In cycling, where Flanders hosts many of the top races and where Eddy Merckx is still revered as a demi-god, it has been a barren harvest. In the key one-day classics – the Tour of Flanders, Liège-Bastogne- Liège, La Flèche Wallonne, the Amstel Gold Race, Paris-Roubaix, the E3 Harelbeke and Gent-Wevelgem – not a single Flemish name has topped the podium. This comes after two years in which Tom Boonen and Philippe Gilbert seemed to carve up those prizes between them.

Nor is tennis faring any better. Kim Clijsters is a distant memory now that Belgium – beaten 4-1 by Poland two weekends ago – has just been relegated to the third tier of the Fed Cup, the Group One Euro- African zone.

Are there hopes elsewhere? In boxing, Ghent’s Jean-Pierre Bauwens is a promising talent, overcoming a rough background, with a father shot dead at his home where he lived with his six brothers and sisters. But Bauwens has just missed his tilt at the European super-featherweight title, recently losing against the Spaniard Ruben Nieto. Knocked down in the early rounds, he fought back but ultimately lost on a points decision.

Can football offer some solace? As the season draws to a close, the Jupiler Pro League is offering perhaps the year’s best underdog story. After six games in the play-offs, tiny Zulte Waregem top the table, showing a verve and vim that more established rivals seem to have forgotten. Victories over Anderlecht and Club Brugge helped the so-called Essevee rise to the top of the play-offs with four games remaining.

This is, after all, a West Flanders side from a town of 36,000 people, and their Regenboogstadion, or Rainbow Stadium, has a capacity of just 10,200 (it does not meet UEFA Cup standards, so when the club qualified in the 2006-07 competition, home games were played at Gent’s Jules Ottenstadion).

Yet fired by goals from Mbaye Leye, Franck Berrier and Jens Naessens, the club seems to be kicking in just at the right moment. And with disappointments in so many other sports, perhaps this unlikely package can provide a spark to delight Flemish fans this spring.