Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: K Rode Duivels Zoutleeuw

Stadion Maurice Janssens - Voetbalcomplex De Wallen, Zoutleeuw = Léau (K Rode Duivels Zoutleeuw)

Belgium, province: Flemish Brabant = Vlaams Brabant

19 XI 2023 / KRD Zoutleeuw - KVZ Glabbeek-Zuurbemde 1-1 / Brabant, VFV Provincial League 3D (= BE level 8)

Timeline

1928 / Foundation of a first football club in Zoutleeuw, FC Woodward, which joins Belgium’s Football Association under registration number 1147. It is unclear where FC Woodward’s pitch was situated – possibly at Tiensestraat (or Thienschestraat, following orthography rules in force at that time).
1929 / FC Woodward makes its debut in a special division of clubs making their debut in Belgium’s FA – strikingly, the club chose to take part in Limburg’s debut division rather than in Brabant’s, although Zoutleeuw is situated in the latter province.
1930 / FC Woodward makes the leap to Brabant’s regular bottom division, Regional League 3 (3e Gewestelijke).
1931 / After one season in Brabant’s Regional League 3, FC Woodward withdraws from regular league football.
1932 / FC Woodward’s registration number 1147 is officially erased from the Belgian FA’s official lists in January 1932 after half a year of inactivity.
1935 / Foundation of a new football club in Zoutleeuw, which takes on the name Leeuwsche Voetbalvereeniging, also referred to occasionally as LVV Zoutleeuw or LVV Zout-Leeuw – and later, following new rules of orthography, Leeuwse Voetbalvereniging or Leeuwse VV. The club joins Belgium’s FA, obtaining registration number 2321. Its first pitch is situated at Tiensestraat – with the club later probably moving to a location nearby close to a local chapel, Bethaniakapel, but no definite information regarding this matter has been found.
1936 / Leeuwse VV starts its life as a regular league club in Brabant’s Regional League 3A after spending the 1935-36 season in the reserves’ leagues (and winning the unofficial title in what was referred to as Regional League 4) – an obligation for new FA members at that time.
1938 / Finishing in joint-first place in Brabant’s Regional League 3A with RSC Jodoignois, Leeuwse VV has to play a test match against the club from the other side of the language border, held in Zaventem – due to Jodoigne winning the match and thus clinching promotion, Leeuwse misses out on the ticket to Regional League 2.
1939 / Winning the title in Brabant’s Regional League 3E, Leeuwse VV accedes to Regional League 2.
1943 / Finishing 9th and last in Provincial League 2C – due to the German occupation of Belgium and travelling being restricted by the oppressor, leagues were contracted to a smaller number of clubs – Leeuwse VV drops back into Provincial League 3.
1944 / Winning the title in Brabant’s Provincial League 3D, Leeuwse VV accedes to Provincial League 2.
1945 / In the club’s best season ever, Leeuwse VV finishes in sixth place in Provincial League 2A.
1946 / Finishing 14th in P2A, Leeuwse VV drops back into Provincial League 3 after two years.
1947 / Following the 1946-47 season, Leeuwse VV withdraws its first team from regular league football, returning in Brabant’s Provincial League 3 after one year in 1948.
1950 / Being in the running for the title in P3A for most of the 1949-50 season, Leeuwse VV eventually has to settle for third place, with Mena Okselaar walking away with the title.
1955 / Due to P3E champions Webbekom Sport FC withdrawing from regular league football for one season, Leeuwse VV, runners-up in that division, earns the right to play in Provincial League 2 the following season. The unexpected success proves a poisoned chalice, though, with the club only picking up 2 points in the 1955-56 season in P2C and dropping back into Provincial League 3 immediately.
1959 / Never having recovered from the departure of many players following the disastrous 1955-56 season, Leeuwse VV withdraws its first team from Provincial League 3.
1960 / Leeuwse VV folds, with its registration number 2321 being erased from the Belgian FA’s official lists. In the following seven years, only recreational football is being played in the town – one club bearing the quirky name IJzeren Teen.
