BELGIUM: SRU Verviers (2002-2010)

Stade Le Jonckeu, Jehanster (formerly SKILL Verviers, Skill Racing Union Verviers & Union Verviers Ensival)

Belgium, province: Liège = Luik

February 2011 / no match visited

Timeline

• 1907 / Foundation of a football club in Verviers, taking on the name Skill (often spelled in capital letters, SKILL). Skill joins Belgium's Football Association that same year.
• 1918 / Skill merges with Racing Club (RC) de Lambermont, resulting in the foundation of Skill Racing Union.
• 1926 / Upon the introduction of the matricule system, Skill Racing Union obtains matricule 34.
• 1932 / The club extends its name to become Skill Racing Union (SRU) Verviers. Later that same year, SRU Verviers obtains the royal epithet, again subtly adapting its name to become Société Royale Union (SRU) Verviers. Colloquially, though, the club continues to be referred to as 'Skill' or 'Skill Racing Union'.
• 1934 / SRU Verviers moves into its newly built Stade Albert at Rue Simon Lobet. 
• 1976 / As Stade Albert is knocked down, SRU Verviers moves into the newly built Stade Communal du Bielmont, only slightly to the east of the old ground.
• 1991 / SRU Verviers concludes a merger with FC Ensival (matricule 5932, founded in 1956), resulting in the foundation of Royale Union Verviers-Ensival - often referred to abbreviatedly as RUVE.
• 1993 / After five years in National Division 4, R Union Verviers-Ensival moves back to Liège's provincial leagues for good. In total, between 1923 and 1993, SRU Verviers played 38 seasons of national league football (5 in D2, 9 in D3, and 24 in D4, of which two as RU Verviers-Ensival). 
• 2001 / Forced to go into liquidation due to financial difficulties, RU Verviers-Ensival conserves its matricule, but is put back to the bottom of Liège's provincial league ladder, in Provincial League 4. In the process, the old name SRU Verviers is reinstated.
• 2002 / Evicted from Stade Communal du Bielmont by Verviers' town council, SRU Verviers is forced to move into Stade Le Jonckeu in Jehanster; it is unclear which club played at Le Jonckeu, which is obviously older than 2002, before SRU Verviers moved in (anyone able to shed more light on this matter, is more than welcome to contact me). SRU's place at Bielmont is taken by RCS Verviétoise, which moves away its first team football from Stade du Panorama in Stembert after 89 years. In subsequent years, Stade du Panorama remains in use for the club's youth academy.
• 2010 / Having soldiered on in its banishment at Stade Le Jonckeu, SRU finally folds, playing its last home match in Provincial League 4G in April 2010 against R Baelen FC. Matricule 34 is erased from the Belgian FA's official lists. Stade Le Jonckeu quickly falls into disrepair.
• 2018 / Refoundation of Skill Racing Union (SRU) Verviers under matricule 9699. This new SRU Verviers does not return to Stade Le Jonckeu or Stade du Bielmont, instead settling at Terrain Lejoly (Stembert) in 2019 after a first season of groundsharing at FC Entente Stembertoise's Terrain des Linaigrettes.

All photos: (c) W.B. Tukker / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author

BELGIUM: SRU Verviers (1976-1991, 2001-2002) / R Union Verviers-Ensival (1991-2001) / RCS Verviétois (2002-2015) / Etoile Verviétoise (B) (2013-2019) / CS Jeunesse Verviétoise (2015-2016) / CS Verviers (2016-2019) / AS Verviers (2019-2020) / Racing Club Star Verviers (2020-2023) / Stade Verviétois (2023-)

Stade Communal du Bielmont, Verviers (Stade Verviétois, formerly SRU Verviers / R Union Verviers-Ensival / RCS Verviétois / CS Jeunesse Verviétoise / CS Verviers / AS Verviers / B ground of Etoile Verviétoise / Racing Club Star Verviers)

