Rugby union in Côte d'Ivoire
| Rugby union in Ivory Coast | |
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The national team.
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| Country | Ivory Coast |
| Governing body | Fédération Ivoirienne de Rugby |
| National team | Ivory Coast |
| Nickname(s) | The Elephants (French: Les éléphants) |
| First played | 1946 |
| Registered players | 5,383 |
| Clubs | 14 |
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National competitions
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Rugby union in Ivory Coast is essentially amateur, with some degree of semi-professionalization in its top-flight league and the national rugby union team.
The sport is popular among school children, but the rugby union playing population in Ivory Coast is still relatively small with only 14 clubs. There are around 5,383 registered players, and the game takes in people from all walks of life. As of 22 June 2014, the men's national side are ranked 47th in the world.
Rugby union in the Ivory Coast is administered by the Fédération Ivoirienne de Rugby. It was founded in 1961 and became affiliated to the International Rugby Board in 1988.
The sport is mainly played in and around the former capital Abidjan.
The first recorded game in the Ivory Coast was just after the Second World War, in 1946, when Mme Andre Benois organised a match between two teams of expatriates. They used an improvised ball made from the inner tube of a tyre.
The game was further developed by French schoolmasters working in the country.
As a former French colony, the country has tended to come under the French sphere of influence, and many top players, including Max Brito played in France. Although the origins of Ivorian rugby go back to the 1960s and earlier, real growth came about when the paid French official Jean-François Turon managed to get the game adopted by Abidjan University at the turn of the 1980s, but it is François Dali who is seen as the father of Ivorian rugby, and his son, Athanase Dali, was the national captain during the 1990s.
Ivorian delegates were amongst those who went to the centenary congress of the International Rugby Football Board in 1986.
Ivory Coast is a founding member of the Confederation of African Rugby (CAR), which was launched officially in January 1986, in Tunis, Tunisia. Rugby officials from Tunisia, Morocco, Senegal, Tanzania, Kenya, the Seychelles and Madagascar also attended.
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Wikipedia