The Standard Athletic Club is a British

social club A social club or social organization may be a group of people or the place where they meet, generally formed around a common interest, occupation or activity with in an organizational association known as a Club (organization), club. Exampl ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, created on 1 March 1890, as the fourth

football club In association football, a football club (or association football club, alternatively soccer club) is a sports club that acts as an entity through which association football teams organise their sporting activities. The club can exist either as ...

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 ...

, the oldest one being

Le Havre AC Le Havre Athletic Club () is a French professional association football club based in Le Havre, Normandy. The football club was founded in 1894 as a section of the sports club of the same name, founded in 1884. Le Havre plays in Ligue 1, the ...

. The Standard Athletic Club won the first French football championship in

1894 Events January * January 4 – A military alliance is established between the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire. * January 7 – William Kennedy Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film in the United States. * Ja ...

, and then again in 1895, 1897, 1898 and 1901. It also represented France for the one and only cricket match in the Olympic Games.

History

The club was founded on 1 March 1890, in the back-room of the "Horse shoe" bar at ''rue Copernic'' in the 8th arrondissement. The club won the first ever Football Championship of France in 1894 and supplied most of the French team that played the only

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

match ever to be held in an Olympiad, at the Paris 1900 Olympic Games. Up to the war, the main sporting activities were

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

, and cricket. The hockey teams played in the national First Division. In its early days, the club was simply a loose association of young Britons who wanted to play sport together in the

bois de Boulogne The Bois de Boulogne (, "Boulogne woodland") is a large public park that is the western half of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine. The land was ceded to the city of Paris by the Em ...

, but gradually grew to a size where playing fields were rented in 1906 at the Val d’Or in

Suresnes Suresnes () is a commune in the western inner suburbs of Paris, France. Located in Hauts-de-Seine, from the centre of Paris, it had a population of 49,482 as of 2020. Suresnes borders the Bois de Boulogne in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, ...

. In 1922, the historic decision to ensure a permanent home for the Club led to the purchase of the present grounds in

Meudon Meudon () is a French Communes of France, commune located in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region, on the left bank of the Seine. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of P ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the club was taken over and used as a

radar jamming Radar jamming and deception is a form of electronic countermeasures (ECMs) that intentionally sends out radio frequency signals to interfere with the operation of radar by saturating its receiver with noise or false information. Concepts that blan ...

station. Just prior to the

Liberation of Paris The liberation of Paris () was a battle that took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the German garrison surrendered the French capital on 25 August 1944. Paris had been occupied by Nazi Germany since the signing of the Armisti ...

in 1944, the entire top storey was blown up. The new clubhouse was inaugurated by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

in 1957 and 1972. The swimming pool was opened in 1962; the golf section made its debut in 1979; and the first squash court was built in 1976. A Standard Athletic Club member was the first squash champion of France.

Honours

* French USFSA Champions (1894–1919) ''(5)'': 1893–94, 1894–95, 1896–97, 1897–98, 1900–01 * Founding participant (1 of 32) of Coupe de France in 1917–18.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.saclub.org, Standard Athletic Club official website Multi-sport clubs in France Cricket at the Summer Olympics Cricket in France Association football clubs established in 1890 1890 establishments in France Sports clubs and teams established in 1890 Football clubs in Paris Sport in Hauts-de-Seine