The Saint-Gaudens Bears are a 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 town of
Saint-Gaudens, in the
Haute-Garonne
Haute-Garonne (; oc, Nauta Garona, ; en, Upper Garonne) is a department in the Occitanie region of Southwestern France. Named after the river Garonne, which flows through the department. Its prefecture and main city is Toulouse, the country's ...
region of south-western France. They play in the
Elite One Championship. The club was formed in 1958. They have won the
French rugby league championship on four occasions and lifted the
Lord Derby Cup three times. Their home ground is the
Stade Jules Ribet.
History
The club was founded in 1958 as Racing Club Saint-Gaudinois Comminges XIII. It was during the 1960s and early 1970s that they enjoyed their best spell. Having been runners up in the league on four occasions 1963, 66, 67 and 69 they finally won it in 1970 when they beat the favourites
XIII Catalan
XIII Catalan is a rugby league team from Perpignan in the Pyrénées-Orientales region of southern France. They were founded in 1934, and thus were founding members of the French rugby league championship. In 2000 their senior team merged with n ...
33–10. Two more runners up spots in 1971 and 72 showed that they were consistent if not successful. In 1973 they lifted the cup in their first appearance in the final, beating
AS Carcassonne
Association Sportive of Carcassonne are a semi-professional rugby league football club based in Carcassonne in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie in the south of France. They play in the French Elite One Championship and a ...
on their own ground 22–8. The following season brought more silverware when they won the title again. There then followed a lean period, in fact it would be 27 years before any more success occurred but in that season of 1990-91 they registered a league and cup double. In the cup they beat
Pia XIII
The Baroudeurs de Pia XIII, later known as the Pia Donkeys, are a French Rugby league team based in Pia, Pyrénées-Orientales in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. The ''Baroudeurs'' play in the Elite Two Championship during their existence they ...
30-4 and the league was won thanks to a 10–8 win against
US Villeneuve. They retained the cup the following season beating
RC Carpentras 22–10 in the final. The league title was won again in 2004 a year after finishing runner up. The 2004 final in Perpignan was won against
Union Treiziste Catalane 14–10. A steady decline began after this and the club finished bottom of the league in both 2009 and 2010 escaping relegation but in 2011 the club was relegated to 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 ...
After five seasons in the 2nd tier they were promoted back to the top division when the league was increased.
Stadium
The club have always played at the
Stade Jules Ribet. Rugby had been played at the venue since 1898, it currently has a main stand that seats 2,000 with a total capacity of 5,000. On 23 November 2011 the ground hosted an under 19 game between France and the touring Australians the visitors winning 40-12
Current squad
Squad for 2021-22 Season
Honours
* French Rugby League Championship (4): 1969–70, 1973–74, 1990–91, 2003-4
* Lord Derby Cup (3): 1973, 1991, 1992
References
French rugby league teams
Sport in Haute-Garonne
1958 establishments in France
Rugby clubs established in 1958
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