Stade Français (Rugby Union)
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| Full name | Stade Français Paris | ||
| Nickname (s) | Pink Army, Les Stadistes | ||
| Founded | 1883 | ||
| Stadion |
Stade Jean-Bouin 9 allée Charles Brennus, 75016 Paris |
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| Places | 20,000 (Stade Jean-Bouin) 15,500 during the Stade Francais Paris games |
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| president | Hans-Peter Wild | ||
| Trainer | Laurent Sempéré | ||
| Homepage | www.stade.fr | ||
| league | Top 14 | ||
| 2018/19 | 8th place | ||
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Stade Français Paris is a rugby union team from the 16th arrondissement of the French capital Paris . Rugby is by far the most important of the 22 divisions of the Stade Français sports club .
The rugby team plays in the top 14 French league . The home games are usually played at the Stade Jean Bouin . For games with particularly high audience interest, Stade Français moves to the Stade de France in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis .
Stade Français took part in the first French championship in 1892 and celebrated numerous successes around the turn of the century. The team later played in the lower leagues for more than 50 years. The media entrepreneur Max Guazzini took over Stade Français in 1992, merged the club with the Club Athlétique des Sports Généraux in 1995 and brought the rugby team back to the top. In total, Stade Français Paris have been French champions 14 times, most recently in the 2014/15 season.
history
The association was founded on December 13, 1883 in the Café Le Procope in the Paris district of Saint-Germain-des-Près by students from the Lycée Saint-Louis . At the beginning, the club concentrated on running , but soon there was also an interest in rugby, influenced by British teachers and students at the Lycée. At first, like almost all other sports clubs of the time, Stade Français was aristocratic, but after a few years it opened up to other sections of the population.
In May 1891, Stade Français faced Racing Club de France in the very first game between two French teams and won 3-0. These two Parisian clubs were the only ones to take part in the first championship. On March 20, 1892 they faced each other in the first championship game, which Stade Français lost 3: 4. The referee of the game was Pierre de Coubertin , who two years later founded the modern Olympic Games .
In the following year the revenge was achieved with a victory of 7: 3 and Stade Français won its first championship title. Until 1899, the team stood in every championship final and went off the field as winners in 1894, 1895, 1897 and 1898. Despite the designation as the "French championship", before 1899 only teams from Paris were eligible to participate. From 1901 to 1908 Stade Français reached the final seven more times and won in 1901, 1905 and 1908. This dominance ended before the First World War and Stade Français slipped into midfield. It was not until 1927 that they made it back to the final, which was lost to Stade Toulousain at 9:19 . In the 1930s, Stade Français rose and spent over five decades in the insignificance of the lower amateur leagues.
Max Guazzini , owner of radio station NRJ , had the desire to bring high class rugby back to Paris and to break the dominance of the southwest. He took over the club in 1992 when the rugby team was playing in the third division. Guazzini invested large sums of money and signed numerous top players who should bring Stade Français back on the road to success. In 1995, the merger with the Club Athlétique des Sports Généraux took place in order to integrate their rugby team and thus reduce competition within the city. In 1997 Stade Français managed to return to the top 14 French league .
On May 16, 1998, the newly promoted team reached the final, clearly defeating USA Perpignan with 34: 7 and after an interruption of 90 years won his ninth French championship title (this was also the first time the final took place at the Stade de France ). Bernard Laporte , the builder of this success, left the club in 1999 and coached the French national team until 2007 . Guazzini's dream had come true: within just five years, Stade Français had gone from a third division club to a champions. However, the audience interest was still low and only reached a masterly level with a little delay. The tenth championship title followed in 2000.
On May 19, 2001, Stade Français was the first time in the final of the European Cup competition Heineken Cup , but lost in the sold-out Parc des Princes in Paris with 30:34 against the Leicester Tigers . In 2003 and 2004 Stade Français won the eleventh and twelfth championship titles respectively. On May 22, 2005 Stade Français was again in the final of the Heineken Cup, this time at the Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh . The team lost 12:18 after extra time against Stade Toulousain. The decision in the championship final against Biarritz Olympique was even closer . The Parisians had to admit defeat to the Basque team 34:37, also after extra time. On June 9, 2007, the team won their 13th championship title, in the final ASM Clermont Auvergne was defeated 23:18. Eight years later, the success against the same opponent was repeated.
