The Challenge Yves du Manoir was a rugby union club competition that was played in France between 1931 and 2003 under different names. It is named after former player Yves du Manoir .
42-399: The Challenge Yves du Manoir was officially created on September 21, 1931, by Racing Club de France with the support of two other clubs, CA Bègles and AS Montferrand . In 1931, twelve breakaway clubs had decided to create their own league (UFRA, Union Française du Rugby Amateur) to protest against violence and covert professionalism which French rugby had sunk into, and which had resulted in
84-702: A game in Bayonne with berets on their heads as a tribute to the tradition of attacking play of the Basque club Aviron Bayonnais (11 Jan 1987). As members of a gang which they called le show bizz , they played other matches with black make-up on (10 April 1988 at Stade Toulousain ), hair dyed yellow, bald caps (26 Feb 1989 against Béziers ), wigs and even dressed up as pelote players (white shirts, black jackets and berets, again) in March 1990 at Biarritz Olympique . In April 1989, they wore long red and white striped shorts to celebrate
126-422: A healthy mind in a healthy body ) appealed very much to its members. Many of them were actually aristocrats, and four nobles took part in the first championship final. Although fewer aristocrats belong to the club now, it is still very complicated to join it, and the identity and image is one of exclusivity. Racing Club has also always defended the amateur spirit of the game and of sports in general. The creation of
168-421: A season, with reports of his annual salary as high as £1.3 million (€1.7 million). When the signing was announced, Lorenzetti said, "Carter will be the best-paid player at Racing but also the least expensive because of the economic benefits." Carter filled the void at fly-half left by the return of Johnny Sexton to Leinster Rugby at the end of the 2014–15 season. Still more recently, Racing became
210-511: A stadium to be shared with Racing Club de France Football . Instead, they built Paris La Défense Arena in nearby Nanterre , playing their first match in the new venue in December 2017. It remains to be seen whether the Racing Club de France football club will move as well. It served as the field hockey venue for the 2024 Summer Olympics . Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir hosted three games of
252-499: Is Jacky Lorenzetti, who heads a giant real estate company called Foncia. When Lorenzetti took over in 2006, the board set goals of bringing Racing into the Top 14 within the next two years and into the Heineken Cup by 2011. They missed their Top 14 goal by one year, not entering the top flight until 2009, but achieved their Heineken Cup goal by qualifying for the 2010–11 edition. After 2003
294-479: Is also designed to host major concerts, potentially providing Racing with substantial non-match revenue. Racing made headlines in December 2014, announcing that it had signed All Blacks fly-half Dan Carter , the all-time leading points scorer in international rugby, to a three-year deal effective after the 2015 Rugby World Cup . The contract reportedly made Carter the first player in rugby history to make £1 million (€1.3 million at late-2014 exchange rates)
336-422: The 1938 World Cup Final between Italy and Hungary , and also hosted the home team 's two matches in the tournament. Colombes hosted several French Cup finals and home games of the national football and national rugby union teams into the 1970s. It remained the nation's largest capacity stadium until the renovated Parc des Princes was inaugurated in 1972. Due to increasingly stringent safety regulations,
378-724: The Bouclier de Brennus on one occasion in 2016. The following year, the club left its forever home Stade Yves-du-Manoir for its new stadium, the Paris La Défense Arena. Throughout its history, Racing 92 has won a total of six league titles including the inaugural edition of the French championship in 1892 , one Pro D2 title and one Coupe de l'Espérance . The club also reached the European Rugby Champions Cup final three times in 2016 , 2018 and 2020 but has never won
420-462: The Challenge Yves du Manoir responded to this ideal in a period (late 1920s–early 1930s) where French rugby was marred by violence and undergoing creeping professionalism. Yves du Manoir symbolised the romantic side of rugby, its carefree dimension, le jeu pour le jeu ( playing for the fun of playing ). In a very different vein, much later, in the 1980s, a talented generation of players revived
462-507: The Coupe de la Ligue , then Challenge Sud-Radio for one year in 2003. The competition died out because of the lack of time available in the year and the development of European cups and international duties for top players. Since 2004, the Challenge Yves du Manoir has been taken over by Racing Club de France as a youth competition for under 15. RC Narbonne won it in 9 times (12 finals, 20 semi finals, all records). Racing Club de France never won
