BELGIUM: SK Waanrode

Terrein Steenberg, Waanrode (SK Waanrode)

Belgium, province: Flemish Brabant

26 II 2023 / SK Waanrode - SC Hoegaarden-Outgaarden B 0-1 (game abandoned after c. 10 minutes due to one of the home players suffering a heart-attack on the pitch) / Brabant, VFV Provincial League 3D (= BE level 8)

Timeline

• 1970 / Foundation of Sportkring (SK) Waanrode, which obtains membership of Belgium's FA under matricule 7480. The club's first ground is situated at Molenstraat. In the 1970-71 season, the club does not field a first team yet.
• 1971 / SK Waanrode takes part in Brabant's Provincial League 4 for the first time.
• 1973 / In its second season, SK Waanrode's first team finishes second in Provincial League 4F, gaining promotion subsequently by winning the promotion play-offs.
• 1974 / SK Waanrode manages an eighth place in Provincial League 3A, the best result in club history to date.
• 1978 / Following five seasons in P3, SK Waanrode finishes 16th and last in P3A, the result being a relegation back into Provincial League 4.
• 1985 / Winning the promotion play-offs after finishing second in P4F, SK Waanrode returns to Provincial League 3 after a seven-year absence.
• 1986 / Finishing eighth in P3A, the club equals its best result in history, achieved in the 1973-74 season.
• 1989 / With a 16th and last place in P3A, SK Waanrode drops back into Provincial League 4.
• 1990 / Abandoning Terrein Molenstraat, where the club disposed of just one pitch and a tiny clubhouse, SK Waanrode settles at a new ground, Terrein Steenberg. The fields, on which two pitches are laid out, are rented from the local Roman-Catholic church. The costs involved in building the clubhouse at the new ground are paid for by the club itself, with volunteers taking care of the construction works.
• 1994 / Having spent five seasons in Provincial League 4, SK Waanrode manages a return to P3 by winning the promotion play-offs after a second-place finish in P4F.
• 1998 / Finishing last in P3A, SK Waanrode is retrograded yet again to P4. The club spends the following 19 seasons in the bottom division of Brabant's provincial league pyramid.
• 2017 / After a closely fought race with Sparta Schaffen and FC Meensel-Kiezegem, SK Waanrode manages the first title in club history, finishing first in Provincial League 4B to return to P3 level for the first time since the turn of the century.
• 2019 / In its second season back in P3, SK Waanrode fails to avoid the drop, finishing 15th in P3A with only 6 points from 28 matches - the division consisting of just 15 teams following the withdrawal of White Star Wommersom, which folded in December 2018.
• 2020 / Finishing second in P4A, SK Waanrode manages a return to Provincial League 3 - without having to play promotion play-offs, but based on a list of the best-placed teams below the title winners in the respective P4 divisions.
• 2023 / SK Waanrode drops back into P4 after finishing dead-last in P3D.

Note - The match I visited at Waanrode, which was interrupted early on, was replayed on 9 IV 2023, with SC Hoegaarden-Outgaarden B eventually walking away with a 5-2 win.

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

BELGIUM: FC Rillaar (1969-1994) / FC Rillaar Sport (B) (1994-2018) / RWL Sport (B) (2018-2021) / RWL Sport (2021-)

Terrein Langestraat, Rillaar (RWL Sport, formerly FC Rillaar / B ground of FC Rillaar Sport & RWL Sport)

