Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: KSK Torhout (1963-1992) / Torhout 1992 KM (B) (1992-2020) / SK Torhout (±2006-2016) / SK Torhout (B) (2016-) / KM Torhout (B) (2020-)

Stedelijk Sportstadion a.k.a. Sportcentrum 'Benny Vansteelant', Torhout = Thourout (SK Torhout - B ground & K Maatschappij Torhout - B ground, formerly A ground of KSK Torhout / SK Torhout / B ground of Torhout 1992 K Maatschappij)

Belgium, province: West Flanders

2 II 2020 / SK Torhout U21 - Jong Male VV U21 0-1 / West Flanders, Gewestelijke U21 (Regional U21) - group D

Timeline

1926 / Foundation of Sportkring (SK) Torhout. Upon the introduction of the matricule register by Belgium's FA in December 1926, SK Torhout, who joined one month earlier, obtains matricule 822. The club is formed by a group of disaffected members of Torhout's first football club, VC Thourout (matricule 110). Whereas VC Thourout was an exclusively Roman-Catholic club, SK Torhout has a distinctly non-clerical identity. Founding fathers of the new club include Alfons Vanneste and Egide Stubbe. SK Torhout's first ground is situated at Roeselaerse Kalsijde.
1927 / Abandoning its pitch at Roeselaerse Kalsijde, SK Torhout moves to Kortemarkse Kalsijde. In its pre-war existence, like town rivals VC Thourout, SK Torhout does not manage to climb out of West Flanders' regional leagues.
1946 / In the aftermath of World War II, SK Torhout moves from Kortemarkse Kalsijde to Brildam - the pitch was situated on a plot of land now occupied by housing at Albrecht Rodenbachstraat. The pitch was leased to the club by newspaper magnate Albert Maertens. At the new ground's entrance, a monument is erected in honour of Egide Stubbe, one of the club's founders, who perished during German occupation.
1952 / Obtaining the royal epithet, SK Torhout adapts its name to become Koninlijke Sportkring (KSK) Torhout.
1957 / KSK goalkeeper Willy Mortier, 22 years old at the time, earns himself a contract with professional league side Cercle Brugge KSV. Having defended the green and black of Cercle for nine years, Mortier goes on to play for Beerschot VAC until hanging up his boots in 1972. Willy Mortier, who also played for Belgium's national military selection, passed away in 2001.
1963 / Having played at Brildam for 17 seasons, KSK Torhout moves to the newly built Stedelijk Sportstadion - alternatively spelled as Stedelijk Sportstadium in the 1960s - in Torhout's town-centre. This multisports ground, adorned with a large covered stand and an athletics track surrounding the pitch, is the club's home for the remainder of its existence as an independent club.
1987 / For the first time in club history, KSK Torhout wins promotion to Belgium's national league system. In National Division 4A, the club stumbles upon KVK Torhout - none other than matricule 110, the old VC Thourout, which underwent several name changes subsequently; and which had played in D4 for most of the previous two decades. KSK's strongman at the time is chairman Rudi Vanneste, grandson of club founder Alfons Vanneste.
1991 / Slowly eclipsing the fading KVK Torhout, KSK Torhout finishes sixth in National Division 4A - the best achievement in club history.
1992 / Having played in National Division 4A together for five years, KSK Torhout and KVK Torhout both drop out of the national divisions after finishing 14th and 15th respectively. In the months leading up to the calamity, merger talks between both clubs had gotten underway, the result being the foundation of Torhout 1992 Koninklijke Maatschappij (KM). Strikingly, the merger club retains KSK Torhout's (higher) matricule, 822; KVK's matricule 110 lives on only in the name of the clubhouse at De Velodroom, which is given the name 'Club 110'. Henceforth, first team football is played at KVK's Stadion De Velodroom, while the pitches of KSK's Stedelijk Sportstadion remain in use for lower team football and training sessions. First club president of Torhout 1992 KM is Charles Hollevoet, former board member of KVK, while KSK's Rudi Vanneste takes over the new club's secretariat.
1995 / Having spent its first three seasons in West Flanders' Provincial League 1, Torhout 1992 KM wins promotion to National Division 4.
1998 / Climbing further up the league ladder than any club from Torhout previously, Torhout 1992 KM wins the title in National Division 4A, thus acceding to National Division 3.
1999 / A third, smaller club in Torhout, DK Torhout, folds, ceasing all activities. Its ground, Terrein De Verloren Kost in the hamlet of Driekoningen, on the northern edges of Torhout, is taken in use by Torhout 1992 KM for lower team football and training sessions.
