Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: R Wavre Sports (1923-1988) / Racing Jet Wavre (1988-2018) / Wavre Sports FC (2018-2020) / R Wavre Limal (2021-2022)

Stade Justin Peeters, Waver = Wavre (formerly R Wavre Sports / Racing Jet Wavre / Wavre Sports FC / R Wavre Limal)

Belgium, province: Walloon Brabant = Waals Brabant

2 IV 2010 / Racing Jet Wavre - RFC Sérésien 3-1 / National League 4D (= BE level 4)

30 III 2022 / R Wavre Limal - RCS Brainois B 2-2 / Brabant, ACFF Provincial League 2B (= BE level 7)

Timeline

1919 / In Wavre (Waver in Dutch), a town in the French-speaking southern part of the Province of Brabant, a football club sees the daylight, Wavre Sports – probably the first club to be founded in Wavre. It is unclear where the club played its home matches in the first four years of its existence.
1920 / Wavre Sports joins the Belgian Football Association (URBSFA / KBVB).
1922 / Commencing its existence as a competitive club, Wavre Sports is placed in Brabant’s Regional League 2 (2e Gewestelijke).
1923 / Although sources are conflicting, it seems Wavre Sports settled at the ground later renamed Stade Justin Peeters (Justin Peeters being a socialist politician and mayor of Wavre between 1953 and 1976) in 1923.
1926 / As the system of registration numbers is introduced by Belgium's Football Association, Wavre Sports acquires number 79.
1932 / Finishing in thirteenth place in Brabant’s Regional League 2B, Wavre Sports descends into Regional League 3.
1936 / Clinching the title in Brabant’s Regional League 3D, Wavre Sports manages a return to Regional League 2 after four years.
1944 / Champions in Brabant’s Regional League 2B, Wavre Sports accedes to Provincial League 2 – the top level of the provincial pyramid at the time.
1947 / Finishing in second-last place in Brabant’s Provincial League 2, Wavre Sports drops back into Regional League 2, which is renamed Provincial League 2 in a league reform in 1952.
1960 / Acquiring the royal epithet, Wavre Sports becomes a Société Royale, officially changing its name to become Royal Wavre Sports.
1961 / Clinching the title in Brabant’s Provincial League 2A, R Wavre Sports accedes to Provincial League 1 after an absence at the top of the provincial pyramid of 14 years.
1962 / Runner-up in Brabant’s Provincial League 1 in its first season at that level, R Wavre Sports achieves a historic promotion to National Division 4, along with champions Racing Club de Jette.
1964 / Winning the title in National Division 4D, 7 points ahead of closest followers RFC Bressoux, R Wavre Sports sensationally manages to climb up to the third tier of Belgium's league pyramid – the club's third promotion in four seasons.
1966 / In the best season in club history, R Wavre Sports manages an eight place in National Division 3B. Also in 1966, a new club sees the daylight in Wavre, Jeunesse Wavrienne, which joins the Belgian FA with registration number 6993; it is unclear where Jeunesse Wavrienne played its home matches – possibly on one of the side-pitches (including terrain 4 and terrain 5) of the Stade Justin Peeters.
1967 / Finishing in second-last place in National Division 3B, R Wavre Sports drops back into National Division 4 after three years, alongside bottom club Voorwaarts Tienen. Also in 1967, Jeunesse Wavrienne commences its existence as a competitive club in Brabant’s Provincial League 4.
1968 / After a comet-like rise through the leagues, R Wavre Sports now suffers back-to-back relegations, finishing in third-last place in National Division 4C – with an equal number of points as RCS Halanzy, but with 8 wins (as opposed to 9 victories for Halanzy) – and thus descending into Provincial League 1 after a spell of six years in the national divisions, alongside RCS Schaerbeek and bottom club UBS Auvelais. Also in 1968, having had a disastrous first season in Brabant’s Provincial League 4A, with 1 win and 25 defeats (goal difference: -140), Jeunesse Wavrienne withdraws from competitive football.
1969 / Runner-up in Brabant’s Provincial League 1, R Wavre Sports manages an immediate to National Division 4, gaining promotion along with champions KHO Merchtem. Also in 1969, only three years after the foundation of Jeunesse Wavrienne, registration number 6993 is struck from the Belgian FA’s membership list.
