75th anniversary of the FIRA-AER: French Barbarians - XV Europe FIRA-AER
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Written by BrusselsLife Team -
27 Oct 2009, 00:00
(Updated: 13 Dec 2012, 07:59)
It is with the collaboration of the Belgian Rugby Union and the City of Brussels that the FIRA-AER prepares the festivities of its 75th anniversary. Main point of the programme: the gala match, which will pit the French Barbarians against the XV Europe FIRA-AER.
Founded in 1979 in accordance with the same model that its British counterpart, the Barbarian Rugby Club, presided by the former international flanker Jean-Pierre Rives, will perpetuate the tradition and will present on the King Baudouin Stadium pitch, a team composed of famous players of the French Championship.
On the contrary, it will be the first match for the XV Europe FIRA-AER. Created specially for this day, the European selection will propose to see some of the best players of the continent coming from France, England, Italy but also Georgia, Romania, Spain, Belgium, Portugal... A cosmopolitan team wanted by the FIRA-AER Chairman, Jean-Claude Baqué: "We work all together for 75 years in order to develop and promote the game of rugby and to help new federations to structure themselves. Now, we have to show the very good level of these players trained in "emerging" unions and who are playing in professional championship".
Brussels will be for a weekend the European capital of rugby: "It is a pride for us to host this match. Since several years, we try to popularize this sport within our country and the success is here" explained the Union Chairman Daniel Roelands. "Today, around 7 000 peoples come to see matches of the national team and we reach a record crowds with an average of 20 000 spectators during gala match that we organise (Note: Belgium - Argentina, Belgium British Barbarians...)" he added.
Delegations' composition
Composition of both delegations will be known at the end of October when all the national teams playing the November Tour will have announced their teams. Michel Arpaillange (FIRA-AER Development Manager), Tomasz Putra (National Head Coach of Polish) and Tomaz Morais (National Head Coach of Portugal) will be members of the technical staff of the XV Europe.
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