Not that far away from the majestic Warandestadion in Diest there is another absolute gem to be found. In Aarschot there is a beautiful football history and an even more wonderful stadium, a definite must do for groundhoppers. SC Aarschot is playing there since 2007, but the Laaksite stadium has seen football for decades before that.
It all started in 1924 already when Aerschot Sport was created. They immediately joined the Belgian FA, but it would take until 1945 before they first reached the national divisions., third division at that time. Five years later they received the royal title and Aerschot Sport took the liberty to change their name into KV Aarschot Sport. One year later the football structure changed and although they ended in the middle of their league, they still had to relegate to the newly created fourth division. In 1957 the won the championship and returned to third division, but in 1962 they had to go back. One year later they even relegated to the regional leagues. They would stay there until the mid 80s.
In the meantime a second team in Aarschot was created (Ourodenberg Sport in 1930 - only joining the Belgian FA in 1942) and across the decades the number one spot in Aarschot shifted to Ourodenberg Sport when they reached the national divisions in 1974. Up until 1983 they would go up and down between fourth national division and the highest regional league. 1983 was the year when Ourodenberg Sport and KV Aarschot Sport decided to join forces and become one big team in the Aarschot region. The new team name became KVO Aarschot and continued playing with the matricule number of KV Aarschot Sport.
Four years after the merger KVO Aarschot went back to the national leagues. Everything seemed to be very positive as in 1989 they even promoted to third division. This lasted until 1995 when they relegated back and although they were sometimes close to going back (and in 1997 they did very briefly), the results and the finances went down drastically. In 2007 there was no money left and KVO Aarschot had to cease all activities.
Not long after that two board members of KVO Aarschot fan associations founded SC Aarschot to follow in the footsteps of KVO Aarschot. Legally everything is new about the team, but in reality this is the continuation of the late KVO Aarschot. Ever since the team is working on their way back to the national divisions. Today they are playing in the top regional league and they are still full with ambition. Hence the reason why they attracted Kenneth Van Goethem and Kevin Vandenbergh.
Anecdote: Earlier this year Kevin Vandenbergh and SC Aarschot made it to the national news when it was announced Kevin had signed for a Chinese team. Needless to say since this was published on April Fools day, this wasn't true.
The Laaksite stadium contains about everything we could hope for; Beautiful oldschool grandstand and seating areas, wonderful terracing, nice dug outs, team colours present everywhere, football history and a magnificent entrance gate. Let's hope it stays this way as the municipality of Aarschot had bought the area in 2009 with big plans to renovate.
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