Lord Derby Cup

Trophée Lord Derby
Sport	Rugby league
Instituted	1934
Country	France (FFR XIII)
Holders	AS Carcassonne (2018-19)
Most titles	AS Carcassonne 13
Website	[1]

The Lord Derby Cup (French: Trophée Lord Derby), also known as French Rugby à XIII Cup, is the premier knockout competition for the sport of rugby league football in France. It is open to all French rugby league clubs and was also open to an Italian Club from 2017 to 2019 : the Saluzzo Roosters.

It was first contested in 1934, the same season as the French Rugby League Championship got under way. The first winner of the cup was US Lyon-Villeurbanne on 5 May 1935 in Toulouse.

The Lord Derby Trophy was donated by Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby in May 1935 to the winner of the game between Castleford, English Challenge Cup champions, and US Lyon-Villeurbanne, defending French Cup champions. Edward George Villiers Stanley was the honorary president of the Rugby Football League, a politician and had also previously served as the British ambassador in Paris. The game took place on 12 May 1935 in Paris; US Lyon-Villeurbanne won it and were awarded the Trophy.

Some months after, to symbolize the English-French rugby league Entente Cordiale, US Lyon-Villeurbanne handed over the trophy to the Ligue Française de Rugby à XIII, and it was named the new emblem of the French Rugby League Cup. At the following Cup final on 19 April 1936, Côte Basque were awarded the Lord Derby Trophy and it has been competed for ever since.

