The Union of French Athletic Sports Societies () was a

sports governing body A sports governing body is a sports organisation that has a regulatory or sanctioning function. Sports governing bodies come in various forms and have a variety of regulatory functions, including disciplinary action for rule infractions and dec ...

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 ...

. During the 1890s and early 1900s it organised numerous sports including athletics,

cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

fencing Fencing is a combat sport that features sword fighting. It consists of three primary disciplines: Foil (fencing), foil, épée, and Sabre (fencing), sabre (also spelled ''saber''), each with its own blade and set of rules. Most competitive fe ...

croquet Croquet ( or ) is a sport which involves hitting wooden, plastic, or composite balls with a mallet through hoops (often called Wicket, "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court. Variations In all forms of croquet, in ...

, and

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

. However it is perhaps best known for being the principal governing body of both

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 ...

until it was effectively replaced by the

French Football Federation The French Football Federation ( FFF and 3F; or Triple F; , ) is the governing body of football in France. It was formed in 1919 and is based in the capital, Paris. The FFF is a founding member of FIFA and is responsible for overseeing all aspec ...

and the French Rugby Federation. The USFSA rejected any form of professionalism and were strong advocates of amateur sport. As well as contributing to the growth of sport in France, the USFSA also helped pioneer the development of international sport. Among its founding members were

Pierre de Coubertin Charles Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin (; born Pierre de Frédy; 1 January 1863 – 2 September 1937), also known as Pierre de Coubertin and Baron de Coubertin, was a French educator and historian, co-founder of the International Olympic ...

, founder of the modern Olympic Games. In 1900, together with the ''Union Vélocipédique de France'', it was also one of two federations that represented France at the inaugural meeting of the . Then in 1904

Robert Guérin Robert Guérin (; born Clément Auguste Maurice Robert; 28 April 1876 – 19 March 1952) was a French journalist, and the List of Presidents of FIFA, first president and one of the founders of the Fédération Internationale de Football Associati ...

, secretary of the USFSA football committee, was one of the principal movers behind the foundation of

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

. He also served as its first president.

History

Foundation

On 29 December 1885 Georges de Saint-Clair, the secretary-general of Racing Club de France and delegates from Stade Français had formed the ''Union des Sociétés Françaises de Course a Pied''. Then on 1 June 1888

, with the support of Jules Simon and Henri Didon, formed the ''Comité pour la Propagation des Exercises Physiques''. This group was also known as the ''Comité Jules Simon''. The USFSA was founded in November 1890 when these two groups merged. Initially the USFSA was centred in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

but its membership soon expanded to include sports clubs from throughout France.''The Official History of the Olympic Games and the IOC- Athens to Beijing, 1894–2008'': David Miller (2008)Origins of the French League
by François Mazet and Frédéric Pauron on the RSSSF

Influence on Olympic Games

In 1891 when the USFSA organised its first athletics championship, Henri Didon, as honorary president, announced that the organisation's motto would be '' Citius, Altius, Fortius'' (Faster, Higher, Stronger). In 1924 this motto would be adopted by the Olympic movement. The Olympic symbol of five interlinking rings was also based on a design used by the USFSA. Teams representing the organisation wore a uniform based on the colours of the

flag of France The national flag of France () is a Tricolour (flag), tricolour featuring three vertical bands coloured blue (Flag terminology#Description of standard flag parts and terms, hoist side), white, and red. The design was adopted after the French Rev ...

. This included a white shirt with two interlinking rings, one red and one blue. The two rings represented the two groups that had merged to form the USFSA while the Olympic version represented five continents.

also hoped that the USFSA would be responsible for organising the 1900 Paris Olympics. However a dispute, which saw de Coubertin resign as USFSA secretary general in April 1899, meant this never happened

Rugby union

On 20 March, 1892 the USFSA organised the first ever French

championship, a one off game between Racing Club de France and Stade Français. The game was refereed by

and saw Racing win 4–3. Racing were awarded the Bouclier de Brennus, which is still awarded to the winners of the French championship today. The trophy was the idea of de Coubertin, who commissioned Charles Brennus, a member of the USFSA and a professional engraver, to design it.

Football

In 1894 the USFSA also organised the first recognised French football championship. The first competition featured just four Paris teams and was organised on a knockout basis with Standard Athletic Club beating White Rovers 2–0 after a replay. However, by 1896 it featured a league with nine teams and after 1899 the winners of a Paris League played off against the champions of other French regions and cities. In

1899 Events January * January 1 ** Spanish rule formally ends in Cuba with the cession of Spanish sovereignty to the U.S., concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas.''The American Monthly Review of Reviews'' (February 1899), p ...

Le Havre AC became the first club from outside Paris to be declared French football champions. In

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15 ...

the USFSA sent players from

ian Club Français to represent France at the 1900 Summer Olympics. On 1 May 1904 the USFSA also selected the first official

France national football team The France national football team () represents France in men's international Association football, football. It is controlled by the French Football Federation (FFF; ), the governing body for football in France. It is a member of UEFA in Euro ...

. They held

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

to a 3–3 draw in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

In the same year,

, secretary of the USFSA football committee, was also one of the principal movers behind the foundation of

. He also served as its first president. However the USFSA did not have a monopoly on organising football in France. Between 1896 and 1907 the ''Fédération des Sociétés Athlétiques Professionnelles de France'' (FSAPF), who as their name suggests advocated professionalism, also organised a championship. Then in 1905 a rival organisation the ''Fédération Gymnastique et Sportive des Patronages de France'' (FGSPF), led by Charles Simon and

Henri Delaunay Henri Delaunay (15 June 1883 – 9 November 1955) was a French football administrator. Biography After playing for the Paris team Étoile des Deux Lacs, Delaunay became a referee. He retired following an incident during a match between ...

and supported by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, also began organising competitions. In 1906 the ''Fédération Cycliste et Amateur de France'' (FCAF), a forerunner of the Fédération Française de Cyclisme also began to organise a football championship. In 1907 the FGSPF and the FCAF, together with several regional organisations that also organised football formed the ''Comité Français Interfédéral'' (CFI). The CFI organised the ''Trophée de France'' which would challenge the USFSA equivalent, the ''Coupe National'', as the recognised French championship. In 1907 the USFSA fell out with FIFA when the latter refused to admit the (English) Amateur Football Association. FIFA only recognised one national association per country, and so stood by the (English) Football Association, whereupon the USFSA left FIFA. They were replaced as France's representative by the CFI. As a result, they also lost the right to select the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

. USFSA along with the AFA and Bohemian ČSF founded the UIAFA in March 1909, and two years later, they organized the 1911 UIAFA European Football Tournament, where the USFSA team was knocked-out in the semifinals by the Bohemian team. By 1913, however, the USFSA football committee had also become a CFI affiliate and in 1919 the CFI was reorganised as the

1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (later Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off th ...

was also the last year that the USFSA organized the ''Coupe National'' as a national football championship. As a tribute to the USFSA, the members of the

wore a reproduction of the kit worn in their first match in 1904 (displaying the USFSA emblem) during the FIFA Centennial celebration match against

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Stade de France Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the List of football stadiums in France, largest stadium i ...

in May 2004.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Union Des Societes Francaises De Sports Athletiques Defunct sports governing bodies in France Football governing bodies in France Rugby union governing bodies in France Sports organizations established in 1890 Football at the 1900 Summer Olympics Defunct rugby union governing bodies Defunct association football governing bodies 1890 establishments in France