1970 / Runner-up in National Division 4A, 11 points behind runaway champions LC Bastogne, R Wavre Sports goes on to win the play-offs of the runners-up in Division 4, managing to win all of its three matches (against KSC Grimbergen, KVV Looi Sport, and RUS Tournaisienne), but with no extra promotion places turning out to be available, the club is deprived of a return to Division 3.
1971 / Champions in National Division 4B, 1 point ahead of closest rivals RSC Boussu-Bois, R Wavre Sports wins promotion to National Division 3.
1972 / Finishing bottom of the table in National Division 3B, R Wavre Sports drops back into Division 4 after one season only, along with the club in second-last place, KSC Maccabi-Voetbal Antwerpen.
1976 / Champions in National Division 4D, 1 point ahead of closest rivals R Stade Waremmien FC, R Wavre Sports wins promotion to National Division 3.
1978 / Finishing bottom of the table in National Division 3A, R Wavre Sports drops back into Division 4, along with the club in second-last place, RFC Sérésien.
1979 / After its second and last spell in the national divisions, which lasted ten seasons (1969-79), R Wavre Sports now finishes bottom of the table in National Division 4C, resulting in the club tumbling back into Provincial League 1, alongside Daring Club Leuven and K Ramsel FC.
1980 / Finishing in second-last place in Brabant’s Provincial League 1, R Wavre Sports suffers its third relegation in a row, dropping back into Provincial League 2.
1981 / Champions in Brabant’s Provincial League 2A, R Wavre Sports manages an instant return to Provincial League 1.
1985 / Finishing in second-last place in Brabant’s Provincial League 1, R Wavre Sports drops back into Provincial League 2.
1986 / Champions in Brabant’s Provincial League 2A, R Wavre Sports wins promotion to Provincial League 1 again.
1988 / In its last season as an independent club, R Wavre Sports narrowly avoids relegation, finishing in thirteenth place in Brabant’s Provincial League 1. Following the 1987-88 season, a merger is concluded between Wavre Sports and R Union Limaloise, resulting in the foundation of R Wavre Limal, which retains R Wavre Sports’ registration number 79; Limal’s number 2395 is struck from the Belgian FA’s membership list. All activities are moved to the Stade du Martineau in Limal, which is upgraded by municipal authorities in the following years. This merger coincides with the arrival in Wavre of another club, Racing Jet de Bruxelles (registration number 4549), which had its origins in a 1970 merger between R Stade de Bruxelles (number 281) and Racing Club (RC) de Jette (number 4549). In the eighteen seasons following this merger, Racing Jet de Bruxelles played at Laeken's Annexe Heysel (Kleine Heizel) – eventually climbing up to National League 1, holding its own at that level for three seasons (1984-85, 1986-88) – until tumbling back into National Division 2 in 1988. The presidency of Racing Jet Bruxelles was eager to find a new home due to the extremely low turnouts at home games in the Annexe Heysel; even during its seasons in the top flight, meagre crowds of around 1,000 were no exception. When Racing Jet Bruxelles was invited to settle in Wavre by local authorities, the logical decision was taken to change the name to Racing Jet Wavre. Wavre's town council played its part in turning the move into a success by modernising the Stade Justin Peeters with a new grandstand, facing the much smaller old version.
1989 / In its first season after the move from Brussels to Wavre, Racing Jet Wavre finishes in ninth place in National Division 2, which, with hindsight, would remain the best result the club managed after settling at Stade Justin Peeters.
1992 / Finishing bottom of the table in National Division 2, Racing Jet Wavre descends into National Division 3, along with the club in second-last place, Patro Eisden – and never managing a return to the antechamber of the Belgian football pyramid in subsequent years.
