List committees of French Rugby

France of the Rugby to XV is divided into territorial committees (26 committees metropolitan and 7 committees overseas), made up as a associations law of 1901, and charged promoting the development of Rugby in all its forms (to 15, 7, female, school etc) and with managing on their territory the 1 687 clubs, 224 000 players and players laid off, 30 000 leaders, regional competitions of the young people to the veterans, 2 000 referees, sanctions etc They are the direct emanation of the French federation of Rugby and act under its authority.

Their existence under the aegis of FR goes back to 1920, when the French federation of Rugby was founded (October 11th, 1920). These regional committees depended on USFSA founded in January 1887 which had started to organize the Rugby of club. The first regional committee was that of South-west, founded in 1893, followed committee of the South, founded on January 2nd, 1897, then that of founded South-east on January 28th, 1897. Until 1914, only the champions of the committees took part in the championship of France. From 1920, date of resumption of the championship, according to their importance, the regional committees several had qualified for the championships of France (2 qualified in the Pyrenees in 1921 for example).

Until 1933, the committees decided partipations with the various championships of France, choosing such or such club to represent them, in contradiction sometimes with the results achieved on the ground at the time of the regional competitions. It is one of the reasons of the formation of the Armagnac-Bigorre committee (see below).

Each committee has representative selections which clash in various competitions of the young people to the seniors, like the Challenge of the Committees (players of less than 26 years) and the Cut of the Federation. The best of them in the seniors takes part in the Coupe of Europe of the Areas.

The territorial committees chapeautent 106 departmental committees, called followed CD number of the department (ex: MINOR ROAD 34 = Departmental committee of Herault). The purpose of their relatively recent creation (the Nineties especially) was to take note of the development of Rugby. They succeeded the departmental delegations which had installation at the liking of the appearance of the clubs. Each committee counts several departmental committees (except for the Roussillon which recovers the department exclusively the the Eastern Pyrenees, and of the committees of overseas).

The two most powerful committees are Ile-de-France and the Midday-Pyrenees .

At the time of its congress of 2007, FR announced the nearest creation of two new committees in Picardy and the Champagne-Ardennes, which should bite mainly on the Ile-de-France.

(Primary sources: site of FR, sites of the committees, Olympic Midday.)

Borders and modifications

The borders of the committees are sometimes mysterious and only correspond very imperfectly to the areas of the country. In the north of the Loire, certain committees exceed the administrative borders of the areas (the Flandres , the Ile-de-France , or the Normandy which gathers the two areas Basse-Normandie and High-Normandy). In the south, they recover rugbystic realities of the soils, the history of the interregional confrontations and the praticity of displacements, more than those of the administration. Certain departments are cut into two, or three. Sometimes, only one or two clubs “is taken” and transferred in a committee different from their department of fastening. Many clubs passed from a committee to another during their history. Only the FR can decide modifications.

Certain departments are shared between several territorial committees:

Three departments

the Dordogne: Coast of Money , the Limousin and Périgord-Resident of Agen
Moors: Coast of Money , Coast Basque-Moors and Béarn

Two departments

Aisne: Flandres and Ile-de-France
Hautes-Alpes: the Alps and Provence .
Cantal: the Limousin and Auvergne . Until 1993, the Cantal did not have departmental committee, because of the low number of clubs (2 in 1958,12 only in 2006).
Corrèze : the Limousin and Auvergne
Isere: the Alps and Lyons
Haute-Loire: Auvergne and Drôme-Ardeche
Batch: the Midday-Pyrenees and Périgord-Resident of Agen
Haute-Marne: Ile-de-France and Burgundy
Yrénées-Atlantiques: Coast Basque-Moors and Béarn

Contrary, the Roussillon represents only the the Eastern Pyrenees, while the Béarn corresponds only to the Eastern half of the department of the Yrénées-Atlantiques.

History

Of 1897 to 1906, the Comité of the South covered Languedoc and the Pyrenees. But its territory being too wide (14 departments) within sight of the number of clubs, it was divided into two: the committee of the the Pyrenees (today the Midday-Pyrenees) was founded on May 20th, 1906 and the committee of the Languedoc on March 19th, 1906.

In 1912, the committee of the the Pyrenees was divided into two following a competition exacerbated between the Stadoceste tarbais and the Stade Toulousain. The championship of France did not accommodate whereas only one club by committee, chosen by this one. However, while at the same time the Stadoceste tarbais had gained the championship of the Pyrenees in 1910 and 1911, it is Toulouse which was selected. February 11th, 1912, in Sarrouilles, the ground tarbais, for the return match of the championship of the Pyrenees of first series, the “Stado” and the Stade Toulousain make tie 3 to 3, under the gibes and the insults of the public tarbais. Incidents burst in the platforms and the referee must leave the ground under the protection of the gendarmes to horse. Winner with the match outward journey, the Stade Toulousain recovers his championship of the Pyrenees and represents the committee in championship of France (which it will gain besides vis-a-vis Racing club of France). Because of the incidents of Tarbes, the Committee of the Pyrenees decides to suspend the ground of Sarrouilles for three years. May 14th, 1912, the Council of the USFSA, chaired by Mr. Duvignau de Lanneau, decides in the urgency to exclude from the committee of the Pyrenees the departments of Gers and the Hautes-Pyrénées. July 3rd, and after lifting of the sanctions taken with regard to Stadoceste, the new committee Armagnac and Bigorre is born during its assembly constitutive under the presidency of ex-Toulouse of the SOET (Olympian Stage of the Toulouse students), the veterinary surgeon Maurice Trélut.

