Rugby Club Toulonnais (), also referred to as Rugby Club Toulon or simply Toulon, is a French professional

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

club based in

Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...

and competing in the

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

. Located on the

French Riviera The French Riviera, known in French as the (; , ; ), is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is considered to be the coastal area of the Alpes-Maritimes department, extending fr ...

, in the

Provence Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...

region, the club plays its home games at the 17,500-capacity Stade Mayol. Founded in 1908, Toulon is one of the most important and widely supported rugby clubs in France. Domestically, the club has won a total of four league titles, two Pro D2 titles and two Challenge Yves du Manoir. In international competitions, Toulon is the only one to have won the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

/ European Rugby Champions Cup three times in a row, and succeeded in winning the league/European cup double in 2014 too. Toulon has also won the EPCR Challenge Cup in 2023 after reaching the final on four occasions. The club established itself as a major force in domestic and European rugby in the 2010s when Jonny Wilkinson, Mathieu Bastareaud, Bakkies Botha,

Matt Giteau Matthew James Giteau (born 29 September 1982) is an Australian rugby union professional player who plays for the San Diego Legion of Major League Rugby (MLR). Giteau plays as a Rugby union positions#Utility players, utility back. His usual posi ...

and other rugby stars played at Mayol under Bernard Laporte's management. A club renowned for its fans fervour and its stadium atmosphere, Toulon has rivalries with

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

and Clermont and has traditionally worn a red and black home kit since its inception. The club's crest features a sprig of

lily of the valley Lily of the valley (''Convallaria majalis'' ), sometimes written lily-of-the-valley, is a woodland flowering plant with sweetly scented, pendent, bell-shaped white flowers borne in sprays in spring. It is native throughout the cool temperate No ...

, symbol of the club's benefactor and

Belle Époque The Belle Époque () or La Belle Époque () was a period of French and European history that began after the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 and continued until the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Occurring during the era of the Fr ...

singer Félix Mayol who used to wear one on his jacket. A few times per season, important matches against major teams are played at the 67,394-capacity Stade Vélodrome located in Marseille away.

History

Rugby Club Toulonnais was founded on 3 June 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 Lyon Olympique Universitaire Rugby or LOU is a French professional rugby union team based in Lyon that currently competes in the Top 14, the highest level of the country's professional league system, having been most recently promoted for the 20 ...

(6–3, 2 tries to 1). The players were greeted by 30,000 people when they returned from

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

, where the final had been held. Toulon remained one of the top French clubs, but they lost four finals scattered over 35 years (1948, 1968, 1971 and 1985). The 1985 extra-time defeat by

Stade Toulousain Stade Toulousain () (), also referred to as Toulouse, is a professional rugby union club based in Toulouse, France. They compete in the Top 14, France's top division of rugby, and the European Rugby Champions Cup. Toulouse is the most successfu ...

left them with many regrets, and playing a spectacular final (36–22) did nothing to alleviate the pain of losing. The Red and Black waited only two more years to finally lay their hands on the Bouclier de Brennus, as they defeated

Racing In sports, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific g ...

at the

Parc des Princes The Parc des Princes (, ) is an all-seater stadium, all-seater football stadium in Paris, France. It is located in the south-west of the French capital, inside the 16th arrondissement of Paris, 16th arrondissement, near the Stade Jean-Bouin (P ...

. The third title came in 1992, against

Biarritz Olympique Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque (; ), usually known simply as Biarritz, is a French professional rugby union team based in the Iparralde, Basque city of Biarritz in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Pyrénées-Atlantiques department of Nouvelle-Aquitaine ...

, in Serge Blanco's last match and last chance to win the title. For eight years, Toulon were 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 Montauban (, ; ) is a commune in the southern French department of Tarn-et-Garonne. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse. Montauban is the most populated town in Tarn-et-Garonne, and the sixth most populated of Oc ...

, as only one club was promoted that year. It took them five more years to do so as Toulon went on to win the Pro D2 title. But despite immense popular support (gates averaged more than 12,000), and much enthusiasm, they managed to win only three games out of 26 and were relegated after only a season.

