Extreme Football Tourism: NETHERLANDS: KSV (Vragender)

Sportpark De Bult, Vragender (KSV = Kombinatie Sportleven Vragender)

Netherlands, province: Guelders = Gelderland

2 X 2022 / KSV - vv Erix 0-3 / District East, Sunday League 4C (= NL level 9)

Timeline

1926 / Newspaper articles attest the existence of Excelsior, a first football club in Vragender. It is unknown when Excelsior was exactly founded or in which league it played its matches. The club must have ceased activities in the late 1920s or early 1930s.
1935 / Foundation of Rooms-Katholieke Voetbalvereniging Vragender (RKVVV, but usually referred to simply as VVV). RKVVV's first chairman is co-founder Bart Hahné. The club joins a 'diocesan' league of Roman-Catholic clubs, the so-called Rooms-Katholieke Utrechtse Voetbalbond (RKUVB). VVV's first pitch is a meadow situated behind a farm known locally as Het Oude Boschker.
1937 / Having played at Het Oude Boschker until December 1936, RKVVV moves to another meadow, known locally as 'Meeks Bartje' or 'Veld van Ikink', situated at Winterswijkseweg. The spell at Meeks Bartje cannot have lasted longer than one or two years, as sources confirm that, by 1940, VVV played its football at a pitch situated at the back of the local village school.
1940 / Under pressure of German occupation authorities, all diocesan football leagues in the Netherlands are abolished. Thereupon, RKVVV joins the official Netherlands' Football Association (KNVB)
1945 / Confirmation of VVV's membership of the Netherlands' FA. In the first two decades after the war, the club changes grounds on a baffling number of occasions, with successive pitches near Boerderij Schuirink, near Boerderij Theissen, 'Nabij het Laantje', at Boerderij Weyenborg, at Vosdijk, near Boerderij Gierkink, subsequently returning to the prewar pitch at Meeks Bartje in the late 1950s, moving on to a second spell at Boerderij Weyenborg - and then on to Kom van Vragender to finally settle at a pitch behind Café Minkhorst (better known locally as Café Beneman) at Kapelweg in the early 1960s.
1964 / RKVVV (VVV) is renamed, becoming Katholieke Sportvereniging Vragender (KSV) - not to be confused with KSV (Kruizer Sportvereniging) from Heerhugowaard. In the 1960s, VVV/KSV alternates spells in Divisions 2 and 3 of the so-called GVB (Gelderse Voetbalbond), Guelders' branch of the Netherlands Football Association organising the local divisions below Saturday and Sunday League 4.
± 1969 / Due to the pitch at Café Minkhorst turning out not to have the correct dimensions for regular league football, the club is forced by the GVB to play its football elsewhere temporarily - following which KSV groundshares with vv Erix in Lievelde and also has a short spell on a pitch situated behind Lichtenvoorde's secondary domestic school.
± 1970 / After an involuntary exile of one or two years in Lievelde and Lichtenvoorde, KSV settles at a newly constructed pitch, also situated at Kapelweg, but some 200 yards to the west of its previous ground - on a hillside known locally as 'Den Es' (at the junction of Kapelweg with Sieverdingweg). A wooden prefab serves as canteen and changing room.
1973 / For the first time in club history, KSV, led by its legendary trainer/coach Willie Rexwinkel, manages to climb out of the GVB's divisions, winning promotion to Sunday League 4.
1975 / In the best season in KSV's history, the club finishes second in Sunday League 4, being pipped at the post by neighbour club SV LONGA '30 from Lichtenvoorde. The derbies between both clubs allegedly drew crowds of some 1,750 / 2,000 spectators.
1977 / The prefab clubhouse at KSV's ground at Kapelweg/Sieverdingweg is demolished and replaced with an impressive sports hall annex clubhouse. Upon inauguration of the new premises, the park is officially christened Sportpark De Bult.
1978 / A trust is created including several sports clubs in Vragender, with branches for football, volleyball, and gymnastics - the adopted name being Kombinatie Sportleven Vragender, thereby allowing the football club to retain its acronym while removing the reference to its Roman-Catholic heritage.
1980 / After seven consecutive seasons in Sunday League 4, KSV drops back into the GVB divisions.
± 1980 / A covered stand is added to Sportpark De Bult's main pitch.
1996 / As the GVB is abolished in favour of two newly organised divisions, Sunday Leagues 5 and 6, KSV just misses out on qualification for Sunday League 5.
1997 / Led by manager Theo Hulshof, KSV wins the title in Sunday League 6, thus gaining promotion to L5.
1998 / Winning its second title in a row, KSV makes a comeback in Sunday League 4 after an absence of 18 seasons. The club manages to hold its own at that level for two years.
2005 / Having dropped into Sunday League 6 after two relegations (2000, 2004), KSV bounces back by winning the title in its division.
2011 / After six years in Sunday League 5, KSV begins a third spell in Sunday League 4. In the following years, the club has been a regular at that level - with the exception of one isolated season in L5 (2013-14).
2013 / KSV signs an agreement with vv Erix from nearby Lievelde, entailing a merger of both clubs' youth academies.
2023 / Finishing 10th (third-last) in District East's Sunday League 4C, KSV descends into L5 along with SC Meddo, vv Etten, SV Keijenburgse Boys, and vv Erix.

Note 1: The main source for the information given above is a book which was published on the occasion of KSV's 75th anniversary, "75 jaar voetbal in Vragender", by Wim Rutgers & Hans Veldkamp, ed. KSV Vragender: Lichtenvoorde 2010.

Note 2: Below, a compilation of photos of two different visits: pictures 1-5 = non-matchday visit, June 2018 / pictures 6-18 = match visit, October 2022.