), but this club settles at Poerdamstadion in Haasdonk proper. 
• 2011 / SK Gerda Sint-Niklaas, which had first fielded a team in the provincial leagues in 2005 after focusing on youth squads exclusively the previous three seasons, wins promotion to Provincial League 3 for the first time.
• 2018 / Taken over by a Turkish owner, SK Gerda Sint-Niklaas changes its name to become FC Gerda Waasland Sint-Niklaas.
• 2020 / The club name is simplified to reading FC Gerda Sint-Niklaas. Later that summer, the club, placed in Provincial League 3E for the new season, folds, ceasing all activities. Since, the pitches at Pastoor Copstraat have remained unused, rapidly falling into decay as a result.

Note: Below, a compilation of photos of three different visits: pictures 1-10, non-matchday visit, April 2011 (photos re-edited by Anneke te Boekhorst) / pictures 11-28 = match visit, January 2017 / pictures 29-37 = non-matchday (ruin) visit, September 2022.

All photos: (c) W.B. Tukker (co-edited by J.C. te Boekhorst) / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author