BELGIUM: FC Lobbain (1951-1999) / RFC Lobbes (1999-2021)

Stade Communal - Chemin d'Hourpes, Lobbes (formerly RFC Lobbes)

Belgium, province: Hainaut = Henegouwen

August 2023 / no match visited

Timeline

• 1935 / A first football club in Lobbes is founded under the name Union Sportive (US) Lobbaine. It is unclear where this club's ground was situated.
• 1936 / US Lobbaine joins Belgium's Football Association under registration number 2288, being placed in Hainaut's Provincial League 3C.
• 1938 / Finishing fourth in Provincial League 3C, 12 points behind champions US Ossogne, US Lobbaine succeed in gaining promotion in the subsequent round of play-offs, along with fellow-P3C sides Bascoup Sport and FC Familleureux Sports.
• 1939 / US Lobbaine finishes joint-last in P2B with Humberto Club Lensois - and both clubs folds following that season. There probably was no footballing activity in Lobbes for the duration of World War II. 
• 1951 / A new football club in Lobbes, FC Lobbain, probably founded as a recreational club 2 years previously, seeks affiliation with the Belgian Football Association, obtaining membership under registration number 5486. It is unclear if FC Lobbain played at the Stade Communal at Chemin d'Hourpes from the outset.
• 1962 / FC Lobbain wins the title in Hainaut’s Provincial League 3E, thus acceding to Provincial League 2.
• 1964 / Following 2 seasons in Provincial League 2 – the only 2 seasons in club history –, FC Lobbain drops back into P3.
• 1970 / In a reorganisation of Hainaut’s provincial league pyramid, which sees the creation of a Provincial League 4 as the lowest level, FC Lobbain drops back into this new lowest bottom division.
• 1979 / Winning the title in Provincial League 4G, 5 points ahead of FC Chimay, FC Lobbain accedes to Provincial League 3.
• 1981 / Having managed 2 seasons in P3, FC Lobbain descends back from P3D into Provincial League 4 along with RC Marchienne-Docherie.
• 1995 / Finishing 3 points ahead of closest rivals FC Landelies, FC Lobbain clinches the title in Provincial League 4E, thus managing a return to P3 after 14 years.
• 1996 / After just one season in Provincial League 3, in which the club finishes second-last in P3E, FC Lobbain drops back into P4 along with bottom club FC Landelies.
• 1999 / FC Lobbain acquires the royal epithet, adapting its name in the process to become Royal Football Club (RFC) Lobbes.
• 2021 / Having managed a 6th place as its best result in Provincial League 4 twice in the last 25 years of its existence (in 1997 and 2008), RFC Lobbes has to fold prior to the start of the 2021-22 season. Having entered the new season with 2 squads in Provincial League 4, the club’s Stade Communal at Chemin d’Hourpes is closed at the behest of municipal authorities due to the safety of those making use of the facilities in the clubhouse and the changing rooms no longer being guaranteed. This sounds the death knell of the club, which ceases all activities forthwith. 

Note - Below, a compilation of photos of 3 different visits: pictures 1, 4-8, 10-12 & 14 = August 2023 / pictures 2, 3 & 9 = October 2021 / picture 13 = April 2022

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