BELGIUM: KWB Sint-Jozef (1970-1972) / Heis Sport (1972-2023)

Sint-Jozefstraat, Heesveld (Heis Sport, formerly KWB Sint-Jozef)

Belgium, province: Limburg

15 I 2023 / Heis Sport - Genker VV 0-8 / Limburg, Provincial League 3C (= BE level 8)

Timeline

• 1970 / After a botched attempt the year before, a recreational football club is founded in the hamlet of Eik - joining the Katholieke Werkliedenbond (KWB) under the name KWB Sint-Jozef, the new club found its home on a pasture in the neighbouring hamlet of Heesveld (in fact the exact spot of the pitch shown in the pictures below).
• 1972 / The decision is made to take the leap to the official Belgian Football Association, the membership request duly being accepted in May 1972 under matricule 7742. The new club is given the name Heis Sport - Heis being an acronym for the three hamlets Heesveld (H), Eik (EI), and Spurk (S); an idea thought up by the local primary school teacher. The club's first chairman is E. Nijssen, a local councillor.
• 1974 / Having started its life in Provincial League 3 in 1972 - the lowest provincial level in Belgian Limburg at that time - Heis Sport is retrograded to the newly created Provincial League 4 two years later.
• 1975 / The original clubhouse, constructed in 1972, undergoes its first extension.
• 1981 / Finishing second in Provincial League 4B, Heis Sport, coached by G. Mercken, manages its first promotion by winning the play-offs. 
• 1983 / Heis Sport's canteen is renovated for a second time, giving it its current shape (cp. pictures below).
• 1986 / Following five seasons in P3, Heis Sport suffers relegation to Provincial League 4.
• 1990 / Heis Sport clinches its first-ever league title, being guided to first place in Provincial League 4G by its coach K. Tilkin. The club thus returns to P3 after an absence of four years.
• 1992 / Winning a second title, Heis Sport accedes to Provincial League 2 for the first time. The successful trainer is R. Schreurs.
• 1993 / The 1992-93 season is the most successful in Heis Sport's history, with the club finishing a respectable fifth in P2C.
• 1994 / After two seasons in Provincial League 2, Heis Sport is relegated back to P3.
• 1999 / Heis Sport has to come to terms with a return to Provincial League 4, the level which it had escaped at the beginning of the decade.
• 2002 / Finishing fifth in P4B, Heis Sport finds its way back to Provincial League 3 by winning the promotion play-offs under the guidance of its coach Julien Reynders.
• 2009 / Two years after having been relegated back to P4, Heis Sport finds its way back up to P3 after winning the play-off final in an away match at Waterloos VV. This time, the spell in Provincial League 3 lasts for two seasons.
• 2012 / Finishing second in P4D with coach Thierry Walravens, Heis Sport wins the promotion play-off final in the sweetest of circumstances, beating its derby rivals SK Munsterbilzen in an away match. Again, the club holds out at P3 level for two seasons only.
• 2020 / In second place in P4A after 25 matches in the 2019-20 season, cut short by the COVID lockdown, Heis Sport accedes to Provincial League 3 once more.
• 2023 / Heis Sport folds, ceasing all activities, having finished in 15th place in Limburg's Provincial League 3 in its last season.

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