Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: RUS Pondrôme

Saturday, 30 August 2025

BELGIUM: RUS Pondrôme

Terrain de la Rue du Tombois, Pondrôme (RUS Pondrôme)

Belgium, province: Namur = Namen

30 VIII 2025 / RUS Pondrôme - RS Fernelmont-Hemptinne 2-3 / Namur, Provincial League 1 (= BE level 6)

Timeline

1953 / Foundation of a football club in Pondrôme, a village in the vicinity of Beauraing in the southeast of the Province of Namur. The new club takes on the name Union Sportive (US) Pondrôme, acquiring membership of the Belgian Football Association under registration number 5655. The first chairman is the village priest, one of the founding fathers of the club, Fr Corbusier. Starting its life in Namur’s Provincial League 3, the club starts its life on the so-called Terrain du Châtelet at Rue de l’Esclaye, to the north of the village proper.
± 1960 / Moving away from the Terrain du Châtelet, US Pondrôme settles on a newly laid-out pitch at Rue du Ban.
1978 / Moving away from the Terrain de la Rue du Ban, US Pondrôme settles on a newly laid-out only a stone’s throw away, at Rue du Tombois. A clubhouse is erected at the western end of the pitch.
2003 / Celebrating its fiftieth anniversary, US Pondrôme obtains the royal epithet, officially changing its name to become Royale Union Sportive (RUS) Pondrôme.
2009 / With the first fifty odd years of club history being shrouded in veils – with the certainty, though, that the club never reached higher than Namur’s Provincial League 2 – RUS Pondrôme now finishes in second-last place in Namur’s Provincial League 3C, thus descending into Provincial League 4 along with US Thy-le-Château and bottom club ES Gimnée-Mazée.
2011 / Clinching the title in Namur’s Provincial League 4F, 7 points ahead of closest followers R Standard FC Bièvre B, RUS Pondrôme manages a return to Provincial League 3 after two seasons.
2012 / Finishing in third-last place in Namur’s Provincial League 3C, RUS Pondrôme drops back into Provincial League 4 after just one season, along with JS Anseremmoise and bottom club Bonneville Sport.
2015 / Champions in Namur’s Provincial League 4F, 2 points ahead of runners-up US Beauraing 61 B, RUS Pondrôme wins promotion to Provincial League 3. The successful coach is Adrien Marchal.
2016 / The old clubhouse at Rue du Tombois is knocked down and replaced by a new, panoramic canteen with a small covered stand and the dressing rooms below, all on the same side of the ground.
2018 / Runners-up in Namur’s Provincial League 3B, 5 points behind champions Entente Dionaise, RUS Pondrôme qualifies for the promotion play-offs, being drawn into a group with RCS Bossièrois and CS Wépionnais B; however, suffering defeat against the former (3-5) and only managing a draw against the latter (1-1), RUS Pondrôme finishes bottom of the group, thus missing out on promotion to Provincial League 2.
2019 / Champions in Namur’s Provincial League 3C, 6 points ahead of closest followers FC Achêne and RFC Somzée, RUS Pondrôme wins promotion to Provincial League 2. The successful coach is Pascal Poncelet.
2020 / In order to spare its own pitch, known as one of the worst in the Province of Namur, RUS Pondrôme – being given permission by Beauraing’s municipal authorities – moves all its training sessions away from Rue du Tombois, with the A & B teams as well as the U19 training at Complexe Sportif Raymond Belot, the former ground of RFC Winenne, and the remainder of the youth academy holding their midweek training sessions at Terrain de la Rue de Rochefort, the ground of the former JS Focantaise.
2023 / Finishing in fourth place in Namur’s Provincial League 2B, RUS Pondrôme qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is knocked out in R1 by ES Petigny-Frasnes (2-4).
2024 / Finishing in third place in Namur’s Provincial League 2B, RUS Pondrôme qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club eliminates RCS Profondeville in R1 (3-2), only to be eliminated by the same adversaries as the previous year, ES Petigny-Frasnes, in R2 (2-1).
2025 / Clinching the title in Namur’s Provincial League 2A, 5 points ahead of closest rivals FC Naninnois, RUS Pondrôme manages a historic promotion to Provincial League 1. The decisive point is clinched in an away match at RCS Profondeville (2-2). The successful coach is Pierre Devuyst.

Note 1 – Thanks to Jacky Piérard, chairman of RUS Pondrôme since 1995, for essential parts of information included in the article above.

Note 2 – Below, a compilation of photos of two different visits: pictures 1-5 = non-matchday visit, July 2025 / pictures 6-23 = match visit, August 2025.