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LATEST UPDATE - SPORTIEF ROTSELAAR (B) / SPORTOASE TER HEIDE WEST, ROTSELAAR (BELGIUM)

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

BELGIUM: Sportief Rotselaar (B) (2012-±2018, 2024-) / Sportief Rotselaar (±2018-2024)

Sportoase Ter Heide "Terrein De Toren" West (B pitch of Sportief Rotselaar, formerly A pitch)

Belgium, province: Flemish Brabant = Vlaams Brabant

14 XII 2024 / Sportief Rotselaar B - KVC Kessel-Lo 2000 3-2 / Brabant, VFV Provincial League 3C (= BE level 8)

Timeline

• 1943 / Foundation of a football club in Rotselaar – the first from this village in the Flemish-speaking part of the Province of Brabant to seek affiliation to the Belgian Football Association (URBSFA / KBVB), Racing Club (RC) Rotselaar. Upon being accepted as new member club, RC Rotselaar acquires registration number 3984, starting its life as a competitive club in Brabant’s Provincial League 3. It is unknown where this club’s ground was situated.
•  1951 / Having withdrawn its team from Provincial League 3 in after the 1949-50 season, RC Rotselaar folds, ceasing all activities. In the following fifteen years, there is no Belgian FA club within the boundaries of the municipality.
• 1966 / Foundation of a new club in Rotselaar, Voetbalclub (VC) Rotselaar, which obtains registration number 6909. Starting its life in Brabant’s Provincial League 4D, VC Rotselaar settles on a pitch referred to locally as Terrein De Toren, situated in the shadow of Donjon Terheyden, a fortified tower dating back to the 14th century.
• 1968 / Champions in Brabant’s Provincial League 4G, VC Rotselaar wins promotion to Provincial League 3.
• 1969 / Runners-up in Brabant’s Provincial League 3D, VC Rotselaar wins promotion to Provincial League 2.
• 1970 / Champions in Brabant’s Provincial League 2C, VC Rotselaar achieves its third promotion in a row, acceding to Provincial League 1 for the first time in the club’s short history.
• 1973 / Champions in Brabant’s Provincial League 1, VC Rotselaar achieves an unprecedented promotion to National Division 4, the fourth and lowest tier of Belgium’s national league pyramid.
• 1974 / Runners-up in its first season in National Division 4A, 7 points behind champions K Stade Leuven, VC Rotselaar wins automatic promotion to National Division 3 due to extra promotion places being available.
• 1976 / VC Rotselaar reaches the round of last 16 in the Belgian Cup for the first and only time in its history, bowing out against National Division 4 side KFC Eeklo (0-2).
• 1978 / Finishing in joint first place in National Division 3A with KFC Turnhout, VC Rotselaar meets that club in a tie-break match, going on to win the encounter 0-3. Subsequently, the club loses a honorary match against KRC Harelbeke, champions in National Division 3B, to determine the nationwide Division 3 champions (2-1). Following the title in D3B, VC Rotselaar accedes to National Division 2, the second tier of the Belgian football pyramid, only twelve years after the club’s foundation, following six promotions in ten years.
• 1979 / Finishing in second-last place in National Division 2, only 2 points short of R Union Saint-Gilloise, which saves its skin at this level, VC Rotselaar drops back into National Division 3 after one season, along with bottom club AS Oostende KM.
• 1982 / Finishing bottom of the table in National Division 3B, VC Rotselaar drops back into National Division 4 along with KVK Tienen and bottom club R Tilleur FC.
• 1983 / Finishing in fourteenth place in National Division 4B – just 1 point short of derby rivals K Olympia SC Wijgmaal, which saves its skin at this level – VC Rotselaar drops back into Brabant’s Provincial League 1 along with Ourodenberg Sport and bottom club R Crossing Club de Schaerbeek. This heralds the end of a ten-year spell of national league football at Terrein De Toren.
