Exposition "XIII, L'épopée d'un rugby dans le Tarn"

Born in 1895 in England following a split between the Rugby Football Union, which supported rugby union, and clubs from the north of the country, rugby union was imported to France by Jean Gallia in 1934.
This sport found an immediate echo in Tarn where the pioneering team of the Albigensian Racing Club was created the same year, followed by Réalmont XIII in 1935 and Castres XIII in 1938.
After the ban on professional sport by the Vichy regime, the “XIII game” was reborn in the immediate post-war period with the addition of the clubs of Cagnac, Lavaur, Rabastens Saint-Juéry and Valence d'Albigeois.
It experienced further growth in the 1970s with the creation of numerous clubs and the appearance of rugby schools. Nowadays, the XIII comes in many forms, adapted to all categories of practitioners.
Through panels, objects and testimonies, the Tarn Departmental Archives invite you to discover the Tarn history of this sport rarely in the spotlight.

Event proposed as part of the 2024 departmental cultural meetings “Movements, when sport and culture team up”.