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#1732875752251504-585: The La Défense business district. Founded in 1890 as the rugby union section of the Paris sports club Racing Club de France , Racing 92 is one of the oldest rugby clubs in France and has traditionally worn a sky blue and white hooped home kit since its inception. The club in its current form is the result of a merger with US Métro in 2001, having been rebranded Métro Racing 92 and then Racing Métro 92 from 2005 to 2015 when
546-538: The USFSA organised the first-ever French rugby championship, a one off game between Racing and Stade Français . The game was refereed by Pierre de Coubertin 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. Both clubs would contest the championship game the following season as well, though in 1893 it would be Stade Français who would win
588-451: The sans-culotte who took the Bastille on 14 July 1789 . They wore long white trousers to look like players of old in the French championship semi-final on 26 April 1987—and won. Their best prank was in the next game though: they played the 1987 final against Toulon with a pink bow tie (2 May). Just before kick-off, Lafond presented French president François Mitterrand , who always attended
630-583: The 1938 FIFA World Cup, including the final. The Olympic races involving Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell , which are portrayed in the film Chariots of Fire , were run here, although the Colombes stadium was not used for the film. The stand-in stadium for filming was the Oval Sports Centre, Bebington, Merseyside, near Liverpool, England. The stadium was portrayed in the 1981 film Escape to Victory starring Sylvester Stallone and Michael Caine , but
672-542: The 1950s the club had some success, making their first championship final in 30 years, losing to Castres Olympique , 11 points to 8, becoming runners-up in the Challenge Yves du Manoir and winning the Challenge Rutherford in the 1952 season. After losing the 1957 final to FC Lourdes , the club then won the championship in the 1959 season, defeating Mont-de-Marsan 8 points to 3. The Racing Club would next play in
714-584: The 2023–24 season. Stuart Lancaster replaced Laurent Travers as head coach during off-season, on 30 June 2023. Stade Yves-du-Manoir Formerly The Stade Yves-du-Manoir (officially Stade olympique Yves-du-Manoir , also known as the Stade olympique de Colombes , or simply Colombes to the locals) is a rugby, track, and association football stadium in Colombes , near Paris , France . Named in memory of French rugby player Yves du Manoir in 1928, it
756-497: The Challenge Yves du Manoir has been taken over by Racing Club as a youth competition for under 15s clubs. Racing Club de France provided 76 players to the national team, including 12 captains. It is second only to Stade Toulousain (almost 100) in that category. Three Racingmen played in France's first international match against the All Blacks on 1 January 1906. Laurent Cabannes , a France flanker, also played for Harlequins . At
798-465: The Colombes' capacity had dropped to under 50,000. The last games of the national rugby union and football teams at Colombes were respectively in 1972 and 1975. France's professional football team RC Paris used Colombes as their home ground until about 1985, then moved on to other stadia before returning in the 2010s. Unlike RC Paris, Racing 92 rugby did not leave Colombes until November 2017. They originally planned to redevelop Yves-du-Manoir into
840-423: The championship final in the 1987 season, where they met Toulon at Parc des Princes in Paris. Toulon won the match 15 points to 12. Three seasons later the Racing Club defeated Agen 22 to 12 in Paris, capturing their first title since the 1959 season. But in the wake of the 1990 title, Racing Club had a hard time adapting to the professional era and started to decline, until they were relegated to Division 2 at
882-522: The club took its current name. 92 refers to the number of the Hauts-de-Seine department that henceforth supports the team. After a stint in the second division , Racing Métro 92 returned to the first division in 2009 and very quickly emerged as a flagship club thanks to ambitious recruitment and significant financial resources. Since the promotion, Racing 92 has always taken part in the Top 14 playoffs and won
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#1732875752251924-440: The club's spirit. They carried it back to the top of French rugby thanks to their performances on the pitch, but they also wanted to bring the fun back into the game, to take rugby out of its Parisian anonymity. They did so through a combination of serious football, humour and self-mockery. Their famous antics were invented by the club's backs (including France flyhalf Franck Mesnel and France wing Jean-Baptiste Lafond) who once played
