Rugby union in France
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| Stade Français playing Biarritz at Stade de France. | |
| Governing body | French Rugby Federation |
|---|---|
| National team | France |
| Nickname(s) | Les bleus, Les tricolores |
| First played | 1872, Le Havre |
| Registered players | 212,059 |
| Clubs | 1,720 |
| Competitions | |
| National | |
| Rugby World Cup | |
| Six Nations | |
| Rugby World Cup Sevens | |
| IRB Sevens World Series | |
| Club | |
| Heineken Cup | |
| European Challenge Cup | |
| European Shield | |
| Top 14 | |
| Rugby Pro D2 | |
| Fédérale 1 | |
| Fédérale 2 | |
| Challenge Yves du Manoir | |
Rugby union is the second most popular team sport in France after football and is actually the dominant sport in most of the southern half of the country. It was first introduced in the early 1870s by British residents. Elite French clubs participate in the professional domestic club league, the Top 14. Clubs also compete in the European knock-out competition, the Heineken Cup.
The national side competes annually in the Six Nations Championship, last winning the competition in 2010. France has participated in every Rugby World Cup since its inception in 1987, and has been a runner-up on two occasions. France also hosted the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
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Governing body
Fédération Française de Rugby (FFR) is the rugby union governing body in France; they are responsible for the governing of rugby union in France, including the French national team and the organisers of the country's professional competitions, Ligue Nationale de Rugby. It was formed in 1919.
In 1934 the FFR set up the Federation Internationale de Rugby Amateur (FIRA) in an attempt to organize rugby union outside the authority of the International Rugby Board. It included the national teams of Italy, France, Catalonia, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Germany.
In 1978, the FFR became a member of the International Rugby Football Board (now IRB). In 1995, the same year that rugby union became a fully professional sport, FIRA officially recognized the IRB as the worldwide governing authority for the sport and turned itself into an exclusively European governing body. In recognition of this transition, FIRA changed its name in 1999 to FIRA - Association Européenne de Rugby (FIRA-AER).
History
Rugby football was introduced into France by the British in the early 1870s.
It was in 1872 that a group of British residents formed the Le Havre Athletique.[1] which played a hybrid form of football, a cross between rugby and soccer, called "combination".
The English Taylors RFC formed by British businessmen in Paris in 1877, followed by Paris Football Club a year later. Racing Club de France was formed in 1882 and their rivals Stade Français in 1883. On March 20 1892 the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques organised the first ever French rugby union championship, a one off game between Racing and Stade Français. The game was refereed by Pierre de Coubertin and saw Racing win 4-3 [2]. The USFSA remained the main controlling body of French rugby, until the formation of the French Rugby Federation (FFR, from the French: Fédération Française de Rugby) in 1920.
In 1900, rugby was played at the Paris Summer Olympics, France entered a team, along with Germany and Great Britain. France won the gold medal, the first ever rugby event at the Olympics. In 1905, for the first time, England and France played each other. In 1910, France coined the term The Five Nations, though they had competed in the home nations tournament four times previously, the tournament would be known as the Five Nations for most of the rest of the 20th century.
Rugby was again played at the 1920 Summer Olympics, though this time, in what is considered one of the most surprising results in rugby history, France fumbled in the gold medal match, being defeated at the hands of the United States, eight points to nil. That same year, the FFR was officially formed. France were again participating in the rugby at the 1924 Summer Olympics – the last time that rugby would be played as an Olympic sport – where the United States successfully defended their title.
It is estimated that rugby league arrived in France in about 1934, half a century after the amateur code had established itself in the country.[3] Also in 1934, FIRA (Federation of Amateur Rugby) was founded by Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Catalonia (Spain), and Sweden.
