Extreme Football Tourism: October 2013

Stade Communal du Val Fassotte, Dison (B ground of Stade Verviétoise, formerly R Dison Sport / C ground of R Entente Dison-Verviers / Stade Disonais)

Belgium, province: Liège = Luik

29 X 2013 / Stade Disonais - RFC Hannutois 2-2 - Dison wins penalty shoot-out (5-4) / Liège, Provincial Cup

5 VIII 2023 / Stade Verviétoise - RFC Seraing B 4-3 / Pre-season friendly

Timeline

1915 / Foundation of Dison Sport, which joins Belgium’s Football Association that same year. It is unclear if the club played at Stade de Tillet, situated on a pasture halfway between Dison and Grand-Rechain, from the very outset – but the club must have played there from the 1950s at its latest.
1926 / With the Belgian Football Association introducing the matricule register, Dison Sport obtains matricula 63.
1951 / Dison Sport obtains the royal epithet, thus becoming Royal Dison Sport.
1990 / R Dison Sport is compelled to abandon its historic ground, the Stade du Tillet, following the passing away of the farmer from whom the club rented the pitch. With the superficies being sold to a property developer, R Dison Sport concludes a groundsharing agreement with R Union Hodimontoise. Hodimont’s ground was situated at Rue Thier de Hodimont, just across the municipal border in Verviers. Meanwhile, the club has acquired a location for a projected new ground at Rue du Val Fassotte, where building works get underway that same year.
1992 / Inauguration of the new Stade Communal du Val Fassotte on June 6th, 1992, with the inaugural ceremonies being performed by Dison’s vice-mayor Yvan Ylieff.
2000 / After an existence of 85 years, in which the club never reached the national level, R Dison Sport concludes a merger with RCS Verviétois, resulting in the foundation of Royale Entente (RE) Dison-Verviers (sometimes abbreviated REDV) – retaining Verviétois’ matricule 8. R Dison Sport’s matricule 63 is erased from the Belgian FA’s official lists. The new merger club starts its life in National Division 4, the level at which RCS Verviétois played in 2000. First team football is being played at Verviers’ Stade du Panorama in Stembert, while Dison’s Stade Communal du Val Fassotte is retained for lower team football and training sessions.
2002 / RE Dison-Verviers wins the title in National Division 4D, but the club reverts to the name RCS Verviétois from the summer of 2002 onwards – and incidentally also moves from Stade du Panorama to Stade Communal du Bielmont in downtown Verviers. Meanwhile, in Dison, a new club is founded, Stade Disonais, which is accepted as new Belgian FA member under matricule 9410. Stade Disonais takes over the premises at Val Fassotte, abandoned by RCS Verviétois. The club starts its life in Provincial League 4, the bottom division of Liège’s provincial league system.
2004 / Managing its first tangible success, Stade Disonais clinches the title in Provincial League 4D following a 1-3 away win at USFC Elsenborn (2 goals by Derhore, 1 by Cuypers). Thus, the club earns promotion to Provincial League 3.
± 2008 / Inauguration of a covered stand at Stade du Val Fassotte. The first stone for the construction was laid by Michel Daerden, who was Minister of Sports of the Government of the French community of Belgium at that time.
2009 / Stade Disonais wins the title in Provincial League 3C, finishing 10 points ahead of R Elan Dalhem, thus acceding to Provincial League 2.
2011 / Defeating K Honsfelder SV at Stade du Val Fassotte in the last match of the season (1-0), Stade Disonais clinches the title in Provincial League 2C, 2 points ahead of RFC Xhoffraix. Thus, the club gains access to Provincial League 1 only 9 years after its foundation.
2012 / Finishing in 3rd place in Liège’s Provincial League 1, Stade Disonais qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which it is eliminated in R1 by RFC Tilleur-Saint-Gilles (2-1).
2015 / Finishing in 5th place in Liège’s Provincial League 1, Stade Disonais qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which it is eliminated in R1 by FC United Richelle (2-1).
2016 / Finishing in 5th place in Liège’s Provincial League 1, Stade Disonais qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which it is eliminated in R1 by FC Herstal (2-0).
2017 / Finishing in 2nd place in Liège’s Provincial League 1 behind RRC Stockay-Warfusée, Stade Disonais qualifies for the promotion play-offs. Defeating R Banneux FC in R1 (3-2), the club is eventually defeated by URSL Visé in the final (3-0), thus missing out on promotion to national league football yet again.
2020 / In the 2019-20 season, cut short after 23 of 30 matches played due to the COVID lockdown in March 2020, Stade Disonais is proclaimed title winner in Liège’s Provincial League 1, just 1 point ahead of RES Wanze-Bas-Oha. As such, the club wins promotion to the national level for the first time in the history of football in Dison.
2022 / Going from strength to strength, Stade Disonais wins the title in ACFF Amateur Division 3B with a comfortable 6-point advantage over closest followers Union Rochefortoise. As a result, Dison accedes to ACFF Amateur Division 2, the 4th level of Belgium’s national league pyramid.
2023 / In its last season as an independent club, in which not a single relegation was suffered, Stade Disonais finishes in 10th place, a safe mid-table position, in ACFF Division 2. Following the season, the club concludes a merger with Racing Club Star (RCS) Verviers to become Stade Verviétois, with RCS Verviers’ matricule 33 being retained. First team football moves to Verviers’ Stade Communal du Bielmont. While Verviers’ academy ground at Stade du Panorama is undergoing renovation, part of Stade Verviétois’ youth academy moves to Stade du Val Fassotte for the moment.
2024 / The renovations at Stade du Panorama being completed, Stade Verviétois moves its youth academy (back) to Stembert. The ground's pitch 2 (a 3G) is rented by both Stade Verviétois and KAS Eupen for training sessions and the occasional lower team match. The future of the main pitch remains shrouded in clouds. It remains to be seen if a new club will be founded in Dison.

Note - All photos in the series below date back to my second match visit at Stade du Val Fassotte on August 5th, 2023; no images of my first visit in 2013 have been included.