BELGIUM: RFC Renaisien (1922-1987) / KSK Ronse (1987-1988) / K Club Sparta Ronse (±1999-±2001) / FC Lindsay Cleaning Ronse (2012-2013) / FC Sint-Hermes Ronse (2015-2017)

Parc Lagache, Ronse = Renaix (formerly RFC Renaisien, KSK Ronse, K Club Sparta Ronse, FC Lindsay Cleaning Ronse & FC Sint-Hermes Ronse)

Belgium, province: East Flanders

6 V 2017 / FC Sint-Hermes Ronse - Eendracht Grammene 0-6 / VLVB, Saturday Division 2C

Timeline

• 1908 / Foundation of Football Club (FC) Renaisien as a breakaway club of AS Renaisienne, founded two years previously.
• 1922 / After having played at Leuzesesteenweg - possibly in a groundshare with AS Renaisienne - FC Renaisien moves to its new ground at Spinstersstraat. As the plot used for the pitch used to be owned by a Mr Henri Lagache, the stadium is renamed in his honour, Parc Lagache.
• 1923 / FC Renaisien changes its name to become Club Renaisien. The majority of Ronse's population are Dutch-speaking and usually refer to the club as Club Ronse.
• 1926 / Belgium's Football Association introduces the matricule system, with Club Renaisien receiving matricule 46. That same year, the club manages to win promotion to the third and lowest national league level for the first time.
• 1931 / Having played in Bevordering or Promotion for five seasons, Club Renaisien manages a new promotion to the so-called Eerste Afdeeling - or second tier of the Belgian league pyramid. It is the start of a long spell at this level, with the club coming close to winning promotion to the top flight on several occasions.
• 1933 / On its 25th anniversary, the club obtains the royal epithet, changing its name to become RFC (Royal Football Club) Renaisien.
• 1953 / After 22 years - and 20 seasons given that the Belgian leagues were suspended in 1940-41 and 1944-45 due to World War II - , RFC Renaisien suffers relegation from National Division 2.
• 1958 / Winning the title in D3, RFC Renaisien accede to National Division 2, but the club's stay at this level lasts no longer than one season.
• ±1963 / Though the exact year could not be ascertained yet (any help is welcome; please contact me if you have more information!), RFC Renaisien apparently flemicised its name to become Koninklijke Football Club (KFC) Ronse in the early 1960s. This new name may never have been officialised, though, as the Belgian FA's lists keep making mention of RFC Renaisien also in subsequent years.
• 1967 / After two relegations in three seasons, RFC Renaisien suddenly finds itself in East Flanders' Provincial League 1, having fallen out of the national leagues for the first time in 41 years.
• 1969 / After one more season in Division 4, the club fall back again to the Provincial Leagues, never to return to the national league pyramid. In the following years, RFC Renaisien alternates spells in Provincial Leagues 1 and 2.
• 1984 / Relegation to Provincial League 2 for a last time. RFC Renaisien never returns to P1.
• 1987 / Having split away from AS Renaisienne 79 years before, RFC Renaisien now concludes a merger with its eternal rival, meanwhile called ASSA Ronse, to form KSK (Koninklijke Sportkring) Ronse, retaining ASSA's matricule 38. Club Ronse's matricule 46 disappears. KSK Ronse starts its life in Provincial League 2, the level at which RFC Renaisien played (given that ASSA had fallen down the league pyramid even lower). For the first season of the merger club's existence, first team football takes place at Parc Lagache. ASSA's Stadion Maurice Vandewiele remains in use for lower team football and training purposes, but plans are made to build a completely new stadium for KSK Ronse.
• 1988 / KSK Ronse moves its first team's home games to ASSA's Stadion Maurice Vandewiele until 1993, when Stedelijk Stadion Orphale Crucke - a new, purpose-built ground at Leuzesesteenweg - is inaugurated. It is unclear if the club retained Parc Lagache for lower team football and/or training purposes for some more years after 1988. At some point in the following years, the ground's main stand - which used to be situated behind the dug-outs (cp. pictures below) - was demolished. The pitch remained in use the following decades, as several recreational teams played their home games here. One of those was FC Lindsay Cleaning Ronse, a team affiliated to the so-called Vlaanders Liefhebbers Voetbalbond (VLVB), but it is unclear when this club moved into Parc Lagache.
• ±1999 / A smaller provincial league club from Ronse, K Club Sparta Ronse (matricule 4181), forced out of its ground at Savooistraat, where it had been home from its foundation in 1944 onwards, temporarily settles at Parc Lagache. 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.
• ±2001 / Sparta Ronse continues its wandering existence by moving to Stadion Maurice Vandewiele. Its youth teams, forced out of Parc Lagache as well, settle down at a ground at Stefaan-Modest Glorieuxlaan.
• 2012 / FC Lindsay Cleaning Ronse, a newly founded recreational team, settles in Parc Lagache to play its matches in VLVB. 
• 2013 / FC Lindsay Cleaning Ronse abandons Parc Lagache, moving to Stadion Maurice Vandewiele.
• 2015 / Another VLVB team, FC Sint-Hermes Ronse, moves into Parc Lagache, becoming the pitch's sole user.
• 2017 / On May 6th, 2017, FC Sint-Hermes Ronse plays the last-ever football match in Parc Lagache, losing to Eendracht Grammene. Grammene crowns itself champions of VLVB's Division 2C. This match was attended by me (cp. photos 13-31 below). Subsequently, Tennisclub Park - also home at Parc Lagache - had several padel pitches constructed on the football pitch.

Note: Below, a combination of two photo series: photos 2-12 date back to a non-matchday visit in April 2014; photos 1 & 13-31: match visit, May 2017. 

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