Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: RCS Brainois (1973-2023) / RCS Brainois (B) (2023-)

Complexe Gaston Reiff, Braine-l'Alleud = Eigenbrakel (RCS Brainois - main pitch, no longer in use for first team football since the summer of 2023)

Belgium, province: Walloon Brabant

26 VIII 2018 / RCS Brainois - ROFC Stockel 3-1 / ACFF Amateur Division 3A (= BE level 5)

Timeline

1913 / Foundation of a football club in Braine-l’Alleud, which is given the name Cercle Sportif (CS) Brainois. One of the founding members is an Englishman owning a pub at Place Saint-Anne in Braine, Leslie Gladwich. At the opening meeting in Café Marie Naverne, Robert Stourme is chosen as the club’s first chairman. The new club’s first ground is Terrain Ferme de la Haie Sainte. It is unclear for how long the club played here exactly, but it is clear that by 1938 there had been a move to another ground.
1919 / Having a membership of 28, CS Brainois enters a regular first team for the first time, being placed in Brabant’s Provincial League 2 – the third level of the Belgian football pyramid at that time.
1926 / Upon the introduction of registration numbers at the Belgian FA, CS Brainois acquires number 75.
1931 / Upon the creation of a Provincial League 1 in Brabant, CS Brainois qualifies for this new division on the back of a third place in P2C in the 1930-31 season.
1938 / Celebrating its 25th anniversary, CS Brainois obtains the royal epithet, officially adapting its name to become Royal Cercle Sportif (RCS) Brainois. Also, while the club started its life at Terrain Ferme de la Haie Sainte in 1913, it is clear that by 1938, there was a new ground, Terrain de Saint-Sébastien at Avenue Alphonse Allard. It is unclear when the club moved to this new ground; and also there is unclarity as to the question if there had been more ground moves than one before the club moved to this ground.
1946 / Winning the title in Brabant’s Provincial League 1, RCS Brainois accedes to Promotion, the third and lowest tier of Belgium’s national league pyramid, for the first time.
1947 / In the best-ever season in club history, RCS Brainois finishes in eighth place in Promotion B.
1952 / Due to the creation of a National Division 3 between National Division 2 and Promotion – renamed National Division 4 – and RCS Brainois finishing in the lower half of the table in Promotion A, the club now finds itself in the fourth tier of the Belgian football pyramid.
± 1954 / Sometime between 1950 and 1957, RCS Brainois must have moved away from Terrain de Saint-Sébastien, settling at a new ground near the local train station, the so-called Terrain de la Gare.
1957 / Having finished runners-up in National Division 4 the four (!) previous seasons (behind K Willebroekse SV, RRFC Montegnée, RCS Hallois, and K Olse Merksem respectively), RCS Brainois now wins the title in National Division 4B, 3 points ahead of closest rivals R Crossing FC Ganshoren. As such, the club accedes to National Division 3.
1963 / Having narrowly staved off relegation in the previous seasons, RCS Brainois now finishes in last place in National Division 3A, thus dropping back into D4 along with RAA Louviéroise. In the following season, RCS Brainois meets top flight club RFC Liège in the round of last 64 in the Belgian Cup, managing a 0-0 draw (A.E.T.) at Stade Rocourt – and sensationally winning the ensuing penalty shoot-out (2-3). In the following round, Braine bows out, suffering a comprehensive defeat away at ARA La Gantoise (7-1).
1969 / Bottom of the table in National Division 4C at the end of the 1968-69 season, RCS Brainois drops out of national league football after 23 years, taking with it Eendracht Hoeilaart and FC Farciennes.
1972 / A start is made on the construction of a new ground for RCS Brainois at Rue Ernest Laurent, on the location of the former amusement park Belgique Miniature. Inaugurated in 1959, this park featured a 1 : 10,000 version of the map of Belgium in concrete, featuring the main sights in the country’s landscape and architecture in a miniature version. Due to a lack of interest from the Belgian public, though, the park had closed down in 1963. In the building works on the new stadium, only the café of the park is preserved – turned into RCS Brainois’ projected clubhouse (still existing today).
1973 / RCS Brainois moves into the new sports park at Rue Ernest Laurent, consisting of two pitches and an athletics track around the main pitch. The ground is named Stade Gaston Reiff in honour of Braine-l’Alleud’s living sports legend Gaston Reiff (1911-1992), who won the Olympic 5k race in Helsinki (1948) ahead of Emil Zátopek from Czechoslovakia; in honour of Mr Reiff, a small monument was erected on the hillside between the clubhouse and the main pitch of the new ground (cp. photo 23 below). Terrain de la Gare, RCS Brainois' old ground, is abandoned.
1981 / A set of floodlights around the main pitch of Stade Gaston Reiff is inaugurated. Around this same time, the karting track situated to the south of the main pitch – a relic of the times of Belgique Miniature, when it had been one of the attractions of the park – was removed to make way for two new side-pitches, bringing the total of pitches of the ground to four.
