BELGIUM: JS Fraire (1976-2019) / RES Couvin-Mariembourg-Fraire (C) (2019-2021) / US Walcourt (B) (2021-2022) / US Thy-le-Château (B) (2021-2022) / ES Fraire matr. 9780 (2022-2024) / ES Fraire matr. 9816 (2024-)

Terrain de la Rue de Morialmé, Fraire (ES Fraire matr. 9816, formerly JS Fraire / C ground of RES Couvin-Mariembourg-Fraire / B ground of US Walcourt & US Thy-le-Château / ES Fraire matr. 9780)

Belgium, province: Namur = Namen

January 2022 / no match visited

Timeline

• 1932 / Foundation of a first football club in Fraire, a village in the southwest of the Province of Namur. The new club takes on the name Union Sportive (US) Fraire, acquiring registration number 1849 upon being accepted as a new member of the Belgian Football Association (URBSFA / KBVB). US Fraire settles on a pitch laid out at Place Verte, near the local cemetery. 
• 1941 / Foundation of a second club in Fraire, Jeunesse Sportive (JS) Fraire, which joins the Belgian FA under registration number 3100. It is unclear if JS Fraire groundshared with US Fraire at Place Verte.
• 1945 / A merger is concluded between US Fraire and JS Fraire, with the merger club retaining the name of the former; this new US Fraire takes on a new registration number, 4307 – as was customary in those days. Henceforth, all activities take place at the Terrain de la Place Verte.
• 1952 / Seven years after the merger, US Fraire folds, ceasing all activities; registration number 4307 is erased from the Belgian FA’s membership list.
• 1963 / The old Terrain de la Place Verte has to make way for the construction of the Route Nationale 5, which has since bisected the village of Fraire.
• 1976 / Foundation of a new club in Fraire, with the name of one of its predecessors, Jeunesse Sportive (JS) de Fraire, being adopted. JS Fraire joins the Belgian FA with registration number 8461, settling on a pitch at Rue de Morialmé on the eastern outskirts of the village.
• 1981 / Local sources mention the inauguration of a new ‘pitch’ at Rue de Morialmé on June 21st, 1981 – which may truthfully mean that a new main pitch was created, or that the main pitch was laid out anew in a slightly different position, or that in fact a new clubhouse was inaugurated. 
• 1996 / With no information being available regarding the club’s previous performance, JS Fraire now manages a respectable third place in Namur’s Provincial League 2B, behind RES Couvin-Mariembourg and RCS Florennois – which may very well constitute the best performance in club history.
• 1998 or 1999 / JS Fraire descends into Provincial League 3, with a further relegation into Provincial League 4 following sometime between 2000 and 2008.
• 2012 / Runner-up in Namur’s Provincial League 4E, 2 points behind champions US Viroin-Treignes, JS Fraire qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is drawn into a group with JS Falisolle-Aisemont and CSE Han-sur-Lesse, suffering a home defeat against the former (1-2) and managing an away win against the latter (1-3). Thus finishing in second place behind Falisolle, JS Fraire goes on to play two lucky loser play-offs against ES Petigny-Frasnes and SC La Stella Groynnoise, but to no avail, as no additional promotion places turn out to be available.
• 2015 / Champions in Namur’s Provincial League 4E, 6 points ahead of closest rivals FC Clermont, JS Fraire wins promotion to Provincial League 3.
• 2019 / In its last season as an independent club, JS Fraire manages a seventh place in Namur’s Provincial League 3C. Following the 2018-19 season, due to a lack of volunteers, the club allows itself to be absorbed by RES Couvin-Mariembourg, which takes on the adapted name RES Couvin-Mariembourg-Fraire under its own registration number (248); number 8461 of Fraire is erased from the Belgian FA’s membership list. The following two years, the two pitches at Rue de Morialmé in Fraire are used for selected lower team matches and training sessions, alongside the Stade du Roi Soleil in Mariembourg (first team football) and the Parc des Sports / Rue de la Foulerie in Couvin (youth academy).
• 2021 / RES Couvin-Mariembourg-Fraire abandons the two pitches at Rue de Morialmé in Fraire, which are henceforth taken over by two other local clubs, US Thy-le-Château and US Walcourt, for training sessions.
• 2022 / RES Couvin-Mariembourg-Fraire drops the third part of its name, thus severing all ties with the village of Fraire one year after abandoning the two pitches in Fraire. With US Walcourt folding and US Thy-le-Château moving all training sessions to its own Stade Louis Schietecatte, the ground in Fraire is taken over by a newly founded club, Entente Sportive (ES) Fraire, which joins the Belgian FA with registration number 9780; a first team is fielded in Namur’s Provincial League 4. 
• 2024 / Withdrawing its first team from Namur’s Provincial League 4C before the end of the 2023-24 season, Entente Sportive (ES) Fraire folds after an existence of two seasons, with registration number 9780 being erased from the Belgian FA’s membership list. However, a phoenix club is formed straightaway, Espoir Sportif (ES) Fraire, which acquires registration number 9816 upon being accepted into the Belgian FA. 
• 2025 / In its first season, ES Fraire (9816) clinches the title in Namur’s Provincial League 4A, 8 points ahead of closest followers RFC Somzée B; as such, the club wins promotion to Provincial League 3.
• 2026 / Finishing in third place in Namur’s Provincial League 3A, ES Fraire qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is eliminated in R1 by Union Saint-Gérard (0-1).

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