Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: KSV Drieslinter

Terrein Molenweg, Linter Drieslinter (KSV Drieslinter)

Belgium, province: Flemish Brabant

12 IV 2023 / KSV Drieslinter - SC Hoegaarden-Outgaarden B 1-3 / Brabant, VFV Provincial League 3D (= BE level 8)

Timeline

1936 / Foundation of Stormvogels (SV) Drieslinter. It is unclear in which league this club played its football in the first five years of its existence - but not in Brabant's provincial leagues organised by the official Belgian Football Association. Although no confirmed information, the club first ground was probably called Terrein Retse.
1941 / A second football club is founded in Drieslinter, taking on the name Red Star Drieslinter; this club joins Belgium's FA in the latter stages of 1941, acquiring matricule 3233; it is unclear where this club's ground was situated. Also in 1941, Stormvogels Drieslinter applies for membership of the official football association, being admitted under registration number 3293. In the 1941-42 season, both clubs take part in Brabant's Provincial League 3E, with Red Star finishing in 6th, and Stormvogels in 4th place.
1947 / Not having taken part in Brabant's provincial leagues with a first team since 1944, Red Star Drieslinter's registration number 3233 is erased from the Belgian FA's official lists.
± 1958 / SV Drieslinter moves from its first ground to a new location at Grote Steenweg, right beside the local café.
1959 / Having had a disastrous 1958-59 season, with just one win and one draw from 26 matches (goal difference: -75), SV Drieslinter withdraws its first team from Provincial League 3 for one season, returning in 1960.
1964 / Never having managed to climb out of Provincial League 3 since joining the ranks of the Belgian FA in 1941, Stormvogels Drieslinter now finishes in second place in Brabant's Provincial League 3A, resulting in promotion to Provincial League 2. The club holds out at that level for two seasons before dropping back into P3 in 1967.
1971 / Finishing 16th and last in Provincial League 3A, SV Drieslinter suffers relegation to Provincial League 4, the new bottom division of Brabant's provincial league system.
1973 / Clinching the first title in club history, Stormvogels Drieslinter wins promotion to Provincial League 3 after finishing in 1st place in P4F.
1975 / No more than 1,5 km away from Drieslinter, in the hamlet of Heide, a recreational club, Sporting Heide Linter, joins Belgium's FA under registration number 8272.
± 1977 / Abandoning Terrein Grote Steenweg, SV Drieslinter settles at the newly built Terrein Molenweg, no more than a stone's throw away from the old ground.
1978 / Winning the title in P3A, Stormvogels Drieslinter accedes to Provincial League 2, 11 years after last having played at that level.
1979 / Having the best season in club history, SV Drieslinter finishes in 4th place in Provincial League 2B. Also in 1979, one of SV Drieslinter’s youth teams wins the title, but are not allowed by the club’s board to organise an evening celebrating the success in the clubhouse, unless a rent is paid for the use of the premises. Subsequently, the decision is taken to hold the evening in a local discotheque, Dancing Napoli.
1980 / Still disaffected about what had happened the previous year, Michel Herinckx, the father of one of the players of the successful SVD academy team, forms a recreational football club, Atlas Linter. Acquiring a plot of land from the church council, the club settles at the newly laid-out Terrein Pelsstraat, just a stone’s throw away from SV Drieslinter’s Terrein Molenweg. Atlas Linter, colloquially referred to simply as ‘Den Atlas’, joins Brabant’s branch of recreational football league RKLVB (Rooms-Katholieke Liefhebbersvoetbalbond).
1983 / Finishing second-last in Provincial League 2B, the club drops back into P3 after five years.
1993 / Acquiring the royal epithet, the club adapts its name to become Koninklijke Stormvogels (KSV) Drieslinter.
1996 / After 13 consecutive seasons in P3, KSV Drieslinter finishes last in P3A. The club now finds itself in Provincial League 4 for the first time in 23 years.
2000 / Atlas Linter joins the Belgian FA under registration number 9377, 20 years after having been founded as a recreational team. There are now three FA member clubs in Linter in a radius of 1,5 km.
2002 / Winning the P4F title, K Stormvogels Drieslinter manages a return to Provincial League 3 after an absence of 10 seasons.
2007 / Finishing 15th in P3A, KSV Drieslinter drops back into the bottom division of Brabant's provincial league pyramid.
2010 / Falling just one point short of league winners FC Neerwinden, KSV Drieslinter finishes in 2nd place in Provincial League 4I, qualifying for the promotion play-offs in which it is drawn in a group with VK Borchtlombeek, VK Holsbeek, and FC Limelette. The club finishes in 2nd place behind Borchtlombeek - although little of this really matters, given that all 4 teams are placed in Provincial League 3, as are the 4 teams in the other play-off group.
2014 / KSV Drieslinter finishes last in P3A, suffering relegation to P4 along with S-R Incourt and SK Rummen-Geetbets.
2019 / After five years in P4, K Stormvogels Drieslinter manages a return to Provincial League 3 by clinching the P4A title with an advantage of 9 points over closest followers and derby rivals Sporting Heide Linter.
2023 / KSV Drieslinter absorbs SC Orsmaal (registration number 7554), with all activities moving to Terrein Molenstraat. Orsmaal's Terrein Helen-Bosstraat is retained for lower team football and training sessions.
2024 / As Sporting Heide Linter folds, ceasing all activities, KSV Drieslinter takes over that club's ground, Terrein Heidebos. At that point, Terrein Helen-Bosstraat in Orsmaal-Gussenhoven, deemed redundant now, is abandoned.