Sport Rugby league Country France (FFR XIII) Website [1] | Instituted 1934 Most titles AS Carcassonne 12 | |
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Holders Saint-Esteve XIII Catalan (2015-16) | ||
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.
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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.
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.