Belgium, province: Liège = Luik

27 II 2011 / RCS Verviétois - RFC Liège 0-3 / National Division 3B (= BE level 3)

Timeline

• 1907 / Foundation of a football club in Verviers, taking on the name Skill (often spelled in capital letters, SKILL). Skill joins Belgium's Football Association that same year.
• 1918 / Skill merges with Racing Club (RC) de Lambermont, resulting in the foundation of Skill Racing Union.
• 1923 / Skill Racing Union accedes to the national divisions for the first time, but cannot manage more than one season in Promotion, the second and lowest national level at the time.
• 1925 / Back in the national leagues, Skill Racing Union spends two seasons in the second tier of the league pyramid before being put back to the newly created third level in 1927.
• 1926 / Upon the introduction of the matricule system, Skill Racing Union obtains matricule 34.
• 1931 / After three years in Liège's regional divisions, Skill Racing Union makes a third return to the national level, heralding two decades with four different spells in Promotion (1931-33, 1938-39, 1941-43, and 1945-46).
• 1932 / The club extends its name to become Skill Racing Union (SRU) Verviers. Later that same year, SRU Verviers obtains the royal epithet, again subtly adapting its name to become Société Royale Union (SRU) Verviers. Colloquially, though, the club continues to be referred to as 'Skill' or 'Skill Racing Union'.
• 1934 / SRU Verviers moves into its newly built Stade Albert at Rue Simon Lobet. The first match at the new ground takes place on August 18th, 1934.
• 1952 / After an absence of six years, SRU Verviers accedes to the national leagues again, taking its place in the newly created National Division 4.
• 1954 / Following back-to-back titles, SRU Verviers sensationally finds itself in National Division 2 just two years after having won promotion from Liège's Provincial League 1.
• 1956 / The adventure in D2 ends after a 13th place in the final ranking in 1955 and a 15th in the following year. 
• 1957 / A second relegation in two years as SRU Verviers tumbles down to National Division 4 - and even to Liège's Provincial League 1 in 1962. In the following decades, the club alternates short spells in D4 (1963-66, 1970-74, 1980-82, 1983-87, and 1988-93) and Liège's Provincial League 1.
• 1976 / As Stade Albert is knocked down, SRU Verviers moves into the newly built Stade Communal du Bielmont, only slightly to the east of the old ground, constructed on a site hemmed in between Avenue Elisabeth and Rue Simon Lobet. Stade Bielmont is a multi-use stadium with a running track and further athletics facilities.
• 1984 / For the first time in both clubs' history, RCS Verviétoise plays in a lower division (Liège's Provincial League 1) than SRU Verviers (National Division 4). The situation does not last longer than one season, though, with RCS Verviétoise quickly finding its way up into the national divisions.
• 1991 / SRU Verviers concludes a merger with FC Ensival (matricule 5932, founded in 1956), resulting in the foundation of Royale Union Verviers-Ensival - often referred to abbreviatedly as RUVE.
• 1993 / After five last years in National Division 4, R Union Verviers-Ensival moves back to Liège's provincial leagues for good. In total, SRU Verviers played 38 seasons of national league football (5 in D2, 9 in D3, and 24 in D4, of which two as RU Verviers-Ensival). 
