Rugby union in France

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 France 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 Football Board (IRFB). It included the national teams of Italy, France, Catalonia, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Germany.

In 1978, the FFR became a member of the IRFB, known from 1998 to 2014 as the International Rugby Board (IRB) and since November 2014 as World Rugby. In 1995, the same year that rugby union became a fully professional sport, FIRA officially recognised the IRFB as the worldwide governing authority for the sport and turned itself into an exclusively European governing body. FIRA adopted its current name of Rugby Europe in 2014.

Romania versus France at the Inter-Allied Games of 1919

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,[2] which played a hybrid form of football, a cross between rugby football and association football, called "combination".

The English Taylors RFC, which was formed by British businessmen in Paris in 1877, was followed by Paris Football Club a year later. Racing Club de France was formed in 1882 and their rivals Stade Français in 1883. On 20 March 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.[3] 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 again participated in rugby at the 1924 Summer Olympics – the last time 15-player rugby would be played as an Olympic sport – where the United States successfully defended their title.

The French rugby union was ousted from the Five Nations championship on charges of player violence and professionalism in 1932. In 1934, Rugby league was introduced to France, half a century after the amateur code had established itself in the country.[4] Also in 1934, FIRA (Federation of Amateur Rugby) was founded by Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Catalonia (Spain), and Sweden. During the second World War, the French Rugby Union actively collaborated with the Vichy Regime to have Rugby League banned. In so doing, the Rugby Union were handed all of the vast assets built up by the French Rugby League since 1934. As of 2023, these assets have not been returned to the Rugby League. In 1939, France was re-invited to participate in the following year's Home Nations tournament, but the onset of the Second World War put all international rugby on hold. The first post-war Five Nations championship took place in 1947, and was the first top-level rugby tournament France had played in since 1931.

In 1978, the FFR joined what is now known as World Rugby. 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.[5] 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, and the country also hosted the 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup.

Rugby union is more popular in the South of France, whilst in the North of the country, association football can be viewed as the leading code. There are 1,737 clubs in France and the number of licensed players has significantly increased over the recent years, reaching 390,000 in 2010 (up from 260,000 in 2000).[6]

In 2010, the all-French final of the Heineken Cup between Toulouse and Biarritz in the Stade de France received 3.2 million viewers on France 2.[7] In 2011, the final of the Top 14 gathered 4.4 million viewers on France 2 and Canal+[8] and the World Cup final between New Zealand and France gathered 15.4 million viewers on TF1, the highest audience on French TV since the start of the year.[9]

France, nicknamed Les Bleus (The Blues), is a top tier nation, as cited by World Rugby. The French style of play, nicknamed the "French flair," is renowned for its paradoxical combination of rugged physicality and inspired grace.

France compete in the Six Nations Championship annually.

Although France have never won the Rugby World Cup, they have appeared in the final match in 1987, 1999 and 2011 Rugby World Cup – losing twice to New Zealand, in 1987 and 2011, and once to Australia, in 1999. France have appeared in the semi-finals at every tournament except for 1991, 2015, 2019 and 2023 where they were knocked out in the quarter-final stage.

France's National Rugby Centre located in Marcoussis.

The National Rugby Centre (in French, Centre National du Rugby or CNR) was opened by then French president Jacques Chirac in November 2002.[11] The facility cost GP£46 million (approx. €68 million, c.2007), and is located in the village of Marcoussis, south of Paris.[11][12]

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.[13] 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 CNR, and provide regular opposition for the France national team during training.[13]

CNR Marcoussis was the venue for the 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup pool stages and for the lesser matches in the knockout stage.[14]

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 Rugby Championship, between Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.[15]

Matches from the Pro D2 are broadcast by Sport+, Eurosport and France 3 for local derbies

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rugby union in France.

• List of rugby union clubs in France
• Sport in France
• Rugby league in France

• (in French) FFR.fr
• (in French) Rugby World Cup
• (in French) L'Équipe's rugby website
• 100 years of French Test rugby: part one
• 100 years of French Test rugby: part two