Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: Huy Sports (1975-1979) / R Union Hutoise (1977-1995) / RFC Huy (1995-2020) / R Marchin Sports (2021-2022) / FC Tihange (2022-)

Stade Communal - Avenue de la Croix Rouge, Huy = Hoei (RFC Huy, formerly R Union Hutoise / RFC Huy)

Belgium, province: Liège = Luik

13 IV 2009 / RFC Huy - R Entente Bertrigeoise 2-0 / National Division 4D (= BE level 4)

Timeline

1896 / A group of students from Huy, which had made a trip to England, take the decision to found Huy’s first football club, simply entitled Huy FC.
1900 / Huy FC folds, ceasing all activities.
1908 / Refoundation of Huy FC, which settles at a pitch known locally as the Prairie de Godin, situated at the far end of the Promenade de l’Ile.
1909 / Huy FC joins Belgium’s Football Association, called UBSSA at the time. By that time, the club has abandoned the Prairie de Godin, instead playing its home matches at Terrain Delvaux, alternatively referred to as Plaine de la Sarte.
1910 / Foundation of a second football club in Huy, Athletic Club (AC) Huy. It is unclear where this club’s ground was situated.
1911 / Foundation of a third football club in Huy, Cercle Sportif (CS) Hutois. This club settles at Terrain Fontaine in Tihange. The club joins Belgium’s FA one year later.
± 1912 / In 1911 or 1912, a merger is concluded between Huy FC and AC Huy, resulting in the foundation of Huy Football Club Association Athlétique (Huy FC AA).
1917 / During World War I, with league football in Belgium being suspended due to German occupation, a provisional merger is decided upon between Huy FC AA and CS Hutois, with official confirmation of the merger having to wait until part of the membership returns from the trenches of the Yser Front.
1919 / After the end of World War I, the merger between Huy FC AA and CS Hutois is officialised – resulting in the foundation of Union Hutoise FC.
1920 / As regular league football is resumed in Belgium after the devastating years of German occupation, Union Hutoise FC settles at a new pitch at Place Pierre l’Ermite, put at the disposal of the club by municipal authorities.
1923 / Having played at Place Pierre l’Ermite for three seasons, Union Hutoise FC settles at the newly built Stade du Beau Site, situated at Rue du Long Thier, which is to remain the club’s home for over fifty years to come.
1926 / Following a successful season in Provincial League 2, Liège’s top provincial division at the time, Union Hutoise FC accedes to Promotion, the third and lowest level of Belgium’s national league pyramid, for the first time. In December 1926, upon the introduction of registration numbers by the Belgian Football Association, Union Hutoise FC acquires number 76.
1927 / The first stint of national league football in Huy ends in disappointment, with R Union Hutoise FC finishing in twelfth place in Promotion C – with only Entente Tamines and Excelsior SC picking up fewer points – and thus dropping back into Liège’s provincial divisions.
1930 / Union Hutoise FC acquires the royal epithet, thus becoming Royale Union Hutoise FC. Also in 1930, after three seasons in Liège’s Provincial League 2, the club manages a return to Promotion.
1932 / Clinching the title in Promotion C, 4 points ahead of closest rivals WA Namur, R Union Hutoise FC accedes to Division 1, the second tier of the Belgian national league pyramid, for the first time.
1934 / Second from bottom in Division 1B, with just WA Namur finishing below them, R Union Hutoise FC drops back into Promotion.
1936 / Clinching the title in Promotion A – with an equal number of points as runners-up SR Namur Sports, but with one defeat less than these rivals – R Union Hutoise FC manages a return to Division 1 after an absence of two seasons.
1943 / Finishing in last place in Division 1A, R Union Hutoise FC drops back into Promotion along with derby rivals CS Andennais.
1945 / With the Belgian FA declaring all relegations from Division 1 having occurred in the 1942-43 season null and void, R Union Hutoise FC returns to the second tier of Belgian football.
1947 / Finishing second-last in Division 1A, R Union Hutoise FC drops back into Promotion along with R Vilvorde FC, RCS Schaerbeek, and RCS Hallois. Also in 1947, a new football club sees the daylight in Huy; this club takes on the name Huy Sports and acquires registration number 4747 upon joining Belgium’s FA, settling at Terrain Vélodrome.
1948 / Conquering the title in Liège’s Provincial League 4 in its first season, Huy Sports accedes to Provincial League 3.
