Toulouse Olympique
| File:Toulouse olympique xiii.png | |
| Club information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Toulouse Olympique XIII |
| Colours | File:ToulouseRLcolours.PNG |
| Founded | 1937 |
| Current details | |
| Ground(s) |
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| Coach(s) | Sylvain Houles |
| Competition | League 1 |
Toulouse Olympique XIII is a French professional rugby league club from Toulouse, in the southwest of France. They were founded on 22 October 1937, two years after the founding of the French Rugby League Federation. Between 1995 and 2002 the club were known as Spacers de Toulouse, due to links with the local aerospace industry. Six-time winners of the French Rugby League Championship, in the mid-2000s Toulouse expressed a desire to join fellow French club Catalans Dragons in the Super League competition. After being denied a Super League licence for the 2009 season, the club played in the Rugby Football League's Championship in 2009 and 2010, however they returned to the Elite One Championship after the spell was considered unsuccessful. In 2016 Toulouse once again joined the RFL system, this time in League 1, the third tier of English rugby league.
Contents
History
In March 1937, the Fédération Française de Rugby à XIII decided to establish rugby league in Toulouse. They bought the Arnauné stadium (Stade des Minimes) and formed Toulouse Olympique.
The first match Toulouse played was on 24 October 1937 against Albi. In 1938, Toulouse Olympique merged with another club in the city, Galia Club Toulousain. In 1939, TO reached the Cup final in France for the first time. During the war years, like other rugby league clubs in France, the club were forced to play rugby union following the ban on rugby league by the Vichy regime in France. In 1944, Toulouse reached the Semi-Final of the French Cup in rugby union. In the meantime the Arnauné stadium was confiscated by the State, like most of the assets of the French Federation of rugby league. Following liberation by the Allies and the restoration of the French Championship, the club were on the losing side twice when they met Carcassonne in the finals for the 1944-45 and 1945-46 competitions. After a decade away from the top, another strong team emerged that included Pierre Lacaze and Georges Aillères.
In 1995, Toulouse Olympique changed their name to Spacers de Toulouse (or Toulouse Spacers) and kept this until 2002. In 2000, the club won the championship. Toulouse's ambition to join the European Super League grew but in 2003, their application was rejected by the Rugby Football League in favour of Catalans Dragons.
In 2005 Olympique became the first French club ever to reach the semi-finals of the Rugby League Challenge Cup, when they defeated European Super League side Widnes 40-24. They went on to lose 56-18 to world champions Leeds in the semi-final at the Galpharm Stadium, Huddersfield.
2009-2011: The Championship
In 2006, the Rugby Football League decided to introduce licensing for the 2009 Super League season, with the number of clubs being increased from 12 to 14. Toulouse were one of the applicants but failed to win a licence, losing out to the 12 existing Super League clubs, Salford and the Crusaders. After the announcement however, the Rugby Football League invited Toulouse to enter the second tier Championship (previously National League One) for the 2009 season, with a view to applying in the next round of franchising to be accepted to Super League in 2012.[1]
Offering no direct route to Super League at the time, Toulouse's spell in the Championship was largely unsuccessful both on and off the field and at the end of 2011 it was announced that the club would be withdrawing from the Championship and returning to the French league from the 2012 season onwards.
2012-2015: Return to France
Toulouse returned to the French Elite One Championship in 2012. They failed to make the Championship Final for the 2012-13 season but won the Championship Final back to back in the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons.
2016-onwards: League 1
In 2015, it was announced that Toulouse Olympique would return to the English rugby league system after they were accepted to play in League 1 from the 2016 season in their second bid to be promoted into Super League.
2016 squad
* Announced on 25 February 2016:
2016 transfers
Gains
| Player | Signed from | Contract Length | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
 Rhys Curran |
Villeneuve Leopards | 1 Year | October 2015 |
| Bastien Canet |
AS Carcassonne | 1 Year | December 2015 |
 Tyla Hepi |
Whitehaven RLFC | 1 Year | January 2016 |
Losses
| Player | Signed for | Contract Length | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bruno Ormeno |
Retirement | N/A | October 2015 |
 Aaron Wood |
Released | ||
| Florian Quintilla |
Released |
Honours
- French Championship: 1965, 1973, 1975, 2000, 2014, 2015 (6 times)
- Lord Derby Cup: 2014 (1 time)
Average attendance
TO seasons
References
- ↑ http://www.therfl.co.uk/~therflc/nationalleague/news_item.php?id=11224
- ↑ La Depeche, Estimation from the newspaper La Depeche
- ↑ Championship results, championshipstats.rlfans.com
External links
- Official Website (In French)
- Toulouse Olympique forum on rlfans.com (English and French)
- Matches' previews and reviews on Sang-et-or.net (English)
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