Not just rugby in EuropaLeague. And many of France’s national rugby team come from Toulouse
FRENCH CHAMPIONS
After winning the French Football Cup and the Brennus Shield, the two teams from Toulouse are starting the new season. A unique passion between soccer and rugby from the fans’ point of view in the “ville rose”, the pink city
THE CAPITOL SQUARE
On April 29, a strange spectacle takes place on the Place du Capitole in Toulouse. Fans gather in the early afternoon to watch matches projected onto the walls of the town hall. Dressed in the colors of their city clubs, the people of Toulouse wear red shirts for the Stade Toulousain rugby team, which plays Leinster in the semi-final of the European Cup at 4pm, or purple shirts for TFC, which plays Nantes in the final of the French Cup at 9pm. Many have shirts in both colors and stay all afternoon until late evening.
In Toulouse, it’s difficult to say which of the two sports has the greater influence.
In the 2022-2023 season, there are 13,291 members at Toulouse Football Club and 14,600 at the Stade Toulousain. In rugby, there are 6,000, split between the two professional clubs Stade Toulousain and US Colomiers, and 3,000 in soccer. Toulouse has the largest number of license holders in the Haute Garonne region.
After winning the French Cup, the two Toulouse clubs present their trophies at Toulouse City Hall, also on the Place du Capitole, every few months. On April 30, the TFC players lifted the French Cup in front of a crowd of 18,000 people, while on June 18, the Stade Toulousain team raised the Brennus Shield in front of 15,000 fans.
THE PINK CITY BETWEEN RED AND PURPLE
It’s the same fans who come to celebrate the various triumphs by changing the color of the pitch from purple to red, always playing the Toulouse anthem Se Canto.
Clément, a 20-year-old fan of Stade Toulousain and TFC, explains: “The passion for soccer in Toulouse is more for young people, while the passion for rugby was passed on to us by our parents.
The sport in Toulouse is not only followed by connoisseurs and ultras, but by everyone, girls and boys, young and old, it’s a question of regional identity.
Two Toulouse fans with a Stade Toulousain and TFC jersey.
“With the other fans, we said we had to go there, it’s historic and the best memory I’ve had as a fan.” In order to travel to Paris, TFC had provided a dozen buses for its members and up to 400 fans made the journey to the capital”.
“The whole of France was talking about us and our team, we’d never experienced anything like it, which makes us proud,” explains Loris.
The enthusiasm of the Toulouse fans was heightened by the qualification for the Europa League.
This year, Toulouse return to the prestigious European cup, which they have not entered since 2008. On Thursday, October 5, the Toulouse stadium hosted their first match in the Europa League. And they won 1:0 against LASK Linz.
On November 9, Liverpool will come to Toulouse after playing at Anfield Stadium in England on October 26. “We are super proud, we will represent France with our club, our city outside our country, it will be incredible.” The crowd made their way to their stadium early to watch the game against Austrian club LASK. The stadium was enlivened by a purple-clad crowd with a joyful and intense atmosphere as they celebrated their team’s first European Cup win. 22-year-old Calista from Toulouse, who was present at the game, said: “Tonight was fantastic and tomorrow we’re all going to watch the rugby game together in a bar in the city with the other fans!”.
After a difficult time in Ligue 2, the Toulouse club were promoted back to Ligue 1 on April 25, 2022 after a home match against Niort, which ended with the euphoric fans storming the pitch in an “indescribable feeling of happiness”. 22-year-old Loris, a loyal member of the club, tells us: “When we were relegated to Ligue 2, nobody came to the stadium. It was only when we started winning and there was a chance of us getting promoted back to Ligue 1 that the fans came back”.
The enthusiasm was confirmed in the 2022-2023 season with a record number of club subscriptions. TFC even made it to the final of the French Cup in Paris.
THE STADE TOULOUSAIN
TFC is not the only French champion team in the city. With an impressive track record: as 22-time French champions and 5-time European champions, they are the most successful team in both competitions. Le Stade Toulousain is an emblematic rugby club. We spoke to Emma, an avid fan of Stade Toulousain. “Stade is the pride of the South West, the passion for rugby comes from my father and is something we love to watch with the family”.
In France, the south-west is the land of rugby and this is where the sport is best established. There is a whole folklore around it, like the ferias in Bayonne or Dax. “The values of rugby fit in with our southern mentality, the atmosphere, the conviviality, the fraternity.”
Toulouse is not only a spectator city for this sport, but also produces the best rugby players in the country