• 1984 / Finishing bottom of the table in Brabant’s Provincial League 1, VC Rotselaar suffers its third relegation in a row, dropping back into Provincial League 2.
• 1994 / Finishing in thirteenth place in Brabant’s Provincial League 2B, VC Rotselaar drops back into Provincial League 3. Pressed down by debts, dating back to the club’s years in the national divisions, VC Rotselaar avoids a bankruptcy by transferring its patrimony to a new owner. While holding on to its registration number 6909, VC Rotselaar implements an obligatory name change, becoming Sportief Rotselaar.
• 1996 / Champions in Brabant’s Provincial League 3D, Sportief Rotselaar wins promotion to Provincial League 2.
• 2002 / Finishing in second-last place in P2B, Sportief Rotselaar is retrograded to Provincial League 3.
• 2005 / Bottom of the table in P3D at the end of the 2004-05 season, Sportief Rotselaar descends into Provincial League 4 along with the club finishing in second-last place, RC Nieuwrode.
• 2010 / Runners-up in P4G, 3 points behind champions SK Kampelaar, Sportief Rotselaar qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club finishes in last place in a group with R Wavre Limal B, FC Borght, Jeunesse Molenbeek, and KV Tervuren B. However, as it turns out, extra promotion places are available, as a result of which all clubs taking part in the play-offs, including Sportief Rotselaar, are admitted to Provincial League 3.
• 2012 / Finishing in second-last place in P3D, Sportief Rotselaar drops back into Provincial League 4 along with bottom club KFC Sparta Haacht-Statie. In that same year, after extensive building works which saw the complete renovation of Terrein De Toren, with the main pitch (laid out in east-west direction) being replaced by two pitches (laid out in north-south direction), and with a new clubhouse in the middle, the new facilities are inaugurated – and given a new name, Sportoase Ter Heide. The pitch on the east side of the clubhouse, which has been laid out as a 3G, hosts most of the first team football in the following years.
• 2014 / Champions in P4G, 7 points ahead of runners-up HO Testelt, Sportief Rotselaar manages a return to Provincial League 3.
• 2016 / Champions in P3D, 3 points ahead of runners-up OHR Huldenberg, Sportief Rotselaar accedes to Provincial League 2 after an absence of fourteen years. Also in 2016, the grass surface of the pitch on the west side of the clubhouse at Sportoase Ter Heide is laid out anew as a 3G.
• ± 2018 / First team football is moved from the eastern pitch to the pitch situated on the west side of the clubhouse at Sportpark Ter Heide in 2018 or 2019.
• 2023 / Runaway champions in P2B, 14 points ahead of closest followers KFC Averbode-Okselaar, Sportief Rotselaar accedes to Brabant’s Provincial League 1, 39 years after VC Rotselaar last played at that level.
• 2024 / Champions in Brabant’s Provincial League 1, with an equal number of points as runners-up Fenixx Beigem Humbeek, but with a better goal difference (+ 37 vs. + 20), Sportief Rotselaar achieves its second promotion in a row, acceding to VFV Amateur Division 3, the fifth and lowest tier of Belgium’s national league pyramid. Due to the pitch situated on the western side of the clubhouse at Sportoase Ter Heide not having the correct dimensions for the national leagues, first team football is moved to the eastern pitch – albeit after some modifications having been carried out in September 2024, as a result of which the club has to ask permission to the Belgian FA to play the first regular home match of the season on the western pitch.

Note – Below, a compilation of photos of two different visits: pictures 1-5 = non-matchday visit, February 2024 / pictures 6-17 = match visit, December 2024.

