AS Carcassonne

Infobox rugby league club
clubname = AS Carcassonne


fullname = Association Sportive de Carcassonne XIII
nickname =
shortname =
founded = 1938
ground = Stade Albert-Domec
capacity = 15,000
ceo = flagicon|France Aimé Ourliac
mgrtitle = Coach
manager = flagicon|France Patrick Alberola
league = Elite One Championship
season = 2006
position = 6th

AS Carcassonne are a semi-professional rugby league football club based in Carcassonne in the south of France. They play in the French rugby league championship and are one of the most successful clubs in French rugby league, having won a total of ten French Championship titles and eleven Lord Derby Cups. In more recent times the club has been less successful than in the past winning only one Championship in the past twenty-five years and two Lord Derby Cups.

The club was founded in 1938 and to date has produced debatably the best ever French Rugby league footballer in Puig Aubert. Carcassonne have several long-standing and fierce rivalrys with other local area clubs including Union Treiziste Catalane who are more commonly known as Les Catalans.

History

With the creation of the French rugby league championship in 1934 several rugby league clubs began springing up throughout the French countryside but with a lack of deep south representation local Carcassonne players began putting a team together which eventually came to fruition with the formation of AS Carcassonne in late-1937.

The club was accepted by the French rugby league federation and played its debut season in 1938 and had somewhat of a promising debut year before the Second World War broke out mere months later. This first caused the loss of several players whom joined the French military units but secondly saw the invading German Army take power of the country and together with the French Vichy government place a ban of rugby league as of December 19, 1941.

After the War has subsided somewhat and the Vichy government had lost power, it was agreed that the several remaining clubs of the French championship would again begin competing in annual competition. This saw several new players join the Carcassonne club most notably nineteen year old Puig Aubert; this influx of players would signal both new ambition and success for the southern club whom would go on to win five Championship titles over the next ten years coupled with four Lord Derby Cups.

With the completition of the golden years in early 1950s the club would go through somewhat of lean period where silverware would evade them for several years until the early-1960s when the club would have a semi-return to their glory days winning back to back Lord Derby Cups and another four French Championships between 1966 and 1976.

Since the completion of the 1977 season the clubs fortunes have taken somewhat of a slide and in the thirty years since then the club has only managed a sole French Championship in 1992 and two Lord Derby Cups in 1982 and 1989.

Crest

The crest for AS Carcassonne originated when the club decided to design itself a badge that was unique and represented the Carcassonne area. It was subsequently decided to have the city's main feature of the castle-like fortified city appear on the crest; a decision that has proven popular and remained until this day.

Current squad

Notable players

*Puig Aubert: The most notable player to come from the Carcassonne club, Aubert captained both AS Carcassonne and the French national side to glory on many occasions throughout his illustrious career. Originally signed to the club in the 1944 season and would become a vital part of the club's glory years from 1945 to 1953 where the club would go on to win five Championships in nine years. After his professional retirement in the early-1960s Aubert would end up residing in Carcassonne where he eventually would pass away on June 3, 1994 of a heart attack. Later that year the club would honour Aubert with a statue outside of the ground that he played at for the majority of his career.
*Édouard Ponsinet/Jean Barthe: Two other famous French internationals from the all conquering France side of the 1950s.
*Christophe Moly/Teddy Sadaoui: The two most recent French international players to come from the AS Carcassonne club.

Honours

*sport honours|French Championship|10| 1945, 1946, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1966, 1967, 1972, 1976, 1992
*sport honours|Lord Derby Cup|11| 1945-46, 1946-47, 1950-51, 1951-52, 1960-61, 1962-63, 1966-67, 1967-68, 1976-77, 1982-83, 1989-90

External links

* [http://www.ascarcassonne13.com/ Official site]