BELGIUM: RAS Renaisienne (1922-±1964) / ASSA Ronse (±1964-1987) / KSK Ronse (B) (1987-1988) / KSK Ronse (1988-1993) / K Club Sparta Ronse (????-2005) / FC Lindsay Cleaning Ronse (2013-2014) / FCLC Ronse (2014-2019)

Stadion Maurice Vandewiele, Ronse = Renaix (formerly RAS Renaisienne / ASSA Ronse / KSK Ronse / K Club Sparta Ronse / FC Lindsay Cleaning Ronse / FCLC Ronse)

Belgium, province: East Flanders

6 IX 2015 / FCLC Ronse - Racing Mater 0-3 / East Flanders, Provincial League 4C (= BE level 8)

Timeline

• 1906 / Foundation of Association Sportive (AS) Renaisienne. The club plays its home matches at a ground situated at Leuzesesteenweg, on the southern outskirts of Ronse.
• 1908 / Part of the membership of AS Renaisienne, disaffected for an unknown reason, founds a breakaway club, FC Renaisien. FC Renaisien - better known among Ronse's Dutch-speaking majority as Club Ronse - also played at Leuzesesteenweg, possibly at the same ground at AS Renaisienne.
• 1922 / Both clubs leave Leuzesesteenweg, with FC Renaisien moving to Parc Lagache and AS Renaisienne settling at a ground at Viermaartlaan, which (later?) became known as Stadion Maurice Vandewiele. It is unclear who Maurice Vandewiele was. The ground also disposes of athletics facilities, but yet again the question rises if this was the case from the start (anyone able to answer one or both questions, please contact me!).
• 1923 / AS Renaisienne manages to climb up to the national leagues for the first time, acceding to Bevordering or Promotion, at that point the second and lowest national division.
• 1926 / With the creation of the so-called Eerste Afdeeling between National Division 1 and Bevordering, AS Renaisienne becomes a tier 3 club without suffering relegation. That same year, Belgium's Football Association introduces the matricule system, with AS Renaisienne obtaining matricule 38.
• 1928 / After five seasons in Promotion, AS Renaisienne is promoted to Eerste Afdeeling, but the spell in the second division of the national league pyramid lasts no longer than one season.
• 1933 / Upon its 25th anniversary, the club acquires the royal epithet, thus becoming RAS (Royale Association Sportive) Renaisienne.
• 1937 / Following eight seasons in Promotion, RAS Renaisienne manages a promotion to Eerste Afde(e)ling for a second time. The club holds its own in this National Division 2 for 11 years.
• 1953 / In a reorganisation of the national league pyramid, with a Division 3 being created between Division 2 and Promotion (from now on known as Division 4) - RAS Renaisienne now becomes a tier 4 club without suffering relegation.
• 1961 / Relegation to East Flanders' Provincial League 1; RAS Renaisienne not present at the national level for the first time in 38 years.
• ±1964 / Though the exact year could not be ascertained yet (any help is welcome; please contact me if you have more information!), RAS Renaisienne apparently half-flemicised its name to become ASSA (Association Sportive - Sportieve Associatie) Ronse in the early 1960s. Strikingly, the royal epithet is dropped from the club name.
• 1965 / After one more season in National Division 4, ASSA Ronse drops back to East Flanders' provincial league system - never to return to the national level. Meanwhile, rival club RFC Renaisien hardly fares better, with a last spell in the national divisions which ends in 1969.
• 1968 / Humiliatingly, ASSA Ronse suffers relegation to Provincial League 2 - and one year later, in a second relegation in as many years, it has to make one more step back. In the following two decades, the club is condemned to an existence in Provincial Leagues 3 and 4.
• 1987 / Under the inspirational leadership of ASSA Ronse's chairman Orphale Crucke - a socialist politician who doubles as Ronse's mayor -, a merger is concluded between ASSA Ronse and RFC Renaisien, resulting in the foundation of KSK (Koninklijke Sportkring) Ronse. ASSA's matricule 38 is retained, while the new club starts life in Provincial League 2, the level at which RFC Renaisien last played. First team football moves to RFC's Parc Lagache, with ASSA's Stadion Maurice Vandewiele remaining in use for lower team football and training purposes. Plans are made to create a completely new, purpose-built stadium for the merger club.
• 1988 / KSK Ronse's first team moves from Parc Lagache to Stadion Maurice Vandewiele.
• 1990 / A first success for KSK Ronse, as the club obtains the title in Provincial League 2B, thus acceding to East Flanders' Provincial League 1.
• 1991 / Also in Provincial League 1, KSK Ronse proves the strongest team, thus acceding to National Division 4 for the first time - becoming the first club in Ronse to play at the national level since 1969.
• 1993 / Inauguration of KSK Ronse's new ground at Leuzesesteenweg, a stadium with an official capacity of 5,021. Apart from a main pitch, the premises also provide the club with several training pitches - facilities notably lacking at Stadion Maurice Vandewiele. The new ground is named Stedelijk Sportstadion Orphale Crucke in honour of the driving force between the 1987 merger - who stayed on as KSK Ronse's club president until the late 1990s. In the years after 1993, Stadion Maurice Vandewiele is probably used solely by ASSA Ronse's athletics branch.
• ±2001 / A provincial league club from Ronse, K Club Sparta Ronse (matricule 4181), forced out of its ground at Savooistraat, where it had played from its foundation in 1944 onwards, in ±1999, moves into Parc Lagache for two seasons before being allowed to settle at Stadion Maurice Vandewiele; Sparta's youth academy is given a new home at a pitch situated at Stefaan-Modest Glorieuxlaan. Requests by Sparta Ronse to be allowed to groundshare with KSK Ronse at Orphale Cruckestadion - or even to discuss a merger - are turned down by Ronse's town council and KSK Ronse.
• 2005 / Having run into financial trouble, Sparta Ronse folds after its last game at Stadion Maurice Vandewiele, a 2-7 defeat at the hands of SK Semmerzake in East Flanders' Provincial League 3C. The club sells its matricule to Jupiter Nokere, which changes its name to become KSV Jupiter Nokere.
• 2013 / Recreational team FC Lindsay Cleaning Ronse, playing its football in an association called Vlaams Liefhebbers Voetbalbond (VLVB), leaves Parc Lagache to settle at Stadion Maurice Vandewiele, becoming its sole user - ASSA Ronse Atletiek having moved out several years earlier.
• 2014 / FC Lindsay Cleaning Ronse joins the official Belgian Football Association, changing its name to become FCLC Ronse (sponsorship names not being allowed) and receiving matricule 9619.
• 2019 / After six years, FCLC Ronse is forced out of Stadion Maurice Vandewiele, which is due to be redeveloped for housing (although it remains to be seen when construction works will commence). Following one season as a recreational team groundsharing at FC Chalet Radar in Flobecq/Vloesberg, FCLC Ronse returns in Provincial League 4 in 2020 at Stedelijk Stadion Orphale Crucke.

Note: Below, a compilation of photos of three different visits: pictures 1-8 = non-matchday visit, April 2014 / pictures 9-37 = match visit, September 2015. Pictures 9, 13-14, 22, 25, 30-31 & 37 courtesy of Anneke te Boekhorst / pictures 38-54 = non-matchday (ruin) visit, August 2022.

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