how Castres, heir to “steeple rugby”, remains among the leaders

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Take the test among your relatives. If you ask them to cite the identity of the last four of the Top 14, it’s a safe bet that the name of Castres goes by the wayside. Never really in the spotlight, the Tarn club nevertheless finished top of the regular season and lifted the Brennus shield twice in the last decade. He faces Stade Toulouse on Friday June 17 (9:05 p.m.) in the semi-final of the championship. Flagship team of a city of 42,000 souls, Castres Olympique (CO) embodies a form of paradox, in a rugby where the big cities have become the majority.

“To build an ambitious sports project, with a large stadium and partnerships, you need a metropolis”, confirms Pierre Chaix, sports economist at the University of Grenoble. The other semi-finalists, Toulouse, Bordeaux-Bègles and Montpellier come from urban areas ten to twenty times more populated than Castres. The Tarn club therefore appeared like a UFO at the guest ball. “Over the last decade, I don’t remember another modest city regularly in the final stages”observes Pierre-Yves Revol, president of the CO.

The latter sees correctly. Agen, Bourgoin and Béziers, present among the leaders until the 2000s, are now in Pro D2 or lower. Castres represents in a way the only survivor of this “bell tower” rugby, or “deep territories”, to use the expression of Pierre-Yves Revol. Nestled in the south of the Tarn, the sub-prefecture is located about 80 kilometers east of Toulouse. The birthplace of Jean Jaurès has been waiting for a good decade for the motorway to reach the regional capital.

Once the scene is set, it is still difficult to see the place of CO as an anomaly. “They sincerely deserve more respect, we don’t talk about them enough”, said Toulouse manager Ugo Mola after the play-off won against La Rochelle. Five times crowned champion of France, Castres finished top of the regular season for the first time in its history.

“This position does not make us a scarecrow”, relativizes the president of the CO. The club has, it is true, been spared the famous doubloons of winter, no more than it has left feathers in the European Cup. “We try to have a homogeneous group of players, but in Castres, we don’t have stars who panic the market”, summarizes Pierre-Yves Revol. No Castrais has thus taken part in the Grand Slam of the XV of France.

In the Tarn, stability is the key word. The veterans Mathieu Babillot, Rory Kockott, Thomas Combezou or Julien Dumora have been there for a short decade. Often presented as a tough team to maneuver, the CO is intractable at home. He has not lost in front of his public for eighteen months.

The Tarn fortress with 12,300 seats bears the name of Pierre Fabre, founder of the pharmaceutical laboratories of the same name, who died in 2013. The group, which employs several thousand people in the region, has been financing CO for almost thirty years. “The club has a structural deficit of 4 to 5 million euros per year filled by the Pierre-Fabre laboratories”continues the economist Pierre Chaix, author of the book The new face of French professional rugby.

“If tomorrow, the Pierre-Fabre laboratories stop supporting Castres, the club will collapse”

Pierre Chaix, economist at the University of Grenoble

at franceinfo: sport

Other clubs in comparable agglomerations do not benefit from such support. “In this professional world, the requirements in terms of revenue management make it almost impossible for a small municipality to titillate the big ones”adds the economist. In fact, the contribution of Pierre-Fabre relativizes the label of little thumb often attached to Castres.

Thanks to its historical sponsor, the Tarn club has a budget of 23 million euros, the tenth of the elite. It represents the 11th payroll, up to 9 million euros, or two million below the authorized ceiling. “We set ourselves limits in terms of remuneration”assures the president, helped by “other loyal sponsors”.

“Beyond that, the club generates an economy with local partners”, continues Pierre-Yves Revol. The basin around Castres largely supports the rugby club, a showcase for the territory. “Here, there are three pillars: the Olympic Castres, the Pierre-Fabre group, and the eighth parachute regiment”concludes the President.


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