In 1959, William Webb Ellis' grave was located in France. It was in 1978 that the FFR joined the International Rugby Football Board, now the International Rugby Board. Also in 1959, the national team won the Five Nations for the first time, and subsequently won another consecutive three championships (1960 was shared with England). This success was repeated at the end of the 1960s, when France won both the 1967 and 1968 championships, the 1968 being a Grand Slam. France has nearly always been in the top three teams of the Northern Hemisphere since then.
The first Rugby World Cup was held in 1987. After a low period in the mid-1990s caused by FFR's hesitation to join in the introduction of professional rugby in 1995, the national team has regained its top-tier status.[4] In 1998, France's women's team competed at the first official Women's Rugby World Cup which was held in the Netherlands. In 2003, France was awarded the right to host the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
Popularity
Rugby union is one of the most popular sports in France, and is especially popular in southwest France, with Toulouse often considered as the stronghold of this sport in the country.[5] There are around 1720 clubs in France and over 200,000 registered players.[6]
The domestic competition has grown considerably in recent years, with attendance up by 25% from 2004-05 as well as numerous sellouts. On 15 October 2005, Paris club Stade Français drew a crowd of 79,502 at Stade de France for a home game against Toulouse. This match broke the previous French attendance record for a regular-season league match in any sport (including football). The next three times that Stade Français returned to Stade de France saw the Parisians break their previous attendance record. Most recently, on 27 January 2007, Stade Français drew 79,741 against Toulouse. They failed to break their record on 27 October 2007 when Clermont came to Stade de France in the 2007-08 season opener, but still drew over 75,000.
Competitions
National
The major national club competition in France is the Top 14 (formerly, the Top 16). The Top 14 is played on a home and away basis between the top fourteen club sides in France. The first championship was contested in 1892 and won by the Racing Club. The current champions are Clermont (winner of the final on May, 29th 2010 against Perpignan). The second major competition in France is the Rugby Pro D2 competition.
A relegation system exists between the two tiers of competition. At the end of the 2009-2010 season, Agen and La Rochelle were promoted to the Top 14, whilst Albi and Montauban were relegated from the Top 14 to the Pro D2. Bayonne finished in a Top 14 relegation spot, but were reprieved because of the financial woes of Montauban, which culminated in a bankruptcy filing.
Promotion and relegation also exist between Pro D2 and Fédérale 1, the top level of the French amateur rugby system. At the end of the 2009–10 season, Aix-en-Provence and Lannemezan finished in the relegation spots, but Aix were spared relegation because Montauban were demoted to Fédérale 1 due to their financial troubles. The two Fédérale 1 finalists, Carcassonne and Saint-Étienne, were promoted to Pro D2 for 2010–11. Fédérale 1 is only the top of an intricate system of Fédérale leagues.
As the map below shows the vast majority of clubs and players reside in the south of France, the exceptions to this are the Paris clubs; Stade Francais and Racing Métro
European
The Heineken Cup, known as the H Cup in France due to alcohol advertising laws, is an annual rugby union competition involving leading club, regional and provincial teams from the Six Nations: England, France, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and Italy. The competition was launched during the European summer of 1995 by the (then) Five Nations Committee, following the advent of professionl rugby union. The tournament was born with the intention of providing a new level of professional European competition. The French clubs have been quite successful in the tournament; the inaugural competition was won by Toulouse. Then in the following year Brive were the champions. Toulouse became the first ever, and so far only team to win the competition more than twice, becoming champions again in 2003, 2005, and 2010.
The second-tier European Challenge Cup was launched the year after the Heineken Cup. Currently, all Top 14 teams that do not qualify for the Heineken Cup compete in the European Challenge Cup. The first four competitions were all won by French sides—Bourgoin in 1997, Colomiers in 1998, Clermont (then known as Montferrand) in 1999, and Pau in 2000. Since then, French sides have made the finals five more times, with Clermont winning in 2007.
The European Shield, which ran from 2002–03 to 2004–05, was a repechage competition that involved first-round losers in the European Shield. It was scrapped when the European Challenge Cup was revamped for the 2005–06 season. This trophy was claimed by a French club in each of its three seasons—Castres in 2003, Montpellier in 2004, and Auch in 2005.
