Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: VK Scheldezonen Branst (1983-1994) / VK Branst (1994-2001) / KVS Branst (2001-2020) / FCS Mariekerke-Branst (B) (2020-)

Gemeentelijk Sportpark Zuid, Branst (B ground of FCS Mariekerke Branst, formerly VK Scheldezonen Branst / VK Branst / KVS Branst)

Belgium, province: Antwerp

29 X 2022 / FCS Mariekerke-Branst Reserves - K Schelle Sport Reserves 0-2 / Antwerp, Regional Reserves - group H

Timeline

1938 / Foundation of FC Eendracht Branst, the first football club in Branst, a hamlet in Klein Brabant situated halfway between Mariekerke and Bornem. The club joined the so-called Vlaams(ch)e Voetbalbond, a rival of the official Belgian Football Association. FC Eendracht Branst's pitch was situated on a sandy area near the location where, in 1947, Branst's Lourdes grotto was constructed.
±1941 / Due to the hardships of World War II and German occupation, many smaller football clubs in Flanders fold - and FC Eendracht Branst is among them.
1950 / Filing a request at the official Belgian Football Association - the Vlaamse Voetbalbond being largely discreted in the post-war years due to its collaborationist stance -, a group of football enthusiasts in Branst makes an attempt at refounding FC Eendracht Branst. However, due to an official Belgian FA rule stating that a municipality can only have one football club per 5,000 inhabitants; and, with Branst being part of Bornem, a municipality with a number of inhabitants lower than 10,000 and two football clubs with FA membership (VV Bornem and FC Klein-Brabant) within its borders, the application is refused.
1951 / In a clever attempt to circumvent FA regulations, the same group of football enthusiasts in Branst file a new application for membership of their club, however, under a different name: FC Scheldezonen Weert. Weert is a hamlet to the west of Branst, but an independent municipality - without a football club on its territory. Although the club's pitch is the same 'Grotterrein' (or 'Grotto Pitch') in Branst which was used by FC Eendracht Branst before the war, the appeal is granted; upon being accepted as new FA members, the new FC Scheldezonen Weert - often officiously referred to as FCS Weert-Branst, FC Scheldezonen or simply 'Branst' - obtain matricule 5517.
1956 / Although markedly unsuccessful in the first decades of its existence, which are spent in Antwerp's Provincial Leagues 3 and 4, local derbies draw impressive crowds to Branst's Grotterrein. For the first-ever edition of the derby between FC Scheldezonen Weert & FC Mariekerke, no fewer than 1,000 spectators show up.
1961 / FC Scheldezonen's Grotterrein has to make way for a sand quarry - which, even later, is replaced by housing. Count John de Marnix de Sainte-Aldegonde, Castellan of Bornem, puts a plot of leasehold land at the club's disposal at Asseveldweg (modern-day Buizerdlaan). With the plot about half a yard below route level, Scheldezonen's new pitch is soggy and often water-logged; due to these circumstances, the new ground is nicknamed 'Het Waterveld' (Water Pitch). At the inauguration, the new ground is blessed by the local priest, Fr Van Riet.
1969 / With Bornem's number of inhabitants meanwhile having crossed the 10,000 mark, FC Scheldezonen Weert is allowed to adapt its name to become FC Scheldezonen Branst.
1975 / In a modification of club bylaws, FC Scheldezonen Branst becomes a non-profit organisation; with a name change being obligatory in these circumstances, FC Scheldezonen Branst's board adapts the name of the club, which is henceforth known officially as Voetbalklub (VK) Scheldezonen Branst (occasionally abbreviated to VKS Branst).
1981 / Following frequent pleas by VK Scheldezonen Branst directed at Bornem's municipal authorities, imploring them to improve the state of the club's ground - certainly in view of the fact that a state-of-the-art sports park, Domein Breeven, had been constructed for neighbour club KSV Bornem (a merger of FC Klein-Brabant and VV Bornem) in the mid-1970s - works at Asseveldweg / Buizerdlaan on a completely new park on the same location, financed by Bornem's town hall, get underway in the fall of 1981. In the meantime, the club has to find a temporary solution for their home matches. After playing its first two home matches on pitch 2 of Domein Breeven in Bornem and two more months on the old pitch of FC Klein-Brabant (possibly this was at Café 't Zandhof, Barelstraat), the club moves into 't Konijnenkoerke, a temporary ground created near the old Grotterrein; a lease agreement for the makeshift pitch is signed with Count de Sainte-Aldegonde.
1983 / Inauguration of the newly created Gemeentelijk Sportpark Zuid; August 26th, 1983. Compared to the old (pre-1981) situation, the pitch has been given a quarter turn, while the entrance gate is still in the same position (Buizerdlaan). For the time being, the lease agreement for 't Konijnenkoerke is extended - and in the following years, the pitch is used for VK Scheldezonen Branst's lower team football and training sessions.
1994 / VK Scheldezonen Branst adapts its name to become Voetbalklub (VK) Branst. That same year, Count Sainte-Aldegonde ends the lease agreement for the club's training pitch, 't Konijnenkoerke, which is given up to make way for housing. In return, the landlord offered the club yet another plot of land, very close to Sportpark Zuid, at Riddermoerstraat. The new B pitch was inaugurated in the fall of 1994.
1995 / A wooden clubhouse and changing rooms are added to VK Branst's B ground at Riddermoerstraat.
1998 / For the first time in 47 years of club history, VK Branst accedes to Provincial League 2. The adventure at that level lasts no longer than one season, though. The following two decades are spent alternatingly in Provincial Leagues 3 and 4.
2001 / Upon the club's fiftieth anniversary, VK Branst acquires the royal epithet; simultaneously, the decision is taken to reinclude the old reference Scheldezonen in the name. Henceforth, the official club name is: Koninklijke Voetbalclub Scheldezonen Branst, usually abbreviated to simply KVS Branst.
2020 / KVS Branst spends its last season as an independent club, 2019-20, in Provincial League 3. A merger agreement is signed with FC Mariekerke - the result being FC Scheldezonen (FCS) Mariekerke-Branst, retaining Mariekerke's matricule 5719 - and thereby losing the royal epithet which Branst had obtained in 2001. Following the merger, first team football moves to Mariekerke's Complex De Witte Molen, while the two pitches in Branst - Gemeentelijk Sportpark Zuid as well as the B pitch at Riddermolenstraat - are retained for lower team football and training sessions.