Home ground of Sporting for 93 years. Secondary stadium of the merged KSC for 13 years. Again the main stadium for KSC Blankenberge since 7 years now. Ups and downs for this stadium, but looking towards a positive adventure again - the Bloso domain in Blankenberge, right next to the railway station.
We already went into detail of the Daring history, but Sporting was in fact the oldest team of Blankenberge. In 1907 already Sportvereniging Blankenberge was founded. Starting of in the regional leagues and in red/white colours the team quickly made its move to the national leagues. In 1923 their first national appearance turned out to be a disaster. After two years already they relegated already from second division (the lowest national division at that time), but in 1926 they were back again - albeit in the newly created third division. That suited them more as they remained there until 1931. Something Daring couldn't as they promoted to third division the same year, but already relegated one year later.
But! Sporting didn't relegate in 1931 although they ended last. Due to an extension of the competition they were lucky enough to stay and in 1932 they even won the championship in third division, gaining back access to second division. In 1935 it was back to third division and in 1937 they even had to go back to the regional leagues after 11 years of national football. It would take them twenty years to come back, but in 1957 it finally happened, fourth division in the meantime.
During the 50s the results were great, but as the 60s went by they had to fear for relegation more and more. In 1969, after 12 years, the story became regional again. It seemed to go all downhill from there as during the 70s they even went lower than the top regional league. In 2000 they were at the point of relegating out of the second highest regional league, when it was decided to merge and join forces with rivals Daring Club Blankenberge. KSC Blankenberge was born and although the matricule number of Sporting was kept, the team moved to the Jules Soetestadion and continued where Daring had ended - fourth division and the national leagues.
One year later unfortunately the team did relegate back to the regional leagues and up until now it has been an up and down in the regional divisions. Right now (2020) they are back in the top regional league and they have the ambition to go even higher. The team just missed out on a play off spot for promotion in the second period (by goal difference), but let's say we are confident we will be seeing the renewed Sporting in the national divisions again sooner or later. Although it's sad to see the history of the Jules Soetestadion disappearing, the Centrum Sport Vlaanderen ground isn't bad at all. Definitely worth a visit when you are enjoying a relaxing day at the seaside.
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