Toulon signs star players

A new president, Mourad Boudjellal, a '' Toulonnais'' who made his fortune in the

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

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". He signed a high number of first-class players, some of them well above 30, like Jean-Jacques Crenca, Yann Delaigue,

Gonzalo Quesada Gonzalo Quesada (born 2 May 1974) is an Argentine rugby football, rugby coach and former player, who presently works as head coach for the Italy national rugby union team. Playing career Quesada was born May 2, 1974, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. ...

and Dan Luger. He created buzz around the team as he managed to sign former

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

captain Tana Umaga, who arrived in Toulon right after the end of the Air New Zealand Cup on 26 October 2006. The contract was rumoured to be around €300,000 (£200,000), which Boudjellal claimed to pay from his own pocket, for only eight to ten matches. In a 2010 interview, Boudjellal would say about his decision to pursue Umaga, "It was incredible, because we were in the second division and I was speaking with the best player in the world. But he said yes and came to play with Toulon." Boudjellal continued to sign high-profile veteran players, including captain and former all-time international caps leader George Gregan, reportedly paid €400,000 out of Boudjellal's pocket, All Blacks' former all-time scoring leader

Andrew Mehrtens Andrew Philip Mehrtens (born 28 April 1973) is a New Zealand former rugby union player. He was regarded as a top first five-eighth, having played first for Canterbury in 1993, before being selected for the All Blacks (New Zealand's national ...

, and Jonny Wilkinson. Back in Pro D2 for the 2006–07 season, Toulon finish fourth in the league, putting them in the promotion playoffs for a place in the

, but they lost in the promotion semi-finals 21–17 at

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...

. The following season Toulon headed the table from early on, never dropping from the top spot on their way to clinching promotion with two rounds to spare. The 2008–09 season proved to be one of consolidation. Umaga had been handed the coaching reins, but as Boudjellal would later say, "The first season in the Top 14 was very difficult and I learned that Tana Umaga was not yet ready to give up playing – and that he's not a manager." The team managed to survive that season, using a late-season surge to avoid a relegation scare. Toulon had a much more successful 2009–10 campaign, with Wilkinson leading the charge. He would be named the top fly-half of the year in France by leading rugby publication ''Midi Olympique'', and would also be recalled to the England national team. Domestically, Toulon finished second on the league table, losing out to

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ; ) is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales departments of France, department in Southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Me ...

for the top spot on a tiebreaker. This finish gave them a spot in the 2010–11 Heineken Cup, and also a first-round bye in that season's Top 14 playoffs. Toulon's domestic campaign ended in the semi-finals with a 35–29 extra-time loss to eventual champion Clermont in

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

. Toulon's 2009–10 Challenge Cup campaign proved more successful. They finished top of their pool and advanced to the knockout stage, crushing

Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby c ...

38–12 in the quarterfinals and surviving a hard-fought match against

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

19–12. Toulon got their preferred final venue of the Vélodrome on 23 May, where they lost to the

Cardiff Blues Cardiff Rugby () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms Park. Originally formed in 1876, from 2003 to 2021 the first team was known as the Cardiff Blues before rebranding back ...

28–21, missing out on silverware for the season. In May 2013 Toulon won the 2013 Heineken Cup Final by 16–15 against Clermont Auvergne.

Emblem

On the day of his arrival in Paris, on 1 May 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 1 May in France. He pinned it on his lapel, his concert was a success and Mayol, who was superstitious, made the lily-of-the-valley his personal emblem. It was taken up by the rugby club in 1921.

Stadium

In 1920, its

stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

was inaugurated. It is named after Félix Mayol, a very popular concert hall singer from

who had succeeded in Paris in the early 20th century. Shortly after World War I, he purchased what would be the stadium site and donated it to the club. 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.

Charity cross-code matches

The club has played in cross-code charity matches with a half each of rugby union and football. On 18 July 2013 they played

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; , ), also known simply as Marseille, or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional Association football, football club based in Marseille which competes in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top f ...

in the first ever match of the kind at the Stade Mayol to benefit a local charity with Marc Lièvremont and Eric Cantona as the referees in either half, with Olympique de Marseille winning 36–35. Two years later, the club played another such match to benefit a local children's charity at the Stade Mayol against France 98, the charity association team composed of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

winners, and won 33–26. Bernard Laporte served as one of the referees.

Honours

/ European Rugby Champions Cup ** Champions (3):

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

* European Rugby Challenge Cup ** Champions (1):

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

** Runners-up (4):

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

* French championship Top 14 ** Champions (4): 1931,

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

** Runners-up (9):

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

* Challenge Yves du Manoir ** Champions (2): 1934, 1970 ** Runners-up (3): 1939, 1954, 1983 * Pro D2 ** Champions (2):

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

** Runners-up (1): 2001

Finals results

Heineken Cup and European Rugby Champions Cup

European Rugby Challenge Cup

French championship

Challenge Yves du Manoir

Current standings

Current squad

The Toulon squad for the 2024–25 season is:

Espoirs squad

Notable former players

This is a list of former players in alphabetical order showing nationality and the period played for the club.

