Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: KFC Eendracht Kapelle-op-den-Bos (± 1965-2023) / VV Groot Kapelle (B) (2023-2024)

Karel Symonsstadion, Kapelle-op-den-Bos Oxdonk (formerly KFC Eendracht Kapelle-op-den-Bos & B ground of VV Groot Kapelle)

Belgium, province: Flemish Brabant = Vlaams Brabant

22 I 2023 / KFCE Kapelle-op-den-Bos - FC Melsbroek B 4-2 / Brabant, VFV Provincial League 3B (= BE level 8)

Timeline

1930 / Foundation of Sporting Club (SC) Kapelle-op-den-Bos, a first football club in Kapelle-op-den-Bos. Joining Belgium’s FA, the club obtains matricule 1710. This club was probably home at Bormstraat, on or near the later location where FC Ramsdonk started its life as a recreational club in 1965.
1937 / Having played six seasons in Brabant’s Provincial League 3 (1930-32, 1933-36), SC Kapelle-op-den-Bos is officially wound up on April 5th, 1937.
1939 / Two years after the demise of SC Kapelle-op-den-Bos, a successor club sees the daylight called Hooger Op Kapelle. Joining Belgium’s FA, the club obtains matricule 2819. It is unknown where Hooger Op Kapelle's ground was situated.
1942 / Foundation of FC Vaartkapoenen, which was probably the football club of the hamlet of Oxdonk, on the eastern bank of the Brussels–Scheldt Maritime Canal – whereas Kapelle itself is situated on the western side. FC Vaartkapoenen is admitted as FA member under matricule 3517. It is unknown where FC Vaartkapoenen's ground was situated.
1943 / Foundation of a third club in Kapelle-op-den-Bos, Voetbalvereniging (VV) Sparta Kapelle-op-den-Bosch (matricule 3866). This club was home at a ground situated at Westdijk.
1945 / In the year following the liberation of Belgium from the German yoke, the three clubs in Kapelle-op-den-Bos, none of which really made much of an impression in the war years, conclude a merger, resulting in the foundation of FC Eendracht Kapelle-op-den-Bos, often referred to abbreviatedly as FCE Kapelle-op-den-Bos. Following FA rules of the time, the merger club is awarded a new matricule (4265). While the grounds of Hooger Op Kapelle and FC Vaartkapoenen are abandoned, the newly formed merger club settles at Westdijk, former home of VV Sparta Kapelle-op-den-Bosch. First president of the new club is Karel Symons.
1947 / FCE Kapelle-op-den-Bos registers its first success, winning the title in Brabant’s Provincial League 3I and thus acceding to Provincial League 2. The adventure at that level lasts for three seasons, with relegation following in 1950. In the following 18 years, the club alternates spells in P3 (1950-54, 1960-62 & 1964-66) and P2 (1954-60, 1962-64 & 1966-68).
± 1965 / As the Brussels–Scheldt Maritime Canal, separating Kapelle-op-den-Bos proper and its eastern hamlet of Oxdonk, is considerably widened, the football club has to make way for the new Eternit asbestos factories situated on the western side of the canal. A new location is found at Haaksdonkweg / Oostdijk in Oxdonk; after the inauguration of the new ground, the (main) pitch was moved eastwards twice due to the canal being further widened.
1968 / Winning the title in Provincial League 2C, FC Eendracht Kapelle-op-den-Bos accedes to Brabant’s Provincial League 1 for the first – and only – time in club history. This historic feat is celebrated at Kapelle-op-den-Bos' community hall. Sadly, also in 1968, founding father and club president Karel Symons passes away; to mark his role in club history, the ground at Haaksdonkweg / Oostdijk is given his name. The chairmanship is taken over by his son Louis Symons.
1969 / Finishing last in P1, FCE Kapelle-op-den-Bos is retrograded to P2. In the 1968-69 season, the highest attendance at Karel Symonsstadion was recorded at the derby game against KFC Humbeek, as some 1,000 spectators found their way to the ground.
1983 / After 14 consecutive seasons in Provincial League 2, the club is relegated to Provincial League 3.
± 1987 / The clubhouse shown in the photos below is constructed.
1995 / Upon the club's 50th anniversary, the royal epithet is obtained, resulting in an adaptation of the club name to becoming Koninklijke Football club (KFC) Eendracht Kapelle-op-den-Bos, often abbreviated to KFCE Kapelle-op-den-Bos.
1999 / Finishing bottom of the league in P3E, KFC Eendracht Kapelle-op-den-Bos finds itself in Provincial League 4 for the first time in club history. In the following decades, the club alternates spells in P4 (1999-2005, 2010-11, 2014-15, 2016-20) and P3 (2005-10, 2011-14, 2015-16, 2020-).
2011 / Having been the club's president for an impressive 43 consecutive years, Louis Symons steps back in favour of his grandson Kristof Van den Troost. In spite of renouncing all his functions in the club, Symons remains the proprietor of the ground.
2017 / Louis Symons sells the ground named after his father to local enterpreneur Bart Verhaeghe, who lives only a stone's throw away from the ground. Verhaeghe, a good friend of KFCE Kapelle's new chairman Dirk Christiaens, is best-known in Belgium for being the president of Club Brugge KV (since 2011).
2023 / In its last season as an independent club, KFCE Kapelle-op-den-Bos finishes 14th in P3A, 3 points below FC Ramsdonk and security; as such, the club descends into P4 along with K Londerzeel SK B and K Sporting FC Haren. Following the season, a merger is concluded with FC Ramsdonk, resulting in the foundation of VV Groot Kapelle, which retains Ramsdonk's registration number 7300; Kapelle's number 4265 is erased from the Belgian FA's official lists. For the time being, the new club retains both grounds, with first team football being played in Ramsdonk's Jozef Bruggemansstadion, and Kapelle's Karel Symonsstadion hosting the matches of the B team.
2024 / VV Groot Kapelle moves all its activities to Ramsdonk's Jozef Bruggemansstadion, with Kapelle's Karel Symonsstadion being abandoned once and for all.

Note: Thanks due to KFC Eendracht Kapelle-op-den-Bos long-time president Louis Symons and his son-in-law Paul De Ridder for providing us with important parts of the information given above.