History of rugby in France: Top 14 thrives, whilst Élite 1 remains neglected and unseen

Paris and the Stade de France will once again host the final of the Top 14 this Saturday, 28th June where Stade Toulousain and Union Bordeaux-Bégles (UBB) make it a repeat of last year’s final. Toulouse swept the floor of the Orange Vélodrome in Marseille on that occasion by winning by a whopping 59-3.

One could only imagine the type of criticism the women’s league might come under if the pinnacle of the top domestic league finished so lopsidedly.

Alas, the men’s game in France is protected by centuries of rich history that can be told through the journey of the Bouclier de Brennus – the trophy that Toulouse and Bordeaux will battle it out for on Saturday night.

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The massive, heavy black and gold shield that you will see the victors of the Top 14 waving about is more than it appears. It has been used in the past as a tray for serving celebratory beverages, a charcuterie board, a surfboard, a skateboard and to replace the ten pins of bowling while the player sliding along the dressing room floor uses his head as the bowling ball. Ten out of ten for versatility!

The trophy was first competed for in 1892 and has been awarded every year since then, with a number of years hiatus during both world wars. It has since made its way around the hexagon of France, even though it had to be replaced with a replica in 2004 as the original had somehow become slightly battered.

Stade Toulousain has won the trophy 23 times, the most out of any club. They will look to make it an even 24 this weekend while recent Champions Cup winners UBB look for revenge on last year’s embarrassing result. Since the amalgamation of Stade Bordelais and Club Athlétique Bordeaux-Bègles Gironde (now UBB) in 2006 they have yet to win the Top 14.

The Top 14 is arguably the best domestic competition currently in world rugby. Is it any wonder when we look at the rich and fascinating history of rugby in France and the journey of the Bouclier de Brennus in particular which brings us all the way back to 1892?

When you consider the staggering difference in support and investment between the men’s and women’s game in France, you might mistakenly think that there was no way that women’s rugby even existed in France in 1892.

But, it most certainly did. The women’s version of the game was called Barette and it existed in various forms and formats until the rules were agreed upon in Paris in 1880 to allow the growth of the game through inter-schools and inter-regional competitions. So while Brennus was being handed over for the first time, the women’s game was well on its way to writing its own story.

The rules of Barette had come from regional variations but the game was, in its essence, the same as rugby. There once existed a form of the scrum whereby a group of players linked up to form a circle and the ball was dropped into the middle. Play would continue once the ball managed to exit the circle after being blasted around by the players inside.

I don’t know about you, but after watching reems of collapsed scrums in the modern game, I reckon this could be an exciting and decisive solution.

Barette continued to prosper until the 1930s when rugby slowly started to replace the original version and post-war France struggled financially to keep sporting bodies alive. In 1941, the Vichy Government of France banned women from participating in many sports. Criticism of women in sport continued for decades and in 1969 rugby was deemed “not appropriate” for women, again by the French government.

By 1982 there was an agreement where the FFR (Fédération Française de Rugby) approved the AFRF (Association Française de Rugby Féminin) to play rugby. That same year France travelled to Utrecht to play the first ever international game of women’s rugby, where they beat the Netherlands 4-0. In 1989 the FFR took over the running of the women’s game in France.

For a sport that has existed as long as each other yet with a history so stark in contrast, it’s no surprise that the gap between the games is as wide as it is. Where one side attracts supporters in their millions, the other side is marred with controversy and doubt.

Where the top paid players are earning over €50k a month on one side, their female counterparts are earning somewhere around €10k a year. Where the lowest paid men’s players are earning €21k a month the lowest paid in the top level of the women’s side are losing money every week without expenses nor compensation covered.

Division one team from Grenoble Les Amazones recently staged a peaceful protest by wearing a completely different strip to one of their away games to draw the attention of their club who have thrown doubt over their women’s side’s future. Players haven’t had their expenses paid as promised and the club is reporting a loss of €30k for this season with no resolutions offered.

The controversy is much more sinister in some cases where members of Stade Français recently reported one of their directors for utterly abhorrent homophobic and sexist comments against the players. After initial suspension the club has decided to retain the accused in the same position for the coming season.

It was reported that a number of players made complaints, while others were too terrified to speak out and were threatened to be ruined should they leave the club. Sadly, this is not a unique story in women’s sport.

Another interesting element to this story is that the chief director of the club seemed indifferent to the problems. Evidently so given the reappointment of the director in question. The club’s chief director is also a former professional player.

¡ Quelle surprise !

The situation in the famous Paris club has been referred to as “a system of domination and exclusion” that will be sadly familiar to players in French rugby and elsewhere.

This year, ironically, the final of the women’s domestic competition Elite 1 also featured Stade Toulousain and Stade Bordelais. It was a thrilling affair with Bordeaux coming out on top by 32-24 to retain their title for a third year running.

The final was held as a double header with a Top 14 game in Stade Marcel-Michelin in Clermont-Ferrand with thousands of spectators in attendance.

France and Toulouse player Pauline Bourdon-Sansus spoke in the post-match conference where she pleaded for refereeing that was “fair and coherent” in the Elite 1 league.

Yesterday Bourdon-Sansus received a two match ban which rules her out for a World Cup warm-up game against England and the first round of the pool stage of the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup in August.