2000 / Torhout 1992 KM's first experience of National Division 3 football is an unhappy one, as the club finishes second-last in D3A, thus dropping back into D4. That same year, a group of disaffected members with a past in KSK Torhout, led by Rudi Vanneste, breaks away from the club, preparing a refoundation of KSK Torhout.
2001 / The year 2001 is a two-edged sword for Torhout 1992 KM; on the pitch, the club first team lays its hands on the title in National Division 4A, thus finding its way back to National Division 3 after a one-year absence. Simultaneously, though, the 'de-fusion', already looming large since the previous year, takes place officially, with part of KM's former senior membership founding a new club, New Sportkring (NSK) Torhout 2001, which joins the Belgian FA under matricule 9388. The new club, which starts its life at the bottom of the ladder in West Flanders' Provincial League 4, settles at Stedelijk Voetbalterrein De Verloren Kost in Driekoningen.
2002 / In its first season, NSK Torhout 2001 succeeds in winning promotion from Provincial League 4. That same year, permission is given by Belgium's FA to (re)instate the name Sportkring (SK) Torhout.
±2006 / Torhout's municipal authorities approve a request of SK Torhout to move into Stedelijk Sportstadion, home ground of the erstwhile KSK Torhout (matr. 822) from 1963 to 1992. Henceforth, SK Torhout's first team football takes place at the multisports stadium, which it shares with Torhout 1992 KM's youth academy. In the meantime, SK Torhout set up a modest youth academy of its own, of which the activities are subdivided between Stedelijk Sportstadion and Stedelijk Voetbalveld De Verloren Kost.
2007 / Having finished second in Provincial League 2A, SK Torhout succeeds in gaining the promotion play-offs, thus acceding to West Flanders' Provincial League 1 a mere six years after the club's foundation. That same year, the club's stadium is officially renamed Sportcentrum Benny Vansteelant in honour of a local athlete who tragically passed away in a car accident.
2008 / Finishing second-last in its first season in P1, SK Torhout drops back into Provincial League 2.
2011 / After three seasons in P2, SK Torhout finds its way back to Provincial League 1 by winning the promotion play-offs. Again, the adventure at the highest provincial level lasts no longer than one year, with relegation following in 2012.
2014 / In spite of winning the title in Provincial League 2A, SK Torhout, marred by managerial problems, refrains from taking its place in Provincial League 1 - instead withdrawing its first team from the regular provincial leagues.
2015 / Having taken a sabbatical year with just lower team football, SK Torhout returns with a first team at Provincial League 4 level.
2016 / The main pitch of Stadion De Velodroom, home of Torhout 1992 KM's first team, is equipped with a 3G surface by Torhout's town authorities. Subsequently, Stephaan De Pessemier, SK Torhout's chairman at the time, files a request at Torhout's town hall, demanding the right to move his club's first team to the new 3G as well - an appeal which, in spite of protests on the part of Torhout 1992 KM, is eventually granted. Meanwhile, SK Torhout retains Sportcentrum Benny Vansteelant, which it shares with KM, as well as its pitch at Verloren Kost for lower team football and training sessions.
2018 / SK Torhout's first team, playing its football at Stadion De Velodroom, obtains the title in Provincial League 4B, thus winning promotion to P3.
2021 / After three seasons in Provincial League 3, SK Torhout again withdraws its first team from the regular provincial leagues. From 2021 onwards, SK's reserves' team has played its football at Stedelijk Voetbalveld De Verloren Kost, while the club's youth academy subdivides its activities between 'De Kost' and the side-pitches of Sportcentrum Benny Vansteelant - which it shares with KM Torhout's youth teams. Meanwhile, the Sportcentrum's main pitch is seldom used for football, with the exception of the odd recreational match.

Note 1: Note: Thanks to SK Torhout's founding member and former president Stephaan De Pessemier for providing part of the information given above.

Note 2: Below, a compilation of photos of three different visits: pictures 1-3 = non-matchday visit, April 2009 / pictures 4-17 = match visit, February 2020 / picture 18 = non-matchday visit, August 2019.