Van Rooy Obituary, Death – When Van Rooy took his place behind the crossbar on September 3, 1967 for the away encounter against STVV that ended 1-1, he became our club’s very first goalkeeper to play in the highest level. Leo is the latest member of that illustrious team to pass away, following in the footsteps of Omer Janssens, Jaak Roelandt, and Paul Vangenechten, all of whom also died.
Leo is a descendant of a family that had nine children, all of which were sons, and all five of the boys played football at Heidebloem Lille (the name was changed to KFC Lille in 1998 and merged with a few clubs to Lille United since 2021). In 1962, Van Rooy made the transfer from the provincial series to the second division club FC Turnhout.
During his stint with the club, they won the final round in 1963, and as a result, they were promoted to the highest division for the third and last time in the club’s history. Van Rooy was offered a spot on the Freethiel after competing in a series of successful test matches at Beerschot in the spring of 1967.
He was the starting goalie right away and played all 14 games in the first round, which was a creditable performance. But unfortunately, Leo suffered an injury, and Andre Van Esbroeck took his position in the boxing ring. When Luksa Poklepovic was brought on board in 1968, Leo’s chances of getting on the field decreased significantly.
In 1969, he moved on to play for Zwarte Leeuw in the 2nd Provinciale, where he was a significant contributor to the club’s promotion to the national series. After retiring from professional football, Leo opened a thriving store in Poederlee known as “De Ley” where he sold fruit and vegetables (his favorite nickname). In October of 2021, Van Rooy was elated to learn that his namesake Leo had made him a great-grandfather, bringing the total number of generations in the family to four. In these trying times, we hope that Leo’s family and friends will find the strength to carry on.