1949 / Clinching the title in Promotion D, 4 points ahead of Willebroeksche SV, R Union Hutoise FC accedes to Division 1 after an absence of two seasons.
1951 / Finishing in second-last place in Division 1A – with an equal number of points as RFC Sérésien, but with an inferior goal difference – R Union Hutoise FC drops back into promotion along with bottom club R Excelsior FC Hasselt. Neither Union nor its successor clubs have managed a return to the second tier of the Belgian football pyramid ever since. Also in 1951, having finished runners-up the previous season, Huy Sports now clinches the title in Liège’s Provincial League 3 under the guidance of trainer Pol Degotte, thus winning promotion to Provincial League 2. It is unclear how long the club managed to stay up at that level.
1952 / Finishing in eighth place in Promotion C, R Union Hutoise is placed in the newly formed National Division 4 (successor of the traditional Promotion divisions) – thus dropping back one division due to a reorganisation of the Belgian football pyramid, which sees the introduction of a National Division 3.
1965 / Clinching the title in National Division 4A – with an equal number of points as runners-up K Patria FC Tongeren, but with five more victories than their Limburg rivals – R Union Hutoise FC accedes to National Division 3.
1966 / Finishing in second-last place in National Division 3A – falling just 1 point short of KFC Wezel Sport and RRFC Montegnée, who both save their skin – R Union Hutoise FC drops back into D4 after just one year, along with bottom club Verbroedering Mechelen-aan-de-Maas.
1968 / Finishing dead-last in National Division 4D, with just 8 points, R Union Hutoise FC suffers relegation to Provincial League 1 along with K Tongerse SV Cercle and R Dolhain FC. For the first time in 42 seasons, the club is not represented in the national leagues.
1972 / Coached by Jacky Leroy, Huy Sports wins the second P3 title in its history and thus manages a return to Provincial League 2.
1973 / Conquering the title in Liège’s Provincial League 1, R Union Hutoise FC manages a return to National Division 4 after an absence of five seasons.
1975 / Huy Sports drops out of P2 with coach M. Siplet. Also in 1975, being constrained to abandon Terrain Vélodrome, which is knocked down, Huy Sports moves its football to a temporary pitch, situated on the site of the projected new Stade Communal at Avenue de la Croix Rouge. For the time being, training sessions are moved to Union Hutoise FC’s former ground at Place Pierre l’Ermite.
1977 / Having played first team football at the Stade du Beau Site for the past 54 years, R Union Hutoise FC moves into the newly built Stade Communal at Avenue de la Croix Rouge, which it shares with Huy Sports, who had already moved into the site two years previously. Although the new stadium comes with several side pitches, the old ground remains in use as the club’s youth academy for some ten more years before finally being abandoned towards the end of the 1980s due to the pitch being requisitioned by its owner, a local industrial, Mr Thiry, who builds himself a villa on the site.
1979 / Two years after the inauguration of the Stade Communal – and at the insistence of Union, who are unhappy with the state of the pitch due to the club having to share the ground with their smaller groundsharers – Huy Sports moves into a newly laid-out ground at Rue du Coq.
1980 / Runners-up in National Division 4D, 5 points behind champions WA Namur, R Union Hutoise FC qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which it is eliminated in R1 by KV Eendracht Aalter.
1981 / R Union Hutoise FC clinches the title in National Division 4C, 2 points ahead of derby rivals R Stade Waremmien FC. As such, the club returns to the third national level after an absence of fifteen years. Also in 1981, Huy Sports suffers relegation into Provincial League 4 following an unsuccessful round of relegation play-offs.
1983 / Falling just 1 point behind KFC Eendracht Zele, who stay up, R Union Hutoise FC suffers relegation from National Division 3A along with bottom club R Dottignies Sport.
1987 / R Union Hutoise FC reaches R5 of the Belgian Cup, bowing out against KSK Tongeren. Also in 1987, at Huy Sports' ground at Rue du Coq, a covered stand with 200 seats replaces its smaller predecessor.
