BELGIUM: KSK Ronse (1993-2022) / R Géants Athois (2015) / FCLC Ronse (2020-2022) / KSK Vlaamse Ardennen (2022-) / SK Vlaamse Ardennen Center (2022-) / FC Ronse (2022-)

Stedelijk Stadion Orphale Crucke, Ronse = Renaix (KSK Vlaamse Ardennen / SK Vlaamse Ardennen Center / FC Ronse, formerly KSK Ronse / R Géants Athois / FCLC Ronse)

Belgium, province: East Flanders

3 II 2010 / KSK Ronse - KV Turnhout 1-5 / Tweede Klasse (= BE level 2)

Timeline

• 1987 / A merger is concluded between the two oldest football clubs in Ronse, ASSA Ronse (matricule 38) and RFC Renaisien (often referred to as Club Ronse, matricule 46), resulting in the foundation of KSK (Koninklijke Sportkring) Ronse. Following the merger, first team football is initially played at Club's Parc Lagache, but the move is made to ASSA's Stadion Maurice Van de Wiele one year later. Due to both grounds being over 60 years old and rather dilapidate, plans are made to build the merger club a new, purpose-built stadium (for more information about the history of ASSA Ronse and RFC Renaisien please click the links to their respective stadiums in the above). 
• 1993 / After six years of planning and eventually building, KSK Ronse's new home ground at Leuzesesteenweg is inaugurated, a stadium with a capacity of 5,021, surrounded by several practice pitches. The ground is named after Orphale Crucke, an ubiquitous figure in Ronse; at the time, the 1947-born socialist politician is Ronse's mayor as well as club president of KSK Ronse. Apart from the political weight he had put behind the construction of the ground, Crucke had also been the driving force behind the 1987 merger - before becoming KSK Ronse's first president, he fulfilled the same function at ASSA Ronse. At the time of the new stadium's inauguration, following two promotions, KSK Ronse plays its football in National Division 4. 
• 2001 / Following impressive back-to-back league title wins, KSK Ronse accedes to National Division 2. It is the first time in 42 years a club from Ronse is part of the second tier of Belgian football.
• 2008 / Having suffered relegation to National Division 3 the year before, KSK Ronse bounces back to D2. The club manages two more seasons at this level.
• 2013 / After three seasons in National Division 3, KSK Ronse has to take another step back, suffering relegation to D4.
• 2015 / In nearby Ath, just across the language border in Hainaut, local club R Géants Athois runs into financial trouble. Saving its skin by allowing itself to be absorbed by a smaller club from a village nearby, FC Ostiches, which changes its name to become CS Pays Vert Ostiches-Ath, football continues to be played in the town's Stade des Géants. R Géants Athois' name and matricule 2899, however, are purchased by a French investment group around French international player Nicolas Anelka. Not allowed to play in Ath proper, the club initially settles at Stade Augustin Cosse in Fleurus before moving to Ronse's Orphale Cruckestadion in October 2015. The Anelka project, however, founders rapidly, as R Géants Athois folds in December of the year, ceasing all activities; matricule 2899 is erased from the Belgian FA's official lists the following year.  
• 2016 / In a national league reform which sees the creation of an extra tier, KSK Ronse takes its place in Flanders' Amateur Division 3, the fifth and lowest national level. In the new season, the club wins the promotion play-offs, thus acceding to Amateur Division 2.
• 2020 / The main pitch of Sportpark 't Rosco - as the park which includes the stadium is meanwhile officially called - is equipped with a synthetic surface. That summer, KSK Ronse is joined by FCLC (Football Club Lindsay Cleaning) Ronse as groundsharers. This young provincial league club (matricule 9619), forced to leave Stadion Maurice Van de Wiele in 2019, had spent the 2019-20 season at Terrain Chalet Radar in Flobecq/Vloesberg. 
• 2022 / Suffering from financial difficulties, KSK Ronse finally concludes a deal with Provincial League 1 side KVV Vlaamse Ardennen from the nearby village of Etikhove - the result, oddly, being the creation of two new clubs. First, KVV Vlaamse Ardennen changes its name to become KSK Vlaamse Ardennen, retaining its matricule (3857), but moving its first team football to Ronse's Orphale Cruckestadion. Part of KSK Ronse's youth academy, however, continues under the name SK Vlaamse Ardennen Center, retaining matricule 38. KVVV Ardennen's B ground, Complex Ten Houte in Schorisse, remains in use for lower team football, while the aforementioned club's main ground, Complex Hollebeek in Etikhove, is abandoned. Meanwhile, FCLC Ronse simplifies its name, becoming FC Ronse.
• 2024 / Finishing in twelfth place in East Flanders' Provincial League 1, SK Vlaamse Ardennen suffers an unexpected relegation to Provincial League 2, along with FC Lembeke, SK Lokeren Doorslaar, KSSV Denderleeuw, and bottom club Zeveren Sportief.

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