AS Carcassonne

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AS Carcassonne
Image:Carcassonne Rugby League.jpg
Full name Association Sportive
de Carcassonne XIII
Founded 1938
Ground Stade Albert-Domec
Capacity 15,000
CEO Flag of France Aimé Ourliac
Coach Flag of France Patrick Alberola
League French rugby league championship
2006 6th

AS Carcassonne are a semi-professional rugby league football club based in Carcassonne in the south of France. They play in the French rugby league championship and are one of the most successful clubs in French rugby league, having won a total of ten French Championship titles and eleven Lord Derby Cups. In more recent times the club has been less succesful than in the past winning only one Championship in the past twenty-five years and two Lord Derby Cups.

The club was founded in 1938 and to date has produced debatably the best ever French rugby footballer in Puig Aubert. Carcassonne have several long-standing and fierce rivalrys with other local area clubs including Union Treiziste Catalane whom are more commonly known as Les Catalans.

Contents

[edit] History

With the creation of the French rugby league championship in 1934 several rugby league clubs began springing up throughout the French countryside but with a lack of deep south representation local Carcassonne players began putting a team together which eventually came to fruition with the formation of AS Carcassonne in late-1937.

The club was accepted by the French rugby league federation and played its debut season in 1938 and had somewhat of a promising debut year before the Second World War broke out mere months later. This first caused the loss of several players whom joined the French military units but secondly saw the invading German Army take power of the country and together with the French Vichy government place a ban of rugby league as of December 19, 1941.

After the War has subsided somewhat and the Vichy government had lost power, it was agreed that the several remaining clubs of the French championship would again begin competing in annual competition. This saw several new players join the Carcassonne club most notably nineteen year old Puig Aubert; this influx of players would signal both new ambition and success for the southern club whom would go on to win five Championship titles over the next ten years coupled with four Lord Derby Cups.

With the completition of the golden years in early 1950s the club would go through somewhat of lean period where silverwear would evade them for several years until the early-1960s when the club would have a semi-return to their glory days winning back to back Lord Derby Cups and another four French Championships between 1966 and 1976.

Since the completion of the 1977 season the clubs fortunes have taken somewhat of a slide and in the thirty years since then the club has only managed a sole French Championship in 1992 and two Lord Derby Cups in 1982 and 1989.

[edit] Crest

The crest for AS Carcassonne originated when the club decided to design itself a badge that was unique and represented the Carcassonne area. It was subsequently decided to have the city's main feature of the castle-like fortified city appear on the crest; a decision that has proven popular and remained until this day.

[edit] Current squad

No. Position Player
Flag of France WG Lewnis Ait Ouaret
Flag of France CE Cyril Armani
Flag of France SR Sebastien Azema
Flag of France LK Alexandre Ballester
Flag of France CE Frédéric Banquet
Flag of France PR Romaric Bemba
Flag of France WG Patrice Benausse
Flag of France LK Thomas Caffin
Flag of France CE Nicolas Chaboud
Flag of France SR Joris Clement
Flag of France FB Nicolas Expert
No. Position Player
Flag of France SR Sebastien Faure (c)
Flag of France WG Jeremy Guiraud
Flag of France FB François Jovani
Flag of France LK Jerome Laffont
Flag of France HK Mustapha Mafhoudi
Flag of France FE Christophe Moly
Flag of Australia PR Brett O'Farrell
Flag of New Zealand PR Tyronne Pau
Flag of France SR Florent Rouanet
Flag of France HK Teddy Sadaoui
Flag of France HB Gregory Tiquet


[edit] Notable players

  • Puig Aubert: The most notable player to come from the Carcassonne club, Aubert captained both AS Carcassonne and the French national side to glory on many occasions throughout his illustrious career. Originally signed to the club in the 1944 season and would become a vital part of the club's glory years from 1945 to 1953 where the club would go on to win five Championships in nine years. After his professional retirement in the early-1960s Aubert would end up residing in Carcassonne where he eventually would pass away on June 3, 1994 of a heart attack. Later that year the club would honour Aubert with a statue outside of the ground that he played at for the majority of his career.
  • Édouard Ponsinet/Jean Barthe: Two other famous French internationals from the all conquering France side of the 1950s.
  • Christophe Moly/Teddy Sadaoui: The two most recent French international players to come from the AS Carcassonne club.

[edit] Honours

1945, 1946, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1966, 1967, 1972, 1976, 1992
1945-46, 1946-47, 1950-51, 1951-52, 1960-61, 1962-63, 1966-67, 1967-68, 1976-77, 1982-83, 1989-90

[edit] External links


French Rugby League - Elite Championship

AS Carcassonne | Carpentras XIII | Les Catalans | Lézignan Sangliers | Limoux Grizzlies | Lyon Villeurbanne | Marseille XIII | Pia XIII | St Gaudens | Toulouse Olympique | US Villeneuve | Villefranche XIII Aveyron


 
French Rugby League links
Flag of France

Competitions
French Championship | Lord Derby Cup | Challenge Cup | Super League

National side
France

International Competitions
Rugby League World Cup | Rugby League European Nations Cup

In other languages