Extreme Football Tourism: November 2021

Stade Longchamps, Waremme = Borgworm (ESFC du Geer - temporary ground, formerly R Stade Waremmien FC / B ground of R Stade Waremmien FC / training ground of RFC Liège / B ground of ESFC du Geer)

Belgium, province: Liège = Luik

14 XI 2021 / ESFC du Geer - Etoile Elsautoise 1-1 / Liège, Provincial League 1 (= BE level 6)

Timeline

± 1901 / Foundation of two first football clubs in Waremme, Foot Ball Club Waremme and Waremme Sportif.
1904 / A third club sees the daylight in Waremme, Foot Ball Club Hesbignon.
± 1907 / According to some sources, a fourth club is founded in Waremme, more specifically in the hamlet of Petit-Axhe on the town’s southwestern outskirts. A name is not given.
± 1914 / No traces of any of the football clubs in Waremme founded in the first decade of the new century can be found from the start of World War I onwards. With regular life in Belgium coming to a virtual standstill due to the havocs of the war, it is probable that all four – in as far as they still existed by 1914 – ceased their activities.
1921 / Foundation of a new football club in Waremme, which is given the name Stade Waremmien FC, with Paul Yans taking on the role of chairman. It is unclear if the club was founded as a merger of two or more pre-World War I clubs in Waremme; or if the initiative was taken by members of La Jeunesse Hesbignonne, a local youth movement. As yet without a ground of its own, matches are played at makeshift pitches situated in the hamlets of Bovenistier and Bettincourt.
1922 / A year following its foundation, Stade Waremmien FC joins Belgium’s Football Association. Bereft of a ground in the first year following its foundation, the club is offered a ground in Petit-Axhe, across the road from the manor of the Baron of Selys-Longchamps, who has been made honorary president of the club (the manor still stands, cp. last two photos in the series below). The new ground is equipped with a clubhouse, a covered wooden grandstand and a few steps of terracing on the side facing the stand. Stade Waremmien, at the time playing in Liège’s Provincial League 3, moves into the new ground in the second half of September 1922.
1926 / Stade Waremmien FC manages to make the leap from Liège’s Provincial League 2, the highest provincial division at that time, to Promotion, the 3rd and lowest national level at that time. Also in 1926, with the registration number system being introduced by Belgium’s FA, the club receives number 190.
1927 / Unable to hold its own at the national level, Stade Waremmien FC finishes in second-last in Promotion B, thus dropping back into Liège’s provincial divisions along with Spa FC and RC Vottem.
1928 / Winning the promotion play-offs, Stade Waremmien FC returns to Promotion after a one-year absence.
1932 / Clinching the title in Promotion D, 7 points ahead of Hasseltse VV, Stade Waremmien FC accedes to Division 1, the second tier of the Belgian football pyramid, for the first time.
1935 / In the most successful season in club history, Stade Waremmien FC finishes in 4th place in Division 1B, with the title in that division being clinched by none other than RSC Anderlechtois.
1937 / Finishing second-last in Division 1A, Stade Waremmien FC descends back into Promotion along with bottom club RRC Bruxelles.
1946 / Winning the title in Promotion D, 2 points ahead of Sint-Truidensche VV, Stade Waremmien FC returns to Division 1 after a 9-year absence.
1949 / Finishing bottom of the table in Division 1A, Stade Waremmien FC drops back into Promotion along with RCS La Forestoise. In subsequent years, Waremme never managed to return to the second tier of Belgian football.
1951 / Obtaining the royal epithet, the club adapts its name to become Royal Stade Waremmien.
1952 / In a reorganisation of the national league pyramid, Promotion is replaced by National Divisions 3 and 4. Finishing 3rd in Promotion C in the 1951-52 season, R Stade Waremmien is placed in Division 3.
1955 / Bottom of the table in National Division 3A at the end of the 1954-55 season, R Stade Waremmien FC descends into Division 4 along with K Patria FC Tongeren.
1957 / Raymond Goethals, 35 years old and former player of – among other clubs – Daring Club de Bruxelles and RRC Bruxelles, joins R Stade Waremmien FC as trainer, joining the club from RFC Hannutois.
1958 / Under the guidance of Raymond Goethals, R Stade Waremmien wins the title in National Division 4D, 5 points ahead of K Hasseltse VV, thus returning to Division 3 after an absence of 3 years.
1959 / After 2 years, Raymond Goethals leaves the club, signing a contract with Sint-Truidense VV. Goethals goes on to have a remarkable manager career, taking him to – among others – the Belgian national team, RSC Anderlechtois, R Standard de Liège, FC Girondins de Bordeaux, and Olympique Marseille, winning the first edition of the Champions League with the last-mentioned club in 1993.
