Sunday 27 February 2011

BELGIUM: SRU Verviers (B) (±1970-1977, 1980-1991, 2001-2002) / SRU Verviers (±1977-1980, 2002-2010) / RU Verviers-Ensival (B) (1991-2001)

Stade Le Jonckeu, Jehanster (formerly SRU Verviers matr. 34 - A & B ground / B ground of RU 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 system of registration numbers by Belgium’s FA in December 1926, Skill Racing Union obtains number 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.
  • ± 1961 (?) / SRU Verviers acquires a youth academy ground at Rue des Champs in Stembert. This ground is referred to by the surname of its owner as Terrain Lejoly or Stade Lejoly - and retained by the club for the following 25 odd years.
  • ± 1970 (?) / SRU Verviers acquires the luxury of a third ground along Rue Georges Albert in Jehanster. This new facility, named Stade (Le) Jonckeu, serves the club for lower team football and training purposes. 
  • 1976 / As Stade Albert is demolished, SRU Verviers moves into the newly built Stade Communal du Bielmont, only slightly to the east of the old ground.
  • ± 1977 / Having dropped out of the national divisions three years previously, SRU Verviers now moves its first team football from Stade du Bielmont to Stade Le Jonckeu.
  • 1980 / SRU Verviers manages a return to National Division 4, winning promotion from Liège’s Provincial League 1 along with RCS Visétois. Upon its return to the national level, the club moves its first team football back to the Stade Communal du Bielmont. Stade Le Jonckeu is retained for lower team football and training sessions.
  • 1991 / SRU Verviers concludes a merger with FC Ensival (registration number 5932, founded in 1956), resulting in the foundation of Royale Union Verviers-Ensival – often referred to abbreviatedly as RU Verviers-Ensival or even RUVE, managing two more seasons of national league football before descending into Liège’s provincial divisions for good in 1993.
  • 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 all its activities to Stade Le Jonckeu. 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.
  • 2010 / Having soldiered on in its banishment at Stade Le Jonckeu, spending its twilight years in the bottom half of Provincial League 4, SRU finally folds, playing its last home match in Provincial League 4 in April 2010 against R Baelen FC. In its last season, the club just managed one win, finishing in second-last place in Provincial League 4G. Registration number 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 registration number 9699. This new SRU Verviers does not return to Stade Le Jonckeu or Stade du Bielmont, instead settling at Terrain Lejoly 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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