French

* Marc Andreu (2002–2009) * Mathieu Bastareaud (2011–2019) * Benjamin Bastères (2001–2011, 2022–2023) * Jean Berti * Christian Califano (1990–1991) * Christian Carrère * Éric Champ (1979–1996) * Jean-Jacques Crenca (2006–2007) * Yann Delaigue (1988–1997, 2006–2007) * Christophe Dominici (1993–1997) * Jérôme Gallion (1975–1989) *

André Herrero André Herrero (born January 28, 1938) is a former rugby union player. He played for the French national rugby union team, French Rugby team as a Flanker (rugby union), flanker. Herrero is of Spanish descent. Career Club * RC Toulonnais. He re ...

* Aubin Hueber (1991–2000, 2003–2006) * Jean-Teiva Jacquelain "Academy" (2015–2017) * Benjamin Lapeyre (2010–2013) * Jo Maso (1962–1964) * Eric Melville * Jacques Merquey * Pierre Mignoni (1996–2000, 2009–2011) * Olivier Missoup (2008–2012) * Marc de Rougemont (1991–1998) * Jean-Baptiste Rué (2006–2007) * Thomas Sourice (2000–2012) * Jean-François Tordo

International

* Felipe Contepomi * Matias Cortese * Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe * Juan Martín Hernández * Facundo Isa * Esteban Lozada *

* Nicolás Sánchez * Leonardo Senatore * Fotu Auelua * Quade Cooper * Rocky Elsom *

* George Gregan * Matt Henjak * Noah Lolesio * Salesi Ma'afu * Drew Mitchell * James O'Connor *

Luke Rooney Luke Rooney (born 16 January 1983) is an Australian former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. He played rugby league, becoming an Australia national rugby league team, Australian internation ...

* George Smith * Jone Tawake * Lachlan Turner * Martin Jágr * Delon Armitage * Steffon Armitage * Chris Ashton * Kris Chesney * Joe El-Abd * Nick Kennedy * Dan Luger * Tom May * Paul Sackey * Dean Schofield * Simon Shaw * Matt Stevens * Andrew Sheridan * Jonny Wilkinson * David Ribbans * Sireli Bobo * Sisa Koyamaibole * Gabiriele Lovobalavu * Semi Radradra * Manasa Saulo * Josua Tuisova * Levan Chilachava * Mamuka Gorgodze * Davit Kubriashvili *

Konstantin Mikautadze Konstantin Mikautadze (born 1 July 1991 in Sokhumi, Georgia (country), Georgia) is a Georgian people, Georgian rugby union player. He plays Lock (rugby union), lock for Georgia rugby union team, Georgia on international level. Mikautadze also pla ...

* Ilia Zedginidze * Gia Labadze * Akvsenti Giorgadze * Damien Tussac * Rob Henderson * Paul O'Connell * Martin Castrogiovanni * Santiago Dellapè * Ramiro Pez * Ayumu Goromaru * Christian Loamanu * Jerry Collins *

Malakai Fekitoa Malakai Fonokalafi Fekitoa (born 10 May 1992) is a Tongan professional rugby union player who plays as a centre for United Rugby Championship club Benetton and the Tonga national team. Early life Fekitoa was born in Haʻapai, Tonga. The ...

* Alby Mathewson * Carl Hayman * Chris Masoe * Leicester Fainga'anuku * Ihaia West *

* Liam Messam * Ma'a Nonu * Anton Oliver * Julian Savea * Saimone Taumoepeau * Tana Umaga * Ali Williams *

Sonny Bill Williams Sonny William Williams (born 3 August 1985) is a New Zealand heavyweight boxer, and a former professional rugby league and rugby union player. He is only the second person to represent New Zealand in rugby union after first playing for the cou ...

* Rudi Wulf * Bakkies Botha * Michael Claassens * Eben Etzebeth * Bryan Habana * Cheslin Kolbe * Juandré Kruger *

Victor Matfield Victor Matfield (born 11 May 1977) is a South African former professional rugby union player. He played for and South African rugby union captains, captained the South Africa national rugby union team, South Africa national team (Springboks) as ...

* JP Pietersen * André Pretorius * Danie Rossouw * Lawrence Sephaka * Juan Smith * Marcel van der Merwe * Joe van Niekerk * Duane Vermeulen * Lorne Ward * Radu Demian * Alin Petrache * Alafoti Fa'osiliva * Tusi Pisi * Junior Polu * David Smith * Philip Fitzgerald * Rory Lamont * Makalea Foliaki(Academy) * Jean-Teiva Jacquelain(Academy) * Mafileo Kefu * Samu Manoa *

Leigh Halfpenny Stephen Leigh Halfpenny (born 22 December 1988) is a Welsh rugby union player who plays as a fullback (rugby union), fullback or wing (rugby union), wing for Harlequin F.C., Harlequins in the Premiership Rugby, English Premiership. Halfpenny is ...

* Alun Wyn Jones * Gavin Henson * Gethin Jenkins * Dan Biggar * Jamie Robinson

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rc Toulon

Sport in Toulon 1908 establishments in France