• 2001 / Forced to go into liquidation due to financial difficulties, RU Verviers-Ensival conserves its matricule, but is put back to the bottom of Liège's provincial league ladder, in Provincial League 4. In the process, the old name SRU Verviers is reinstated.
• 2002 / Evicted from Stade Communal du Bielmont by Verviers' town council, SRU Verviers is forced to move into Stade Le Jonckeu in Jehanster. SRU's place at Bielmont is taken by RCS Verviétoise, which moves away its first team football from Stade du Panorama in Stembert after 89 years. In subsequent years, Stade du Panorama remains in use for the club's youth academy.
• 2003 / In its first season at Stade Bielmont, RCS Verviétoise is relegated from National Division 3. The club returns to that level in 2005 after a two-year spell in D4.
• 2010 / Having soldiered on in its banishment at Stade Le Jonckeu - which, due to its isolated location, saw several burglaries in its clubhouse (2008-09), SRU finally folds, playing its last home match in Provincial League 4G in April 2010 against R Baelen FC. Matricule 34 is erased from the Belgian FA's official lists. In 2018, the club is refounded as Skill Racing Union (SRU) Verviers under matricule 9699, but this new SRU Verviers does not return to Stade du Bielmont, instead settling at Terrain Lejoly in 2019 after a first season of groundsharing at FC Entente Stembertoise's Terrain des Linaigrettes.
• 2013 / A new club sees the daylight in Verviers, Etoile Verviétoise. Upon joining Belgium's FA, the club obtains matricule 9603. Etoile plays its first team football at Stade du Panorama, groundsharing with RCS Verviétois' youth academy, while the club has the benefit of occasionally being allowed to use Stade de Bielmont for lower team football.
• 2015 / RCS Verviétois, finishing second-last in National Division 3, folds due to an unavoidable bankruptcy; matricule 8 disappears from the Belgian FA's registers. Following this, a successor club is founded straightaway, taking on the name of Cercle Sportif Jeunesse (CSJ or CS Jeunesse) Verviétoise (matricule 9657). The new club's first team takes RCS Verviétois' place at Stade de Bielmont, while the club takes over RCS's youth academy at Stade du Panorama.
• 2016 / Cercle Sportif Jeunesse Verviers changes its name to become Cercle Sportif (CS) Verviers.
• 2019 / Conclusion of a merger between Etoile Verviétoise and CS Verviers, resulting in the foundation of Alliance Sportive (AS) Verviers, retaining CS Verviers' matricule 9657. AS Verviers first team plays its football at Bielmont, with Panorama remaining in use for lower team football and training purposes. 
• 2020 / AS Verviers concludes a merger with Royal Star Fléron FC (matricule 33), a club who had just been forced out of their ground at Rue de Romsée in Fléron by Fléron's mayor Thierry Ancion, who gave preference to his own newly founded football club, Entente Jeunesse Fléron (matricule 9703, founded in 2018). The new merger of AS Verviers and RS Fléron takes on the name of Racing Club Star (RCS!) Verviers, retaining Fléron's matricule - and with Bielmont remaining in use for the club's first team and Panorama for the youth academy. 
• 2023 / A merger is concluded between RCS Verviers and R Stade Disonais (matr. 9410), resulting in the foundation of Stade Verviétois, in which RCS Verviers' matricule 33 is retained. As Dison plays in ACFF Division 2, Stade du Bielmont becomes the host venue of national league football for the first time in 8 years.

