Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: CO Trivièrois matr. 1895 (1932-1938) / RCO Trivièrois matr. 4302 (1945-1998) / RAS Trivièrois-Saint-Vaastoise (B) (1998-2009) / CO Trivières (2009-)

Stade Yvan Meurée, Trivières (CO Trivières, formerly CO Trivièrois matr. / CO Trivièrois matr. / B ground of RAS Trivièrois-Saint-Vaastoise)

Belgium, province: Hainaut = Henegouwen

15 IV 2017 / CO Trivières - AS Snef-Tyber 2-0 / Hainaut, Provincial League 2B (= BE level 7)

Timeline

1932 / Foundation of Club Olympic (CO) Trivièrois, which joins Belgium’s Football Association under registration number 1895. Although no certainty is to be had, it is possible that the club already played at the current ground, situated at the back of the village’s central square – later renamed Stade Yvan Meurée.
1933 / For its first competitive season, CO Trivièrois is placed in Hainaut’s Provincial League 3D.
1936 / Coached by M. Delval, CO Trivièrois finishes in third position in Provincial League 3C, just 1 point behind CSE Maurage and Casteau Sportif. The club is given an opportunity to win the ticket to P2 via the backdoor of promotion play-offs, but no success issued from this.
1938 / Having competed in P3 for five seasons, CO Trivièrois folds, ceasing all activities.
1945 / Refoundation of a football club in Trivières at the instigation of the Docquiert family. The club is given the exact same name as its predecessor, Club Olympic (CO) Trivièrois, and acquiring registration number 4302 upon joining Belgium’s FA. The club’s first match is a friendly, in which it plays host to US Binchoise on September 2nd, 1945.
1946 / The new CO Trivièrois starts its life as a competitive club in Hainaut’s Provincial League 3C.
1947 / In its first season as a competitive club, CO Trivièrois wins promotion to Provincial League 2. In the following two decades, the club alternates spells in P2 and P3.
1969 / Gaining promotion to Provincial League 2, CO Trivièrois commences a period of stability at that level.
1972 / In an excellent season in P2B, CO Trivièrois finishes runners-up behind JS Athoise.
1981 / After twelve consecutive seasons in P2, CO Trivièrois now finishes in fifteenth place in P2B, with an equal number of points as number 14 RSC Wasmes, but with an inferior goal difference (-22 vs. -17), thus descending into Provincial League 3 along with bottom club UA Manage.
1984 / In spite of firing its coach Marie Herbé in the course of the 1983-84 season, replacing him with Daniel Despremont, CO Trivièrois finds itself unable to stay up in P3C, ultimately finishing in fifteenth place and dropping into Provincial League 4, the bottom level of Hainaut’s provincial divisions, along with UA Manage.
1991 / Coached by Gabriel Mendes, CO Trivièrois finishes runners-up in P4E, 8 points behind champions FC Arquennes. Qualifying for the promotion play-offs, the club defeats Bury FC in the final (4-2) to return to Provincial League 3 after seven years.
1993 / Having finished runners-up in P3C the previous year, 4 points behind (yet again) FC Arquennes, CO Trivièrois now cruises to the title in that division, finishing 13 points ahead of closest followers AFC Péronnes. As such, the club returns to Provincial League 2 after an absence of twelve years.
1995 / Coached by Pascal Minet, CO Trivièrois clinches the title in P2C, 1 point ahead of Mellet Sports, thus gaining promotion to Hainaut’s Provincial League 1 for the first time in club history.
1996 / CO Trivièrois acquires the royal accolade, thus officially becoming Royal Club Olympic (RCO) Trivièrois.
1998 / In its last season as an independent club, RCO Trivièrois finishes in sixth place in Provincial League 1, the best result in club history. The club’s chairman, Alain Fally, feels the ground at Place de Trivières is no longer up to P1 standards, thus seeking contact with neighbouring club RFC Saint-Vaast, playing in P3 at that time, to conclude a merger – which is sealed with the creation of Royale Association Sportive (RAS) Trivièroise-Saint-Vaastoise (sometimes abbreviatedly referred to as RASTSV), retaining RFC Saint-Vaast’s registration number 4293. RCO Trivièrois number 4302 is erased from the Belgian FA’s official lists. First team football moves to Saint-Vaast, probably to the former pitches of SC Saint-Vaast at Rue Victor Gondat, abandoned by that club in 1996, rather than FC Saint-Vaast’s historic ground at Rue Omer Thiriar. The pitches in Trivières are retained for lower team football and training purposes.
2009 / Eleven years after the merger with RFC Saint-Vaast, the decision is taken upon to undo the merger and continue as two separate clubs. While RAS Trivièroise-Saint-Vaastoise is renamed to become FC Saint-Vaast – retaining the original registration number 4293 but losing the royal epithet – continuing its life in P2, the level at which RASTSV had spent its last season, a new club is founded in Trivières, Club Olympic (CO) Trivières, which is admitted as new Belgian FA member under registration number 9531. Among the founding members are former chairman Alain Fally as well as Michel Lheureux, the first chairman of the new club, Mehmet Kurt, and Jérôme Marchant. CO Trivières starts its life in Hainaut’s Provincial League 4E.
2010 / In its first season, CO Trivières, coached by Pascal Duray, clinches the P4E title without suffering a single defeat (29 wins and 1 draw) and a goal difference of +155 (175-20), finishing 21 points ahead of closest followers US Estinnes B. As such, the club accedes to Provincial League 3.
2011 / CO Trivières wins the title in Provincial League 3C, 5 points ahead of RUS Binchoise, thus gaining promotion to Provincial League 2.
2012 / Finishing 12 points ahead of runners-up AC Le Roeulx, CO Trivières clinches the title in Provincial League 2B, thus managing a third promotion in a row and acceding to Provincial League 1 only three years after the creation of the club. Also in 2012, FC Saint-Vaast folds, ceasing all activities; the premises at Rue Victor Gondat are taken over by CO Trivières, which uses the pitches for lower team football and training sessions.
2013 / In its first season in Hainaut’s Provincial League 1, CO Trivières has a hard time coping with the more elevated level of play, in the end finishing third from bottom – 2 points short of RUFC Ransartoise, which saved its skin – and suffering relegation along with RAS Lessines-Ollignies and bottom club Jeunesse Turque.
2018 / A thorough renovation is carried out at Stade Yvan Meurée at the behest of municipal authorities.
± 2019 / The ground at Rue Victor Gondat is abandoned, as CO Trivières' board takes the decision to centre all its activities at Stade Yvan Meurée.

Note - Below, a compilation of photos of two different visits: pictures 1-4 = non-matchday visit in September 2016 / pictures 5-17 = match visit, April 2017.