In 1929, resulting from Languedoc, was created the committee of the Roussillon (department of the Eastern Pyrenees).

In 1942, the Roussillon is again joined together with the Languedoc .

Until 1942, a committee of the Center covered the following departments: Puy-de-Dôme, Haute-Loire, Lozere, Aveyron, Batch, as well as part of Corrèze and Cantal. It was then cut up between Auvergne, Languedoc, and the Midday-Pyrenees.

the committee Auvergne appears in 1942 with the Puy-de-Dôme, the Cantal and the Haute-Loire.

In 1950, the Roussillon took again its independence, while the committee of Languedoc found its old form (Aude, Herault, Lozere (which leaves Auvergne), districts of Millau and Saint-Affrique in the Aveyron and those of the Vigan and of Alès in the Gard).

Simplifications were carried out in the years 1980 and 1990 to facilitate management.

In 1984, the Languedoc takes its current form (Aude, Herault, Lozere).

the committee Drôme-Ardeche is founded on May 14th, 1986, by the incorporation of the clubs of the two departments which were distributed hitherto between the Alps, the Lyonese and Provence.

the committee of Ile-de-France lost the load of Soissons (Aisne), returned to the Flandres , but preserved Castle-Thierry.

Saint-Claude (the Jura) left the Lyonnais to return to the Franche-Comté .

Until 1982, the two clubs of the Hautes-Alpes depended on the the Alps , when Rugby Gapençais Club joined the committee of Provence . Briançon is him remained with the the Alps.

the committee Charentes-Poitou became Poitou-Charentes to harmonize itself with the administrative denomination of the area to which it corresponds exactly.

Holy-Menehould (the Marne), managed by the Alsace-Lorraine , was transferred in Ile-de-France .

Aurillac returned in Auvergne after having depended on the the Limousin .

Gex was the only club of Ain to be depended on the the Alps . It was replaced in the Lyonnais .

the cantons of Gourdon and Puy-l' Évêque (Batch) left the Midday-Pyrenees to pass by again in Périgord-Resident of Agen .

the club of Ciotat (Rhone delta) belonged to the committee of the Littoral (from now on Riviera ) before returning to the Provence .

the Corsica depended a long time on this same committee of the Littoral before becoming an independent committee.

Committees having changed name

the Atlantique (Loire-Atlantique, Maine-et-Loire, Mayenne, the Vendée) became the committee of the Pays of the Loire (same borders as the area). It recovered the the Sarthe which depended before on the Normandy .

the committee Côte Basque-Moors was called a long time committee Côte Basque .

the Orléanais became committee of the Center to the beginning of the year 1990 by losing the part of the Nievre which was under its responsibility. This committee covers from now on the equivalent of the administrative area of the Center.

the committee of the Littoral became committee of Riviera in 1985.

Curiosities

the committee Alsace-Lorraine accommodates the Rugby Club of Luxembourg in its competitions, but this one does not have the right to possibly take part in the final stages leading to the championships of France.

the committee Riviera accommodates the club of the ACE Monaco.

the club of Andorre (VPC Andorra Rugby XV) was accommodated by FR with the beginning of the year 1990, initially by the committee of the Roussillon , then in the middle of the years 1990, by the Midday-Pyrenees (departmental committee of Ariège).

the Territory-of-Belfort counts only one “half-club”, the Rugby Belfort-Montbeliard Club, which evolves/moves partly in Doubs.

the committee of the Languedoc does not have territorial continuity, because Lozere is separated from Herault and the Aude by Gard (see chart).

the departmental committee MINOR ROAD 64 (Yrénées-Atlantiques) is divided between the territorial committee of the Béarn and that of Côte Basque-Moors (more precisely the Basque part of the Yrénées-Atlantiques).

the club of Aire-sur-l'Adour is the only club of the Moors belonging to the committee of the Béarn .

the committee of the Béarn is more the metropolitan small committee.

List committees of Metropolitan France and territories covered (by department)

NB: the figures concerning the clubs and the bachelors are likely to vary (figures stopped at May 31st, 2007. The total of the clubs of each committee does not correspond inevitably to the number of clubs per department in waiting of detailed informations).

The Alps

Alsace-Lorraine

Armagnac-Bigorre

Auvergne

Béarn

Burgundy

Brittany

Center

Corsica

Money coast

Riviera

Coast Basque-Moors

Drôme-Ardeche

Flandres

Franche-Comté

the total is of 21 and not of 22, a club being with horse on Doubs and Territory-of-Belfort (RC Belfort-Montbeliard).

Ile-de-France

Languedoc

The Limousin

Lyonese

The Midday-Pyrenees

Normandy

Country of the Loire

Périgord-resident of Agen

Poitou-Charentes

Provence

Roussillon

Committees overseas

Guadeloupe

Martinique

Guyana

The Meeting

Mayotte

New Caledonia

Wallis-and-Futuna

External bonds

Chart of the committees of FR (partly false: The Ardennes, Yrénées-Atlantiques for example)

Figures of the bachelors (in the Letter of the Committees (publication of FR), p.4)

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