Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: K Woudsport Houthulst

Sunday 4 August 2024

BELGIUM: K Woudsport Houthulst

Terrein Paardedreef "Bricx Arena", Houthulst (K Woudsport Houthulst)

Belgium, province: West Flanders = West-Vlaanderen

4 VIII 2024 / KWS Houthulst - KFC Lendelede Sport 1-0 / West Flanders Provincial Cup - group stage, group 1

Timeline

1922 / For the benefit of the young male inhabitants of Houthulst, a village in West Flanders ravaged due to the trench warfare in World War I, the local congregation of the Xaverian Brothers – most notably Br. Gregoire and Br. Gabriel – undertakes to found a local football club, which is given the name Woudsport Houthulst (regularly abbreviated as WS Houthulst). The first chairman is Prosper Hoorelbeke. The club, which does not apply for membership Belgium’s official Football Association, instead probably joining the Roman-Catholic football association DSV (Diocesaan Sportverbond), settles at Terrein Cyriel Vanneste (modern-day Printaniastraat), only to switch to Eugène De Grootelaan later that same decade – with the entrance later being moved to the other side of the pitch, at what was by then named Broeders Xaverianenstraat.
1939 / Abandoning its membership of the Diocesaan Sportverbond, Woudsport Houthulst joins the official Belgian FA with registration number 2833.
1943 / Due to several club players being arrested in a Gestapo raid in Houthulst in November 1943, Woudsport Houthulst ceases its activities for the following year – with the liberation of Belgium following in the fall of 1944.
1946 / Winning the title in West Flanders’ Regional League 2 (2e Gewestelijke), Woudsport Houthulst accedes to Provincial League 2, the top level of West Flanders’ regional divisions at the time. It is unclear how long the club held out at this level.
1952 / Woudsport Houthulst acquires the royal epithet, becoming Koninklijke Woudsport (KWS) Houthulst.
1959 / Clinching the title in West Flanders’ Provincial League 3A, KWS Houthulst manages a return to Provincial League 2 – by then the second-highest level in West Flanders’ provincial divisions.
1960 / Clinching the title in West Flanders Provincial League 2, KWS Houthulst wins promotion to Provincial League 1 for the first time in club history.
1962 / Pol Gernaey, former goalkeeper of AS Oostende KM, Beerschot VAC, and the Belgian national team (17 caps & participation in 1954 World Cup in Switzerland), is signed by KWS Houthulst as the club’s new trainer.
1963 / Finishing last in West Flanders’ Provincial League 1, KWS Houthulst drops back into Provincial League 2 after three seasons.
1964 / Runners-up in Provincial League 2A, KWS Houthulst is placed in Provincial League 1 for the new season.
1966 / After four seasons, Pol Gernaey leaves KWS Houthulst to become the trainer of his boyhood club KEG Gistel.
1965 / In the best season in club history, KWS Houthulst finishes in seventh place in P1.
1968 / Bottom of the table in P1, KWS Houthulst descends into Provincial League 2 after four seasons.
1974 / Finishing in twelfth place in P2A, KWS Houthulst drops back into Provincial League 3 after an absence of fifteen years at that level.
1977 / Runners-up in P3A, KWS Houthulst wins promotion to Provincial League 2, holding out at that level for three years until dropping back in 1980.
1984 / Finishing second-last in P3A, KWS Houthulst descends into Provincial League 4 for the first time in club history.
1985 / Runners-up in P4A, KWS Houthulst manages a return to Provincial League 3 after just one season.
1991 / Champions in P3A, KWS Houthulst wins promotion to Provincial League 2.
1992 / Runners-up in P2B, KWS Houthulst manages a return to West Flanders’ Provincial League 1 after an absence of 24 seasons.
1993 / Bottom of the table in P1, KWS Houthulst drops back into Provincial League 2 after just one year.
2000 / Bottom of the table in P2B, KWS Houthulst descends into Provincial League 3.
± 2005 / A training pitch is laid out for KWS Houthulst at Paardedreef - a much needed facility, given that the club disposes of just one pitch at Terrein Broeders Xaverianenstraat.
2007 / Runners-up in P3A, 11 points behind champions KFC Poperinge, KWS Houthulst wins promotion to Provincial League 2 via the play-offs.
2010 / Finishing in fourteenth place in P2B, KWS Houthulst drops back into Provincial League 3 along with SK Westrozebeke and bottom club KSV Kortrijk.
2013 / Finishing in fourth place in P3A, KWS Houthulst qualifies for the promotion play-offs, successively defeating TSC Proven (9-3 aggr.) and KSK Vlamertinge (4-4 aggr., on away goals) to accede to Provincial League 2.
2015 / Finishing in fourteenth place in P2A, KWS Houthulst drops back into Provincial League 3 along with KE De Haan and bottom club VV Eendracht Brugge.
2016 / Finishing in fourth place in P3A, KWS Houthulst qualifies for the promotion play-offs, suffering elimination in R1 at the hands of SK Staden (3-1 aggr.).
2018 / After some eighty years of playing its football at Terrein Broeder Xaverianenstraat (cp. last photo in this series, taken from Google Maps Streetview, 2009), which has to make way for housing, KWS Houthulst moves to a newly laid-out ground at the club's former training pitch at Paardedreef (with the sole pitch being removed and replaced by two pitches, laid out in a 90 degrees turn as opposed to the old pitch), named Bricx Arena for sponsorship reasons. The main pitch is equipped with a synthetic surface.
2020 / In the 2019-20 season, cut short due to the COVID lockdown in March 2020, KWS Houthulst finds itself in fourth place in P3A with 25 of 30 matches played. Due to several clubs in the higher reaches of West Flanders’ provincial league system folding, merging, or choosing voluntary retrogradation to Provincial League 4, this is sufficient for KWS Houthulst to be placed in Provincial League 2 for the new season.
2021 / Qualifying for R3 of the Belgian Cup for the first time, KWS Houthulst bows out in an away match at SC Eendracht Aalst (2-0).
2023 / Finishing in third place in P2B, KWS Houthulst qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is eliminated in R1 by KVC Ardooie (0-2).
2024 / Having been second-best in West Flanders’ Provincial League 2A virtually all year, trailing Jong Male VV by between 15 to 20 points in the middle stages of the season, KWS Houthulst has a brilliant second half of the season, while their rivals throw away many points. On the last day of the season, Jong Male VV draws its home game against Daring Brugge VV (5-5, with Daring scoring the equaliser in the 99th minute), while KWS Houthulst manages a comprehensive 5-0 defeat of KFC Heist – as a result of which the club walks away with the title with a 1 point advantage. As such, KWS Houthulst manages a return to West Flanders’ Provincial League 1 after an absence of 31 years.