Two weeks ago we posted a shoot about the Orphale Crucke Stadium in Ronse. This is actually a merger between ASSA Ronse and Club Ronse (becoming KSK Ronse and in theory a continuation of ASSA Ronse). We tried to visit the old stadium of ASSA Ronse as well but it was completely locked, so we have to go back to Ronse. But we were lucky enough to also pay a quick visit to the old ground of Club Ronse.
Matricule number 46 (together with KSK Ronses matricule 38 very old teams in Belgium) first saw football daylight in 1908, not that long after ASSA Ronse was founded and founded after a dispute within the ASSA Ronse board. So in fact the merger was a coming together of the two teams very much related to each other. The initial name was Football Club Renaisien. In the beginning the two teams shared the same stadium on the Steenweg op Leuze. It wasn't until 1922 Club Ronse moved to Parc Lagache, a stadium built on grounds owned by Henri Lagache. After having played in blue/yellow, the team colours changed to blue/white in 1922 after the move to their newly built stadium.
In 1931 the team started to go up in divisions and in that year they first reached second division. In 1936 they just missed promotion to first division and the year after the other team from Ronse joined them in second division. In 1948 ASSA was the first to start the way downwards, in 1953 Club followed to third division. Apart from one year in second division (1958) they would stay in third until 1965 when they relegated to fourth division and a couple of years later the regional leagues were waiting for them.
This lasted until 1987 after ASSA was in the regional leagues again. Orphale Crucke was the one to bring the two teams back together again and the rest is history. KSK Ronse has been back in the national leagues for quite some time now.
For 30 years Parc Lagache was abandoned, only occasionally used by lower league teams or non-FA teams to play games. Up until 2017 Parc Lagache did see some football. But after a tennis club had moved in right next door and got permission to build paddel fields on the old football pitch, the game during the month of May between FC Sint-Hermes Ronse and Eendracht Grammene was the last ever to be played in Parc Lagache. We visited Parc Lagache back in June and we were glad to see everything was still there apart from a part of the football field. But for how long...?
Parc Lagache is pure nostalgia. Even after the grandstand has been torn down, it's still a wonderful place to visit and you can just feel the intensity during their league games against Racing Bruxelles, Club Brugge and the derbies against ASSA Ronse.
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