In 2017, Stade Français also managed to win their first title at European level, when they defeated the Gloucester RFC in the final of the European Challenge Cup after losing finals in 2011 and 2013 . Since September 22, 2019, the German-Swiss Dr. Hans-Peter Wild president of the association after buying the association for a symbolic price in 2017.
Name, logo and club colors
In the 1880s, many of the newly formed sports clubs were based on British models and gave themselves English names (Racing, Standard, Sporting or Daring). The students chose the term stade in memory of ancient Greece , because sport was practiced in a stade (dt. Stadium ). The term Français (German: French ) was added a little later. It is believed that it was introduced by English players who played against the so-called Stadistes. As a result, they separated the French team from the other Paris rugby clubs, whose members were almost exclusively British living in France.
Until shortly after the turn of the millennium, Stade Français used the French national colors blue, red and white. The reason for this can probably be traced back to the patriotic revanchism after the lost Franco-German War of 1870/71. However, blue and red are also the colors of the city of Paris. The blue and red team emblem with its two white initials S and F until a few years ago has now been adapted in color to the new corporate identity .
Club president Max Guazzini wanted to create an unmistakable identity for Stade Français. Initially, he introduced an emblem with three pink arrows and had the jerseys design changed slightly every year. In 2005, he went one step further and shocked the masculine rugby world with the introduction of pink jerseys for away matches (pink is one of the rarest colors used by sports clubs). He was inspired by the pink away jerseys of the Italian soccer club Juventus Turin in its anniversary year. Stade Français played their first away game with the new, unusual and controversial color in September 2005 against USA Perpignan. On April 15, 2006, the Parisians wanted to play against Stade Toulousain in these jerseys, but the referee refused on the grounds that the pink was too similar to the red of the opposing team, although only one side stripe of the jersey is in this color.
In the 2005/06 season, the club sold over 20,000 pink jerseys to fans. Before the games against Stade Toulousain and Biarritz Olympique, more than 10,000 pink flags were distributed on the stadium seats. The away shirt of the 2006/07 season was also a creation by Japanese designer Kenzō Takada . A new navy blue home shirt also caused a stir as it was decorated with pink fleur-de-lis and green flashes. This shirt was presented to the team just minutes before a game against Aviron Bayonnais began on September 9, 2006.
Stages
The club's home stadium is the Stade Jean-Bouin in the 16th arrondissement with a capacity of 20,000 spectators. Max Guazzini decided to move the quarter-final game of the Heineken Cup against the Newcastle Falcons in April 2005 to the much larger Parc des Princes , which is only a few hundred meters away. He made sure that the stadium was full by setting the entrance fee very low and advertising it in schools and with youth organizations. The English rugby superstar Jonny Wilkinson also appeared at a reception in the Paris City Hall for promotional purposes, although he was not used in the game itself.
Guazzini also wanted to hire the Parc des Princes for the two most important games of 2005, against Stade Toulousain and the Leicester Tigers . But the main user of the stadium, the Paris Saint-Germain football club , refused to do so because of possible “damage to the lawn”. The fact that the club then rented the Stade de France , which was almost twice as large , was generally considered a highly risky undertaking. It paid off, however, because the stadium was filled to the last seat on October 15, 2005 during the game against Stade Toulousain with an officially 79,502 spectator. This meant a new French attendance record at a championship game in some sport. Thus the record was Ligue 1 in football far exceeded (57,714 paying spectators saw in the 1998/99 season, the match between Olympique Marseille and Olympique Lyon ).
