The Standard Athletic Club is a British social club in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...

, created on 1 March 1890, as the first football clubs in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. The Standard Athletic Club won the first French football championship in

1894 Events January–March * January 4 – A military alliance is established between the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire. * January 7 – William Kennedy Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film in the United S ...

, and then again in 1895, 1897, 1898 and 1901. It also represented France for the one and only Cricket match in the 1900 Olympics.

History

The club was founded on 1 March 1890, in the back-room of the "Horse shoe" bar at ''rue Copernic'' in the 8th arrondissement. The club won the first ever Football Championship of France in 1894 and supplied most of the French team that played the only

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

match ever to be held in an Olympiad, at the Paris 1900 Olympic Games. Up to the war, the main sporting activities were football,

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...

, and cricket. The hockey teams played in the national First Division. In its early days, the club was simply a loose association of young Britons who wanted to play sport together in the

bois de Boulogne The Bois de Boulogne (, "Boulogne woodland") is a large public park located along the western edge of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine. The land was ceded to the city of Paris by t ...

, but gradually grew to a size where playing fields were rented in 1906 at the Val d’Or in

Suresnes Suresnes () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. Located in Hauts-de-Seine, from the centre of Paris, it had a population of 49,145 as of 2016. The nearest communes are Nanterre, Puteaux, Rueil-Malmaison, Saint-Cloud a ...

. In 1922, the historic decision to ensure a permanent home for the Club led to the purchase of the present grounds in

Meudon Meudon () is a municipality in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is in the département of Hauts-de-Seine. It is located from the center of Paris. The city is known for many historic monuments and some extraordinary trees. One of t ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the club was taken over and used as a

radar jamming Radar jamming and deception is a form of electronic countermeasures that intentionally sends out radio frequency signals to interfere with the operation of radar by saturating its receiver with noise or false information. Concepts that blanket the ...

station. Just prior to the Liberation of Paris in 1944, the entire top storey was blown up. The new clubhouse was inaugurated by Queen Elizabeth II in 1957 and 1972. The swimming pool was opened in 1962; the golf section made its debut in 1979; and the first squash court was built in 1976. A Standard Athletic Club member was the first squash champion of France.

Honours

*French USFSA Champions (1894–1919) ''(5)'': 1894, 1895, 1897, 1898, 1901 * Founding participant (1 of 32) of

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

in 1917.

References

External links

* Multi-sport clubs in France Cricket at the Summer Olympics Cricket in France Association football clubs established in 1890 1890 establishments in France Sports clubs established in 1890 Football clubs in Paris Sport in Hauts-de-Seine {{Cricket-team-stub