966-465: The competition in 1918, defeating FC Grenoble 22 points to 9. Normal competition resumed for the 1920 season. That season the Racing Club made their first final since 1912, though they lost 8 to 3 to Stadoceste Tarbais , a club from the Pyrénées. After the 1920 season, the Racing Club would not win any championships for a number of years. In 1931 they created the Challenge Yves du Manoir competition. In
1008-497: The competition, and was runner-up only once. Finals lost are in brackets Racing M%C3%A9tro 92 Racing 92 ( French pronunciation: [ʁasiŋ ka.tʁə.vɛ̃.duz] ) is a French professional rugby union club based in the Hauts-de-Seine department, Paris ' western inner suburbs that competes in Top 14 . The club plays its home matches at the 30,681-capacity domed stadium Paris La Défense Arena , located near
1050-521: The end of the 2014–15 season , the team's name was shortened from Racing Métro 92 to simply Racing 92. In France, early organised sport was a matter for rich people. Racing Club became the epitome of the exclusive athletics club, located in the heart of the Bois de Boulogne in the affluent western district of Paris. As the club's name, Racing, indicates, it was modelled after fashionable English sports organisations, whose ideal of mens sana in corpore sano (
1092-542: The end of the 1995–96 season. They jumped back to the top tier in 1998 but went down again in 2000 and played in Division 2 for most of the next decade. In 2001 the rugby section split off from the general sports club to merge with the rugby section of US Métro , the Paris public transport sports club, to form the current professional concern, known as Racing Métro 92. Both Racing Club de France and US Métro retained their other amateur general sports sections. Racing 92's president
1134-538: The event, defeating the Racing Club 7–3. Stade went on to dominate the following years and the Racing Club would make their next final appearance in the 1898 season, where they met Stade yet again. However the title was awarded after a round-robin with six clubs. Stade Français won with 10 points, Racing came in second with 6. Racing contested the 1900 season final against the Stade Bordelais club, as provincial clubs had been allowed to compete in 1899. Racing easily won
1176-569: The exclusion of France from the Five Nations Tournament that year. Though Racing Club was not one of them and chose to remain loyal to the French Federation , its board considered it had a duty to put the fun back into rugby. Games were often restricted to the forwards, with wings sometimes not touching the ball once in the entire game. Therefore, organizers were very keen to ensure that teams had an attacking style of play, freed from
1218-401: The final spot in the newly expanded playoffs—despite actually being outscored by their opponents on the season. This finish also gave Racing a place in the 2010–11 Heineken Cup. Their season ended with a 21–17 first-round loss at eventual champions Clermont . The 2010–11 season saw Racing emphatically, though only temporarily, reestablish themselves as the top club in Paris, finishing second on
1260-915: The first Top 14 side to establish a satellite club in the United States , signing a partnership agreement in 2016 with Austin Huns , a club from Austin, Texas that planned to turn fully professional. The partnership includes youth player development, player exchanges, Racing 92 exhibitions in Austin, and marketing. The Racing 92 squad for the 2024–25 season is: Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality. The Racing 92 Espoirs squad is: Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality. The following members were part of Racing 92 coaching staff for
1302-416: The image of Racing Club as an eccentric institution, but these players have also been seen as trail blazers for Stade Français 's president Max Guazzini , who a few years later, took up the provocative (such as the use of the pink colour) and imaginative spirit to boost his club's image and shake off the conservative traditionalism of French rugby. As the club hit the front pages, five players capitalised on
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1344-458: The inaugural competition. The first two cups were played in a round-robin format. Afterward, round-robin preliminary stages were played before play-offs took the top two teams to the final. The Challenge became the second club competition in France, very much like a cup competition in soccer is second to the championship. As a consequence, le Du-Manoir , as it was nicknamed, became a very sought-after title for all French clubs. The competition bears