1961 / Having had two very decent seasons at D3 level, R Stade Waremmien FC now finishes second-last in National Division 3B, dropping into D4 along with K Hasseltse VV.
1962 / Winning the title in National Division 4C, 5 points ahead of R Stade Louvaniste, R Stade Waremmien finds its way back to D3 at the first instance, going on to finish runners-up in D3B in the 1961-62 season.
1968 / Finishing last in National Division 3A, R Stade Waremmien drops back into D4, accompanied by Sporting Houthalen.
1972 / In its last season at Stade Longchamps, R Stade Waremmien FC clinches the title in National Division 4D, 10 points ahead of closest followers RUW Ciney and R Dinant FC. Having played at Longchamps for 50 years, the club now moves away to Stade Edmond Leburton, situated closer to the town centre. Contrary to its predecessor, the new stadium is owned by Waremme’s municipality – and its construction has been commissioned by the town's socialist council who named after its longtime socialist mayor (1947-87) who even briefly served as Belgium's prime minister (1973-74). Simultaneously, on the northern side of the new stadium, a pitch is put in place for the benefit of local recreational clubs, including Cosmo Waremme, which is sponsored by a local café, named Cosmos. Moreover, not far from the new stadium, at Site Haute Wegge, new training facilities are built for R Stade Waremmien around the same time. In spite of the new facilities having been put in place, the pitch at Stade Longchamps remains in use for lower team football and training purposes in the following decades, although the wooden stand is knocked down in the 1970s or 1980s, while the terracing opposite was replaced by a grass bank (for a closer survey of the club's history post-1972, please visit the page on this website dedicated to Stade Edmond Leburton).
2010 / In the summer of 2010, major renovation works get underway at Stade Edmond Leburton, involving, most importantly, the construction of a clubhouse, the removal of the gravel track around the main pitch, and the putting in place of a synthetic surface on that same pitch. Unable to use the ground in the meantime, R Stade Waremmien moves its first team football (back) to Stade Longchamps.
2012 / Inauguration of the renovated Stade Edmond Leburton, with its new clubhouse and 3G pitch on January 21st, 2012. The club abandons Stade Longchamps. Subsequently, the Selys-Longchamps family, who still own the place, rent it to RFC Liège, who used the premises for their first team's training sessions until 2015. Moreover, RFC Liège also moved their youth academy to Waremme for some years, subdividing it between Stade Longchamps and the synthetic pitch of Stade Edmond Leburton.
2019 / In 2019, RFC Liège having left, ESFC du Geer, whose home ground, Stade René Linotte, was about to be refurbished, became Longchamps' new tenant, first using it for lower team football and training purposes - and from September 2020 onwards also, and mainly, for their first team's home matches.
2022 / ESFC du Geer moves back to its renovated Stade René Linotte – renamed Complexe Sportif Freddy Dabompré upon completion of the works – in October 2022, thus abandoning its temporary home at Stade Longchamps.
2023 / Due to the artificial pitch in Stade Edmond Leburton having suffered due to its extensive use for matches and training sessions, it is deemed unsuitable for match purposes by Belgium’s FA. As a result, R Stade Waremmien has to play several of its home matches at the end of the 2022-23 season and the beginning of the 2023-24 season at the ground’s side pitch, Le Cosmo. By mid-September 2023, the club moved its first team football to its old ground, Stade Longchamps, while awaiting the commencement of works on the repair of the artificial pitch at Stade Leburton, which is meanwhile used only for training sessions.

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

Stade Torino, Grâce-Hollogne Grâce-Berleur (FC Jeneffe, FC Galaxy Seraing & Atletico Roja Futbol, formerly FC Torino / RCS Fragnée-Torino / Inter Hollogne)

Belgium, province: Liège = Luik

14 XI 2021 / FC Jeneffe - RC Bergilers II 5-5 / ALFA, Sunday League 1 (= ALFA level 2)

Note: FC Torino, who played at this ground from their foundation in 1967 onwards, at some point merged with CS Fragnée, forming RCS Fragnée-Torino. Around 2016, RCS Fragnée-Torino abandoned their ground in favour of the premises of Entente Fexhe et Slins at Rue Neuve. Subsequently, their groundsharers Inter Hollogne were joined by FC Jeneffe (until 2022), while, after the demise of Inter Hollogne, FC Galaxy Seraing became the second users of the premises. In 2021, a third recreational club joined, Atletico Roja Futbol. All aforementioned clubs play their football in the Association Liégeoise de Football Amateur (ALFA), a league of clubs from the Greater Liège area not affiliated to the official Belgian Football Assocation.