RC Carpentras XIII are a semi-professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

club based in the city of

Carpentras Carpentras (, formerly ; Provençal Occitan: ''Carpentràs'' in classical norm or ''Carpentras'' in Mistralian norm; la, Carpentoracte) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. ...

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Formed in 1938, they play in the

Elite Two Championship Elite 2 (formerly the Elite Two Championship) is the second tier semi-professional rugby league competition in France below Elite 1, but above the National Division 1. The season runs from September to April. The clubs play each other home ...

in France, which is the 2nd tier. Their home ground is the Stade de la Roseraire.

History

The club was founded in 1938 under their original name Racing Club de Carpentras XIII du Comtat. The club competed in the amateur rugby league but at the end of just their second season war broke out and brought an end to French sport. Worse was to come when the

Vichy Government Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...

sanctioned sport to restart but banned rugby league. The club had to change their name to Union Sportive Carpentrassienne and were forced to play rugby union. After the war the club reverted to their original name and gained almost immediate success winning back-to-back amateur titles in 1949 and 1950 in front of regular crowds of between 1,000 and 1,500. The club turned semi-professional in 1951 after their promotion but would have to wait until 1983 to win their next silverware. The National League 1, now called the

was won when they beat

Toulouse Olympique Toulouse Olympique or TO XIII is a professional rugby league club in Toulouse, south-west France. Founded in 1937, two years after the French Rugby League Federation, the club is a six-time winner of the French Rugby League Championship. The cl ...

in the final 14-6. A run to the

Lord Derby Cup The French Rugby League Cup (french: Coupe de France de Rugby à XIII), also called Lord Derby Cup (french: Coupe Lord Derby) after its championship trophy, is the premier knockout competition for the sport of rugby league football in France. The ...

final in 1992 still represents their best run to date. In season 2000-01 they once again lifted the National League 1 title this time beating

RC Albi Racing Club Albi XIII originally called Racing Club Albigeois XIII and more recently also known as Albi Tigers are a semi-professional rugby league team based in Albi in the Occitanie region in southern France. Formed in 1934 the club compete in ...

in the final 20-15 and in 2004 they made it three 2nd tier titles when they beat

UTC 2 UTC+02:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +02:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2020-11-08T23:41:45+02:00. This time is used in: As standard time (year-round) ''Principal cities: Cairo, Pretoria, Cape ...

14-10. None of these victories brought promotion for one reason or another but the following season 2004-05 promotion was secured despite losing the final to

Marseille XIII Marseille XIII was a French rugby league club from the city of Marseille. History Marseille XIII were founded in 1946. The club has only won the French Championship once, in 1949. They have however lost three finals, in 1950, 1952 and 1973. Desp ...

10-12. Top flight finishes followed of 10th, 10th, 5th, 6th and then 8th the last of which sent them back down to the Elite Two Championship in 2011.

Crest

The club's logo is a red

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...

uncannily similar in style to that of the club logo of

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

team the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

; it has only adopted this logo in more recent times.

Stadium

The Stade Municipal (Carpentras) was the club's first stadium. The first rugby league match played in Carpentras came at this ground when it hosted an exhibition game between

RC Roanne XIII Racing Club de Roanne XIII are a French Rugby league club based in Roanne, Loire in the Rhône-Alpes region. The club plays in the Rhône-Alpes League of the French National Division 2. History Racing Club de Roanne XIII were one of the pionee ...

and

Lyon Villeurbanne Lyon Villeurbanne XIII are a semi-professional rugby league club from the town of Lyon, Rhône-Alpes in France. Formed in 1934 they are one of the oldest clubs in France. During the 1950s they won both the league and cup. They currently play in ...

in 1938. The Stade Municipal had a 2,000 capacity of which 300 were seated. In 1947 the club moved to a purpose built rugby ground in the town. The Stade de la Roseraie hosted the 1955

final when

SO Avignon Sporting Olympique Avignon also known as Avignon XIII or SO Avignon are a semi-professional rugby league team based in Avignon in the south of France. They currently play in the Elite One Championship. The club was formed in 1916 and they enjoyed ...

beat

18-10 in front of a record crowd for any rugby match in Carpentras of 11,600. The current capacity is set at 5,000. The ground underwent a major refurbishment in 1997.

Current squad

2019-20 Season *William Afras *Rachid Amehiou - *Raphael Andreuccetti - *Clement Bessac - *Mouadh Bida - *Lionel Comtat - *Atef Darraz - *Danilo Delic - *Gilles Ganz - *Maxime Grosson - *Jimmy Havet - *Nathanael Joubert - *Theo Jourdan - *Iliass Laachiri - *Paulin Llorca *Senan Llorca *Zoran Pesic - *Alexis Rodriguez - *Jordan Rodriguez - *Louis Sagnes - *Thibault Santouhi - *Hechem Sebai *Toby Williams - *Emilien Zanetti *Chafik Zairi

Honours

* National League 1 (Elite Two) (3): 1982-83, 2000–01, 2003–04 * Federal Division (National Division 2) (2): 1948-49, 1949–50 * Coupe Falcou (1): 1948

References

External links

Official siteOfficial forum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carpentras XIII, Racing Club 1947 establishments in France French rugby league teams RC Capentras XIII Rugby clubs established in 1947 Sport in Vaucluse