There are treasures to be found everywhere. When we were groundhopping throughout the Kempen in Belgium, we wanted to check out the stadium of KFC Heultje, expecting nothing at all. Expecting nothing, but getting a very valuable treasure!
It seemed KFC Heultje recently moved out of the Ernest Steckx sports centre and moved to the grounds of the neighbouring KFC Zoerle-Sport. We found a small stadium in the process of being demolished (by now we expect nothing can be seen anymore) and our hearts were thrilled with emotion. This is exactly the reason why we started groundhopping... Experiencing soul in a football stadium before it gets demolished.
KFC Heultje isn't a very big team, but it kind of has a rich history. The team was founded in 1920 already and around WWII the team started moving up in the regional leagues. Throughout the years they often encountered the bigger neighbouring KVC Westerlo (currently first division for years now). In 1983 KFC Heultje won the league in the highest regional division and promoted to the national leagues for the very first time. Only a few years after they even made it to the third division. In the season '89-'90 they even ended second in third division outplaying KVC Westerlo (their biggest rival) which ended third. Unfortunately the success came to an end. As of 1994 they started relegating and one year later they had to go back to the regional leagues. They were even sanctioned twice for financial problems and for using a player who wasn't licensed.
As mentioned before the team moved to trhe grounds of KFC Zoerle-Sport as their own stadium (their homeground for 40 years!) wasn't safe anymore to keep using. Since KFC Zoerle-Sport stopped their activities last year, their stadium was free to use. We checked this one as well, but although it's more modern, it isn't a nice eye catcher. For those who didn't visit the Ernest Sterckx sports centre yet, sorry we posted this one a little too late...
