SC Albi

Last updated • 4 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
Albi
SC Albi.png
Full nameSporting Club Albigeois
Founded1906;117 years ago (1906)
Location Albi, France
Ground(s) Stadium Municipal d'Albi (Capacity: 13,058)
President Bernard Archilla
Coach(es) Jean Christophe Bacca
Henri Broncan
Captain(s) Vincent Clément
League(s) Nationale
2022–23 3rd (playoff semi-finalists)
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1st kit
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2nd kit
Official website
www.sca-albi.fr

Sporting Club Albigeois is a professional French rugby union club playing the third-level Nationale. During the past years it went back and forth between Top 14, the highest level of the French league system and the second-level Rugby Pro D2. Their last time in the Top 14 was for 2009–10 after winning the 2008–09 promotion playoffs. The previous one began in 2006 and came to an end after the 2007–08 season due to financial issues. Founded in 1907, the club plays at the Stadium municipal d'Albi (capacity 12,000). They wear black and yellow. They are based in Albi in Occitanie.

Contents

History

Sporting Club Albigeois was founded in December 1906 as a sportsclub where, in addition to rugby, tennis and running were practiced. Their first title came in 1926 when they beat Stade Toulousain in the final of the highly competitive championnat des Pyrénées (Pyrénées league).

In 1940, the Vichy regime forced towns with a population below 50,000 to merge their sports clubs in single entities. (UA Gaillac is another rugby union example). Vichy also targeted the professional rugby league and Albi was forced to bring together the two local clubs, S.C. Albi and R.C. Albi XIII under the name Albi Olympique.

In 1945, each club went its way and recovered its previous name. In 1949, SC Albi reached the First Division. In 1955, it qualified for the playoffs, managing to oust the prestigious Racing Club de France in the first round, before going down to Romans in the round of 16.

Until the 1980s, Albi went through regular ups-and-downs between the first and second divisions (Div 1 1961–1970, 1973–75, 1977–79, Div 2, 1957 – 1959, 1970–73, 1975–77, 1979–85). Their only notable performance was another playoff win against Toulouse in 1974. Albi remained in the second or third divisions until 2000.

The millennium was very favourable for Albi. The club reached three consecutive third division finals, all lost, in 2000, 2001 et 2002, to FC Oloron Sainte-Marie, Oyonnax and Tours. However, the professional Pro D2 offered two promotion spots in 2002 and Albi was back in the second division.

It took them four more years to take the last step. After finishing second to US Montauban in the 2006 regular season, they went on to beat AS Béziers and US Dax in the promotion playoffs and secure the final spot in the élite league Top 14. They remained in Top 14 until the 2007–08 season. Although they finished 12th that season, which would normally have kept them in the top flight, they were forcibly relegated to Pro D2 due to financial issues.

The following season, they finished third on the regular-season table, qualifying for the promotion playoffs. Their home playoff semifinal against La Rochelle ended 12–12 in regulation. Each team slotted a penalty in extra time, which ended 15–15. Under French rules, the first tiebreaker in such a situation is fewest red cards. Since neither side had a player sent off, the next tiebreaker is number of tries, followed by number of penalties scored. Albi went through because they had kicked 5 penalties to La Rochelle's 4 (and one drop goal). They defeated Oyonnax 14–12 in the playoff final on 31 May 2009 in Montpellier to secure their place in the Top 14 2009–2010 season.

By April 2010 the club had already been relegated from the Top 14 after recording only 3 wins all season. [1]

Honours

Current standings

2022–23 Nationale season Table
PosTeamPldWDLPFPAPDTBLBPtsQualification or relegation
1 Dax (P)262105715435+28092104Semi-final promotion play-off
2 Valence Romans (P)261718675385+29010796
3 Albi 261736620398+2225492Quarter-final promotion play-off
4 Blagnac 261727572504+682386
5 Bourgoin-Jallieu 261628606536+703383
6 Bourg-en-Bresse 2614210527485+424578
7 Narbonne 2614111590565+253575
8 Nice 2612212538475+634974
9 Chambéry 2613013581521+603670
10 Tarbes 261221257557722666
11 Suresnes 2691164507042541351
12 Hyères 2680184795901111749
13 Rennes (R)2640223226202981632Relegation to Nationale 2
14 Cognac Saint-Jean-d'Angély (R)2600263808354550912
Source: [2]
Rules for classification: When two teams have the same points total, position is determined by head-to-head results before points difference.
(P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Current squad

The current Albi squad is: [3]

Albi squad

Props

Hookers

Locks

Loose forwards

Scrum-halves

Fly-halves

Centres

Wings

Fullbacks

(c) Denotes team captain, Bold denotes player is internationally capped

Notable former players

French president Georges Pompidou accepted to be honorary chairman of the club in 1969 and paid his fees regularly until he died in 1974. .

See also

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. "Rugby Live Centre".
  2. "Classement NATIONALE". Fédération Française de Rugby (in French). Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  3. "L'effectif". Sporting Club Albigeois (in French). Retrieved 19 July 2018.