Noël Brazès, born 18 December 1920 in

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ca, Perpinyà ; es, Perpiñán ; it, Perpignano ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the ...

(

Pyrénées-Orientales Pyrénées-Orientales (; ca, Pirineus Orientals ; oc, Pirenèus Orientals ; ), also known as Northern Catalonia, is a department of the region of Occitania, Southern France, adjacent to the northern Spanish frontier and the Mediterranean Sea. ...

) and died 16 January 2010 in that same city, was 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 ...

player.

Career

Born in Perpignan, Noël Brazès was the son of the writer

Edmond Brazès Edmond Brazès (Céret (Pyrénées-Orientales), 1893 – 10 June 1980) was a French writer in both Catalan and French. He worked as a barber and in his spare time, he wrote poems, tales, theatre plays and memories as a hobby. He worked for 40 y ...

from Céret. He joined the

USA Perpignan Union Sportive Arlequins Perpignanais, also referred to as USA Perpignan or Perpignan, is a French professional rugby union club founded in 1933 and based in Perpignan, in the Pyrénées-Orientales department. They compete in the Top 14, Franc ...

rugby union club in 1935, and remained there as a player until 1952. He became a trainer for the same club during the season 1959-1960, and finally its president from 1975 to 1979. On 26 March 1939, Noël Brazès played his first match in the

France national rugby union team The France national rugby union team () represents France in men's international rugby union and it is administered by the French Rugby Federation. They traditionally play in blue shirts emblazoned with the national emblem of a golden rooster ...

, of which he was the youngest member and while still passing the exams for his

baccalauréat The ''baccalauréat'' (; ), often known in France colloquially as the ''bac'', is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the ''lycée'') by meeting certain ...

. Fabricio Cardenas
Vieux papiers des Pyrénées-Orientales, ''Noël Brazès passe son bac en 1939''
16 January 2015

Honours

* French rugby champion in 1938. * French rugby championship finalist in 1939 and 1952.

References

French rugby union players 1920 births 2010 deaths Sportspeople from Perpignan USA Perpignan players {{France-rugbyunion-bio-stub