Sunday 27 February 2011

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

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