Sunday 30 October 2022

BELGIUM: Kosto Vrienden (±1962-1974) / FC Kosto (1974-1975) / DK Torhout (1975-1999) / Torhout 1992 KM (C) (1999-2001) / NSK Torhout 2001 (2001-2002) / SK Torhout (2002-±2006, 2021-) / SK Torhout (B) (±2006-2016) / SK Torhout (C) (2016-2021)

Stedelijk Voetbalveld 'De Verloren Kost', Torhout De Driekoningen = Sint-Jozef-Arbeider (SK Torhout, formerly Kosto Vrienden / FC Kosto / DK Torhout / C ground of Torhout 1992 KM / NSK Torhout 2001 / B & C ground of SK Torhout)

Belgium, province: West Flanders

30 X 2022 / SK Torhout - KVV Aartrijke Reserves 0-6 / West Flanders, Regional Reserves' League - group E

Timeline
  • ±1962 / Foundation of Kosto Vrienden, a recreational football team in De Driekoningen, a hamlet just to the north of Torhout. Though no definite proof is available, it is probable that Kosto Vrienden played at Terrein 'De Verloren Kost' from its foundation in the early 1960s onwards. 
  • 1974 / After twelve seasons of recreational football, Kosto Vrienden seeks membership of Belgium's Football Association under the name FC Kosto. Upon being accepted as new FA member, FC Kosto receives matricule 8288.
  • 1975 / In April 1975, FC Kosto converts its name to become Verloren Kost (VK) Torhout, but apparently the club's board changed its mind rather rapidly - as a new name change took place the following months, with VK Torhout becoming Driekoningen (DK) Torhout - though, locally, the club is better known as 'De Kost (rather than Driekoningen) Torhout'. In the following two decades, operating in the shadows of KVK Torhout and KSK Torhout, DK Torhout remains a modest force in West Flanders' provincial league system.
  • 1999 / DK Torhout withdraws its membership from Belgium's FA. It is unclear if the club folded at the same time or continued its existence for some more years as a recreational team. Terrein De Verloren Kost, DK's ground, is taken over by Torhout 1992 KM as a training ground, which it makes use of in addition to its two stadiums in Torhout's town centre, Stadion De Velodroom and Stedelijk Sportstadion
  • 2000 / Thus far a privately owned ground in the hands of a local landholding house, De Potter d'Indoye, Terrein De Verloren Kost is taken over by Torhout's municipal authorities.
  • 2001 / Nine years after the conclusion of a merger between Torhout's two main football clubs, KVK Torhout and KSK Torhout, resulting in the foundation of Torhout 1992 KM, a group of disaffected members of this club with a past in KSK Torhout breaks away under the leadership of former KSK strongman Rudi Vanneste. The newly formed club, New Sportkring (NSK) Torhout 2001, joins the Belgian FA under matricule 9388. Being deprived of the use of either of the two stadiums in Torhout proper, NSK Torhout 2001 settles at Stedelijk Voetbalveld De Verloren Kost. 
  • 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 De Verloren Kost.
  • 2014 / In spite of winning the title in Provincial League 2A, thus acceding to West Flanders' Provincial League 1 for the third time in seven years, SK Torhout withdraws its first team from the regular provincial leagues. Instead, in the 2014-15 season, the club is represented just by a reserves' team and several youth squads.
  • 2015 / After a one-year absence, SK Torhout returns to regular first team football, restarting in Provincial League 4.
  • 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 its lease of Stedelijk Sportstadion - meanwhile renamed Sportcentrum Benny Vansteelant -, which it shares with KM, as well as its pitch at Verloren Kost for lower team football and training sessions.
  • 2021 / Once again, SK Torhout withdraws its first team, playing at Provincial League 3 level. 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.
Note: Many thanks to SK Torhout's former chairman Stephaan De Pessemier for digging out some crucial extra information used in the timeline above.















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

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