BELGIUM: Rupel SK (1941-1959) / K Boom FC (1967-1998) / K Rupel-Boom FC (1998-)

Gemeentelijk Parkstadion, Boom (K Rupel Boom, formerly K Boom FC)

Belgium, province: Antwerp

7 II 2010 / K Rupel-Boom FC - KMSK Deinze 2-2 / National League 3A (= BE level 3)

23 IV 2022 / K Rupel-Boom FC - KFC Dessel Sport 2-1 / First National Amateur Division (= BE level 3)

Note 1: In the 1930s, the town of Boom, just south of Antwerp, sported two football clubs; first, there was Koninklijke Boom FC (matricule 58), founded in 1908 as Rupel FC de Boom but changing its name to Boom FC five years later; the club acquired the royal epithet in 1938. In 1934, a second club saw the daylight, Rupel SK (matriculd 2138). Rupel SK moved into the town's Gemeentelijk Park in 1941, being home there for the following eighteen seasons. In 1959, the club left the ground due to its disagreeing with Boom town council's decision to allow the local athletics club to use the premises as well. After remaining unused by any football club for several years, K Boom FC agreed to move into the ground in 1967. Up until that time, the ground's spectator area had consisted of little more than three small uncovered terraces, but, in 1970, the incredibly steep grandstand still existing today was added, giving the ground its current look. K Boom FC played 21 consecutive seasons of National League 2 football (1971-92) before finally winning promotion to National League 1, but their stay in the top flight lasted for one year only - and the club suffered in the following seasons. After three successive relegations, they found themselves playing in Provincial League 1 (tier 5 of Belgian football at the time) in 1997-98. Effectively bankrupt, the club agreed to cede their matricule in the summer of 1998 to be absorbed by their modest town rivals K Rupel SK. It took the newly formed K Rupel-Boom FC six years to find their way up into the national leagues, where they have been a constant factor ever since.

Note 2: Below, a compilation of photos of two different match visits: pictures 1-2, 4-7, 9-15 & 17-48 = April 2022 / pictures 3, 8 & 16 = February 2010. Picture 8 was included to show the fencing which was still in place in 2010, but removed sometime in the twelve years between my first and second visit to Boom.