BELGIUM: SRU Verviers matr. 34 (B) (±1961-±1970, ±1977-1980) / SRU Verviers matr. 34 (C) (±1970-±1977, 1980-±1985) / RCS Verviétois (C) (±1985-±2002) / FC Surdents (1986-1989) / SRU Verviers matr. 9699 (2019-)

Stade Lejoly, Verviers Stembert (SRU Verviers matr. 9699, formerly FC Surdents / B & C ground of SRU Verviers matr. 34 / C ground of RCS Verviétois)

Belgium, province: Liège = Luik

5 IX 2024 / SRU Verviers - FC Ster-Francorchamps B 3-2 / Liège, Provincial League 4F (= BE level 9)

Timeline

• 1907 / Foundation of a football club in Verviers, taking on the name Skill (often spelled in capital letters, SKILL). Skill joins Belgium's Football Association that same year.
• 1918 / Skill merges with Racing Club (RC) de Lambermont, resulting in the foundation of Skill Racing Union.
• 1926 / Upon the introduction of the system of registration numbers by Belgium’s FA in December 1926, Skill Racing Union obtains number 34.
• 1932 / The club extends its name to become Skill Racing Union (SRU) Verviers. Later that same year, SRU Verviers obtains the royal epithet, again subtly adapting its name to become Société Royale Union (SRU) Verviers. Colloquially, though, the club continues to be referred to as 'Skill' or 'Skill Racing Union'.
• 1934 / SRU Verviers moves into its newly built Stade Albert at Rue Simon Lobet.
• ± 1961 (?) / SRU Verviers acquires a youth academy ground at Rue des Champs in Stembert. This ground is referred to by the surname of its owner as Terrain Lejoly or Stade Lejoly. Not exclusively used by Skill, the pitch is also used by various recreational football teams.
• ± 1970 (?) / SRU Verviers acquires the luxury of a third ground along Rue Georges Albert in Jehanster. This new facility, named Stade (Le) Jonckeu, serves the club for lower team football and training purposes. 
• 1976 / Abandoning Stade Albert, SRU Verviers moves into the newly built Stade Communal du Bielmont, alternating first team football between this ground and Stade Le Jonckeu in the following years. 
• ± 1985 / SRU Verviers is forced out of its youth academy ground, Stade Lejoly, which is taken over by RCS Verviétois for part of its youth academy.
• 1986 / On the ashes of a recreational club in Stembert, called FC Chara, which used to play its football on Terrain Don Bosco, a new football club is founded, FC Surdents, which joins Belgium’s Football Association with registration number 9044. The founding father of the club as well as its first chairman is Léon Haot. The club, which starts its life in Liège’s Provincial League 4, settles at Terrein Lejoly.
• 1989 / Having played at Terrein Lejoly for three seasons, FC Surdents moves to the Terrain de la Banque – situated next to the TEC garages – a pitch previously used by recreational club FC Cheminots.
• ± 2002 / RCS Verviétois, which moves its first team football to Stade du Bielmont in 2002, with its old Stade du Panorama now being redeveloped for the club’s youth academy, abandons the Stade Lejoly. In the following fifteen odd years, the ground is used for non-club aligned youth football (Centre de Formation / Ecole des Jeunes Verviétoise).
• 2018 / Eight years after the demise of SRU Verviers (matr. 34), the club is founded anew with the exact same name, acquiring membership of Belgium’s FA with registration number 9699. This new SRU Verviers does not return to one of the previous home grounds of number 34, Stade Le Jonckeu or Stade du Bielmont, instead settling for a groundshare with FC Entente Stembertoise at Terrain des Linaigrettes. The club starts its life in Liège’s Provincial League 4F, achieving a respectable fourth place in its first season.
• 2019 / Ending its groundsharing agreement with FC Entente Stembertoise at Terrain des Linaigrettes, SRU Verviers temporarily plays its football at pitch 2 of RFC Heusy-Rouheid’s ground, Terrain Croix de Fays in Jehanster, for the first months of the 2018-19 season, until moving into a refurbished Stade Lejoly in October 2019.
• 2022 / Clinching the title in Provincial League 4G, 2 points ahead of runners-up RCS Bollandois, SRU Verviers wins promotion to Provincial League 3.
• 2023 / Finishing in second-last place in P3D, SRU Verviers drops back into Provincial League 4 after just one season, along with the club finishing in second-last position, R Baelen FC.
• 2024 / With just one win in the entire season, SRU Verviers finishes in second-last place in Provincial League 4G.

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