Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: KFC Hulsen Sport (1985-2001) / KV RH Sportief (2001-±2006) / KV RH Sportief (B) (±2006-2011) / Veteranen Hulsen (2011-)

Saturday, 6 September 2025

BELGIUM: KFC Hulsen Sport (1985-2001) / KV RH Sportief (2001-±2006) / KV RH Sportief (B) (±2006-2011) / Veteranen Hulsen (2011-)

Terrein Ossenberg, Hulsen (Veteranen Hulsen, formerly KFC Hulsen Sport / A & B ground of KV Rosselaar-Hulsen Sportief)

Belgium, province: Antwerp = Antwerpen

6 IX 2025 / Veteranen Hulsen - Donk Sport 1-3 / Recreational match

Timeline

1946 / Foundation of a football club in Hulsen, a village in the eastern part of the Province of Antwerp. The new club takes on the name FC Hulsen Sport, acquiring registration number 4411 upon being accepted into the Belgian Football Association (URBSFA / KBVB). A pitch is laid out for the club at Ossenberg, opposite of the local primary school, in the heart of the village. For the 1946-47 season, FC Hulsen Sport is placed in Antwerp’s Regional League 3 (3e Gewestelijke) – renamed Provincial League 3 in 1952.
1968 / Clinching its first-ever title, FC Hulsen Sport finishes top of the table in Antwerp’s Provincial League 3C, thus gaining promotion to Provincial League 2.
1969 / Moving away from its initial ground in the vicinity of the primary school at Ossenberg, FC Hulsen Sport moves to a newly laid-out pitch at Het Oud Blok.
1971 / In the best performance in club history, FC Hulsen Sport manages a third place in Antwerp’s Provincial League 2C – going on to repeat that feat in 1976.
1973 / Finishing in third-last place in Antwerp’s Provincial League 2C, FC Hulsen Sport drops back into Provincial League 3 after five seasons.
1975 / Champions in Antwerp’s Provincial League 3C, FC Hulsen Sport manages a return to Provincial League 2.
1982 / Finishing in third-last place in Antwerp’s Provincial League 2C, FC Hulsen Sport drops back into Provincial League 3 after seven seasons.
1984 / Champions in Antwerp’s Provincial League 3D, FC Hulsen Sport accedes to Provincial League 2 for the third time in its existence.
1985 / Moving away from Terrein Het Oud Blok after sixteen years, FC Hulsen Sport settles at Terrein Ossenberg – not the ground used by the club between 1946 and 1969, but a location slightly further to the east of the village centre.
1993 / Finishing bottom of the table in Antwerp’s Provincial League 2C, FC Hulsen Sport descends into Provincial League 3.
1996 / Champions in Antwerp’s Provincial League 3D, FC Hulsen Sport manages a return to Provincial League 2 after three seasons.
1997 / One year after the club’s fiftieth anniversary, FC Hulsen Sport acquires the royal epithet, thus officially becoming Koninklijke Voetbalclub (KFC) Hulsen Sport.
1998 / Finishing in third-last place in Antwerp’s Provincial League 2C, KFC Hulsen Sport drops back into Provincial League 3 after two years.
2001 / In its last season as an independent club, KFC Hulsen Sport manages a fourth place in Antwerp’s Provincial League 3D. Following the 2000-01 season, KFC Hulsen Sport concludes a merger with KFC Rosselaar, a club from the nearby village of Rosselaar, founded in 1934 (registration number 2312), which had enjoyed two seasons in Antwerp’s Provincial League 1 in the late 1960s (1968-70) and found themselves in Provincial League 2 at the time of the merger. The new merger club, which is given the name Koninklijke Voetbalclub (KV) Rosselaar-Hulsen Sportief (usually referred to as KV RH Sportief or simply RH Sportief) retains KFC Rosselaar’s registration number 2312, with KFC Hulsen Sport’s number 4411 being erased from the Belgian FA’s official lists. Starting its life in Antwerp’s Provincial League 2C, the new club stages its first team matches at Hulsen’s Terrein Ossenberg, while Terrein Olmensebaan in Rosselaar is retained for lower team football and training sessions.
2004 / In the best season in club history, KV RH Sportief manages a fourth place in Antwerp’s Provincial League 2C – a performance repeated in 2006.
± 2006 / First team football is moved from Terrein Ossenberg in Hulsen to Terrein Olmensebaan in Rosselaar. The former is retained for lower team football and training sessions.
2011 / Following an uneventful ten-year existence in Provincial League 2 – closed off with a respectable seventh place finish in P2C in the 2010-11 season – KV RH Sportief folds, ceasing all activities due to financial difficulties and a dwindling membership. Immediately following that, a new club is founded in Rosselaar, FC Rosselaar Hulsen, which acquires membership of Belgium’s FA under registration number 9573. With all activities of this new club taking place at Terrein Olmensebaan in Rosselaar, Terrein Ossenberg in Hulsen is abandoned and taken over by Veteranen Hulsen, a recreational club of former players of KFC Hulsen Sportief, founded all the way back in 1971 – and having stuck to just playing friendly matches against other recreational teams after one unsuccessful season in the Belgian FA’s reserves’ leagues (1971-72). Having played the majority of its matches on the side-pitch of Terrein Ossenberg since 1985, given up since, Veteranen Hulsen now moves to the main pitch of this ground. The club’s president is also the chairman of De Ware Vrienden Balen, a dog training school, of which the activities take place at Terrein Ossenberg as well.
2022 / After an existence of eleven years, FC Rosselaar Hulsen folds, ceasing all activities – entailing the disappearance of the names Rosselaar and Hulsen from the Belgian FA’s official lists. The pitch at Olmensebaan in Rosselaar is taken over by a local horse farm.

Note – Below, a compilation of photos of two different visits: pictures 1-2 = non-matchday visit, July 2024 / pictures 3-26 = match visit, September 2025.