Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: RRC Tournaisien (B) (1982-2002) / RFC Tournai (B) (2002-2003) / RFC Tournai (2003-)

Stade Luc Varenne (formerly Complexe Balamo), Tournay = Tournai = Doornik Kain-la-Tombe (RFC Tournai, formerly youth academy of RRC Tournaisien & RFC Tournai)

Belgium, province: Hainaut = Henegouwen

25 VIII 2010 / RFC Tournai - RAEC Mons 2-4 / National Division 2 (= BE level 2)

26 XI 2022 / RFC Tournai - RJS Taminoise 1-1 / ACFF Division 3A (= BE level 5)

Timeline

1903 / Foundation of Union Sportive (US) Tournaisienne, the football club of Tournay's liberal, anti-clerical bourgeoisie. The club, receiving number 26 upon the introduction of registration numbers in December 1926, obtains the royal epithet in 1928, thus becoming Royale Union Sportive (RUS) Tournaisienne. From its foundation onwards, 'Union' plays its football at Plaine des Hôpitaux - later renamed Stade Gaston Horlait, and even later Stade Magdeleine Lefebvre.
1908 / Foundation of Racing Club (RC) Tournaisien, the football club of Tournay's Roman-Catholic establishment. The club, receiving number 36 upon the introduction of registration numbers in 1926, obtains the royal epithet in 1933, thus becoming Royal Racing Club (RRC) Tournaisien. After spells at Chaussée de Douai (1908-11), Rue de la Culture (1911-19), and Stade Prior (Avenue des Sorbiers, 1919-23), 'Les Rats' settle at Stade de la Drève de Maire. Stade Prior remains in use for lower team football and training purposes in the following decades.
1951 / Winning promotion to National Division 1, RUS Tournaisienne has one season of top flight football before tumbling back into D2 the following year.
1956 / RRC Tournaisien wins Belgium's national cup by defeating RCS Verviétois (2-1) in the final played at Brussels' Stade du Heysel.
1958 / Winning promotion to National Division 1, RRC Tournaisien has one season of top flight football before tumbling back into D2 the following year.
1982 / RRC Tournaisien moves its youth academy from Stade Prior to a newly built site with two pitches, Complexe Balamo, situated at Rue de Breuze in Kain-la-Tombe, on the northern outskirts of Tournay.
2001 / At the instigation of Tournay's municipal authorities, merger talks are launched between RUS Tournaisienne and RRC Tournaisien, both playing in National Division 4 at that time. Tournay's mayor, Christian Massy, promises to build a new stadium if the two clubs can come to an agreement. Initially, the chosen location for the building project is Plaine des Manoeuvres, a location not far from Tournay's city-centre (a site later occupied by Tournai Hockey Club).
2002 / In its last season as an independent club, RUS Tournaisienne wins the title in National Division 4A, thus managing a return to D3 after an absence at that level of 18 years. After the 2001-02 season, the talks between the two clubs are sealed with a merger deal, concluded at Tournay's town hall in May 2002. Although an agreement had officiously been found months before, official confirmation was not given until after the passing of Luc Varenne (1914-2002), renowned Belgian sports journalist and lifelong supporter of RRC Tournaisien who was an entrenched enemy of a merger with Union - those involved considered it the best way of showing respect to the terminally ill radio reporter in the last weeks of his life. Thanks to the title obtained by RUS Tournaisienne, the new club, christened Royal Football Club (RFC) Tournai, which retains RUST's registration number 26, starts its life at National Division 3 level, playing its first team matches at Union's Stade Magdeleine Lefebvre for the time being, while a new stadium is built on top of Complexe Balamo, Racing's youth academy in Kain-la-Tombe.
2003 / Having played its first season at Stade Magdeleine Lefebvre, RFC Tournai moves into its newly built ground at Kain-la-Tombe. The new stadium, of which the main pitch is situated on the exact same spot as Complexe Balamo's terrain 1, is christened Stade Luc Varenne in honour of the sports journalist. It is made up of a huge main stand, with a covered terrace opposite and two smaller terraces behind the goals, with a total capacity of 7,552. Aptly, the inaugural ceremony of the stadium and its three side-pitches is performed by Luc Varenne's widow. In subsequent years, Union's Stade Magdeleine Lefebvre and Racing's Stade de la Drève de Maire are both demolished - in the former case to make way for an extension of the local hospital.
2007 / Clinching the title in National Division 3A, RFC Tournai registers the first tangible success in its young history, as the club accedes to National Division 2 - 37 years after one of its predecessor clubs, RRC Tournaisien, last played at that level. In May 2007, the final of the U17 European Championships is played at Stade Luc Varenne, with Spain defeating England thanks to an isolated goal by FC Barcelona talent Bojan Krkić.
2010 / With top flight club R Excelsior Mouscron from nearby Mouscron going bankrupt in January 2010, tentative merger talks between RFC Tournai and (what is left of) 'Excel' are held, but nothing comes of it. In the end, Mouscron allows itself to be absorbed by D3 club RRC Péruwelz (registration number 216), which changes its name to become R Mouscron-Péruwelz - with first team football moving to Mouscron's Stade Le Canonnier forthwith.
2011 / Following a spell of four seasons in D2, RFC Tournai drops back into National Division 3.
2012 / Having fielded an ineligible player, RFC Tournai is punished with a huge 32-point deduction. After having won the appeal case, though, the club saves its skin in D3.
2015 / RFC Tournai is relegated to National Division 4.
2016 / In a reorganisation of Belgium's national league pyramid, RFC Tournai is played in ACFF Amateur Division 3, the new fifth - and lowest - tier of the national divisions.
2023 / Finishing 4th in ACFF National Division 3A, RFC Tournai qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which it successively defeats RCS Onhaye (2-3 and penalties) and RSC Habay-la-Neuve to return to the 4th level of the football pyramid. A final is played against RFC Union La Calamine (which is also won, 2-0), but with an extra promotion spot being available, this match proves to have been superfluous.
2024 / Finishing in fourth place in ACFF National Division 2, RFC Tournai qualifies for the promotion play-offs. Defeating RUS Binche in R1 (5-2), the club is eliminated in R2 by RU Tubize Braine-le-Comte (4-1), but due to extra promotion places being available to the newly created ACFF National Division 1, RFC Tournai accedes to that level - the third step of the football pyramid - amounting to the club's second promotion in a row.

Note: Below, a compilation of photos of three different visits: pictures 1-8 = non-matchday visit, February 2020 / pictures 9-10, 14 & 22 = match visit, August 2010 / pictures 11-13, 15-21 & 23-34 = match visit, November 2022.