1967 / Foundation of a new football club in Zoutleeuw, which takes on the name Rode Duivels (RD) Zoutleeuw (registration number 7015) – with the epithet Rode Duivels (Red Devils) being a reference to the main colour in Zoutleeuw’s coat of arms as well as to the colours of the Belgian national team. The club, which starts its life in Provincial League 4C, settles at a newly laid-out pitch at Stationsstraat, to the south of the town centre, soon referred to as Voetbalcomplex De Wallen.
1970 / Three points ahead of Crossing Vissenaken, RD Zoutleeuw clinches the title in Brabant’s Provincial League 4F, thus acceding to Provincial League 3 for the first time.
1974 / Finishing second-last in P3A, Rode Duivels Zoutleeuw drops back into Provincial League 4.
1976 / RD Zoutleeuw just misses out on a return to P3, finishing runners-up in P4F, 3 points behind champions SK Rummen.
1980 / Winning the title in P4F, 4 points ahead of VC Jong Neervelp, Rode Duivels Zoutleeuw manages a return to Provincial League 3.
± 1988 / The main pitch of Voetbalcomplex De Wallen is laid-out anew in a position slightly to the west of the original main pitch, as a sports hall is constructed at the original entrance of the ground at Stationsstraat.
1990 / Having spent the past ten seasons in P3, RD Zoutleeuw now finishes bottom of the league in P3A, thus dropping back into the bottom division of Brabant’s provincial league pyramid.
1993 / A covered stand is inaugurated at Voetbalcomplex De Wallen.
1995 / Clinching the title in Provincial League 4F, 7 points ahead of nearest rivals Voorwaarts Oorbeek, Rode Duivels Zoutleeuw wins promotion to Provincial League 3. The stay at that level does not last longer than one season, though, with relegation following immediately in 1996.
1998 / Runners-up in P4F, finishing 16 points behind derby rivals Sporting Budingen, RD Zoutleeuw qualifies for the play-offs, in which it manages to win promotion to P3 through the back door.
2000 / A new set of changing rooms is inaugurated at Voetbalcomplex De Wallen.
2005 / Bottom of the table in P3A at the end of the 2004-05 season, Rode Duivels Zoutleeuw drops back into Provincial League 4 along with SC Orsmaal. Due to the departure of many players on the senior level as well as in the youth academy, the club is on the brink of folding in the following years – but eventually survives with the arrival of a new board.
2009 / Runners-up in P4I, 3 points behind KSK Rummen, RD Zoutleeuw qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which it fails to secure a ticket for Provincial League 3.
2014 / Runners-up in Provincial League 4H, 8 points behind Sparta Kumtich-Tienen, Rode Duivels Zoutleeuw automatically accedes to Provincial League 3 due to extra promotion places being available.
2015 / Reaching the semi-final of Brabant’s Provincial Cup, RD Zoutleeuw qualifies for the nationwide Belgian Cup for the first time in club history.
2017 / Voetbalcomplex De Wallen is renamed Stadion Maurice Janssens in honour of a founding member and long-time treasurer of the club, who had passed away two years previously.
2018 / One year after its 50th anniversary, Rode Duivels Zoutleeuw acquires the royal epithet, thus becoming Koninklijke Rode Duivels (KRD) Zoutleeuw.
2019 / Following an emphatic 0-8 away win at KVV Scherpenheuvel, KRD Zoutleeuw clinches the title in Provincial League 3A – eventually finishing 11 points ahead of closest followers FC Geetbets. As such, for the first time in history, the club accedes to Provincial League 2.
2020 / In the 2019-20 season, cut short in the early spring of 2020 due to the COVID lockdown, KRD Zoutleeuw only managed to pick up 9 points in 24 matches, finding itself in last place – and being retrograded to Provincial League 3 along with VC Bekkevoort and KFC Rapide Wezemaal.
2022 / In the first full season following the successive lockdowns, K Rode Duivels Zoutleeuw finishes dead-last in Provincial League 3A – amounting to a second successive relegation, taking with it the club in second-last position, Rummen SK.
2023 / Clinching the title in Provincial League 4F, 3 points ahead of derby rivals Sporting Budingen, KRD Zoutleeuw manages an immediate return to Provincial League 3.
2024 / Finishing in fourteenth place in P3D, KRD Zoutleeuw drops back into Provincial League 4 immediately, along with FC Averbode Testelt Okselaar B, KVZ Glabbeek-Zuurbemde, and bottom club VC Bekkevoort.

Note 1 – Thanks to Jef Troonen and Paul Joris for contributing important parts of information to the article above

Note 2 – Below, a compilation of photos of two different visits: pictures 1-9 = non-matchday visit, 26 XI 2023 / pictures 10-23 = match visit, 19 XI 2023