BELGIUM: KFC Rosselaar (1934-2001) / KVC RH Sportief (B) (2001-2011) / FC Rosselaar Hulsen (2011-2022)

Terrein Olmensebaan, Rosselaar (formerly KFC Rosselaar / B ground of KVC RH Sportief / A ground of FC Rosselaar Hulsen)

Belgium, province: Antwerp

18 VIII 2021 / FC Rosselaar Hulsen - FC Netezonen 3-2 / Pre-season friendly

Timeline

• 1934 / Foundation of a football club in Rosselaar, which is given the name FC Rosselaar. It is unclear if the club played at Terrein Olmensestraat from the outset.
• 1935 / FC Rosselaar joins the Belgian Football Association (KBVB), acquiring membership under registration number 2312.
• 1937 / FC Rosselaar enters a first team in Antwerp’s regional divisions for the first time, being placed in Regional League 3A (3e Gewestelijke A).
• 1947 / Winning the title in Antwerp’s Regional League 3D, FC Rosselaar gains promotion to Regional League 2 – holding out at that level for three seasons until dropping back in 1950.
• 1961 / Clinching the title in Antwerp’s Provincial League 3C, FC Rosselaar accedes to Provincial League 2.
• 1967 / Clinching the title in Antwerp’s Provincial League 2A, FC Rosselaar accedes to Provincial League 1 for the first – and only – time of its existence.
• 1968 / In the best season in club history, FC Rosselaar finishes in ninth place in Antwerp’s Provincial League 1.
• 1970 / Finishing in last place in P1, FC Rosselaar drops back into Provincial League 2 after three seasons.
• 1975 / Finishing in last place in P2C, FC Rosselaar descends into Antwerp’s Provincial League 3.
• 1978 / Finishing in twelfth place in P3C, FC Rosselaar descends into Provincial League 4 for the first time in club history.
• 1989 / Acquiring the royal epithet, FC Rosselaar officially changes its name to become Koninklijke Football Club (KFC) Rosselaar.
• 1991 / Runners-up in P4E, KFC Rosselaar manages a return to Provincial League 3 following a successful round of promotion play-offs.
• 1996 / Finishing in third place in P3D, KFC Rosselaar wins promotion to Provincial League 2 following a successful round of play-offs. The club holds out at that level for two seasons before dropping back in 1998.
• 1999 / Clinching the title in P3D, KFC Rosselaar wins promotion to Provincial League 2.
• 2001 / Narrowly saving its skin in P2C with a thirteenth place in its last season as an independent club, KFC Rosselaar concludes a merger with KFC Hulsen Sport, a club from the nearby village of Hulsen founded in 1946 (registration number 4411) which had never played at a higher level than Antwerp’s Provincial League 2. The new merger club, which is given the name Koninklijke Voetbalclub (KV) Rosselaar-Hulsen Sportief (usually referred to as KV RH Sportief or simply RH Sportief) retains KFC Rosselaar’s registration number 2312. Starting its life in Antwerp’s Provincial League 2C on the back of KFC Rosselaar’s managing to stay up at that level, the new club holds its first team matches at Hulsen’s Terrein Ossenberg, while Terrein Olmensestraat in Rosselaar is retained for lower team football and training sessions.
• 2004 / Managing the best result in club history – incidentally repeated in 2006 – KV Rosselaar-Hulsen Sportief finishes in fourth place in Antwerp’s Provincial League 2C.
• 2011 / Following an uneventful ten-year existence in Provincial League 2 – closed off with a respectable seventh place finish in P2C in the 2010-11 season – KV Rosselaar-Hulsen Sportief folds, ceasing all activities due to financial difficulties. Immediately following that, a new club is founded in Rosselaar, FC Rosselaar Hulsen, which acquires membership of Belgium’s FA under registration number 9573. With all activities taking place at Terrein Olmensestraat in Rosselaar, Terrein Ossenberg in Hulsen is abandoned and taken over by Veteranen Hulsen, a recreational club of former players of KFC Hulsen Sportief. At Terrein Olmensestraat, FC Rosselaar Hulsen starts its life in Antwerp’s Provincial League 4E.
• 2015 / In the best season in club history, FC Rosselaar Hulsen finishes in a joint eighth place in P4D, together with KFC Grobbendonk.
• 2022 / Finishing in tenth place in Antwerp’s Provincial League 4F in the last season of its existence, FC Rosselaar Hulsen folds, ceasing all activities due to a lack of players for its first team. The ground is taken over by a local horse farm.

Note – Below, a compilation of photos of two different visits: pictures 1-17 = match visit, August 2021 / pictures 18-20 = non-matchday (ruin) visit, July 2024.

All photos: (c) W.B. Tukker / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author