Stade Marcel-Deflandre
Bordeaux (La Rochelle), Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France
Stade Marcel-Deflandre, Bordeaux (La Rochelle), France — opened 1924 (with some sources instead citing 1926); originally named Parc des Sports de Port-Neuf, 1 rugby league games hosted, home of Stade Rochelais (rugby union); no rugby league tenant is recorded.
Sourcing caveat: The venue's 'Bordeaux (La Rochelle)' area field is misleading if read as suggesting the venue is in or near Bordeaux: the stadium is solely and unambiguously in La Rochelle, about 150km from Bordeaux. The Bordeaux association almost certainly comes from the visiting/home representative side's name, Gironde XIII (Gironde being Bordeaux's department), not from the venue's own location.
Ground facts
| Opened | 1924 (with some sources instead citing 1926); originally named Parc des Sports de Port-Neuf (Sources conflict on the exact opening year (1924 vs 1926); French Wikipedia does not give a clear full date. Reported here with both figures rather than picking one.) |
| Home club | Stade Rochelais (rugby union); no rugby league tenant is recorded |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 1 |
| Top recorded crowd | 2,187 |
| Capacity | Around 16,689 today (as of a 2023 expansion); around 10,500 in 2002. The capacity at the time of the 1955 match is not confirmed. |
| Floodlights installed | Present today; the original installation date is not confirmed, and lighting was not confirmed to exist at the time of the 1955 match |
| Surface | Natural grass at the time of the 1955 match; a hybrid grass/synthetic-microfibre pitch has been used since 2019 |
| Years used | 1955 |
| Location | Bordeaux (La Rochelle), Nouvelle-Aquitaine |
Name history
- Parc des Sports de Port-Neuf — from opening (1924 or 1926) until renaming
- Stade Marcel-Deflandre — from some point after WWII, honouring Marcel Deflandre, a Stade Rochelais club figure executed by the Gestapo in Bordeaux in 1944; exact renaming date not confirmed
Rugby league history
This stadium is unambiguously located in La Rochelle, Charente-Maritime, around 150km from Bordeaux, with no club-level Bordeaux connection -- direct re-verification against Rugby League Project's own venue page confirmed the recorded match nonetheless: on 29 December 1955, during the New Zealand Kiwis' 1955-56 tour of France, a Gironde XIII representative side lost 11-29 to the touring New Zealanders in front of 2,187 fans. The home side's name, Gironde XIII (Gironde being Bordeaux's home department), almost certainly explains why this site's area field pairs the venue with Bordeaux, even though the match itself was played away from Bordeaux at this La Rochelle ground -- a misleading pairing worth flagging rather than silently accepting.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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