Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: US Couillet d'Amérique (1949-1977) / RACS Couillet (B) (1977-±2002)

Sunday 31 July 2022

BELGIUM: US Couillet d'Amérique (1949-1977) / RACS Couillet (B) (1977-±2002)

Terrain de l'Amérique, Charleroi Couillet (formerly US Couillet d'Amérique / youth academy of RACS Couillet matr. 94)

Belgium, province: Hainaut = Henegouwen

July 2022 / no match visited

Timeline

1949 / Foundation of Union Sportive (US) Couillet d'Amérique. The club joined a regional league not affiliated to the Belgian Football Association. The club is named after the street where its ground is situated, the Rue de l'Amérique in Couillet.
1952 / US Couillet d'Amérique takes the leap to the ranks of Belgium's FA, obtaining matricule 5580 upon being accepted as a new member.
1967 / Reaching Hainaut's Provincial League 2 for the first time, US Couillet d'Amérique begins a spell of three seasons at that level.
1971 / A title in Provincial League 3C sees the club bouncing back to P2 after an absence of just one year.
1973 / Following two relegations in as many years, US Couillet d'Amérique finds itself in Provincial League 4, the bottom division of Hainaut's provincial ladder. This is where the club spends the four last seasons of its existence.
1977 / US Couillet d'Amérique is absorbed in a merger with Royal Amical Cercle Sportif (RACS) Couillet, becoming Royal Association Cercle Sportif (RACS!) Couillet, retaining RACS's matricule 94. First team football is played at RACS's Stade du Fiestaux, while the Terrain de l'Amérique remains in use for lower team football and training purposes; mainly housing the club's youth academy.
1995 / A small covered stand is added to the ground, while the grass surface is replaced with one of Belgium's first synthetic football pitches around that same time.
±2002 / Due to the low quality of the artificial underground, which caused regular injuries, RACS Couillet's youth academy moves to the nearby Site 'Les Tourterelles'. From that time on, the Terrain de l'Amérique has been left to decay. The clubhouse, situated at the eastern end of the ground, must have been knocked down in ±2017.