Marseille XIII Avenir
 |
|||
| Club information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Marseille XIII Avenir | ||
| Nickname(s) | Les Lions | ||
| Website | Website | ||
| Founded | 1946 | ||
| Current details | |||
| Ground(s) | |||
| Chairman | Stephane Puggioni | ||
| Coach | Christophe Quercia | ||
| Manager | Eric Dravet | ||
| Competition | National Division 1 | ||
| 2015/16 | 7th | ||
| Uniforms | |||
|
|||
Marseille XIII Avenir are a French Rugby League club based in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. The club plays in the French National Division 1. The club was founded in 1946 and then re-founded in 2007. It plays its matches at the Stade Roger Couderc. In addition to the open age team, the club also has a women's team and a thriving junior section.
Marseille XIII were formed in 1946 on the restart of Rugby League after its banning by the French Vichy Government during the Second World War. By the end of the 1950s they had played in four French Rugby League Championship finals and contested four Lord Derby Cup finals. They won their first trophy in Season 1947/48, when they reached the final of the cup and beat favourites AS Carcassonne 5–4. The following season they retained the cup by beating AS Carcassonne again, this time 12–9 in front of a crowd of 24,000 at their own home ground the Stade Velodrome. They beat AS Carcassonne in the league final 12–5. Over the next five years they were runners-up in the league three times, in 1949/50 they lost to rivals AS Carcassonne 7-21 and in 1951/52 they lost to the same opponents, this time going down 6–18. Bordeaux XIII beat them 7–4 in 1954 and the next season they lost in the cup final 10–18 to SO Avignon. Their wait for a trophy ended in 1957 when they won the cup for a third time beating XIII Catalan 11–0. At the start of the year Marseille had played host to the touring Australians, losing 7–37. Another cup triumph in 1965 against AS Carcassonne 13–8, was the club's only finals appearance of the 1960s a decade that had begun with the club again hosting Australia. In 1971 the club beat FC Lezignan in the cup game 17–2. In season 1972/73 Marseille reached the league final but were beaten 0–18 against Toulouse Olympique and in 1975 they lost the cup final to Pia XIII 4–9. There then followed some barren and bleak times and during the early 1990s the club suffered relegation for the first time after getting into financial trouble. The club spent a decade in the second tier until in 2005 they regained their top flight place back after beating RC Carpentras XIII 12–10. During the following season Marseille XIII were declared bankrupt and wound up.
...
Wikipedia