Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: ES Gimneenne (1966-1996) / ES Gimnée-Mazée (1996-2022)

Stade Damien Bentz, Doische (formerly ES Gimneenne & ES Gimnée-Mazée)

Belgium, province: Namur = Namen

August 2024 / no match visited

Timeline

1966 / Foundation of a football club in Gimnée and Doische, which takes on the name Entente Sportive (ES) Gimneenne. The new club receives registration number 6911 upon joining Belgium’s Football Federation (URBSFA / KBVB). Most probably, football was played at the pitch situated at Rue Martin Sandron in Doische from the outset, but no absolute certainty can be given on the matter.
1973 / Foundation of a football club in Mazée, which takes on the name Union Sportive (US) Mazeenne. The new club receives registration number 7980 upon joining Belgium’s Football Federation. Almost certainly, football was played at the pitch situated at Rue de la Saute in Mazée from the outset.
1996 / A merger is concluded between ES Gimneenne and US Mazeenne, resulting in the foundation of Entente Sportive (ES) Gimnée-Mazée, with US Mazeenne’s registration number 7980 being retained. All activities move to Gimneenne’s ground in Doische, with the pitch at Rue de la Saute in Mazée being abandoned.
2010 / In August 2010, the club’s U19 player Damien Bentz is killed in a car crash. The decision is taken to rename the club’s ground at Rue Martin Sandron in memory of the player, with the ground henceforth wearing the name Stade Damien Bentz.
2019 / Having played in Namur’s bottom division, Provincial League 4, continually for at least the previous eleven seasons, with mid-table results being the order of the day, ES Gimnée-Mazée now clinches the title in Provincial League 4D, 8 points ahead of closest rivals RJS Anseremme. As such, the club accedes to Provincial League 3.
2022 / Having held its own in P3C with a twelfth place in the 2019-20 season, cut short by the COVID lockdown – and with the 2020-21 season being broken off already in the early stages – ES Gimnée-Mazée has a disastrous 2021-22 campaign, losing all of its 28 league matches in Provincial League 3B (goal difference: -164) and dropping back into Provincial League 4. Being placed in P4C for the new season, the club unexpectedly withdraws its first team from the league in early December 2022 due to financial difficulties and a lack of commitment on the part of the players. Given that ES Gimnée-Mazée no longer disposed of a reserves team or a youth academy, this amounted to the end of the club as a whole.