Stade de Saint-Ruf
Avignon, Languedoc-Roussillon, France
Stade de Saint-Ruf, Avignon, France — opened 1916, as a rugby/athletics ground; formally inaugurated with wooden stands in 1922, 1 rugby league games hosted, home of Sporting Olympique Avignon (SO Avignon) rugby league club, until it later moved to the newer Parc des Sports ground in the city.
Sourcing caveat: The specific opponent and competition for the recorded 1954 match could not be confirmed; Rugby League Project's indexed results for this club/venue appear to cover only international fixtures, not the domestic record this 1954 match likely belongs to.
Ground facts
| Opened | 1916, as a rugby/athletics ground; formally inaugurated with wooden stands in 1922 |
| Home club | Sporting Olympique Avignon (SO Avignon) rugby league club, until it later moved to the newer Parc des Sports ground in the city |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 1 |
| Top recorded crowd | 3,000 |
| Capacity | 1,800 total, with 1,000 seated in the main stand |
| Floodlights installed | Not confirmed in sources checked |
| Surface | Natural grass originally; converted to synthetic turf in 2008 |
| Years used | 1954 |
| Location | Avignon, Languedoc-Roussillon |
Name history
- Stade Pierre-Baizet (Stade Pierre Bazet) — the official name of the ground
- Stade Saint-Ruf (Stade St Ruf) — the common/popular name, used interchangeably with the official name for decades; this is the name used by Rugby League Project
Rugby league history
SO Avignon was founded in 1916 as a rugby/athletics club and converted to rugby league after the Second World War, when the Vichy regime had banned the code. Its golden era came in the 1950s under captain-coach Francois Riviere, winning the Lord Derby Cup (French Cup) in 1955 and 1956 and reaching its first French Championship final in 1957, with home crowds at this stadium reportedly exceeding 10,000 during that period. A recorded 1954 match here drew 3,000 fans; the exact opponent and competition for that specific fixture could not be confirmed, as Rugby League Project's team results pages for this club and venue appear to index only marquee international fixtures rather than the full domestic record.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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