On March 4, 2006, 79,604 spectators came to the Stade de France for the game against Biarritz Olympique . The match in the Heineken Cup against the Leicester Tigers, however, could not be held as planned at the Stade de France due to scheduling reasons. After all, the game took place at the Stade Charléty in Paris. On October 14, 2006, the attendance record was broken for the third time when the game against Biarritz counted 79,619 spectators. Meanwhile, Paris Saint-Germain had changed its mind and Stade Français were able to rent the Parc des Princes for the game against the Sale Sharks from England in December 2006, which was sold out with 44,100 spectators.
Fans
When Max Guazzini took over the club in 1992, there were very few fans, as Stade Français had practically sunk into insignificance for over half a century. Rugby therefore had to be re-anchored in the minds of Parisians. In the 1996/97 season, before returning to the top division, Guazzini offered free entry to some matches. Even games against insignificant clubs like FC Lourdes attracted over 7,000 spectators to the stadium.
After the rise, all female viewers received free entry to all games for a while. Guazzini said: “I prefer to make 7,000 people happy in our stadium than to play in front of 200 paying guests who only bring in a handful of francs. 20 percent of all rugby players in our country come from the Paris region, our stadium shouldn't be empty. ”The proportion of women among the spectators is above average and is still increasing.
Despite great success in the championship at the end of the 1990s, the club did not yet have a very large following, especially at away games. But after two extremely narrow defeats in the final in the Heineken Cup and in the championship in 2005, the average number of spectators rose again significantly. Today the Stade Jean-Bouin (20,000 seats) is completely sold out even for less important games. A fan club called "Le Virage des Dieux" (Eng. The curve of the gods ) creates a good atmosphere with loud drums and chants. Interest in away games has also increased. But their visit is made difficult by the fact that the closest club - ASM Clermont Auvergne in the city of Clermont-Ferrand - is almost 430 kilometers away. One of the most prominent fans is Bertrand Delanoë , the former mayor of Paris.
image
Stade Français is considered extremely innovative and controversial within the rather slow French rugby scene. Club president Max Guazzini transformed the club into a modern company after the takeover and never hesitates when it comes to drawing media attention to the club. His primary concern is to give the viewers a good show to turn them into regular paying fans. Stade Français was the first French rugby team to use cheerleaders . Other innovations included music before kick-off, the use of bells to signal the end of halves (instead of the traditional sirens), fireworks after evening games or a remote-controlled model car that brings the tee (plastic attachment) to the players before they hit a penalty or perform an increase.
Guazzini's contacts in show business made it possible for superstars such as Madonna and Naomi Campbell to visit some of the games , who were then declared official “godmothers” of the club. Since Guazzini, as the owner of Radio NRJ, also has an extensive network of contacts in the media industry, players from Stade Français can be seen disproportionately often in television programs. Years before Gloria Gaynor's " I Will Survive " was the official song of the 1998 World Cup , this song became the club anthem of Stade Français.
In 2001 the club president had the idea to publish a calendar called “Dieux du Stade” ( gods of the stadium ) (where the word Stade refers to both a stadium and the club). The calendar includes black and white photos of the club's naked players posing in the style of Greco-Roman antiquity , with their genitals cleverly hidden with rugby balls or other items. Since then, a new calendar has been published every year, with players from other teams also being shown in some cases. Some of the proceeds go to charitable purposes. A DVD with a making-of has also been released since 2004 . The calendar is very popular with women and gay men. The 2007 edition sparked controversy as the recordings were more daring than in previous years.
Stade Français is heavily criticized by traditionalists from the rugby strongholds in the southwest, as they see the traditional values of this sport such as modesty and seriousness in danger. The cause of the criticism is, on the one hand, the historical distinction between the capital and the “province”, and on the other hand, the latent skepticism towards everything that comes from Paris. Proponents of the innovative course, on the other hand, welcome the innovations, because it strengthens the position of rugby as the most popular sport after football and this sport loses its image as the “southwestern form of brawl”.