1386-486: The ladder to equally ambitious Toulon , but fell short of promotion with an extra-time loss to Mont-de-Marsan in the Pro D2 promotion playoff final. The following year saw Racing's ambitions realised with a romp to the Pro D2 crown, clinching promotion with four rounds to spare. In their return to the top flight in 2009–10 , Racing finished sixth on the regular-season table, two spots ahead of their Parisian rivals, securing
1428-494: The match, defeating Stade Bordelais 37–7. The two clubs would meet again in the 1902 championship game, where Racing would again win, 6–0. A decade passed until Racing Club made another championship final, which would be on 31 March 1912, where they would play Toulouse in Toulouse . They lost the match 8–6. Due to World War I the French championship was replaced with a competition called the Coupe de l'Espérance . The Racing Club won
1470-519: The name of a young promising French international player from Racing Club de France, Yves du Manoir , who died in a plane crash in January 1928 at the age of 23. There was no competition between 1939 and 1952, a period during which the French Federation launched the Coupe de France . In 1996–1997, the French Federation took over the competition as Trophée Du-Manoir Coupe de France . In 2001 it became
1512-498: The national final, with one of those bow ties. They lost that match but went on to play the 1990 final with the same bow ties. At half-time, they had a drink of champagne on the pitch to recover from the efforts of the first half—and won what proved to be the club's last top-flight title for a quarter-century. They were also famous for their love of nightlife, which attracted a lot of criticism, especially because so many of them had international duties with France. All this contributed to
1554-696: The official supplier of the Welsh Rugby Union 's formal wear for the World Cup in Australia. Eden Park is also directly involved in the Racing 92 club since one of its founders, Eric Blanc—who happens to be Franck Mesnel's brother-in-law, is the club's vice-president. This particular period ended in the early 1990s when those players left the club. Racing then spent several years in the second division, but retained plenty of ambition. In 2007–08 , Racing finished second on
1596-648: The regular-season table to Stade Français' 11th. Lorenzetti's model for success has been to combine young French talent with big-name imports. More significantly, while he largely bankrolled the team during the first years of his tenure as president, he is committed to making the club self-supporting. To that end, he financed the construction of a new 32,000-seat stadium for the club in the Paris suburb of Nanterre , near La Défense . The new ground, known at its October 2017 opening as U Arena and renamed Paris La Défense Arena in June 2018, has been Racing's home since December 2017. It
1638-600: The success and went on to start a sportswear clothing business called Eden Park (after the famous Auckland stadium) in late 1987. Their development was boosted when the French Federation chose them as official suppliers of France's formal wear in 1998. The company has 270 outlets throughout the world. One of them is in Richmond as Eden Park developed a partnership with Harlequins . Others are to be found in Northampton , Leeds , Belfast , Dublin and Cardiff . In 2003, Eden Park became
1680-503: The terse, stressful obligations of championship matches where winning was all that mattered. Special rules were introduced to encourage spectacular play, such as the banning of placed kicks (either penalty or conversion kicks) in order to accelerate the pace. The name of the competition has gone down in the history of French rugby as the epitome of le beau jeu ( the beautiful game ) and fair play. Officially, participating clubs were invited by Racing Club de France. Seven of them took part in
1722-494: The trophy. Racing 92 has a long-standing rivalry with nearby club Stade Français . Racing Club was established in 1882 (it became Racing Club de France in 1885) as an athletics club, one of the first in France. New sections were regularly added thereafter (17 as of 2006, accounting for some 20,000 members). A rugby section was founded in 1890, which became an immediate protagonist of the early French championship to which, until 1898, only Parisian teams were invited. On 20 March 1892
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1764-401: Was the main stadium for the 1924 Summer Olympics and had a capacity of 45,000 at the time. During the 1924 games, it hosted the athletics , some of the cycling , some of the horse riding , gymnastics , tennis , some of the football , rugby , and two of the modern pentathlon events (running, fencing). It was later expanded to a capacity of over 60,000. Colombes was also the venue for
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