Racing Club Albi XIII
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| Club information | ||
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| Nickname(s) | The Tigers | |
| Website | [1] | |
| Founded | 1934 | |
| Current details | ||
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| Chairman | Christophe Nadalin | |
| Coach | Eric Anselme | |
| Manager | David Collado | |
| Competition | Elite One Championship | |
| 2015/16 | 5th | |
| Uniforms | ||
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Racing Club Albi XIII originally called Racing Club Albigeois XIII and more recently also known as Albi Tigers are a semi-professional rugby league team based in Albi in the Occitanie region in southern France. Formed in 1934 the club compete in the Elite One Championship the highest level of competition in France. They have won the French title on five occasions and the Lord Derby Cup once. Their home stadium is the Stadium Municipal d'Albi.
RC Albi were one of the founder clubs of Rugby League in France indeed they were the second club formed after US Villeneuve in May 1934. They were formed by Jean-Marie Vignal one of Jean Galia's pioneers who would be the clubs first captain/coach and Simon Bompunt who would be the clubs first chairman. Initially the club recruited from nearby Toulouse as the local rugby club SC Albi refused players to move to the new club, only two would move in the early years. The club finished 7th in their debut season their first ever match finishing in a 6-26 defeat at Bordeaux XIII
In season 1937-38 despite finishing 7th the club won through the play-offs to reach the final and then caused a major upset, beating US Villeneuve 8-3 to lift their first trophy. They reached the semi-final in 1939-40 in what would be the last championship before war broke out. During the war the Vichy Government banned Rugby League in France. RC Albi were forced to join with the rugby club in the town SC Albi under a new name Albi Olympique. After the war the club went back to Rugby League, they enjoyed a good spell at the end of the 1950s as they won the French rugby league championship three times in six years. They also hosted the touring Australia national rugby league team, losing in 1952 22-31 and 20-25 in 1956 but in 1959 they earned a fantastic 19-10 win against them in front of 5,845 spectators
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