Belgium, province: Liège = Luik
29 VII 2012 / RAF Franchimontois - RFC Wallonia Waimes 1-0 / Liège, Provincial Cup R1
Timeline
- 1943 / Foundation of Cercle Sportif (CS) Juslenvillois. The club obtains membership of Belgium's Football Association under matricule 3853. In the course of its existence as an independent club, CS Juslenville remains a household name in the lower echelons of Liège's Provincial League system.
- 1993 / Upon its 50th anniversary, CS Juslenvillois obtains the royal epithet, thus becoming Royal Cercle Sportif (RCS) Juslenvillois.
- 1998 / RCS Juslenvillois concludes a merger with RSC de Theux, a much older club (founded in 1901) with a more impressive history of, amongst others, eleven seasons of national league football to look back on. The merger club, which retains Theux's matricule 14, is given the name Royale Association Football (RAF) Franchimontois. First team football moves to Theux's ground at Rue du Waux-Hall, while the premises in Juslenville remain in use for lower team football and training purposes. The second pitch of Juslenville's Centre Sportif - the pitch featured in the photos below - was already shared for training purposes by RCS Juslenvillois and RSC Theux for decades prior to the merger.
- 2012 / The historic ground at Rue du Waux-Hall is abandoned, as both pitches in Juslenville are equipped with a synthetic surface. As the Centre Sportif's northern (main) pitch (pictured below) is being reconstructed - with a 3G as well as with a covered stand - in the second half of 2012, first team football is temporarily taking place at the ground's second pitch.
- 2013 / The construction works at the ground's main pitch being completed, first team football moves to the northern pitch of Centre Sportif de Theux.
- 2017 / Death of Jean-Michel Royaux, driving force behind the merger plans in the 1990s at RCS Juslenvillois - and first chairman of RAF Franchimontois in 1998. In his honour, the covered stand at the ground's main pitch is renamed Tribune Jean-Michel Royaux.
- 2021 / As torrential rainfalls scourge the eastern parts of Belgium in July 2021, the two pitches of Theux's Centre Sportif are flooded by the Hoëgne river, which flows right along the park (cp. last two photos in the series below). Forced by circumstances, RAF Franchimontois starts looking for a temporary ground. As initial plans to move to the abandoned Terrain Communal in La Reid come to naught - as it turns out, the clubhouse is no longer fit for use -, the club concludes an agreement with RFC Heusy-Rouheid to groundshare at their ground, Croix de Fays in Jehanster, for one season. First team football as well as the bulk of lower team matches take place in Jehanster, while some youth matches as well as training sessions are taking place at other grounds in the region: R Spa FC's B ground at Chemin Lébioles in Creppe, Spa's Centre Sportif du Château de la Fraineuse, Ruelle Koreux in Wegnez (also temporary home of FC Entente Pepine, another victim of the floodings), and Entente Rechaintoise's pitches at Les Tourelles.
- 2022 / Finally, in August 2022, with a new synthetic pitch installed on RAF Franchimontois' main pitch, first team football returns to Juslenville. Reconstruction works on the B pitch are finished in September of the same year, allowing the club to return all activities to their home ground.
Note: Below, a compilation of pictures of two different visits: photos 1-11 = match visit, July 2012 / photos 12-13 = non-matchday visit, October 2021.
