Stade Gilbert Brutus is a

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

stadium in

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ; ) is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales departments of France, department in Southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Me ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, which has been the home ground of the Catalans Dragons since 2007.

History

The Stade Gilbert Brutus was opened in 1962 and built as the home ground of French Rugby League Championship club XIII Catalan who played at their ground until they merged with AS Saint-Estève in 2000 to form Catalans Dragons whose home ground the stadium has been since 2007. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the ground was used by a variety

and

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

clubs in

Northern Catalonia Northern Catalonia, North Catalonia or French Catalonia is the Catalan language, Catalan-speaking and cultural territory ceded to France by Spain through the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 in exchange for France's effective renu ...

. The stadium takes its name from Gilbert Brutus, a French rugby union player, coach, chairman and referee, who was born on 2 August 1887 in Port-Vendres. He was a member of the French resistance in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and was murdered by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

on 7 March 1944 in Perpignan. Before 2007, the stadium held 4,200 with 900 seated. This was deemed expanded for the Catalans Dragons before moving in from the Stade Aimé Giral. Expansion of the stadium began in 2006 with target capacity to 14,000. The first phase of construction included two covered, all-seater stands, one with hospitality suites. By the end of the 2006 season, the work was finished and Catalans moved back into the stadium for the 2007 season. Further construction in 2010 brought capacity up to 13,000, with three all-seater stands.

Rugby League Test matches

The Stade Gilbert Brutus has hosted a number of rugby league internationals, the majority of which are home games of the French national rugby league team.Stade Gilbert Brutus results @ Rugby League Project
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Men's

Women's

References

External links