Parc des Princes

And then, on match days, a swarming mass of humanity, as forty thousand plus go to watch, worship, and react in the way that only the French seem to, both to good fortune and bad.

The 12,000 capacity Stade Jean Bouin

Why here then? Well, Stade’s normal home, the Stade Jean Bouin, holds only 12,000, so our opponents, who currently top the French league, decided to move the quarter-final across the Rue Claude Farrere (literally) to its illustrious neighbour.

The blue and red seated bowl holds 48,527 fans after the latest renovation in the early 1970s, however, when it was first built as a velodrome in 1897 on the Bois de Boulogne, site of ancient fortifications and royal parades, the Baron Haussman designed structure held only 20,000. The ground played host to France’s first ever rugby international, on January 1^st 1906 as the French lost to New Zealand 38-8.

The impressive main entrance at the Parc des Princes

In 1931 it was upgraded to hold 50,000, and the Parc itself was also renovated to allow much easier access and crowd control. It stood for almost 40 years until in 1969 the Bouygues society began a complete reconstruction of the stadium. Gone were the cycle track and athletics ring, and a covered, oval, purpose-built football and rugby stadium was built for 48,000 fans. The modern-day Parc des Princes was officially inaugurated by George Pompidou on June 4th, 1972.

The Fédération Française de Rugby continued to play their international matches there until 1998, winning five Grand Slams at the Parc des Princes between 1968 and 1997, before both the French rugby and football national teams moved to the newly constructed Stade de France in St. Denis. Since then, there’s only been one game of rugby; the 2001 final between Stade Francais and Leicester, which the Tigers eventually won 34-30. The stadium is still the third largest stadium in France and after hosting us and the Falcons, will be used again during the 2007 World Cup as the second ground in Paris after the 80,000 capacity Stade de France. (For those who are wondering, the second largest ground is the Velodrome in Marseilles, with a 60,000 capacity).

Paris St Germain are now the sole permanent users of the Parc des Princes, charging prices of €20-€80 for their football tickets - and you thought our prices were expensive!

For those of you interested in souvenirs, it’s unsure (obviously) as yet as to whether Stade will have any temporary stands up in the complex, as the shop at the main entrance is football, football, football. Stade do have a club shop, and interestingly, it’s not inside the ground, but in a small park in the nearby Rue du Commandant Guilbaud, with an old running track; the home of the Stade Francais sporting club. The shop is just inside the main door, but a warning - it’s very, very small. When Lom and I went in to look in December, you could probably have fitted no more that two or three more people in the shop. Inside, there’s the usual clothing, caps and scarves at a range of prices, as well as badges (€3 for them), and the infamous Stade calendar.

Let’s just say that it’s one for the ladies…

As those of us who’ve been to France before will know, programmes are not normally produced for games, so those looking for reading matter will probably have to make do with L’Equipe, the daily sports newspaper (€0.80), the yellow sheeted specialist rugby weekly paper Midi Olympique (€2 unless it has its monthly magazine, when it’s €3), or any number of the glossy rugby magazines produced by the French press. However, when Northampton played in Toulouse two seasons ago, free 12 page programmes were produced, lacking on a lot, but free nonetheless.

If you’re a badge collector, then there’s a shop on the Place Du Docteur Paul Michaux, (which for the life of me I can’t remember the name of), which has a number of badges from clubs across France, as well as national sides and some going back to the 1991 World Cup, the majority of which are only €1. The closest Metro station to here is Porte de St Cloud, on line 9 (the other Metro station for the easiest access to the ground is Porte d'Auteuil, on line 10).

Les Princes after they survived Lom and Mark for lunch...

At the end of Place du Docteur Paul Michaux id the nearest bar to the ground that we found, called Les Princes. With the proprietors being former French international Christophe Juillet and current international and Stade winger Christophe Dominici, you can guess that it’s a very rugby friendly bar, and we can recommend their meals and their beer, both reasonably priced and in the perfect location.

And for those of you going to the Eiffel Tower for the great Falcons meet-up, to get to the ground via the metro you need to go to Bir Hakeim metro station (about a 400 meter walk). Then:-

Head in the Ch. De Gaulle - Etoile direction to Trocadero (second stop)

Change at Trocadero for Line 9, Pont de Sevres direction.

Get on that metro to the eighth stop, for Porte de St Cloud

You’re now at the Parc des Princes. Shout loudly, and most of all, enjoy your day.