1983 / After fourteen consecutive seasons in Brabant’s Provincial League 1, with third places in 1977 and 1979 being the best results, RCS Brainois now drops back into Provincial League 2.
1986 / With the inauguration of a sports hall at the back of RCS Brainois’ clubhouse, Stade Gaston Reiff is officially renamed Complexe Gaston Reiff.
1987 / Conquering the title in Brabant’s Provincial League 2A, RCS Brainois manages a return to P1 after four years.
1988 / Runners-up in Provincial League 1 behind KFC Strombeek, RCS Brainois manages a second successive promotion and a return to the national level – possibly after a round of promotion play-offs.
1989 / After just one season in National Division 4A, RCS Brainois drops back into P1 along with KSV Oudenaarde and KSK Halle.
1990 / Clinching the title in Brabant’s Provincial League 1, RCS Brainois manages an immediate return to National Division 4; in the following season, the club manages an impressive second place in D4C, tying with AS Hemptinne, 6 points behind champions KFC Avenir Lembeek.
1994 / Finishing in third place in D4D, RCS Brainois qualifies for the play-offs for promotion to National Division 3, but the club suffers a 1-0 defeat at the hands of FC Le Lorrain Arlon in R1.
1995 / After a spell of five seasons in the national divisions, RCS Brainois now finishes in fourteenth place in D4B, resulting in a descent back into Provincial League 1 along with SV Schriek and bottom club K Willebroekse SV.
1997 / Runners-up in Brabant’s Provincial League 1 behind champions R Wallonia Walhain Chaumont-Gistoux, RCS Brainois wins promotion back to the national divisions, probably after winning Brabant’s provincial play-offs.
1998 / Finishing second-last in National Division 4A, RCS Brainois drops back into Provincial League 1 after just one season, taking with it RRC Estaimpuis and bottom club RLC Hornu.
2000 / Finishing second-last in Brabant’s Provincial League 1, RCS Brainois drops back into Provincial League 2.
2002 / Clinching the title in Brabant’s Provincial League 2C, RCS Brainois wins promotion to P1.
2009 / Runners-up in Brabant’s P1, 9 points behind champions Tempo Overijse, RCS Brainois fails to win promotion in the subsequent round of play-offs.
2010 / Runners-up in Brabant’s P1, 2 points behind champions R Léopold Uccle FC, RCS Brainois qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which it is eliminated in R1 by KSK Halle (5-0 aggr.).
2011 / Finishing in third place in Brabant’s P1, RCS Brainois qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which it is eliminated in R1 by FC Ganshoren (5-1 aggr.). Also in 2011, Pitch 2 of Complexe Gaston Reiff – the pitch directly to the south of the main pitch – is equipped with a synthetic surface as well as a utility building including dressing and storage rooms, and also including a small open terrace.
2012 / In a reversal of fortune, after the club’s good performances in the past few seasons, RCS Brainois now finishes second-last in Brabant’s P1, thus dropping back into Provincial League 2 along with bottom club Bon Air Sport.
2015 / Champions in Brabant’s P2A, 3 points ahead of ERC Hoeilaart, RCS Brainois finds its way back to Provincial League 1 after an absence of three seasons.
2016 / Finishing in fourth place in Brabant’s P1, RCS Brainois qualifies for the interprovincial promotion play-offs for a spot in ACFF Amateur Division 3, the new fifth tier in the reorganised national divisions – exclusively open to clubs from the French-speaking part of Belgium. In those play-offs, the club defeats Racing FC Fosses (5-3), but nothing further happens given that not enough promotion places turn out to be available. As such, the club stays put in Brabant’s Provincial League 1. Also in 2016, RCS Brainois conquers Brabant’s Provincial Cup, defeating P3 side Stade Everois Racing Club in the final played at Stade Edmond Machtens (1-0, goal scored by Laurent Jamotte).
2017 / In the last season of Brabant’s Provincial League 1 with a mix of Flemish and French-speaking clubs, RCS Brainois finishes in sixth place, qualifying for ACFF’s interprovincial promotion play-offs, in which a 0-1 win away at RFC Grand-Leez is sufficient for a place in ACFF Amateur Division 3 for the new season. As such, RCS Brainois finds itself the national divisions for the first time since the turn of the century.
2019 / RCS Brainois entertains R Standard de Liège at Complexe Gaston Reiff in a pre-season gala match (result: 0-5).
2023 / Oddly, RCS Brainois moves its first team football to the synthetic B pitch of Complexe Gaston Reiff, while the home matches of the B team, playing in Brabant’s Provincial League 2, are moved to the main pitch. Prior to this, this synthetic pitch had been used for first team football only incidentally, when the main pitch was unavailable due to the pitch being waterlogged or in use for an athletics or school event.

Note 1 - In photo 22 below, the so-called Lion's Mound can be seen in the background, a conical artificial hill constructed as a memorial of the Battles of Quatre Bras and Waterloo in 1815.

Note 2 - A video resumé of the match I attended (which features one wonderful goal) can be found by clicking this YouTube link.