List of Finals

Results

Year	Winners	Score	Runner-up	Venue	Attendance
1934–35	Lyon	22–7	Catalan	Stade Jacques Thomas, Toulouse
1935–36	Côte Basque	15–8	Villeneuve	Parc de Suzon, Bordeaux	12,600
1936–37	Villeneuve	12–6	Catalan	Parc de Suzon, Bordeaux	12,100
1937–38	Roanne	36–12	Villeneuve	Stade des Minimes, Toulouse
1938–39	Catalan	7–3	Toulouse	Stade du T.O.E.C., Toulouse	15,200
1939-40: Final did not take place due to the Second World War¹
1940-44: Rugby league banned by Vichy regime
1944–45	Catalan	23–14	Carcassonne	Paris
1945–46	Carcassonne	27–7	Catalan	Stade Chapou, Toulouse	18,000
1946–47	Carcassonne	24–5	SO Avignon	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille
1947–48	Marseille	5–4	Carcassonne	Stade Chapou, Toulouse
1948–49	Marseille	12–9	Carcassonne	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille	24,000
1949–50	Catalan	12–5	Lyon	Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne	13,500
1950–51	Carcassonne	22–10	Lyon	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille
1951–52	Carcassonne	28–9	Catalan	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille	14,384
1952–53	Lyon	9–8	Villeneuve	Perpignan	12,200
1953–54	Lyon	17–15	Catalan	Cavaillon	8,000
1954–55	SO Avignon	18–10	Marseille	Carpentras	11,600
1955–56	SO Avignon	25–12	Bordeaux XIII	Perpignan	5,800
1956–57	Marseille	11–0	Catalan	Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne	16,633
1957–58	Villeneuve	20–8	SO Avignon	Perpignan	5,473
1958–59	Catalan	7–0	SO Avignon	Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne	11,000
1959–60	Lézignan	7–4	Carcassonne	Stade Gilbert Brutus, Perpignan	15,800
1960–61	Carcassonne	5–2	Lézignan
1961–62	Roanne	16–10	Toulouse		8,395
1962–63	Carcassonne	5–0	Toulouse		5,100
1963–64	Villeneuve	10–2	Toulouse		5,166
1964–65	Marseille	13–8	Carcassonne		8,294
1965–66	Lézignan	22–7	Villeneuve	Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne	10,067
1966–67	Carcassonne	10–4	Catalan	Stade Gilbert Brutus, Perpignan	16,250
1967–68	Carcassonne	9–2	Toulouse		6,400
1968–69	Catalan	15–8	Villeneuve		9,532
1969–70	Lézignan	14–8	Villeneuve		7,460
1970–71	Marseille	17–2	Lézignan		6,310
1971–72	St Estève	12–5	Villeneuve		8,250
1972–73	St Gaudens	22–8	Carcassonne	Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne	10,300
1973–74	Albi	21–11	Lézignan	Stade Gilbert Brutus, Perpignan	6,580
1974–75	Pia	9–4	Marseille		9,021
1975–76	Catalan	23–8	Toulouse
1976–77	Carcassonne	21–16	Catalan	Parc des Sports et de l'Amitié, Narbonne	10,085
1977–78	Catalan	18–7	Lézignan	Parc des Sports et de l'Amitié, Narbonne	15,939
1978–79	Villeneuve	15–5	Carcassonne	Stadium Municipal d'Albi, Albi	6,642
1979–80	Catalan	18–8	AS Carcassonne	Parc des Sports et de l'Amitié, Narbonne	8,783
1980-81: Final cancelled²
1981–82	SO Avignon	18–12	Carcassonne	Parc des Sports et de l'Amitié, Narbonne	4,663
1982–83	Carcassonne	10–3	Catalan		7,235
1983–84	Villeneuve	18–7	Limoux		6,851
1984–85	Catalan	24–7	Limoux		11,362
1985–86	Le Pontet XIII	35–10	St Estève
1986–87	St Estève	20–10	Catalan
1987–88	Le Pontet XIII	5–2	St Estève		5,000
1988–89	SO Avignon	12–11	St Estève	Stadium Municipal d'Albi, Albi	6,000
1989–90	Carcassonne	22–8	St Estève	Stadium Municipal d'Albi, Albi	6,832
1990–91	St Gaudens	30–4	Pia	Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne	6,000
1991–92	St Gaudens	22–10	RC Carpentras	Parc des Sports et de l'Amitié, Narbonne	7,000
1992–93	St Estève	12–10	Catalan	Parc des Sports et de l'Amitié, Narbonne	6,401
1993–94	St Estève	14–12	Catalan	Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne
1994–95	St Estève	28–8	Pia	Perpignan	6,000
1995–96	Limoux	39–12	Carcassonne	Perpignan	9,000
1996–97	Catalan	25–24	Limoux	Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne	8,000
1997–98	St Estève	38–0	SO Avignon	Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne	7,000
1998–99	Villeneuve	20–5	Lézignan	Parc des Sports et de l'Amitié, Narbonne	9,000
1999-00	Villeneuve	34–14	Catalan		9,000
2000–01	Union Treiziste Catalane	38–17	Limoux		8,000
2001–02	Villeneuve	27–18	Pia	Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne	8,500
2002–03	Villeneuve	16–14	Pia		7,000
2003–04	Union Treiziste Catalane	36–24	AS Carcassonne		10,500
2004–05	Union Treiziste Catalane	31–12	Limoux		11,000
2005–06	Pia	36–20	Lézignan		9,344
2006–07	Pia	30–14	Carcassonne		5,500
2007–08	Limoux	17–14	Albi		9,000
2008–09	Carcassonne	18–16	Limoux	Stadium Municipal d'Albi, Albi	6,600
2009–10	Lézignan	18–14	Limoux	Parc des Sports, Avignon	6,000
2010–11	Lézignan	27–18	Pia	Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne	5,350
2011–12	Carcassone	14–12	Pia	Parc des Sports et de l'Amitié, Narbonne	6,892
2012–13	SO Avignon	38–37	Limoux	Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne	5,000
2013–14	Toulouse	46–10	Carcassonne		6,763
2014–15	Lézignan	27–25	St Estève-Catalan		4,124
2015–16	St Estève-Catalan	33–16	Limoux		4,200
2016–17	Carcassonne	30–24	Lézignan	Parc des Sports, Avignon	5,500
2017–18	St Estève-Catalan	30–26 AET	Limoux	Stade Gilbert Brutus, Perpignan	5,243
2018–19	Carcassonne	22–6	St Estève-Catalan	Stade Gilbert Brutus, Perpignan
2019–20: Competition cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in France

	Club	Wins	Runners up	Winning Years
1	AS Carcassonne	15	13	1945-46, 1946-47, 1950-51, 1951-52, 1960-61, 1962-63, 1966-67, 1967-68, 1976-77, 1982-83, 1989-90, 2008-09, 2011-12, 2016-17, 2018-19

During the 1964 Final

AS Carcassonne win in 2009

Footnotes

- Semi-final 28 April 1940 in Bordeaux: Côte Basque 14–5 XIII Catalan.
- 12 May 1940 (reason: unavailability of the ground on 5 May 1940) in Toulouse: semi-final Pau XIII v AS Carcassonne: game not played because 10 May 1940 the invasion of Belgium, Luxemburg and the Netherlands by Germany.
- 19 May 1940 in … : no final Côte Basque v Pau XIII or AS Carcassonne, i.e.: season 1939–1940: Lord Derby Cup "Not awarded due to the war" (mentioned above).
The final between AS Carcassonne and XIII Catalan was cancelled because of the fight at the championship final the previous week.

Books

Le Rugby à XIII, le plus français du monde by Louis Bonnery,
The Forbidden Game by Mike Rylance.

References

External links