US Villeneuve XIII
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| Club information | ||
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| Full name | Villeneuve XIII RLLG | |
| Nickname(s) | Leopards | |
| Website | site | |
| Colours | Green and White | |
| Founded | 1934 | |
| Current details | ||
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| Chairman | Florent Kouassi | |
| Coach | Mickael Jatz | |
| Manager | Antoine Lopes | |
| Competition | Elite One Championship | |
| 2015/16 | 9th | |
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Villeneuve XIII RLLG originally called Sports Athletic Villeneuvois XIII are a semi-professional rugby league team based in Villeneuve-sur-Lot in the region of Aquitaine in southern France. Formed in 1934, the first French rugby league club, they currently play in the Elite One Championship the highest level of rugby league in France. They have won both the league title and the cup on nine occasions. Their home stadium is the Stade Max Rousie.
Sports Athletic Villeneuvois XIII were founded during the last two weeks of May 1934 by French rugby league pioneer Jean Galia who went on to be the clubs first coach/captain and backed by the mayor. Villeneuve quickly went on to become a rugby league strognghold. The new club picked up some players from the local rugby club CA Villeneuve including Ernest Camo, Jean Barres, Jean Rabot and Max Rousie and others from Perpignan like Aime Bardes, Martin Serre, Jean Daffis and Francois Nogueres in readiness for the first French rugby league championship.SA Villeneuve were the first club to become a member of the Ligue Française de Rugby à 13 (LFR.13) on 2 June 1934. Villeneuve remain as the oldest rugby league club in France, they became the first French club side to tour England in September 1934. On that tour they played against Warrington, Broughton Rangers, Hull F.C., Yorkshire XIII, Oldham, and Leeds. Max Rousie starred for the tourists scoring 76 of their 117 points. The club then hosted both a touring Yorkshire XIII and then Salford RLFC.
Villeneuve began the inaugural French Rugby League Championship in 1934 by beating XIII Catalan 48-25 at the Pont-de-Marot they would go on and win the first championship by finishing top of the table. At the end of the season they took on the English rugby league champions Swinton going down 25-27 in front of a crowd of 15,000. Having lost the 1936 Lord Derby Cup Final they made amends in 1937 by defeating XIII Catalan 12-6. At the outbreak of war and the German invasion of France, Rugby League under the Vichy Government was banned. Villeneuve were forced to play rugby union under a new club name Union Sportive Villeneuve XV. Towards the end of the Second World War rugby league was re-established and rugby league returned to Villeneuve under a new name Union Sportive Villeneuve XIII. The reborn club met AS Carcassonne at the Parc des Princes in Paris on 4 February 1945 in an exhibition match, the first rugby league game played in France after the war.
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