The Franco-Prussian War of 1870 ended in embarrassing humiliation for France with Emperor Napoleon III surrendering 104,000 troops at the Battle of Sedan. The victors extracted the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, plus payment of significant war reparations. The result from this catastrophe engendered a national soul-searching in France as to the reasons why.

An aristocrat French Anglophile postulated that one cause for the country’s defeat stemmed from the lack of rugged athleticism in French schools. He believed that sport contributed to camaraderie, fair play, and discipline, attributes that were taught in the public school system of the U.K. He was Baron Pierre Coubertin and he had been influenced by the 1857 novel, Tom Brown's School Days set at Rugby School.

Twice in the 1880s, Coubertin visited Thomas Arnold, the renowned headmaster at Rugby. Here, he witnessed first-hand the boys playing rugger on the school's multiple pitches. This singular experience prompted him to become a proponent that an organized school sport like rugby could prepare young French men for military service. In 1888, Coubertin published a book, L'Éducation en Angleterre, that endorsed Arnold's emphasis on physical education.

In Paris, Coubertin invited friends to play rugby in the Bois de Boulogne. He initiated the first school championship among the leading Paris scholastic institutions. Finally in 1892, under the sponsorship of the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques, Coubertin refereed France's first rugby club championship, a Paris match between Racing Club and Stade Français.

Coubertin is remembered for reviving the Olympic Games in Greece in 1896.

Rise of Regional Rugby

Historically, Paris has always dominated France in its influence of economic and sporting life. But one major regional difference occurred in the 1890s when British wine merchants in Bordeaux introduced rugby into the southern and southwestern areas of the country. From Toulon in the east to Biarritz and Bayonne on the Atlantic Ocean in the west, cities small and large embraced rugby union with enthusiasm.

The social model paralleled the same class differences as northern England where rugby in southern France attracted a group of blue-collar workers and farmers and not school boys or university graduates. Importantly, town and city matches prompted fierce club rivalries among the local populations. In essence, rugby in this area became a sport of the people, and over time, a mania that some classified as a religion. The matches were raucous affairs replete with flag waving and drums. A tradition began called the Third Half, a post-game celebration of communal meals, featuring local wines and regional dishes.

From 1892 to 1912, the Paris-based clubs of Stade Français and Racing Club dominated the French championship, winning ten of twenty titles. But the totals since then reveal the championship ascendance of southern and southwestern clubs: Toulouse (23), AS Béziers (11), Agen (8), Lourdes (8), and Perpignan (7).

History (1900 - 2026)

France won the rugby gold medal at the Paris Olympics in 1900. It collected silver at the Olympiads of Antwerp (1920) and Paris (1924). In 1905, a national team first competed against England. France joined the Home Nations in 1910, creating the Five Nations tournament that was played annually until 2000 when Italy was added to create the current Six Nations event.

By 1920, the country formed the French Rugby Federation (FFR). During this time, the national team - nicknamed Les Bleus - played home matches in Paris at the Parc des Princes and also at the Stade Olympique de Colombes.

In 1931, the Five Nations tournament ousted France from the event, citing reasons related to unchecked on-field violence. The brutality was endemic, receiving the untoward label of rugby de muerte (rugby of death). In addition, French clubs paid lip service to maintaining mandatory amateur status, offering disguised cash payments for fictitious jobs and embracing professionalism. During its expulsion from the Home Nations, Les Bleus had to find opponents from Europe's lesser rugby-playing countries like Germany, Italy, and Romania.

France returned to the Five Nations in 1947, finishing in third place that year. It has recorded 20 Five/Six Nations tournament wins or ties with all victories coming after reinstatement. France is hailed for a playing style known as "French Flair," also referred to as "Champagne Rugby," a free-flowing attack with multiple offloads.

The national rugby training facilities, and also headquarters for the FFR, is located in Marcoussis, 18 miles south of Paris. The 49-acre complex features five pitches, a training gym, medical facilities, residences, and dining halls.

Facts List

• France lost three World Cup finals (1987, 1999, 2011);
• Test Matches are played at Stade de France (81,000);
• Kit is blue jersey with red rooster logo (le coq) and white pants;
• First Women's rugby Association (1969/1970), The Association Française de Rugby Féminin (AFRF);
• Players total near 400,000;
• Famous rugby stars include Serge Blanco, Thierry Dusautoir, Sébastien Chabal, and Antoine Dupont;
• Premier League is called the Top 14;
• Franck Mesnel, former national star, founded a men's clothing company called Eden Park (New Zealand stadium) which features buttons in the shape of rugby balls;
• Masculinity in France defined as le rugbyman; and,
• William Webb Ellis is buried in Menton on the eastern border with Italy.