Stade Français is a club, Stade de France is a venue which does not belong to Stade Français, although Stade Français invades the place three to four times a year for big matches.

Stade Français was founded in 1883 by a group of students, all of them sports fans. As they were all runners, they decided to name their club “Stade”, from the old length unit inherited from the ancient Greeks, the “stadion”, which is the distance a trained athlete with momentum can run without breathing (approx. 600 feet). Thanks to Stade Français’ founder, the word Stade was used to designate a club. Today Stade Français plays in pink, which is also a form of tribute to the ancient Greeks according to our ennemies, and also many of our friends.

Past glory

In 1890, Stade Français was the first club to enforce Rugby rules according to English Union laws, and they were thus the first to play against British clubs. In 1892, Stade Français lost the very first final of the French championship, the referee being Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern happy dopey steroid fest. Er... the Olympics, that is. Between 1893 and 1908, the club won no less than 8 French shields, the famous, the much coveted, the glorious “Bouclier de Brennus”, which (or should I say “whom”?) I had the pleasure to heave thanks to the generosity of Stade Français’ management. After WWI, Stade Français fell in a long slumber, with an occasional famous player making the news.

Modern times

In 1995, a businessman and founder of the most successful private radio in France, Mr Max Guazzini, bought the club and merged it with another Parisian club, the CASG. A new history began. Between 1995 and 2008, Stade Français – CASG Paris Rugby won 5 French shields and netted 2 finals of the H Cup (we’ve GOT to get that one, for Pete’s sake !) President Max, who – as far as I know – never was a rugby player, hired some ole cunning gurriers and young promising cubs and Stade Français became what it is today : a bloody serious contender for silver or wood (the French shield is nailed to a plank).

That is not all. The French rugby tradition is deeply rooted in the South : the French rugby speaks with a rural accent, and the sport is mostly seen as a village game where ole buddies congregate to vent out their frustrations on the pitch. Songs are sometimes sung in local dialects (Basque or Occitan, for instance), the brass bands (called bandas) alway play the same time honoured tunes. Players often bear the name of illustrious internationals of days of yore, for the simple reason that they are sons or nephews of the said internationals.

Being a media mogul and rugby ignoramus, Max Guazzini shook the ole tradition, as he believed that rugby, now a professional sport, could not survive without broadening its barriers. Pom-pom girls were called to cheer the crowd before major games. For placed kicks the tee was brought on the pitch by a remote controlled car. Before the others, Max had the idea to make the boys pose for a nudie calendar, an idea that was largely copied round the world, although our calendar is really really hot.

In 2005, Max had another great idea of having the boys playing in pink. Of course ill-tempered rugby pundits started groaning that enough was enough and that the game was being put in disrepute. Some even suggested that all those new ideas would not have flourished if President Max wasn’t a very, very liberal character. Some even cursed him and his extravaganza for being camp like a row of tents.

But the public followed Max and his fancy circus. And of course, Toulouse, our arch-Nemesis from the “rosie city” adopted a pink jersey to mark their 100th anniversary in 2007. Today it looks like people accepted that Paris’ tradition lies in challenging traditions, and the three or four games per year which are played at the 80,000 seats Stade de France are always sold out.