Union Athlétique Gaillac 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 currently competing in the

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, ...

league, the third level of the French amateur league system, after having been forcibly relegated from the second level of the French professional league due to serious financial problems. The club, founded in 1901, is based in the small town of

Gaillac Gaillac (; ) is a commune in the Tarn department in southern France. It had in 2013 a population of 14,334 inhabitants. Its inhabitants are called Gaillacois. Geography Gaillac is a town situated between Toulouse, Albi and Montauban. It has g ...

, in southwestern France, in the

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

of Tarn, some 70 km northeast of

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

. They play their home games at ''Stade Laborie-Bernard Laporte'', which was inaugurated in 1909. Their current coach is Alain Gaillard.

History

The club was founded as ''Stade Gaillacois'' and was only the third rugby union club in Tarn. In 1905, it became ''Stade Athlétique Gaillacois'' and in 1910 ''Union Sportive Gaillacoise''. In 1940, the French rugby federation cancelled the championship and the club was forced out of business, but a new club was founded, ''Union Athlétique Gaillacoise'', with rugby, football, boxing, tennis, athletics, swimming and volleyball sections. In 1948, the club associated with the local train workers and became ''Union Athlétique des Cheminots (Railwaymen) de Gaillac''. In 1950, the club reverted to its former name. Gaillac was always in the lower divisions of the southwest rugby leagues until it managed to reach the lowest level of the national championship in 1968. It was relegated a few years after and had to wait until 2001 to join the highest level of amateur rugby called Fédérale 1. In 2006, finally, Gaillac reached the second professional division,

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 ...

, after winning the

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 ...

title. Gaillac finished in 10th place in their first season in Pro D2, but ran into serious financial difficulties, and proposed a merger with the nearby Graulhet club. The merger fell through, and after the end of the 2006-07 season, the French sporting authorities forcibly relegated Gaillac to

. The club was then placed into bankruptcy in July 2007, leading to a further drop to Fédérale 3.

Honours

* Third Division ** Champions: 1961, 2006

Famous players

Bernard Laporte Bernard Laporte (born 1 July 1964) is a rugby player, coach and former French Secretary of State for Sport. From 1999 to 2007, Laporte was the head coach of the France national team. In 2011, he became the head coach at Toulon, after Philippe Sa ...

- Gaillac’s most famous player was the former France coach Bernard Laporte, who played for them in the youth categories until he was 20 and left for Bègles-Bordeaux in 1984. The club’s stadium was given his name a few years ago. Andrew Walker Former dual international

Notes and references

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External links

Official site

Sport in Tarn (department) 1901 establishments in France Rugby clubs established in 1901