Rivalries
Paris is the cradle of French rugby. Stade Français and Racing Club de France were the only teams to take part in the first championship in 1892. For the first seven years, the championship was held exclusively among Parisian teams. Although Stade Français Paris met Olympique de Paris twice in the final , it was Racing Club de France that became their main competitor. Racing was seen as emphatically aristocratic, while Stade Français also had supporters in the rest of the population.
Another rivalry developed with Stade Bordelais . By 1908, the team from Bordeaux met Stade Français seven times in the final, with the players from the south-west of the country winning five times. The most controversial decision was made on March 31, 1901: Bordeaux had won the game 3-0. Stade Français alleged that the opposing team had used three ineligible players during the season. Stade Bordelais was merged with the Bordeaux Université Club. Three of the new players had not been with the new club for at least three months, as the regulations actually stipulated. The USFSA , the association responsible at the time, ordered the final game to be repeated. But the team from Bordeaux stressed that their honor was at stake and waived. Stade Français was declared the winner.
Bordeaux had to wait three years for a revenge. The final on March 27, 1904 in Saint-Cloud is considered one of the most unfair. The referee was a calm and indifferent Englishman named Billy Williams (who four years later helped the Rugby Football Union to land on what is now Twickenham Stadium ). The players were more preoccupied with kicking the shins and punching the face than they were playing. The audience acknowledged the whole thing with constant boos. One horrified reporter wrote: "I've never seen the violent brawls in the Père Lachaise area, but they probably look something like this." The rivalry between the two clubs was heightened by the large number of players on the national team. When France played their very first international match against the All Blacks from New Zealand in 1906 , five were from Stade Français and four from Stade Bordelais, more than any other club.
Nowadays, Stade Français has no local rivals, apart from Racing 92 . Here, too, the rivalry between the capital and the “province” that prevails in many other situations can be observed. Since the resurrection in the 1990s, Stade Français has practically all the fans of the other teams against them. The most intense rivalry is currently with Stade Toulousain and Biarritz Olympique .
successes
- Master: 1893, 1894, 1895, 1897, 1898, 1901, 1905, 1908, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2015
- Championship finalists: 1896, 1899, 1904, 1906, 1907, 1927, 2005
- Heineken Cup finalist : 2001, 2005
- European Challenge Cup winner : 2017
- Finalist European Challenge Cup : 2011, 2013
- Coupe de l'Espérance finalist : 1916
- Winner Coupe de France : 1999
- Finalist Coupe de France: 1998
Stade Français Paris finals
championship
| date | master | 2nd finalist | Result | place | spectator |
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| March 20, 1892 | Racing Club de France | Stade Français | 4: 3 | Bagatelle, Paris | 2,000 |
| June 19, 1893 | Stade Français | Racing Club de France | 7: 3 | Bécon-les-Bruyères, Courbevoie | 1,200 |
| March 18, 1894 | Stade Français | Inter NOS | 18: 0 | Bécon-les-Bruyères, Courbevoie | 1,500 |
| March 17, 1895 | Stade Français | Olympique de Paris | 16: 0 | Velodrome, Courbevoie | - |
| April 5, 1896 | Olympique de Paris | Stade Français | 12: 0 | Velodrome, Courbevoie | - |
| 1897 | Stade Français | Olympique de Paris | - | - | - |
| 1898 | Racing Club de France | Stade Français | - | - | - |
| April 30, 1899 | Stade Bordelais | Stade Français | 5: 3 | Route du Médoc, Le Bouscat | 3,000 |
| March 31, 1901 | Stade Français | Stade Bordelais | 0: 3 | Route du Médoc, Le Bouscat | - |
| April 26, 1903 | Stade Français | SOE Toulouse | 16: 8 | Prairie des Filtres, Toulouse | 5,000 |
| March 27, 1904 | Stade Bordelais | Stade Français | 3-0 | La Faisanderie, Saint-Cloud | 2,000 |