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

NETHERLANDS: SV De Braak (B) (2022-2023) / SV De Braak (2023-)

Gemeentelijk Sportpark De Braak - Terrein Nieuwe Braak Oost (SV De Braak, formerly B pitch of SV De Braak)

Netherlands, province: North Brabant = Noord-Brabant

14 XII 2024 / SV De Braak (za) - RKSV Margriet (za) 1-2 / District South I, Saturday League 4E (= NL level 9)

Timeline

• 2020 / Foundation of SV De Braak as a merger of the two non-league clubs sharing Gemeentelijk Sportpark De Braak in Helmond with professional league side Helmond Sport, i.e. SC Helmondia and RKSV MULO. All activities move to SC Helmondia’s pitches at the southeastern end of the park. 
• 2022 / As one of the first steps in a complete renovation of Sportpark De Braak, a synthetic pitch is laid out in the northeastern corner of the park, which is shared by SV De Braak (as a side-pitch) and the pupils of the secondary school constructed at the northern end of the pitch, the Dr. Knippenbergcollege. That same year, SC Helmondia’s former main pitch is removed, with its covered stand being knocked down. Being deprived of its main pitch, the club is allowed to move its first team football to the adjacent Stadion De Braak as groundsharers with professional league side Helmond Sport. 
• 2023 / After one year of playing its first team football at Stadion De Braak, SV De Braak moves away to the synthetic pitch which has been laid out at the northeastern most corner of the park, partly on the area previously occupied by RKSV MULO’s old main pitch – a situation likely to endure until further renovation works at Sportpark De Braak will have been completed. At the time of the move to this pitch, SV De Braak had two first teams, a Sunday and a Saturday team both playing at League 4 level.
• 2024 / Finishing in second-last place in District South II’s Sunday League 4G, SV De Braak (zo) drops down into Sunday League 5 along with bottom club vv MVC. That same season, SV De Braak (za) finishes in second place in District South I’s Saturday League 4G, 5 points behind champions vv Jan van Arckel; qualifying for the promotion play-offs, the team is eliminated in R1 by vv Haaften (2-3).

Note - The match I visited at this ground was actually half a match. The encounter between SV De Braak (za) and RKSV Margriet (za), abandoned after 45 minutes of play due to the referee feeling unwell on 30 XI 2024 (score 1-1), was resumed on 14 XII 2024 (final score: 1-2, winning goal by RKSV Margriet in last minute, cp. photo 16 below). 

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

BELGIUM: KAS Eupen (B)

Stadion am Kehrweg terr. B, Eupen (KAS Eupen - first side-pitch of the stadium)

Belgium, province: Liège = Luik

8 XII 2024 / KAS Eupen B - R Aywaille FC 2-3 / ACFF Amateur Division 2 (= BE level 4)

Timeline

• 1945 / Foundation of Alliance Sportive (AS) Eupen as a merger of two pre-war football clubs in the town of Eupen: La Jeunesse d'Eupen (founded in 1919 as a merger of two previous clubs and becoming a Belgian FA member in 1920, registration number 108) and FC Eupen (founded in 1920, but having a lower registration number, 92, probably due to the club tracing its origins to one of the original clubs which had merged to become La Jeunsse d'Eupen). No information is available about the football grounds used in pre-war Eupen, but it is clear that the new AS Eupen settled on a pitch laid out at Kehrweg from the outset in 1945. Two years later, a first stand was added. It is unclear when the first side pitch of the ground was laid out, but it may have been pretty shortly after the war as well. Oral sources state that it is the oldest of the side-pitches of the stadium - going back to the 1960s at least.
• 1981 / AS Eupen germanicises its name, officially becoming Allgemeine Sportvereinigung (still AS) Eupen.
• 1995 / AS Eupen acquires the royal epithet, officially becoming Königliche Allgemeine Sportvereinigung (KAS) Eupen.
• 2009 / The side-pitch of the Stadion am Kehrweg is equipped with a synthetic surface.
• 2010 / KAS Eupen wins promotion to the top division of Belgian football for the first time. By that time, the club is fully professional.
• 2024 / KAS Eupen's U23 team becomes a part of the Belgian national league pyramid, being placed in ACFF Amateur Division 2, the fourth tier of the league system. Home matches are played not in the stadium itself, but on the synthetic side-pitch.

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