XIII Catalan
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| Founded | 1934 | |
| Exited | 2000 | |
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| Competition | French rugby league championship | |
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XIII Catalan were a semi professional rugby league team from Perpignan in the Pyrénées-Orientales region of southern France. They were founded in 1934, and thus were founding members of the French rugby league championship. In 2000 they merged with nearby neighbours AS Saint Estève to form Union Treiziste Catalane, now better known in the English-speaking world by their European Super League identity of Catalans Dragons.
In 1888 rugby was introduced to Perpignan by students returning from the Lycee Michelet in Paris. Rugby League arrived in the form of XIII Catalan in 1934 under the guidance of Marcel Laborde so becoming one of the founder members of the first league in France. The clubs first chairman Dr Gaston Banet and Roger Ramis the head coach, found many early difficulties the main one being unable to secure a stadium to use. The local rugby club USAP Perpignan successfully blocked their attempts to hire a stadium and for the first month of the season they had to play all away matches. In October 1934 English side Salford RLFC toured the fledgling rugby nation and one of the matches planned was in Perpignan. The club finally found some land to use and after volunteers had demolished a house and marked out a pitch builders then erected a stand. The first ever Rugby League match was then able to take place. The locals saw their side beaten by Salford 16-41, but one of their own scored the historic first try in Aime Bardes. The teams first league match on 7 October also ended in defeat 25-48 at US Villeneuve they finished 6th that season and in the Lord Derby Cup they reached the final but lost to Lyon Villeurbanne.
XIII Catalan lifted their first French rugby league championship in the second season beating Bordeaux XIII in the final. The following season they reached both league and cup finals but lost both. In 1938-39 season they won the cup for the first time beating Toulouse Olympique at their own ground 7-3. The last season before the war saw them win the league again when they beat Pau XIII 20-16 in front of 10,000 fans in Toulouse. During the war the Vichy Government banned Rugby League in France. XIII Catalan had to change their name to XV Catalan and were forced to play rugby union. Before the war ended they changed their name again to Racing Catalan.
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