1988 / After an exciting title race with RFC Malmundaria 1904 and RCS Libramontois, R Union Hutoise FC clinches the title in National Division 4D, thus winning promotion to D3. In the early stages of the 1988-89 season, the club also reached R5 of the Belgian Cup, bowing out in a home match against top flight club RFC Liège (0-3). Also in 1988, conquering the title in Provincial League 4, Huy Sports manages a return to P3.
1989 / R Union Hutoise FC reaches R5 of the Belgian Cup for the third year running, suffering a honourable home defeat at the hands of RSC Anderlechtois, a veritable star ensemble coached by Aad de Mos (1-2).
1990 / Finishing in last place in National Division 3B, R Union Hutoise FC drops back into D4 along with Eendracht Gerhees Oostham.
1992 / Runners-up in Provincial League 3, Huy Sports wins the subsequent round of promotion play-offs to return to P2 after an absence of seventeen seasons.
± 1994 / With construction works on a school and a sports hall at Avenue de la Croix Rouge getting underway – and the club thus being deprived of two of its four pitches at the Stade Communal – municipal authorities allow R Union Hutoise FC the use of a plot of land at Rue Albert Legrand, which possibly already was in use as a football pitch by recreational club FC But. This ‘Site Legrand’ or ‘Stade Legrand’, at the time consisting of one grass pitch and one gravel pitch, comes without dressing rooms or a clubhouse, which are constructed in the following years and inaugurated around the turn of the century.
1995 / In its last season as an independent club, R Union Hutoise FC finishes in twelfth place in National Division 4D, just 2 points above the relegation zone. Following the 1994-95 season, a merger is concluded between R Union Hutoise FC and Huy Sports, resulting in the foundation of RFC Huy, with Hutoise’s registration number 76 being retained. First team football moves to the Stade Communal (Avenue de la Croix Rouge), with Huy Sports’ small stadium at Rue du Coq being abandoned. Given that R Union Hutoise stayed up in D4, the new merger club starts its life at that level.
1998 / Finishing in second-last place in National Division 4D, RFC Huy drops back into Provincial League 1 along with RCS Libramontois and FC Chapelle-Godarfontaine.
2002 / A group of disaffected members of RFC Huy forms a breakaway club, Solières Sport, which joins Belgium’s Football Association under registration number 9426. The new club settles on a pitch at Chemin de Perwez in Solières, on the grounds of the Château Vert Institute for disabled children.
2003 / After a title win in Liège’s Provincial League 1, RFC Huy manages a return to National Division 4.
2009 / Finishing in third place in National Division 4D, just 4 points behind champions FC Bleid, RFC Huy qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club bows out in R1 against KVK Ieper (3-0).
2010 / Finishing in third place in National Division 4D, RFC Huy qualifies for the play-offs again. Successively defeating KFC Duffel (2-0), KSV Sottegem (2-0), and RJS Heppignies-Lambusart-Fleurus (2-4), the club accedes to National Division 3 for the first time since the merger in 1995.
2014 / Bottom of the table in National Division 3B at the end of the 2013-14 season, RFC Huy drops back into D4 along with the short-lived R Charleroi-Fleurus.
2015 / Finishing in fourteenth place in National Division 4D, RFC Huy drops back into Provincial League 1 along with RRC Mormont and RCS Onhaye.
2016 / Runners-up in Liège’s Provincial League 1, 12 points behind runaway champions RFC Tilleur, RFC Huy qualifies directly for ACFF Amateur Division 3, the newly created fifth and lowest tier in Belgium’s national league pyramid.
2020 / Abandoning the Stade Communal at Avenue de la Croix Rouge, RFC Huy moves all its activities to Stade Legrand in Tihange.
2021 / Having remained unused for the 2020-21 season, the Stade Communal is temporarily taken over by R Marchin Sports while that club’s ground at Rue Emile Vandervelde is undergoing thorough renovation works. Marchin play their first team football at the Stade Communal, while some lower team football and training sessions are moved to FC Tihange’s ground at Rue Batti Gérard.
2022 / R Marchin Sports move back to their home ground in Marchin proper. As FC Tihange’s ground at Rue Batti Gérard is scheduled to be demolished, that recreational club moves into the Stade Communal for the time being.

Note - Below, a compilation of photos of two different visits: pictures 1-12 = non-matchday visit, April 2019 / pictures 13-25 = match visit, April 2009.