Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: SK Waanrode

Sunday 26 February 2023

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.