Extreme Football Tourism: 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1951 / Having withdrawn its team from Provincial League 3 in after the 1949-50 season, RC Rotselaar folds, ceasing all activities.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.