Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: FC Obourg (2001-2013) / RES Obourg-Nimy-Maisières (B) (2013) / RES Obourg-Nimy-Maisières (2014-2019) / R Entente Mons Nord (2019-)

Terrain de la Rue du Camp, Obourg (R Entente Mons Nord, formerly FC Obourg / B & A ground of RES Obourg-Nimy-Maisières)

Belgium, province: Hainaut = Henegouwen

21 III 2026 / RE Mons Nord - RFC Houdinois B 0-3 / Hainaut, Provincial League 3C (= BE level 8)

Timeline

1976 / Foundation of a recreational football club in Obourg, a village just north of Mons (or Bergen in Flemish), the capital of the Province of Hainaut. The new club is given the name Amicale Obourgeoise, with Jean Dutilleux taking on the chairmanship. Amicale Obourgeoise joins a local recreational football league association, the so-called Entente Boraine de Football Amateur (EBFA). Bereft of a pitch in Obourg proper, the club has to make do as a groundsharer at another recreational club, FC Ghlin.
1981 / Terminating its groundshare with FC Ghlin after five years, Amicale Obourgeoise settles on a newly laid-out pitch at Rue des Écoles in Obourg proper.
1989 / After thirteen years as a recreational club, the presidency of Amicale Obourgeoise decides to take the leap to the regular Belgian Football Association (URBSFA / KBVB), acquiring membership under registration number 9146. Taking on a new name, FC Obourg, the club is placed in Hainaut’s Provincial League 4 for the 1989-90 season.
1996 / Champions in Hainaut’s Provincial League 4C, 8 points ahead of closest followers JSC Brugelette, FC Obourg wins promotion to Provincial League 3 for the first time.
2001 / Moving away from its sole pitch at Rue des Écoles after twenty years, FC Obourg settles on a newly laid out ground at Rue du Camp, situated next to the facilities of athletics club MOHA. In terms of space, the new ground is a definite improvement, disposing, as it does, of two full-dimension pitches and a smaller pitch for youth matches and training sessions. Later, two more pitches would be added to the set-up.
2004 / FC Obourg finishes as runner-up in Hainaut’s Provincial League 3B, 8 points behind champions FC Ostiches.
2005 / Runaway champions in Hainaut’s Provincial League 3B, 11 points ahead of closest followers RSC Wasmes, FC Obourg accedes to Provincial League 2 for the first time.
2007 / In the best season in club history, FC Obourg manages a third place in Hainaut’s Provincial League 2B.
2011 / Finishing bottom of the table in Hainaut’s Provincial League 2B, FC Obourg drops back into Provincial League 3 after six years – marking the club’s first relegation since joining the Belgian FA – alongside the club in second-last place, RSC Wasmes.
2012 / Finishing in third-last place in Hainaut’s Provincial League 3B, FC Obourg goes on to defeat FC Chapelle-Godarfontaine in a relegation play-off (2-4), thus staving of the drop into Provincial League 4.
2013 / In its last season as an independent club, FC Obourg manages a fifth place in Hainaut’s Provincial League 3B. Following the 2012-13 season, FC Obourg concludes a merger with RAS Nimy-Maisières (itself a merger between RRC Nimysien and ASC Maisières, concluded in 1995), resulting in the foundation of Royale Entente Sportive (RES) Obourg-Nimy-Maisières (sometimes referred to as RESONM), which retains registration number 502 of RAS Nimy-Maisières. Thierry Slosse becomes the new club’s first chairman. For the time being, the two grounds of RAS Nimy-Maisières – Stade Evariste Mantannus in Nimy and the Terrain de l’Avenue des Espinois in Maisières – as well as the Terrain de la Rue du Camp in Obourg are retained. For the 2013-14 season, first team football in Provincial League 3 is played at Stade Evariste Mantannus in the fall of 2013, with the venue changing to Rue du Camp in Obourg from January 2014 onwards – and then staying in Obourg from mid-2014 onwards. The ground in Maisières is used only for lower team football and training sessions.
2017 / Finishing bottom of the table in Hainaut’s Provincial League 3C, RES Obourg-Nimy-Maisières descends into Provincial League 4 alongside the club in second-last place, RFC Chièvres 69.
± 2018 / After having been shared for one season and a half by neighbour club FC Casteau while major works were undertaken at that club’s ground at Rue de Lens, R Entente Mons Nord abandons its third ground at Avenue des Espinois in Maisières, taken over subsequently by pétanque and American football clubs.
2019 / In spite of finishing in third-last place in Hainaut’s Provincial League 4C, RES Obourg-Nimy-Maisières wins promotion to Provincial League 3 due to the club's B team clinching the title in Provincial League 4D, 4 points ahead of closest followers AS Vaudignies B. Following the 2018-19 season, doing away with the long-winding RES Obourg-Nimy-Maisières, the club takes on a simplified name, Royale Entente (RE) Mons Nord.
2020 / In the 2019-20 season, cut short due to the first COVID lockdown in March 2020, RE Mons Nord finds itself in first place in Hainaut’s Provincial League 3C after 23 of 30 matches played, 3 points ahead of runner-up UE Chapelloise; on that basis, the club is placed in Provincial League 2 for the new season.
2022 / Finishing bottom of the table in Hainaut’s Provincial League 2B, RE Mons Nord drops back into Provincial League 3 alongside the team in second-last place, RUSG Tertre-Hautrage B.
2024 / Due to works being carried out at the ground in Obourg, R Entente Mons Nord plays the majority of its home games in the 2024-25 season at Stade Evariste Mantannus in Nimy.
2025 / Upon the completion of the works at Rue du Camp in Obourg, a ground meanwhile disposing of four pitches, Stade Evariste Mantannus in Nimy is abandoned, as all activities are moved to Obourg. Subsequently, Stade Mantannus is taken over by the American football club which had hitherto made use of the ground at Avenue des Espinois in Maisières.