1993 / Although finishing in an anonymous yet safe eighth position in National Division 3A, Racing Jet Wavre, having run into financial trouble and administrative chaos, is punished by Belgium’s FA with an obligatory relegation, descending into Division 4 with bottom club AC Hemptinne-Eghezée (ACHE).
1994 / Runner-up in National Division 4B, 5 points behind champions KFC Rita Berlaar, Racing Jet Wavre qualifies for the promotion play-offs. Knocking out Zultse VV (6-3 A.E.T.) and R Excelsior Virton (5-0) in the first two rounds, the club goes on to have the better of K Wezel Sport FC in the semis (1-2), eventually edging past KVK Tienen in the final (1-1 A.E.T. & penalty shoot-out). As a result, Racing Jet Wavre manages a return to National Division 3 after one season only.
1995 / Finishing in fourth place in National Division 3B, Racing Jet Wavre qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club eliminates Hoogstraten VV in R1 (3-0) before being knocked out in R2 by KTH Diest (4-2).
1997 / Finishing in fourth place in National Division 3A, Racing Jet Wavre qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is knocked out in R1 by KFC Strombeek (0-3).
1998 / Finishing bottom of the table in National Division 3A, Racing Jet Wavre descends into National Division 4, alongside KFC Eeklo and AC Hemptinne-Eghezée (ACHE).
2000 / Finishing in third place in National Division 4D, Racing Jet Wavre qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club bows out in R1 against KFCO Wilrijk (3-1). Also in 2000, the Stade Justin Peeters serves as the training ground for the French national team during the European Championships for national teams in Belgium and the Netherlands.
2001 / Champions in National Division 4D, 1 point ahead of closest rivals R Entente Dison-Verviers, Racing Jet Wavre manages a return to Division 3 after three seasons.
2002 / Finishing in third-last place in National Division 3B, Racing Jet Wavre goes on to suffer defeat in a promotion-relegation play-off against FC Nieuwkerken (5-1), resulting in the club descending into Division 4, along with direct drop-outs K Sporting Kermt-Hasselt and KTH Diest.
2003 / Finishing bottom of the table in National Division 4B, Racing Jet Wavre suffers back-to-back relegations, descending into Provincial League 1 alongside KFC Schoten SK and KV Wosjot Woluwe. Including the seasons of predecessor clubs RC Jette and Racing Jet Bruxelles prior to the move to Wavre in 1988, an uninterrupted spell of 41 years of national league football comes to an end for registration number 4549.
2008 / Following five seasons in Brabant's Provincial League 1, Racing Jet Wavre clinches the title at this level, 8 points ahead of runner-up Dilbeek Sport, thus managing a return to National Division 4.
2010 / Finishing in thirteenth place in National Division 4D, Racing Jet Wavre suffers defeat in the qualifying round of the relegation play-offs against KSK Sint-Paulus Opwijk (3-0), with the latter thereby avoiding the drop. Racing Jet Wavre, on the other hand, goes on to suffer defeat in R1 of the interprovincial play-offs against USG Tertre-Hautrage (3-0). Successive wins over ES Vaux-Noville (6-4) and KSC Menen (1-2 A.E.T.) in the lucky loser play-offs are to no avail, with no extra places in National Division 4 being available. As such, the club drops back into Provincial League 1 after two years, along with FC Le Lorrain Arlon, RJ Aischoise, and bottom club SC Petit-Waret.
2016 / After six seasons in Brabant’s Provincial League 1, Racing Jet Wavre now finishes in third place at that level, going on to crush RCS Profondeville in R1 of the interprovincial play-offs. The remainder of the play-off is annulled, though, because enough promotion places in ACFF Amateur Division 3, the newly formed fifth tier of the reconstructed national league pyramid, turn out to be available to allow all participants in the play-offs to win promotion.
2017 / Australian-Cameroonian businessman (and former football player) Cyrille Ndongo-Keller takes over Racing Jet Wavre, expressing the ambition to take the club up to National Division 1 within 15 years.
2018 / In an attempt to revive the days of the old R Wavre Sports in the 1960s and 1970s, Racing Jet Wavre takes on the new name of Wavre Sports FC.
