Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: KSK Beveren (B) (± 1992-2010) / KV Red Star Waasland-SK Beveren (C) (2010-2018) / Yellow Blue Beveren (2012-2017) / KV Red Star Waasland-SK Beveren (B) (2018-2022) / YBSK Beveren (2017-2022) / KSK Beveren (2022-) / SK Beveren (B) (2022-)

Freethielstadion terrein 7 "Lions Park", Beveren (KSK Beveren, formerly Yellow Blue Beveren / YBSK Beveren)

Belgium, province: East Flanders

18 III 2023 / KSK Beveren - KSK Vlaamse Ardennen 1-3 / East Flanders, Provincial League 1 (= BE level 6)

Timeline

1935 / Voetbalclub Sportkring (VC SK) Beveren, founded in 1934, joins Belgium's Football Association under matricule 2300 and a slightly adapted name, SK Beveren-Waes. The club starts its life in East Flanders' regional leagues at Terrein Kasteelberg, near Chateau Hof ter Saksen, yet moving to a pitch in the shadow of the local velodrome, the so-called Freethielstadion, soon after.
1938 / SK Beveren-Waes is allowed to move its activities to the Freethielstadion proper, which is turned into a football ground. From the 1960s onwards, with the club successfully climbing the leagues to become one of the top sides in Belgium in the 1970s and 1980s, the stadium is extended to a capacity of some 20,000.
1978 / SK Beveren-Waes, meanwhile up in National Division 1, changes its name to become SK Beveren.
1984 / Celebrating its 50th anniversary, SK Beveren acquires the royal epithet to become Koninklijke Sportkring (KSK) Beveren.
± 1992 / On KSK Beveren's side pitches, which had been in place to the immediate west of De Freethiel since the 1930s, a new pitch is laid out for the purpose of hosting the club's reserves' matches. With dressing rooms and a small stand being added to the set-up, this 'pitch 7' in reality is the club's first side-pitch from then on.
2010 / Due to heavy financial difficulties, KSK Beveren's club president Dirk Verelst sees no other option but to cease activities. Although no official merger takes place, D2 rival KV Red Star Waasland from nearby Sint-Niklaas (matricule 4068) takes on the diffuse name KV Red Star Waasland-SK Beveren, moving its first team football to De Freethiel, with Waasland's own Stadion Puyenbeke remaining in use for lower team football - most notably reserves' matches. Matricule 2300 is preserved, though, with KSK Beveren youth academy sides as well as a women's team continuing life on the side-pitches of De Freethiel.
2011 / KSK Beveren's youth academy is taken over by KV Red Star Waasland-SK Beveren, with just the women's team continuing under the old name and matricule. At the same time, a group of disgruntled KSK Beveren supporters takes the decision to found a club of its own, Yellow Blue Beveren (matricule 9577); the new, fan-owned club starts its life at the very bottom of the league ladder, in East Flanders' Provincial League 4. With no permission to play at De Freethiel or one of its side-pitches being granted, YB Beveren plays its home matches on one of the side-pitches of SK Sint-Niklaas' ground at Meesterstraat in Niewkerken-Waas. Also in 2011, a new clubhouse is inaugurated at De Freethiel's pitch 7 for the benefit of Waasland-Beveren's youth academy.
2012 / Yellow Blue Beveren is given permission to move its first team football to De Freethiel's pitch 7, nicknamed 'Lions Park'.
2013 / Finishing in 4th place in P4E, Yellow Blue Beveren qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which it defeats VV Wippelgem Sport, marking the first tangible success in the young club's history.
2014 / Finishing last in Provincial League 3E, Yellow Blue Beveren drops back into P4.
2015 / Having finished in second place in the regular season in P4E, Yellow Blue Beveren wins its promotion play-off away at KOFC Rupelmonde (0-5) to return to Provincial League 3.
2017 / Clinching the title in Provincial League 3E with a one-point advantage over KV Sint-Gillis, Yellow Blue Beveren accedes to Provincial League 2 for the first time. In spite of heavy resistance from Waasland-Beveren, Yellow Blue Beveren wins a court case over its plans to take on the name Yellow Blue Supporterskring (YB SK) Beveren.
2018 / YB SK Beveren finishes 15th in Provincial League 2C, thus suffering relegation to P3 along with KFC Moerbeke and SV Zaffelare. Meanwhile, Waasland-Beveren abandons its B ground, Stedelijk Sportstadion Puyenbeke in Sint-Niklaas, which is eventually knocked down in the summer of 2022. All activities are moved to Beveren's Freethielstadion and its side-pitches. Also in 2018, YB SK Beveren and women's club KSK Beveren (the near-dormant matricule 2300) make known their intentions to conclude a merger - but because this would entail a first team football team using the name KSK Beveren again, something which had been explicitly forbidden in an agreement between KSK Beveren and KV Red Star Waasland-SK Beveren in 2011, the latter club takes the case to Belgium's official court for sports' cases. The case takes until mid-2019, with the court judging in favour of Waasland-Beveren's viewpoint. A new attempt by YB SK Beveren to merge with KSK Beveren by beginning a civil court case the following year also fails.
2019 / YB SK Beveren wins the title in Provincial League 3E with an advantage of 9 points over closest followers KSK Kallo, thus winning promotion to Provincial League 2.
2020 / Yellow Blue SK Beveren changes its name to become Supporterskring (SK) Beveren.
2022 / After KV Red Star Waasland-SK Beveren was taken over by an American investor, Antoine Gobin, in the fall of 2021, conciliatory talks were held between Waasland-Beveren and YB SK Beveren, resulting in Waasland-Beveren being allowed to take on the name SK Beveren; and in the professional league club giving up its resistance against the merger between YB SK Beveren and KSK Beveren. With YBSK Beveren and KSK Beveren officially merging to become Koninklijke Sportkring (KSK) Beveren (with matricule 2300 being retained), this new merger club starts its life in East Flanders' Provincial League 1 due to YB SK Beveren having won the Provincial League 2C title in the 2021-22 season after a closely fought contest with derby rivals HRS Haasdonk. Although KSK Beveren continues to play its football at De Freethiel's pitch 7, the club is allowed to move its top fixtures to the stadium proper - the first occasion being the derby encounter with KVK Svelta Melsele in September 2022, attended by some 1,300 supporters.

Note 1 - Thanks to KSK Beveren's board member Robin Beck for providing parts of the information above (2023).

Note 2 - Below, a compilation of photos of two different visits: pictures 1-6 = non-matchday visit, December 2022 / pictures 7-21 = match visit, March 2023.