National side
France, nicknamed Les Bleus (The Blues), is a top tier nation, as cited by the International Rugby Board. France competes in the Six Nations Championship annually. Although France have never won the World Cup, they have in fact appeared in both the 1987 and the 1999 finals — losing to New Zealand and Australia respectively. In addition to being runners-up on two occasions, France has always appeared in the semi-finals — with the exception of the 1991 Rugby World Cup where they were knocked out in the quarter finals. The French style of play is renowned for its paradoxical combination of rugged physicality and inspired grace. This particular style of play has been nicknamed the "French flair".
National Rugby Centre
The National Rugby Centre was opened by then French President Jacques Chirac in November 2002.[7] The facility cost GP£46 million (approx. €68 million, c.2007), and is located in the village of Marcoussis, south of Paris.[7][8] The facility covers 20 hectares (49 acres) and includes five rugby pitches (one of them covered, and two floodlit), a gym, medical facilities, a swimming pool, media centre, and library.[9] Living quarters are also included, with 30 rooms which are each named after a championship winning French club. The living quarters also have a dedicated restaurant. France's under-19 team are permanently based at the NRC, and provide regular opposition for the French national team during training.[9]
Media coverage
Free-to-air channel France 2 broadcasts the Six Nations games, as well as France's home internationals, such as those that are played during the latter stages of the year in November. Matches from the Top 14 are broadcast by the premium pay television channel Canal+, which also broadcasts many other rugby union competitions, including the Southern Hemisphere's Tri Nations, between Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.[10]
See also
- List of rugby union clubs in France
- Sport in France
- Rugby league in France
References
Printed sources
- Bath, Richard (ed.) The Complete Book of Rugby (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ISBN 1 86200 013 3)
- Richards, Huw A Game for Hooligans: The History of Rugby Union (Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh, 2007, ISBN 9781845962555)
Footnotes
- ↑ "Historical Rugby Milestones - 1870s". telegraph.co.uk. http://www.rugbyfootballhistory.com/timeline1870s.htm. Retrieved 14 May 2006.
- ↑ "R.C. France 4 - Stade Francais 3". lnr.fr. http://www.lnr.fr/Client/Menus.asp?CR=16354&CSR=16382&Cle=51797. Retrieved 2 November 2006.
- ↑ "French Rugby League - Still Awaiting An Apology". rl1908.com. http://rl1908.com/Rugby-League-News/vichy.htm. Retrieved 14 May 2006.
- ↑ Borthwick, Ian (31 January 2005). "From heroes to zeroes". telegraph.co.uk (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2005/01/30/sr6her00.xml&sSheet=/sport/exclusions/supplements/ixsupp.html. Retrieved 14 May 2006.
- ↑ "Le Rugby Français". wallabytravel.com. http://www.wallabytravel.com/rwc2007/index.php?id=161. Retrieved 14 May 2006.
- ↑ "Federation Francaise de Rugby". irb.com. http://www.irb.com/InTouch/Regions/UnionInfo.htm?Country=FRANCE. Retrieved 14 May 2006.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Couret, Jean-Paul (2002-11-19). "All Blacks are not dangerous, says French coach". Reuters News.
- ↑ Ryan, Ray (2003-05-26). "Bord Bia launch lamb promotion". Irish Examiner. http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2003/05/26/story781523988.asp. Retrieved 2007-05-06.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Couret, Jean-Paul (2002-11-08). "French players enjoy new home". Reuters News.
- ↑ "France". planet-rugby.com. http://www.planet-rugby.com/Off_The_Field/Rugby_on_TV/story_374.shtml. Retrieved 13 July 2006.
External links
- (French) FFR.fr
- (French) Rugby World Cup
- (French) L'Équipe's rugby website
- 100 years of French Test rugby: part one
- 100 years of French Test rugby: part two
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