2019 / Wavre Sports FC narrowly avoids relegation, finishing 1 point ahead of FC Ganshoren, which has to play relegation play-offs.
2020 / In the 2019-20 season, cut short du the to first COVID lockdown in March 2020, Wavre Sports FC finds itself bottom of the table in ACFF Amateur Division 3A with 24 of 30 matches played. On that basis, the club is retrograded into Provincial League 1, along with FC Kosova Schaerbeek and R Léopold FC. Around that same time, Wavre Sports FC receives a notification from Wavre's municipal authorities to the effect that the club is no longer allowed to use the Stade Justin Peeters from the new season onwards. Municipal authorities claim to have taken the decision due to the club being led unprofessionally, leading to heavy debts. Although Wavre Sports FC soldiers on in an attempt at starting the 2020-21 season, the lack of a ground heralds its death-knell; no matches are played in the new season and Wavre Sports FC folds in the summer months of 2020, with registration number 4549 being struck from the Belgian FA’s membership list. The club’s place at Stade Justin Peeters is taken by Provincial League 2 side Royal Wavre Limal - none other than the merger club formed in 1988 between the old R Wavre Sports and R Union Limaloise. Forced by Wavre’s authorities to abandon its Stade du Martineau, which is destined to make way for housing, R Wavre Limal avidly accepts the invitation to move into the stadium in Wavre and its two remaining side-pitches, terrain 4 (with its synthetic surface) and terrain 5, continuing to make use of its own B ground, the Centre Sportif de Limal at Rue Charles Jaumotte in Limal, for training sessions and the occasional match. In the 2020-21 season, the stadium proper remains unused, with first team football being played on terrain 4.
2021 / Having remained unused for competitive football for one year, Stade Justin Peeters hosts the home matches of R Wavre Limal's first team in the 2021-22 season.
2022 / After having been in use as a football venue for nearly a century, the last user being the first team of R Wavre Limal in the 2021-22 season, Stade Justin Peeters ceases to be a football stadium. With plans to turn the ground into a hockey stadium, R Wavre Limal temporarily moves its first team football to terrain 4 of the ground, with port-a-cabins serving as makeshift dressing rooms and clubhouse. Some of the training sessions are held at the Centre Sportif de Limal at Rue Charles Jaumotte. Meanwhile, plans are presented for a new, much smaller stadium for R Wavre Limal, to be constructed on Terrain 5 of the Stade Justin Peeters.
2023 / On October 23rd, 2023, the first stone for the national hockey stadium is laid as the symbolic start for the renovation works, which involve the renovation of the main stand as well as the construction of an unroofed all-seater stand opposite of the grandstand. The renovation of the ground follows a design by architectural firm CERAU Architecture & Urbanism. Meanwhile, first team football is still played on terrain 4 (synthetic pitch) and, for part of the home encounters in the winter months of the 2022-23 season (due to heating problems in the port-a-cabins alongside terrain 4), at the Centre Sportif de Limal at Rue Charles Jaumotte.
2024 / Works get underway on the new stadium for R Wavre Limal on terrain 5 of Stade Justin Peeters.
2025 / Inauguration of the new stadium for R Wavre Limal on terrain 5 of Stade Justin Peeters. First team football moves to this pitch, with the synthetic terrain 4 as well as the two pitches of the Centre Sportif de Limal remaining in use for lower team football and training sessions.
2026 / On April 1st, 2026, the National Hockey Stadium, known as the Belfius Hockey Arena for sponsorship reasons, is officially inaugurated with two successive international hockey matches between the national teams of Belgium and the Netherlands (men & ladies).

Note: Below, a compilation of photos of four different visits: pictures 1, 5-10, 18, 23, 35 & 37 = match visit, April 2010 / pictures 2, 11-13 & 15-17 = non-matchday visit, December 2021 / pictures 3-4, 14, 19-22, 24-34, 36 & 38-42 = match visit, March 2022 / pictures 43-50 = non-matchday visit, October 2026.