CA Lannemezan (french: Cercle amical lannemezanais) is a French

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

club based in

Lannemezan Lannemezan (; Gascon Occitan ''Lanamesa'', "heath of the middle") is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department and the Occitanie region in south-western France. The inhabitants are called Lannemezanais. Lannemezan is the largest city in ...

in the

Hautes-Pyrénées Hautes-Pyrénées (; Gascon/Occitan: ''Nauts Pirenèus / Hauts Pirenèus'' awts piɾeˈnɛʊs es, Altos Pirineos; ca, Alts Pirineus alts piɾiˈneʊs English: Upper Pyrenees) is a department in the region of Occitania, southwestern France. ...

department. It will join the second level of French professional rugby,

Pro D2 Rugby Pro D2, also known as Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was in ...

, in the upcoming 2009–10 season after winning the 2009 championship of the top amateur level,

Fédérale 1 Le championnat de France de première division fédérale, a.k.a. Fédérale 1, is a French rugby union club competition, the fifth highest level of amateur rugby. The competition has been organised by the Fédération Française de Rugby since 20 ...

History

Although the club was founded in 1913, its current senior side dates only to 2003. In the 1999–2000 season, Lannemezan earned promotion to Pro D2 for the first time, but its promotion was blocked by the

Ligue Nationale de Rugby The French National Rugby League (french: Ligue Nationale de Rugby), known as the LNR, manages the professional rugby sector in France, by delegation of the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the French Rugby Federation. LNR * organises, manages and ...

(LNR), administrator of the French professional leagues. Stadoceste Tarbais, from the nearby community of

Tarbes Tarbes (; Gascon: ''Tarba'') is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region of southwestern France. It is the capital of Bigorre and of the Hautes-Pyrénées. It has been a commune since 1790. It was known as ''Turba'' ...

, which had just earned promotion to the second amateur level,

Fédérale 2 Fédérale 2 is a rugby union club championship division in France. It is the sixth division of rugby above Fédérale 3. Teams can earn promotion to Fédérale 1, and subsequently, to the National 2 and Nationale leagues, and on to the professio ...

, offered a merger. While CAL's board strongly opposed the merger, its president pushed the plan through, and the newly merged Lannemezan Tarbes Hautes-Pyrénées (also known as LT65) took Lannemezan's place in Pro D2, although CAL kept its youth teams and its charter. However, tensions quickly arose between the two merged clubs, exacerbated by the fact that all home games were played in Tarbes. The merged club soon changed its name to

Tarbes Pyrénées Rugby Tarbes Pyrénées Rugby is a French rugby union team that currently takes part in Nationale, the third level of the country's league system. They were founded in August 2000 as a result of a merger between Stadoceste Tarbais and the senior side ...

. In 2003, CAL decided to relaunch its senior side, starting in

Fédérale 3 Fédérale 3 is the seventh division of rugby union in France. The competition involves 226 clubs in 21 pools of 8, and winners can progress up into higher division of competition. The competition above Fédérale 3 is Fédérale 2 and above that, ...

, the third level of French amateur rugby. CAL rose through the amateur ranks and eventually returned to its previous place in Pro D2 in 2009. Stade François Sarrat

Honours

: ** Champions: 2009

External links

CA Lannemezan
- Official site Articles with empty sections from July 2010 All articles with empty sections

Sport in Hautes-Pyrénées Rugby clubs established in 1913 1913 establishments in France {{France-rugbyunion-team-stub