La Beaujoire waits for its hour to toll

The Nantes ground has belonged to football and the Canaries since its construction in 1984 although it has staged several rugby internationals.

Seven years. That’s the time La Beaujoire stadium waited before being able to welcome the French XV again. Against Canada last November les Bleus rediscovered a pitch they last strode out onto in 1998 when they beat Argentina 34-14. Six years earlier they had been embarrassed 24-29 by the Pumas in Nantes. But the outstanding performance of the Tricolores in seven internationals in the home of the Nantes Canaries football club came in 1986 when they overcame New Zealand 16-3 in an awesome match.

Canaries versus Greens

First and foremost la Beaujoire since its opening in 1984 has been devoted to soccer and the yellow-shirted Canaries of Nantes FC. The most modern of the French stadia to be used for the 2007 RWC, after the Stade de France, the ground was built for two reasons - to stage matches during Euro 84 and to meet the demands of an increasingly successful Nantes FC. Historic rivals of the Greens (les Verts) of Saint-Etienne in the 1970s with three league titles from 1972 to 1980, Nantes quit their ageing Marcel-Saupin ground for a gleaming new 53,000-capacity stadium. Before the cub could play a match the Nantes fans were able to watch Michel Platini score a hat-trick as France trounced Belgium 5-0 on their way to the European championship title. A record crowd of 51,000 had already written a piece of the legend for the la Beaujoire-Louis Fontenau stadium (named after the club president from 1969 to 1986 who got the project off the ground).

Fewer seats, More comfort

Nostalgic fans might regret the old stands of Marcel-Saupin where the likes of Amisse, Bossis, Halilhodzic and company scared opponents with their passing football. But La Beaujoire has already been the scene of several popular sucesses: 1995 brought a seventh league title and in 1996 a European Champions League run was only stopped by Juventus in the semi-finals. The stadium is also more comfortable since its renovation for the 1998 World Cup soccer finals when six matches were played, with the capacity reduced to 38,285. Nantes rugby fans can reassure themselves: they will not have another seven years to wait. The RWC is just round the corner.

Useful information

Address
Route de Saint-Joseph
44 300 Nantes
Phone number: 33 2 40 30 11 22

Access
By plane: Aéroport Nantes Atlantique
By train: Nantes Gare (TGV)
By car: Autoroute A11
By tramway : Ligne 1

Key figures
Capacity: 38,100
Lighting : 1,598 lux