| April 16, 1905 | Stade Bordelais | Stade Français | 12: 3 | Route du Médoc, Le Bouscat | 6,000 |
| April 8, 1906 | Stade Bordelais | Stade Français | 9-0 | Parc des Princes , Paris | 4,000 |
| March 24, 1907 | Stade Bordelais | Stade Français | 14: 3 | Route du Médoc, Le Bouscat | 12,000 |
| April 5, 1908 | Stade Français | Stade Bordelais | 16: 3 | Stade Yves-du-Manoir , Colombes | 10,000 |
| April 29, 1927 | Stade Toulousain | Stade Français | 19: 9 | Stade des Ponts Jumeaux, Toulouse | 20,000 |
| May 16, 1998 | Stade Français | USA Perpignan | 34: 7 | Stade de France , Saint-Denis | 78,000 |
| July 15, 2000 | Stade Français | US Colomiers | 28:23 | Stade de France, Saint-Denis | 78,000 |
| June 7, 2003 | Stade Français | Stade Toulousain | 32:18 | Stade de France, Saint-Denis | 78,000 |
| June 26, 2004 | Stade Français | USA Perpignan | 38:20 | Stade de France, Saint-Denis | 79,722 |
| June 11, 2005 | Biarritz Olympique | Stade Français | 37:34 a.d. | Stade de France, Saint-Denis | 79,475 |
| June 9, 2007 | Stade Français | ASM Clermont Auvergne | 23:18 | Stade de France, Saint Denis | 79,475 |
| June 13, 2015 | Stade Français | ASM Clermont Auvergne | 12: 6 | Stade de France, Saint Denis | - |
Heineken Cup
| date | winner | 2nd finalist | Result | place | spectator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 19, 2001 | Leicester Tigers | Stade Français | 34:30 | Parc des Princes , Paris | 44,000 |
| May 22, 2005 | Stade Toulousain | Stade Français | 18:12 a.d. | Murrayfield Stadium , Edinburgh | 51,326 |
European Challenge Cup
| date | winner | 2nd finalist | Result | place | spectator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 20, 2011 | Harlequins | Stade Français | 19:18 | Cardiff City Stadium , Cardiff | 12,236 |
| 17th May 2013 | Leinster rugby | Stade Français | 34:13 | RDS Arena , Dublin | 20,396 |
| May 12, 2017 | Stade Français | Gloucester RFC | 19:18 | Murrayfield Stadium , Edinburgh | 24,494 |
player
Current squad
The squad for the 2019/2020 season:
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Front side (forwards) |
Back line (backs) |
Well-known former players
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literature
- Didier Dorsemaine: Le rugby et le Stade Français - des origines à nos jours 1890–1939. Société des Écrivains, 2000. ISBN 2-84434-418-6
- Jean-Louis Galharret: Rugby en capitale - Le Stade français et ses joueurs. Atlantica, 2005. ISBN 2-84394-879-7
- Div. Authors: Stade Français - un club à la une. L'Équipe , 2006. ISBN 2-915535-23-X
Web links
Individual references and comments
- ↑ Match report for the championship final in 1892 ( Memento of the original from November 25, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Press release from Stade Français, September 18, 2019
- ↑ Sport Network report, October 24, 2005
- ↑ Report by L'Humanité, October 7, 1996
- ↑ Report by Paris-Link, October 16, 2006 ( Memento of the original of November 4, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ French rugby clubs storm the Stade de France ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Report from The Telegraph, April 19, 2001
- ↑ Report from Sunday Herald, October 22, 2006 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Match report for the 1904 championship finals ( Memento of the original from November 25, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Only two teams took part in the championship.
- ↑ The championship title was awarded after one round everyone against everyone with five teams. Stade Français finished first with 10 and Olympique de Paris second with 8 points.
- ↑ The championship title was awarded after one round everyone against everyone with six teams. Stade Français finished first with 10 and Racing second with 6 points.
- ↑ Stade Bordelais won the final 3-0. But the USFSA, which organized the competition, canceled the result and ordered a repetition in Paris because Stade Bordelais had used three ineligible players. But the team from Bordeaux refused to participate and Stade Français was declared champions.
- ^ Effectif Pro. SF Paris, accessed November 25, 2019 (French).