All photos: (c) W.B. Tukker / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author

BELGIUM: La Débrouille Seraing (1996-2004) / La Débrouille Seraing (B) (2004-2006) / FC Seraing (B) (2006-2009) / Foot Seraing Chatqueue (2010-2014)

Complexe du Haut-Pré "Fontaine Campagne Chatqueue", Seraing Ougrée (formerly La Débrouille Seraing, FC Seraing & Foot Seraing Chatqueue)

Belgium, province: Liège = Luik

27 II 2011 / Foot Seraing Chatqueue U15 - RFC Cité Sport Grâce-Hollogne U15 8-6 / Liège, Scolaires Régionaux, Série 23 (provincial youth competition / U15)

Timeline

• 1984 / Foundation of La Débrouille, a social club in Seraing created to help children and young adults from impoverished neighbourhoods to practice various sports. The social club is created under the auspices of Seraing's Centre Publique d'Action Sociale (CPAS) and is financed by the Communauté Française de Belgique (CFB).
• 1985 / Foundation of La Débrouille's football branch by volunteer Johan Devriese. It joins a local recreational league, but it is unclear which one (ALFA or RIL - anyone able to provide more information regarding this matter is welcome to get in touch with me).
• 1996 (?) / Although no certainty is to be had, La Débrouille Seraing's football branch probably moved into Complexe du Haut-Pré in Ougrée in 1996 - in other sources referred to by the name of 'Fontaine Campagne Chatqueue', a single football pitch situated at Rue Guillaume d'Orange, opposite the premises of ALFA club RAC Ougrée. Before settling at Haut-Pré, the club was home at Bois de l'Abbaye (not far from Seraing's public swimming pool).
• 1997 / Having played recreational football for 12 years, La Débrouille Seraing now joins the official Belgian Football Association, obtaining matricule 9310. Apart from a set of youth teams, the club starts the 1997-98 season with a first team in Provincial League 4.
• 1998 / In its first season in Liège's provincial leagues, La Débrouille Seraing wins promotion to Provincial League 3 straightaway.
• 2000 / La Débrouille Seraing's first team accedes to Provincial League 2.
• 2002 / Former professional league player Alain Bettagno, who started his career at RFC Sérésien but went on to play for Club Brugge KV, R Standard de Liège, FC Linz, FC Gueugnon, RAA Louviéroise, RFC Liège, and RE Dison-Verviers, joins La Débrouille Seraing.
• 2004 / Hanging up his boots, Alain Bettagno takes over the managership of La Débrouille's first team. With the Complexe du Haut-Pré being deemed unfit for an ambitious football club, La Débrouille Seraing is given permission to move its first team football to Terrain F of Stade du Pairay / Complexe Sportif Communal de la Boverie. Financed by Seraing's municipal authorities, a small covered stand as well as changing rooms with a clubhouse on top of it are constructed by the pitch for the benefit of La Débrouille's staff, players, and supporters.
• 2006 / Clinching the title in Provincial League 2A, Alain Bettagno's men manage the longed-for promotion to Liège's Provincial League 1. After the 2005-06 season, La Débrouille Seraing changes its name to become FC Seraing - such at the request of the original Débrouille social club, still in existence, which prefers not to be associated with competitive senior football.
• 2008 / After two years in P1, FC Seraing finishes top of the league, thereby winning direct promotion to National Division 4. To the club's dismay, it is not placed in the completely Walloon Division 4D, but in D4C, in which it is faced with exclusively Flemish opposition - involving longer away trips and fewer spectators being drawn to home matches, still played on Stade du Pairay's Terrain F. By then already financially overstretched, FC Seraing withdraws its first team in December 2008 - having only picked up one point in 15 matches (goal difference: -47). Not fielding any team in the 2009-10 season, FC Seraing eventually folds in mid-2010.
• 2010 / Refoundation of FC Seraing under the name Foot Seraing Chatqueue (matricule 9544). This club, focusing exclusively on youth football, settles at La Débrouille's old ground, Complexe du Haut-Pré (a.k.a. Fontaine Campagne Chatqueue) (I attended a match of Foot Seraing Chatqueue's U15s in 2010-11, the club's first season - photos 1-21 below).
• 2014 / Its premises being allowed to fall into a state of disrepair by Seraing's municipal authorities, Foot Seraing Chatqueue folds in September 2014, ceasing all activities.
• 2015 / Seraing's mayor Alain Mathot allows a petting zoo to take over the Complexe du Haut-Pré.

Note: Below, a compilation of photos of two different visits: pictures 1-21 = match visit, February 2011 / pictures 22-30: non-matchday (petting zoo) visit, April 2017. 

All photos: (c) W.B. Tukker / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author

NETHERLANDS: CVV (1950-2000) / CVV-Mercurius (2000-2014)

Stadion van Charlois - Groene Kruisweg, Rotterdam Rotterdam-Zuid (formerly CVV / CVV-Mercurius)

Netherlands, province: South Holland

26 II 2011 / CVV-Mercurius - RKSV WCR 12-0 / District West II, Saturday League 4D (= NL level 8)
15 III 2014 / CVV-Mercurius - PSV Poortugaal (za) 0-2 / District West II, Saturday League 4E (= NL level 8)

Note 1: Founded in 1908 as Excelsior but renamed Charloisse Voetbalvereniging two years later, CVV were one of the non-league powerhouses in Rotterdam for decades, with one nationwide Sunday League title to their credit in 1964. The club moved to the so-called Stadion van Charlois at Groene Kruisweg in 1950. In 2001, CVV concluded a merger with RSM (Rotterdamse Sportvereniging Mercurius, founded in 1933), forming CVV-Mercurius; all activities moved to CVV's ground. In 2014, CVV-Mercurius had to abandon their ground, which had to make way for housing. That summer, the club merged with SV DEHMusschen to become SV Charlois; all activities moved to SV DEHMusschen's ground at Oldegaarde.

Note 2: Below, a compilation of photos of three different visits: pictures 1-2 = non-matchday visit, May 2012 / picture 3 = match visit, February 2011 / pictures 4-27 = match visit, March 2014.

All photos: (c) W.B. Tukker / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author