Belgium, province: Flemish Brabant

19 II 2023 / RWL Sport - KV Tervuren-Duisburg 1-2 / Brabant, VFV Provincial League 2B (= BE level 7)

Timeline

• 1943 / Foundation of a first club in Rillaar, FC Rillaar, which joins Belgium's FA obtaining matricule 3891. The club is short-lived, though, playing in Brabant's Provincial League 3 for three seasons before withdrawing its first team in 1946 and the club's matricule being erased from the official FA list in 1948.
• 1955 / Foundation of Rillaar Sport, seeking affilition with Belgium's Football Association under matricule 5825. The club starts its life at a ground situated at Diestsesteenweg, prior to moving to a newly laid-out pitch at Schoonderbukenweg in 1971.
• 1969 / A second club is founded in Rillaar, a refounded FC Rillaar, which joins Belgium's FA under matricule 7309; this club plays its football at a ground at Langestraat, on the northern outskirts of the village. Part of the reason for the foundation of this second provincial league club is to give less ambitious players from the village the opportunity to play league football at a more modest level than would be possible at Rillaar Sport.
• 1979 / Winning the title in Provincial League 4G, FC Rillaar enjoys its first success, acceding to Provincial League 3.
• 1981 / After a two-year spell in P3, FC Rillaar drops back into P4 after finishing last in P3D.
• 1993 / Having played the 12 previous seasons in P4, FC Rillaar finishes second in P4G, subsequently winning the promotion play-offs to accede to P3. That same year, the club's more ambitious village rivals Rillaar Sport, who were in P1 ten years previously, dropped into P4 for the first time in that club's history.
• 1994 / In its last season as an independent club, FC Rillaar finishes in 7th place in P3D, the best result in club history. That summer, FC Rillaar concludes a merger with Rillaar Sport, resulting in the foundation of FC Rillaar Sport. The merger club retains Rillaar Sport's matricule 5825. Henceforth, first team football is played at Rillaar Sport's ground at Schoonderbukenweg, while FC Rillaar's Terrein Langestraat is retained for lower team football and training purposes. Thanks to FC Rillaar's good performance in P3, the new club starts its life at that level.
• 2018 / Having had a successful spell in P1 (2011-14), FC Rillaar Sport tumbles down the league ladder, finding itself in P3 in 2016. In 2018, the club concludes a merger with VC Wolfsdonk Sport, forming Rillaar-Wolfsdonk-Langdorp (RWL) Sport. The new merger club retains Wolfsdonk's matricule 7162. For the time being, first team football continues to be played at Terrein Schoonderbukenweg in Rillaar. Terrein Langestraat and Wolfsdonk's Stadion De Hel at Volkensvoortstraat are retained for lower team football and training sessions. Although KVC Langdorp (matricule 5767) does not take part in the merger, it cedes its youth academy to RWL Sport, while also allowing its Terrein Op 't Sant to be used for part of the new merger club's youth academy activities.
• 2021 / RWL Sport moves its first team football to Terrein Langestraat, home of the former FC Rillaar. The pitch at Schoonderbukenweg, having been in use for 50 uninterrupted seasons, is abandoned.
• 2022 / Winning the title in P3A in its first season at Langestraat, RWL Sport finds its way back to Provincial League 2.

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

BELGIUM: FC Kempenzonen

Kleine Boeretang, Dessel (FC Kempenzonen)

Belgium, province: Antwerp

19 II 2023 / FC Kempenzonen (zo) - FC Den Berg 3-4 / Arbeidersvoetbal Kempen, Sunday League

Timeline

• 1969 / Foundation of a recreational club in Dessel, which is given the name FC Kempenzonen. In its first season, the club, founded by Louis Goots, does not have a ground of its own yet - neither is it affiliated yet to a league, for the moment playing only friendly matches against other recreational teams on various different pitches in and around Dessel.
• 1970 / FC Kempenzonen settles at its current ground at Kleine Boeretang; a pitch is laid out on a sandy plot surrounded by woods on the western edges of Dessel. The club joins a recreational league, although it is unclear which one - possibly a league of clubs from Belgian Limburg. Later on, FC Kempenzonen joined Arbeidersvoetbal Kempen (AVK).
• 1982 / Patrick Goots, the 16-year old son of Kempenzonen’s founder Louis Goots, makes his debut in the KFC Dessel Sport's first team. From that moment on, Patrick also regularly plays along with his father's recreational club, especially in the summer months.
• 1985 / At 19 years of age, Patrick Goots takes over the role of coach at FC Kempenzonen - and he has continued in this capacity until the present day, in spite of his obligations as a professional league footballer in an impressive and successful career as a centre-forward, which takes him from KFC Dessel Sport to KFC Lommelse SK (1986-88), Beerschot VAC (1988-90), KV Kortrijk (1990-91), KRC Genk (1991-94), KSK Beveren (1994-96), K Sint-Truidense VV (1996-97), KFC Turnhout (1997-99), R Antwerp FC (1999-2004), KV Mechelen (2004-06), KFC Racing Mol-Wezel (2006-08), and KVV Thes Sport Tessenderlo (2008-09). Utterly committed to FC Kempenzonen, Goots even turned down a transfer to French side LB Châteauroux at some point.
• 1995 / In the 1994-95 season, FC Kempenzonen obtains its first league title - or rather: titles, because the club's Saturday (Division 1) and Sunday League teams win the title in Arbeidersvoetbal Kempen. The club goes on to become one of the powerhouses in AVK, with the Saturday League team winning the title again in 1997, 2000, 2007, and 2015, while the Sunday League team is even more successful with title wins in 1999-2001, 2007, 2009-15 (seven in succession!), and 2017. Furthermore, the club wins several cups, including three Beker van Vlaanderen editions - the cup competition for recreational teams from across Flanders.
• 2002 / Inauguration of the current clubhouse.
• 2009 / Stopping as a professional league player at the age of 43, Patrick Goots joins FC Kempenzonen's Saturday squad as a player, while staying on as the club's coach.
• 2011 / Abandoning its old Lorzestadion, KFC Dessel Sport settles down at a new ground, the so-called Armand Melisstadion, situated on the eastern end of Kempenzonen's pitch. Prior to this, Dessel Sport was already home in the area, as the club's youth academy had been home at Brasel (to the north of FC Kempenzonen) for many years.
• 2019 / Hanging up his boots at the age of 53, Patrick Goots gives up his role as player-manager, henceforth returning to 'just' coaching the team.
• 2022 / KFC Dessel Sport obtains permission from Dessel's town council for a synthetic pitch, which is laid out on the northern end of FC Kempenzonen's pitch - occupied by forest up to that time.

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