Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: RCS Aulnoisien

Tuesday, 22 July 2025

BELGIUM: RCS Aulnoisien

Stade Marcel Stoquart, Aulnois (RCS Aulnoisien)

Belgium, province: Hainaut = Henegouwen

22 VII 2025 / RCS Aulnoisien - RUSG Tertre-Hautrage B 0-0 / Pre-season friendly

Timeline

1939 / Foundation of a football club in Aulnois, a village in the Province of Hainaut, right on the Belgian border with France. The new club initially takes on the name Cercle Sportif (CS) Aulnois, but acquires membership of the Belgian Football Association two months later as Cercle Sportif Aulnoisien, obtaining registration number 2781. Until the 1960s, the club played on various pastures around Aulnois, including a location at Rue du Bois.
1947 / Finishing as runners-up in Hainaut’s Provincial League 3B, 6 points behind RC Nimysien, CS Aulnoisien wins promotion to Provincial League 2 alongside the aforementioned club as well as SC Quevaucamps and Englantine Jemappienne.
1949 / Finishing in fourteenth place in Hainaut’s Provincial League 2B, CS Aulnoisien drops back into Provincial League 3 along with US Stambrugeoise, LC Mesvinois, and bottom club FC Herchies.
± 1965 / Moving away from its pitch at Rue du Bois, CS Aulnoisien settles on a newly laid-out pitch in the village proper, at modern-day Rue du Stade. Later on, the ground would be renamed in honour of Marcel Stoquart, a player of the club who was killed in a car accident sometime in the 1970s.
1967 / Champions in Hainaut’s Provincial League 3B, CS Aulnoisien wins promotion to Provincial League 2 alongside runners-up FC Hainaut Sports Tertre.
1974 / CS Aulnoisien finishes as runners-up in Hainaut’s Provincial League 2B, 7 points behind champions RFC Ressaix.
1976 / CS Aulnoisien finishes as runners-up in Hainaut’s Provincial League 2A, 4 points behind champions RSC Templeuvois.
1982 / CS Aulnoisien finishes in joint first place in Hainaut’s Provincial League 2B with FC Flénu-Sport and FC Bray. However, the title goes to Flénu thanks to that club gathering the highest amount of victories (20, as opposed to 17 for Aulnois and 16 for Bray). As a result, CS Aulnoisien misses out on promotion.
1985 / Champions in Hainaut’s Provincial League 2B, 5 points ahead of runners-up R Soignies Sports, CS Aulnoisien wins promotion to Provincial League 1 for the first (and only) time in club history. The cornerstone of the success is the defence, led by goalkeeper Marc Pottier, which only conceded ten goals in its thirty league matches in the 1984-85 season. Mirroring the increased status of the club, a new clubhouse with a canteen and covered stand is erected at Stade Marcel Stoquart, with the old clubhouse and dressing rooms being left to decay – in fact, until the present day (cp. photos 4 & 5 below).
1986 / CS Aulnoisien manages to reach the final of Hainaut’s Provincial Cup, in which it suffers defeat at the hands of RACS Couillet.
1987 / In the best season in club history, CS Aulnoisien finishes in tenth place in Hainaut’s Provincial League 1.
1988 / Finishing in third-last place in Hainaut’s Provincial League 1, CS Aulnoisien drops back into Provincial League 2 after three seasons, alongside R Enghien Sports, RFC Hautrage, and bottom club R Châtelineau Sport.
1989 / On the club’s fiftieth anniversary, CS Aulnoisien obtains the royal epithet, thus changing its name officially to become Royal Cercle Sportif (RCS) Aulnoisien.
1992 / Finishing in second-last place in Hainaut’s Provincial League 2B, RCS Aulnoisien descends into Provincial League 3 alongside bottom club CS Lensois.
1994 / Runners-up in Hainaut’s Provincial League 3C, with an equal number of points as champions FC Wihéries, but with a lower number of victories (15 as opposed to 17 for Wihéries), RCS Aulnoisien goes on to claim promotion to Provincial League 2 in a successful round of play-offs.
1996 / Finishing bottom of the table in Hainaut’s Provincial League 2B, RCS Aulnoisien drops back into Provincial League 3 along with the club in second-last place, RSC Pâturageois.
2000 / RCS Aulnoisien finishes as runners-up in Hainaut’s Provincial League 3C, 11 points behind champions RSB Frameries.
2002 / Finishing in thirteenth place in Hainaut’s Provincial League 3C, RCS Aulnoisien descends into Provincial League 4 for the first time in club history, alongside LC Ghlin, FC Ciply, and bottom club FC Thulin.
2004 / Finishing in third place in Hainaut’s Provincial League 4B, RCS Aulnoisien goes on to win the promotion play-offs, thus managing a return to Provincial League 3 after an absence of two years, along with champions LC Ghlin.
2006 / Finishing bottom of the table in Hainaut’s Provincial League 3B, RCS Aulnoisien drops back into Provincial League 4 along with the club in second-last place, CS Jemappes.
2011 / Finishing in third place in Hainaut’s Provincial League 4D, RCS Aulnoisien qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club knocks out AS Pommeroeul-Ville in R1 (0-3), only to be eliminated in R2 by US Neufvilloise B (3-1).
2012 / RCS Aulnoisien’s B squad finishes in fifth place in Hainaut’s Provincial League 4E, thus qualifying for the promotion play-offs – even though the club’s flagship team only managed a twelfth place in Provincial League 4D. In the play-offs, RCS Aulnoisien B manages successive wins over Athènes Sports Péronnes (2-1) and RFC Rapid Symphorinois B (5-4), thus winning promotion to Provincial League 3 – and naturally becoming RCS Aulnoisien A.
2014 / Finishing in second-last place in Hainaut’s Provincial League 3B, RCS Aulnoisien is retrograded into Provincial League 4 alongside bottom club AS Ghlinoise.

Note - Below, a compilation of photos of two different visits: pictures 1, 6 & 7 = non-matchday visit, July 12, 2025 / pictures 2-5 & 8-25 = match visit, July 22, 2025.