Terrein Zwijnaardsesteenweg, Merelbeke (formerly SK Sint-Pieters Merelbeke / SK Merelbeke / FC Rangers Merelbeke)
Belgium, province: East-Flanders
8 XII 2018 / FC Rangers Merelbeke - SK Wichelen 0-1 / East-Flanders, Provincial League 4D (= BE level 9)
Belgium, province: East-Flanders
8 XII 2018 / FC Rangers Merelbeke - SK Wichelen 0-1 / East-Flanders, Provincial League 4D (= BE level 9)
Timeline
- 1956 / Foundation of a football club in Ghent, which takes on the name FC Sint-Pieters-Gent, joining Belgium’s FA acquiring registration number 6159.
- 1959 / FC Sint-Pieters-Gent fields a first team for the first time, being placed in East Flanders’ Provincial League 3.
- 1969 / Upon the creation of a Provincial League 4, FC Sint-Pieters Gent descends into this new bottom division of East Flanders’ provincial pyramid, spending the following twelve seasons at that level.
- 1981 / FC Sint-Pieters Gent moves to Merelbeke, taking on the name Sportkring (SK) Sint-Pieters Merelbeke and moving from Ghent to Terrein Zwijnaardsesteenweg in Merelbeke – and starting life under its new name in East Flanders’ Provincial League 4D. This move to Merelbeke is the result of the take-over of the club by a group of disaffected members of Sporting Merelbeke – thus being regarded as a breakaway of that club; the choice to purchase the registration number of a bottom division club from Ghent instead of founding a new club of their own was prompted by the fact that there were already three clubs in the municipality (VV Merelbeke, Sporting Merelbeke, and Union Merelbeke) - and the Belgian Football Association forbade a fourth one, but could not do anything about the purchase of registration umber 6159.
- 1988 / Merger of three clubs in Merelbeke - VV Merelbeke, Sporting Merelbeke, and Union Merelbeke - resulting in the foundation of FC Merelbeke, which settles at VV Merelbeke's ground, Terrein Kloosterstraat. SK Merelbeke does not take part in this merger.
- 1991 / In its best season since the club’s move to Merelbeke, SK Sint-Pieters Merelbeke finishes in third place in Provincial League 4B, subsequently acceding to Provincial League 3 – probably after winning a round of promotion play-offs. That same summer, the club simplifies its name to become Sportkring (SK) Merelbeke, thus shedding the reference to the neighbourhood in Ghent where the club originated.
- 1992 / Finishing second-last in P3B, SK Merelbeke drops back into Provincial League 4. In the following decade, the club alternates spells in P4 (1992-94 & 1996-98) and P3 (1994-96 & 1998-2001).
- 2001 / Suffering relegation from P3B following a second-last place finish in that division, SK Merelbeke finds itself in P4 again. The club have played at that level since, usually finishing near the bottom of the table.
- 2014 / In its most successful season after the turn of the century, SK Merelbeke finishes in fifth place in East Flanders’ Provincial League 4B, even qualifying for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is eliminated in R1 in an away game at FC AY-Yildiz Gent (1-0).
- 2017 / A recreational club from Ghent, FC Afro-Belge, joins Belgium’s FA as FC Rangers Merelbeke (registration number 9682) after managing to conclude a groundsharing agreement with SK Merelbeke at Terrein Zwijnaardsesteenweg.
- 2019 / Having spent two seasons near the bottom of the table in East Flanders’ Provincial League 4D, FC Rangers Merelbeke is absorbed by FC Rooigem from Ghent, which subsequently changes its name to become FC Rooigem Rangers. This club, playing its football at Terrein Papiermolenstraat in Ghent, revert to their old name FC Rooigem after just one season, in 2020.
- 2020 / Having played 39 seasons at Terrein Zwijnaardsesteenweg, which was often waterlogged due to its proximity to the river Scheldt, SK Merelbeke are allowed to moved to Terrein Kloosterstraat, which had been abandoned by KFC Merelbeke in 2018 - although the club retained the main pitch for training sessions for two more years. KFC Merelbeke groundshared with JV De Pinte at Sportpark Moerkensheide for nearly five years before settling at the newly built Sportpark Molenkouter at Poelstraat.
- 2021 / The premises at Zwijnaardsesteenweg are knocked down in early 2021, as the pitches are turned into a nature reserve.
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