RC Toulonnais

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Toulon
Full name	Rugby Club Toulon
Founded	1908
Location	Toulon, France
Ground	Stade Mayol
Capacity	13,700
President	Gilbert Doucet
Coach	Edmond Jorda
League	Pro D2
Top14 2005-06	14th
Home colours		Away colours

RC Toulonnais (also known as RC Toulon or just Toulon) are a French professional rugby union based in Toulon in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. They currently play in the second division of French rugby, in the Rugby Pro D2 competition, below the Top 14. They have won the national competition on three occasions in the past.

The club were established in 1908. Toulon play their home games at the Stade Mayol which has a capacity of 13,670. The club colours are red and black. Toulon were Pro D2 champions in 2005, but after finishing 14th in the 2005-06 Top 14 season, they were relegated back down. After signing a number of high profile footballers, including Tana Umaga, the club are working to get back into the Top 14.

Contents 1 History 2 Current season 3 Emblem 4 Stadium 5 Honours 6 Finals results 6.1 French championship 6.2 Challenge Yves du Manoir 7 Famous players 8 References 9 External link

[edit] History

The Rugby Club Toulonnais was founded on June 3 1908 as a merger of Étoile Sportive Varoise and members of the Stade Varois, a club based in nearby La Seyne-sur-Mer. It took the club 23 years to reach the top of French rugby, when they won the 1931 championship against Lyon Olympique Universitaire (6-3, 2 tries to 1). 30,000 people joined the players when they returned from Bordeaux, where the final had been played, and the town went crazy for several days.

Toulon remained one of the top French clubs, but they lost four consecutive finals scattered over 35 years (1948, 1968, 1971 et 1985). The 1985 extra-time defeat by Stade Toulousain left them with a lot of regrets, and playing in the most spectacular final ever (36-22) did nothing to alleviate the pain of losing. The Red and Black only waited two more years to finally lay their hands on the Bouclier de Brennus, as they defeated Racing at the Parc des Princes. The third title came in 1992, against Biarritz Olympique, in Serge Blanco’s last match and last chance to win the title.

For eight years, Toulon was not particularly successful and were in heavy financial trouble (a 10 million franc deficit) forced the Ligue Nationale de Rugby to demote them to the Second Division in July 2000. The club missed an immediate return the next year, going down in the final to Montauban, as only one club was promoted that year. It took them five more years to do so as RCT went on to win the Pro D2 title. Unfortunately, despite immense popular support (gates averaged more than 12,000), and a lot of enthusiasm, they only managed to win three games ou of 26 and were relegated after only a season.

A new president, Mourad Boudjellal, a born-and-bred Toulonnais who made his fortune in the comic strip business, promised to build a huge team. He said: "I invented the Top 15, with a team that could be competitive in the Top 14”.^[1] He signed a high number of first-class players, some of them well above 30, like Jean-Jacques Crenca, Yann Delaigue, Gonzalo Quesada and Dan Luger. He created a lot of buzz around the team as he managed to sign former All Black captain Tana Umaga, who arrived in Toulon right after the end ot the Air New Zealand Cup on Oct. 26, 2006. The contract has been rumoured to be around €300,000 (£200,000), which Boudjellal claims to pay from his own pocket, for only 8 to 10 matches.

[edit] Current season

Finding themselves back in Pro D2, Toulon started the season off with a bang, thumping Stade Montois 49-12 in a clinical display which saw them score six fantastic tries. In their next match they had a shock loss to Oyonnaxand would go on to lose every league away match until Racing Métro 92 Paris, where a Tana Umaga inspired Toulon ran in four tries. They will be looking to now have a long winning run in order to bounce back to the Top 14.

[edit] Emblem

On the day of his arrival in Paris, on May 1, 1895, just before his first concert, Félix Mayol was met by a female friend at the station, who gave him some lily-of-the-valley, a flower people traditionally exchange on May 1 in France. He pinned it on his lapel, his concert was a success and Mayol, who was pretty superstitious, made the lily-of-the-valley his personal emblem. As a matter of fact, the bunch on the emblem bears 13 bells. It was taken up by the rugby club in 1921.

[edit] Stadium

Main article: Stade Mayol

In 1920, its stadium was inaugurated. It is named after Félix Mayol, a very popular concert hall singer from Toulon who had succeded in Paris in the early 20. century. It is one of the few French stadiums to be almost completely surrounded by the city and overlooks the Toulon bay and military harbour in the Mediterranean.

[edit] Honours

• French championship:
  • Champions: 1931, 1987, 1992
  • Runners-up: 1946, 1968, 1971, 1985, 1989

• Challenge Yves du Manoir
  • Champions: 1934, 1970
  • Runners-up: 1939, 1954, 1983

• Rugby Pro D2
  • Champions: 2005
  • Runners-up: 2000

[edit] Finals results

[edit] French championship

Date	Winners	Runners-up	Score	Venue	Spectators
10 May 1931	RC Toulon	Lyon OU	6-3	Parc Lescure, Bordeaux	10,000
18 April 1948	FC Lourdes	RC Toulon	11-3	Stade des Ponts Jumeaux, Toulouse	29,753
16 June 1968	FC Lourdes	RC Toulon	9-9 AP	Stadium Municipal, Toulouse	28,526
16 May 1971	Béziers	RC Toulon	15-9 AP	Parc Lescure, Bordeaux	27,737
25 May 1985	Toulouse	RC Toulon	36-22 AP	Parc des Princes, Paris	37,000
22 May 1987	RC Toulon	Racing Club de France	15-12	Parc des Princes, Paris	48,000
27 May 1989	Toulouse	RC Toulon	18-12	Parc des Princes, Paris	48,000
6 June 1992	RC Toulon	Biarritz	19-14	Parc des Princes, Paris	48,000

[edit] Challenge Yves du Manoir

Year	Winner	Score	Runner-up
1934	Stade Toulousain RC Toulon	0-0 (tied, joint winners)
1939	Section Paloise	5-0	RC Toulon
1954	FC Lourdes	28-12	RC Toulon
1970	RC Toulon	25-22	SU Agen
1983	SU Agen	29-7	RC Toulon

[edit] Famous players

• Jean Berti
• André herrero
• Eric Champ
• Yann Delaigue
• Jérôme Gallion
• Jo Maso
• Marc De Rougemont
• Eric Melville
• Christophe Dominici
• Tana Umaga (New Zealand)

[edit] References

1. ^ Umaga, l'incroyable transfert. rugbyhebdo.fr. Retrieved on 4 November 2006.

[edit] External link

• Official site