The Stade Mayol is a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy tha ...

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

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 ...

. It is currently used mostly for

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 ...

matches and is the home stadium of

RC Toulonnais Rugby Club Toulonnais (), also known as RCT but usually Toulon; oc, Rugbi Club Tolonenc) is a French professional rugby union club based in Toulon in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. A current participant in the first-tier Top 14 competition, they ...

. The stadium is able to hold 17,500 people. It is one of the few French stadiums to be embedded in the city and surrounded by high buildings. It was built at the foot of the Mont Faron, the hill on which Toulon is partly built, and overlooks the Toulon military harbour (''La Rade'') on the Mediterranean.

History

It is named after

Félix Mayol Félix Mayol (18 November 1872 – 26 October 1941) was a French singer and entertainer. Career Mayol was born in Toulon, France. His parents, amateur singers and actors, arranged for Felix to make his debut stage at six years of age. In 1895, ...

, a very popular concert hall singer from Toulon who had succeeded in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in the early 20th century. A true-blue city boy, he offered to buy a piece of land for the club on which the stadium would be built. And so he did. He gave his personal money and gave up the rights on some of his songs to raise the rest. The least that could be done was to give the place the name of its generous patron. It was inaugurated on March 28, 1920 by the mayor of Toulon and Félix Mayol himself. A cross-country race was organised, as well as a soccer match between Stade Raphaëlois from Saint-Raphaël and the RC Toulon football team (4-0) and a rugby match between RCT and TOEC from Toulouse (3-3).

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

and

Wallaby A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized Macropodidae, macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same Taxonomy (biology), taxon ...

tourists played matches there against regional South-East selections.

Fans

The atmosphere is famous for a specific chant called ''Pilou pilou'', created at the end of the 1940s by a club player, Marcel Bodrero, which describes the Toulon players as terrible primitive warriors coming down from the mountain towards the sea (exactly what Toulon's topography is). A cheerleader leads the chants and asks fans to answer and repeat the words. It generally comes up when players get on the pitch, then early in the game and also when the team's forwards, the club's historical ''forte'', start to dominate. The chant may also occasionally be heard after the game. The club president

Mourad Boudjellal Mourad Boudjellal (born 5 June 1960) is a French businessman, founder of Soleil Productions comic publishing and sport manager. He was born on 5 June 1960 in Ollioules, near Toulon, on the French Riviera. Presidency of Toulonnais In 2006, Bou ...

famously led the ''Pilou pilou'' after a Toulon home victory over Racing Métro in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

that secured Toulon's promotion to the Top 14.

References

{{Top 14 Venues Mayol Mayol Sport in Toulon Multi-purpose stadiums in France Sports venues in Var (department) Buildings and structures in Toulon Sports venues completed in 1920